Astronomicon: Icarus

17 - Boarding

"Seal is reading secure, Captain," reported Enzo.

The three of them stood waiting, in their EVA suits, beside the inner hatch of Icarus' main airlock. They had their helmets locked in place, but visors up.

"Right, Enzo, I want you to come with me and Hugo, I want you to stay inside our airlock, on hand to provide support if necessary. Keep the outer hatch open unless I say otherwise. Now, is your suit radio working this time?"

"Different suit, sir."

"Good. Open the airlock, let's go help the Oppenheimer crew. Switch over to internal life-support."

All three men closed their visors and Enzo hit the button to open the inner airlock door. It slid quickly out of the way and the three of them clunked their way inside the confined space of the airlock chamber. Using the duplicate panel inside, Enzo closed the inner hatch and then opened the outer hatch. If the seal between the Icarus and the Oppenheimer was sound then there would be no need to depressurise the airlock.

The outer door slid smoothly open to reveal a short, cylindrical tunnel leading just a couple of metres to the exterior of the Oppenheimer. The tunnel was a flexible tube made of a super-strong, canvas-like material with a metal ring at the end shaped specially to fit the internationally-agreed standard airlock connector. The design allowed vessels to have pretty much any airlock design they wished, while maintaining a standardised means of connecting vessels in case of emergencies. It was much better, both easier and safer, than the alternative of winching crews between open airlocks in space.

Captain Taylor stepped out into the tunnel, immediately finding that his mag-boots did not work properly on the metallised skin of the tunnel. He pushed himself away from Icarus' outer hatch and floated the two metres to Oppenheimer's equivalent hatch and grabbed the sturdy handrail down the left side of it. Instructions printed in large, clear print on the hatch, in both English and Spanish, explained that it was necessary to push the centre panel inwards and then twist it one revolution clockwise.

He did as instructed and was relieved when the mechanism activated. There was a heavy-sounding hum followed by a clunk noise, and then the entire hatch rotated and pulled back into the hull. It paused and then slid away quickly to the right, leaving clear access to the large and brightly lit airlock chamber within.

He leant cautiously through the open hatch to check if it was safe. Everything seemed to be fine. The lights were on and there appeared to be nothing amiss, so he stepped gingerly through into Oppenheimer's airlock chamber. The control panel inside was larger than the one on Icarus, but displayed roughly the same information and controls. It showed that the pressure in the airlock and further on into the Oppenheimer was normal, so he gestured to Enzo to follow him. The display was also flashing a warning about the carbon-dioxide level, which was approaching danger level.

"Stay alert, Hugo. I don't know what we're going to meet inside here, but it will be good to have some backup ready to move," said Captain Taylor.

Hugo performed a casual salute, the action looking slightly comical in his EVA suit. Enzo squeezed past him and joined the Captain in Oppenheimer's spacious airlock. Once he was clear of the outer hatch, Captain Taylor hit the button to start the sequence that would close the outer door then open the inner door. He smiled at Enzo and gave him a thumbs up. Enzo did not look so confident.

As the outer hatch clunked into place and twisted itself shut, Captain Taylor had a sudden stab of doubt as to whether going aboard the Oppenheimer was actually a wise move. Something about the vessel felt wrong. The simple fact that it was stranded deep within the Trojan cluster was wrong. No-one in their right mind would pilot such a large vessel into a place crowded with so many collision hazards. Why was the USS Oppenheimer missing from the International Vessel Registry? Apart from anything else, that was probably illegal.