Sally's Secret

Chapter 33

EOS did all the work docking the space elevator with Thunderbird 5, which was a good thing because Maria had no clue how to accomplish the task, and probably no skill in attaining it even if she knew. The hatch hissed and door parts slid and then the station's metal airlock irised open. Another mobile sensing unit was visible on the ceiling just inside. "Follow me," EOS's voice said before sliding on a track overhead.

Maria discovered she was weightless as soon as the seatbelt released. The walls were close in the lift, so it wasn't hard to use them to push away, grab the med kit, and float out the door, but it was annoying not to be able to kick or scull, like you could in water, to make yourself move or change direction. Without a wall to push from, she ended up floating aimlessly. It wasn't long before she could no longer see the mobile unit. "EOS! You're getting too far ahead. I don't have a nice track to move on."

"John has no problem navigating very efficiently without need of tracks," her computer voice gloated from out of sight.

Of course he doesn't. He lives here! "EOS, you don't have to point out all the ways John is superior to me. I surrender on all counts, all right? He's the Space King and I'm but a lowly Space Peasant here in his Space Castle. I'm not trying to dethrone the king; I'm trying to help him! If you get too far ahead, I'll get lost. That won't help John." She fumbled around, finding ways to bounce obliquely off the walls, thinking how much she felt like a human cueball.

EOS returned from whence she had disappeared, gliding smoothly on the track. "Try to push up and grab onto my sensing unit. You can ride with me until we hit the gravity ring, where John is."

Why didn't she suggest that to begin with? Maria had to bounce a few times to get the right angle to reach it with one hand. The med kit was as weightless as she was, but the handle would not allow her to hold both it and the sensing unit. She held the top of the boxy unit with her free hand, but her grip wasn't the best. At least she wouldn't splat on the floor if EOS zoomed off and left her in the dust. But the AI moved smoothly enough that Maria didn't lose her grip. A long corridor and then a couple of turns and they reached the gravity ring, where Maria let out a huge sigh of relief. She could walk here.

The relief was short-lived when the transparent floor rotated around to show her just how far from the Earth they were. Beautiful view, but it made the soles of her feet feel tingly and sweaty. No more looking down, Maria chided herself. She caught sight of John and ran to where he was lying. He was a little pale but his lips weren't blue, so he was getting enough oxygen. She dropped the med kit, knelt next to him and grabbed both shoulders, shaking enough to wake him if he were merely sleeping. "John! John, can you hear me?" she said loudly. Not a yell, but louder than her normal voice.

His eyelids moved a little, but he didn't open his eyes. He groaned as if talking in his sleep. It sounded like, "Bad fries," and then he lost what little consciousness he had gained. He was acting like he'd been drugged.

Maria stood to look at the table where he had abandoned lunch. The burger looked untouched, but she couldn't see any kind of container that held french fries. She hit the comms button on John's sash. "International Rescue, this is Maria. Virgil, are you listening?"

"I'm here. How's John?" Virgil asked.

"I don't know yet. Did you send John any other food with the cheeseburger? French fries, chips, or crisps, possibly?"

"No. Just a double cheeseburger with extra pickles. John's not much of a fry guy."

"EOS," Maria said. "Please play back the recording of John from the time he sat down to eat until he passed out. And show Brains too."

"Complying," EOS said and the recording began, projected holographically in mid-air.

The camera angle wasn't optimal for studying food, but it looked to Maria like there had been a few stray french fries positioned on top of the little silver egg in the burger's clamshell box. John grabbed them and popped them in his mouth. He made a face which suggested they didn't taste that great, but evidently not bad enough to spit out either. He either didn't see the silver egg, or he thought it just a bit of food-wrapper foil and unimportant. He picked up his burger and smiled at it the way Alan smiled deviously at his tacos.