Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

35 - Tethers

Several precisely controlled spurts of propellent from the manoeuvring thrusters left Hesperian in a near-identical orbit to Pathfinder 2. With barely half a kilometre between them, this was the closest the two vessels had ever been to each other. They could see the Pathfinder on the display screens in the control room but, because of the lack of windows along the sides of the Hesperian, Ria missed being able to look outside in real life.

"Orbital alignment complete, Commander," Foxy reported.

"We're here!" added Stephen.

"Thank you, Foxy," replied Ria. "Now all we need to do is bring the two vessels together. Stephen are you ready to take the helm?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, but I'll need your authorisation to disengage Foxy's safeties. Otherwise, she's going to counter any attempts to move the ships nearer to each other than two hundred metres."

"Here's my code," she replied, tapping it into the tablet attached to her command chair. "You have the ship. I'm going downstairs to get suited up."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to zero-G," said Stephen.

"It's only for a couple of hours, then we'll be off again," said Ria.

"Are you sure you should do the E.V.A. yourself, Commander?" asked Susan.

"Well, as you're supervising the operation, Stephen's flying the ship, Phil will monitor the connection between the ships and the status of the Pathfinder, and Skylar's already going outside as she's our most experienced E.V.A. expert, there's no-one else left."

"No time to defrost anyone else now, either," added Stephen.

"I'm not changing the plan now," said Ria. "Let's make this happen. And don't forget, Stephen, Skylar and I will keep our suit radios open the whole time so try to give a commentary about where we've got to with the manoeuvring so we can attempt to time the airlock to minimise the time both ships will be together untethered."

"Sounds good," he replied. "My biggest worry is damage to the exo-frames if both vessels rub against each other before they are secured. That could cause all sorts of headaches when it comes to deploying the modules on Proxima C."

"Just get us within ten metres. Skylar and I will do the rest with the winches. Susan, you stay suited up, ready to assist if we have any problems."

* * *

"What's the best way to do this, Skylar?" Ria asked via her E.V.A. suit radio.

Both women were moving themselves hand-over-hand up the ladder that ran the full height of Supply Module 2. As the vessel's ion drive was no longer running, they did not have the perceived gravity to deal with but they still had to move cautiously as each of them was pulling along a portable winch on a short tether cable. The winches were only around forty centimetres along their longest axis but each weighed fifteen kilograms which made them hard to manage.

Ria was trying to ignore the looming form of Pathfinder 2, aligned with the Hesperian and seeming to float silently alongside it. Hanging there ten metres away with no support or thrust defied human logic.

"Let's get a pair of winches attached at the top, that should be the easiest to do," Skylar replied. "Then one of us will need to head across to the Pathfinder and attach the winch cables to its exo-frame. I think I should do that, Commander."

"I won't argue," Ria laughed. "Once that's secure, you'll need to get back over here so we can do the same at the other end."

"Then we head back to the airlock, pick up the other two winches and do the whole procedure again."