Momentum of the ship didn't cease when the rockets stopped, of course.
They were still moving, but not very fast and not in the direction
they wanted to go. Gingerly Docchi tried out the magneslippers; he
was clumsy, but no longer helpless in the gravityless ship. He stared
futilely at the instruments as if he could wring more secrets than the
panel had electronic access to.
"It's mechanical trouble of some sort," he said uneasily. "There's one
way of finding out."
Before he could move, Anti was in the corridor that led away from the
control compartment.
"Stay here, Anti," he said. "I'll see what's wrong."
She reached nearly from the floor to the ceiling. She missed by scant
inches the sides of the passageway. Locomotion was easy enough for
her; turning around wasn't. Anti didn't turn.
"Look, honey," her voice floated back. "You brought me along for the
ride. That's fine, but I'm not satisfied with it. I want to earn my
fare. You stay and run the ship because you know how and I don't. I'll
find out what's wrong."
"But you won't know what to do, Anti." There was no answer. "All
right," he said in defeat. "Both of us ought to go. Jordan, you stay
at the controls."
Anti led the way because Docchi couldn't get around her. Determinedly
he shuffled along. There was a trick to magneslippers that he had
nearly forgotten. Slowly it was coming back to him--shuffle instead of
striding.
It was a dingy, poorly lighted passageway in an older ship. Handicap
Haven definitely didn't rate the best equipment that was produced. On
one side was the hull of the ship; on the other, a few small cabins.
None were occupied. Anti stopped. The passageway ended in a cross
corridor that led to the other side of the ship.
"We'd better check the stern rocket tubes," he said, still unable to
see around her. "Open it up and we'll take a look."
"I can't," said Anti. "There are handles, but the thing won't open.
There's a red light, too. Does that mean anything?"
His heart sank. "It does. Don't try to open it. With your strength,
you might be unlucky enough to do it."
"That's a man for you," said Anti sharply. "First he wants me to open
it, and then he tells me not to."
"There's a vacuum in there. The combustion cap has been retracted.
That's the only thing that will actuate the warning signal. You'd die
in a few seconds if you somehow managed to open the lock to the rocket
compartment."
"What are we waiting for? Let's get busy and fix it."
"Sure, fix it. You see, Anti, that didn't happen by itself. Someone,
or something, was responsible."
"Who?"
"Did you see anyone when we were loading your tank in the ship?"
"Nothing. I heard Cameron shouting, a lot of noise. All I could see
was what was directly overhead. What does that have to do with it?"
"I think it has to do with a geepee. I thought they all dropped
outside. Maybe there was one that didn't."
"Why a geepee?" she asked blankly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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