meet with the city-ship’s hatch and service ports. Once they achieved a pressure seal and pumped air into the terminal arm’s gantry, the tech boss waited for the ship’s hatch to open.
Inside the Unsere Menschen , a Libran tech named Delores tapped the manual switch for the hatch a second time, but the hatch still didn’t move. Delores’s thoughts were muddled. She knew she was doing something wrong but couldn’t think of what that might be.
Z sent gently,
Delores focused on the control panel, which for a moment blurred, then cleared.
Delores struggled over to the opposite side of the airlock and closed the airlock’s interior hatch. Her muscles were cramping from oxygen starvation. She looked over at her panel again.
As the city-ship’s hatch slid open, fouled air spilled from the ship and enveloped the Joaquin boom tech. “Boss,” the tech said. “This is Fujio on boom control. Hatch is open. We have to move quickly. These people need air badly.”
“Z,” said the tech boss, Jaime, “I have a ten-centimeter air hose at the boom’s end. Fujio, watch for an opening near the hatch for the hose. Don’t worry about connections. Just stick it into the opening’s throat.”
Z opened an air access hatch for Fujio, who jammed the extendible hose into the opening. On Z’s signal, the nanites in the collar sealed around the hose, and Z signaled the tech and the terminal boss that a seal was in place. Jaime ran the boom’s air pump at max revolutions, forcing air into the city-ship’s ventilation system.
Fujio stood aside as more than 200 terminal workers pounded past him, loaded with heavy canisters of oxygen strapped to their backs. The city-ship was a huge labyrinth of corridors and decks, but Julien had supplied Hezekiah with the city-ship’s plan. Each worker held a small map in front of them as they navigated to their section. When they reached their assigned area, they walked around, dispersing nine cubic meters of pure oxygen from their tanks. Between the air hose and the oxygen bottles, the people on board slowly began to feel revived.
In the single day of forewarning Hezekiah had received, he had ordered multiple shuttle deliveries of pure oxygen to the station. He used the deliveries to fill the station’s reserve tanks located throughout the extensive structure, and kept the last two shuttles in reserve ready to top off the tanks as they were depleted. At the same time, he put out the word that he needed volunteers. His message included the words “Our cousins need help.”
* * *
Alex, Renée, and the twins joined Mickey, Tomas, and Eric in a small hall on board the station dedicated by Hezekiah for their use. New Terran contractors had already assembled in the hall, anxious to hear the opportunities to work on the city-ships in exchange for Méridien tech. They had signed their confidentiality agreements with House Alexander, which had more than one of them wondering who was this new business entity?
The meeting was short. Alex and his people stood in front of the forty-three company owners, and Alex introduced himself and Renée as Co-Leaders of House Alexander. Then he introduced his Directors, Tomas and Eric, and his Chief Engineer, Mickey.
“Sers,” Alex began, “we need contractors to complete the construction of the docked city-ship, Unsere Menschen , and we need some small finish work on the sister ship, Freedom . We have some of the material you will require already on board the ships, but not most of it. The T-Stations will be
Inside the Unsere Menschen , a Libran tech named Delores tapped the manual switch for the hatch a second time, but the hatch still didn’t move. Delores’s thoughts were muddled. She knew she was doing something wrong but couldn’t think of what that might be.
Delores focused on the control panel, which for a moment blurred, then cleared.
Delores struggled over to the opposite side of the airlock and closed the airlock’s interior hatch. Her muscles were cramping from oxygen starvation. She looked over at her panel again.
As the city-ship’s hatch slid open, fouled air spilled from the ship and enveloped the Joaquin boom tech. “Boss,” the tech said. “This is Fujio on boom control. Hatch is open. We have to move quickly. These people need air badly.”
“Z,” said the tech boss, Jaime, “I have a ten-centimeter air hose at the boom’s end. Fujio, watch for an opening near the hatch for the hose. Don’t worry about connections. Just stick it into the opening’s throat.”
Z opened an air access hatch for Fujio, who jammed the extendible hose into the opening. On Z’s signal, the nanites in the collar sealed around the hose, and Z signaled the tech and the terminal boss that a seal was in place. Jaime ran the boom’s air pump at max revolutions, forcing air into the city-ship’s ventilation system.
Fujio stood aside as more than 200 terminal workers pounded past him, loaded with heavy canisters of oxygen strapped to their backs. The city-ship was a huge labyrinth of corridors and decks, but Julien had supplied Hezekiah with the city-ship’s plan. Each worker held a small map in front of them as they navigated to their section. When they reached their assigned area, they walked around, dispersing nine cubic meters of pure oxygen from their tanks. Between the air hose and the oxygen bottles, the people on board slowly began to feel revived.
In the single day of forewarning Hezekiah had received, he had ordered multiple shuttle deliveries of pure oxygen to the station. He used the deliveries to fill the station’s reserve tanks located throughout the extensive structure, and kept the last two shuttles in reserve ready to top off the tanks as they were depleted. At the same time, he put out the word that he needed volunteers. His message included the words “Our cousins need help.”
* * *
Alex, Renée, and the twins joined Mickey, Tomas, and Eric in a small hall on board the station dedicated by Hezekiah for their use. New Terran contractors had already assembled in the hall, anxious to hear the opportunities to work on the city-ships in exchange for Méridien tech. They had signed their confidentiality agreements with House Alexander, which had more than one of them wondering who was this new business entity?
The meeting was short. Alex and his people stood in front of the forty-three company owners, and Alex introduced himself and Renée as Co-Leaders of House Alexander. Then he introduced his Directors, Tomas and Eric, and his Chief Engineer, Mickey.
“Sers,” Alex began, “we need contractors to complete the construction of the docked city-ship, Unsere Menschen , and we need some small finish work on the sister ship, Freedom . We have some of the material you will require already on board the ships, but not most of it. The T-Stations will be
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