Trajectory Book 1 (New Providence) by Robert M. Campbell

on his hip. He boosted over the lip of the shield on his suit’s thrusters to the usually-unseen second half of the ship.
    The engine module was a large, bulging cylinder covered in a mass of exposed tubing and heat sinks. Hidden in the middle of the thick metal housing, the spherical reaction core was inactive. A number of protuberances along the surface of the engine hinted at some of the internal machinery and power sources needed to drive the fusion reaction. Large twisted metal piping ran across the surface carrying recycled coolant and large exhausts should they need to vent off into space. The cooling lines ran up and around the underside of the large shield dome covered in stacks of thin metal blades acting as radiators, shedding heat before the coolant made the return trip back to the engine. The end of the ship finished in a long spike sticking out of the main exhaust nozzle.
    Jerem attached the tether from his belt line to a ring on the lip of the shield, adjusted his thrust and floated inward, the gigantic shield blocking out the sunlight above him. He could feel the heat dissipating out of his suit while inside the shadow, and his suit’s heaters kicked in to compensate. He aimed towards the heavy twisted metal tubing of the fuel delivery systems ahead of the engine housing.
    He approached the near end of the cylinder and the two heavy lines that snaked in from the fuel pods above. He was recording the trip via his helmet camera. “Exterior looks good. Nothing visible on the surface. Approaching line two.”
    “Roger that.” His headset crackled with his father’s voice over the ship’s local radio system. They used an analog band for local transmissions instead of the system-wide digital network. The Future Sound of London was replaced by The Sisters of Mercy on his headset.
    Jerem approached the line. Meter-thick silver shielding covered the cable he was following. He traced it into a connector above a panel labeled Injector 02 and surrounded by yellow and black hash marks on the sealed compartment of the reactor.
    “Opening the maintenance hatch.” Jerem reached out and grabbed the chunky handle inset above the panel and braced his feet on the hull. The handle was hard to turn, but he managed to get it into the open position and haul it up.
    The heavy hatch lid slid in and down revealing the machinery inside responsible for pulling the heavy liquid hydrogen from the fuel pod into the fusion reactor below.
    Jerem peered inside. Reached in with one bulky glove and moved one of the wiring bundles aside. There was a small black scorch mark on the top of one of the injector housings near the power coupling.
    “Uh, Dad, I think I’ve found the problem. Looks like one of the injectors had a bad link with the power system. I don’t think it’s fried, but we’ll probably want to replace the connector when we’re back in dock. I’m going to try seal it up in the meantime.”
    Jerem could sense his father looking at the video feed from his helmet cam. “Jer, can you get some more light in there? Disconnect that conduit completely and let me see it.”
    “Aye.” Jerem unscrewed the connector, struggling through his suit’s gloves to get a grip on the knurled plug. Only a turn and it came loose. He wriggled the connection apart and popped it out of the injector housing. He peered in, positioning his head lights and camera into the hatch. He didn’t see any other issues besides the scorch marks.
    “I don’t see anything else, do you?”
    “No sir. The connector wasn’t screwed in all the way. Or it came loose.”
    “Ok, reconnect it and use some resin glue to pin that down and get back inside. We need to get going.”
    “Yup.” Jerem had already begun trying to reattach the power line and get the screw ring to mesh with the base. He managed it, tightened it down and got out his glue gun. He warmed up the surface, careful not to get near the conduit and then carefully squeezed a blob of molten