The starship spun him past the magnetic claws and into the canyon between Star forces two cylinders.
He continued to crawl. He had nearly reached the next hatch.
But he had also moved into a region where the starship's smooth rock surface became cracked and jumbled.
Kolya raised his head. The ship curved gradually upward, forming a close horizon.
The cosmonaut stopped, horrified, disbelieving. He had come upon the cause of the impact and the damage.
Far from striking a glancing blow, then tumbling off harmlessly into space, the missile had plunged itself into the starship. It was lodged a meter deep in Starfarer's skin.
When the earthquake hit, Infinity knew what had happened.
He never doubted the accuracy of his perception.
"What was that?" Florrie jerked her head up, and the small
shells in her hair rattled- In the comer of her main room, the painted egg snapped from its thread. It fell, bounced on a woven mat, rolled in a half-circle, and stopped. It lay miraculously unbroken.
Infinity picked it up gently and handed it to Floris. He watched himself perform such an ordinary gesture, astounded.
He was in shock, he knew he was in shock. But he was powerless to shake away the stunned certainty that Starfarer's pursuers had behaved every bit as badly as he had feared they might. No: not quite as badly. They must not have used a nuclear warhead, or Starfarer would be dead.
Arachne's web remained silent. Infinity activated the console in the comer of Florrie's main room and used the hard-link to find the location of the damage and the condition of the ship. One of the few people left on board with hard-vacuum construction experience, he was part of the damage control team. He would liave to go below immediately. Starfarer possessed self-healing capabilities, but it had limits.
"What happened?" Florrie demanded.
262 vonda N. Mclntyre
Despite everything, the ship remained on course. Infinity was amazed.
"We've encountered the string!" He gave her the good
news and kept the bad to himself. "I have to go for a while,
Florrie. I'm sorry. Will you be okay?"
"Yes." Her smile was quiet, relieved, joyful. "Yes, I'll be fine. They can't make me leave now, can they?"
Despite everything, Infinity grinned- "They sure can't."
He left her sitting in her window seal, cupping the fragile egg in both hands.
Victoria broke into a run. Other people joined her, disoriented, shocked, appalled. She reached the edge of the tumbled earth. The genetics building looked like it had been shaken until it broke. She climbed across the rough ground.
She was the first to reach the entrance. The doorway had partially collapsed. Someone was trying to crawl between its crushed supports. Victoria grabbed the clutching hand.
"Help . . ."
"It's all right," Victoria said. "You'll be out in a minute, it's all right."
The green scent of crushed grass mixed with the dry tang of mineral dust and the meaty, organic smell of spilled nutrient medium. Broken rock scraped Victoria's legs and sides, and dirt from the sagging hill's turf sifted onto her. In the dimness of the destroyed building, Victoria could see Fox, Satoshi's recalcitrant graduate student. Fox gripped desperately at her hand.
"Hang on. Can you get a foothold? Pull yourself up, there's more room above you."
With Victoria's help. Fox scrambled higher. Panting, nearly sobbing, she dragged herself out of the rubble. Beyond her it was dark except for the light that reflected from a pillowy cloud of fog: evaporating liquid nitrogen.
"Is anybody else still in there?"
Fox gasped for air. "Satoshi, and Stephen Thomas, in the cold room . . ."
Victoria pushed past her and dove through the opening.
Sliding over the destruction and into the dark corridor, she sprawled on the floor beneath a layer ot cold vapor. She stumbled to her feet. The nitrogen fog flowed across her shoulders
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and swirled around her legs. Above it, she could breathe Emergency lights glowed faintly, but the dense mist concealed the floor. She had to feel her way along. Was the cold room the third door of the back side of the hall, or the fourth?
"Satoshi! Stephen-Thomas!"
"Victoria, down here'"
Satoshi's voice: Victoria caught her breath with relief. Resisting the urge to try to hurry, she moved cautiously through the dimness. Tendrils of freezing mist, so thick and cohesive they looked like a liquid, swirled around her hips.
Infinity struggled with an access hatch that led into Star-farer's underground. It opened about a handsbreadth, then stuck. Though the worst of the missile's impact had hit the genetics department, a couple of hundred meters away, the earthquake had jammed this hatch as well. He tried again to move it, not wanting to backtrack to a more distant entrance.
"Let me help."
J.D. Sauvage squatted beside him, grabbed the edge of the hatch cover, and settled herself.
Infinity nodded.
They both pulled. The alien contact specialist was a big woman. She powered her effort with her legs, not just her back.
The hatch gave, springing open and slamming out of their grasp. They jumped away. It thudded onto the ground, bounced, and settled.
"Thanks."
"Do you need help?" J.D. said. "Should I come with you?"
"I might have to go outside," he said.
He plunged through the hatchway.
Infinity Mendez disappeared into Starfarer's underground tunnels without really answering J.D.*s question. He was so shy and quiet that J.D. could not be sure whether he had been trying to ask her for help, or trying to tell her to stay behind. But he was all alone, and she could see that whatever the problem was at the genetics department, Victoria already had as much help as she needed. Maybe more help than she needed.
264 vonda N. Mcfntyre
J.D. climbed into the tunnel.
She could not be sure which way Infinity had gone, so she kept going down whenever she could.
She entered a region in which the effects of the impact became evident. An automatic baffle-door creaked open ahead of her. She stopped, scared: if the baffles malfunctioned they might blast her out into space.
Nothing happened: no wind, no shocking cold, no vacuum drawing the air out of her lungs. The door had closed in response to the impact, but the ship's systems opened it again when they detected no difference in the air pressure on either side.
Nevertheless, she accepted the warning. As soon as she reached an airlock's access room, she climbed into a pressure suit.
"—Cherenkov. Can anyone—"
The sound startled her. The disembodied voice emanated from the suit radio. She pulled the helmet shut. The transmission faded, then returned cleariy.
"This is Kolya Petrovich. Slarfarer has been hit with a missile, which has penetrated approximately one meter into the surface. I cannot move it myself. I need help, tools, a radiation gauge. Can anyone hear me?"
"Kolya?"
"Yes! I am here, who is it?"
"J.D."
"J.D., I do not suppose you have space construction experience?"
"No."
"I must have help."
"I'll go get somebody."
"There may not be time. Will you risk it?"
"I've never been outside in space' I wouldn't know what to do!"
"This is not a complex job," he said. "But I need more strength. More strength than I have."
By his voice, she knew he was tiring. J.D. looked around, hoping to see Infinity or some other damage crew member.
But she was alone.
"All right. I'll try."
She entered the airiock. The controls were all too simple.
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The 'cycle began. The lock pumped away the air and opened the exterior hatch.
J.D. looked down. The stars streaked past beneath her feet.