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.“I will never complain about boredom on the bridge again,” she said as she sat between Harpreet and her brother.“Boring over drama any day,” mumbled Crusty from across the room.“Crusty obtained some vid footage of the outside of our ship,” said Harpreet, passing a computing wafer to Jessamyn.Jess winced upon viewing the long ugly scarring along the starboard side of the Galleon.“Poor old girl,” she said, her voice a mere whisper.Tracing her fingers along the image of the scar, Jess shivered.It was a grim reminder of the destruction of the Red Dawn.“‘Nother two minutes was all they needed,” said Crusty.The dark flash of anger in his eyes told Jess he felt the same way about the ship as did she.“You did good, kid, getting the Galleon out of range.”The Captain entered, looking bleary-eyed, and the conversation turned to their mission.With only four days remaining in transit, many details remained to be hammered out, reconsidered, and otherwise determined upon.Jess tried to focus upon her ration, but the images from Crusty’s vid danced before her eyes still.She realized anew how fortunate they were to have suffered only damage to the observation deck.The meal ended, bringing with it the moment when Ethan would remember he couldn’t visit the ob-deck before retiring.Jess followed him with her eyes as he rose and said good night to the crew, but would not allow herself to trail behind him, ask if he was okay, feel sorry for him.Instead of turning aft to his room, officially the captain’s quarters, Ethan strode forward to check something on the bridge.Kipper’s giving up of the ship’s largest quarters to Crusty and Ethan had surprised everyone, Jessamyn most of all, but she felt certain the additional space was helpful to her brother.Turning to Crusty at her side, Jess asked, “Will you be able to fix the ob-deck leak on Earth?”The payload specialist shrugged.“Likely, I can.”Crusty was standoffish to a degree that made Ethan look friendly and accommodating.But it was plain enough why MCC had chosen him: he could fix anything.It was rumored that you could set him out on the planitia with only a methanol/oxygen fuel-cell system suit and a reverse-water-gas-shift reactor, and in a week he would be not only alive, but living in a structure he’d built from dirt and ice by turning these into metals, glass, and other useful items.It was rumored, but no one had dared him to do it.He didn’t invite or welcome conversation.“Well,” said Jessamyn, “If you need someone for grunt work, I’m at your disposal.I won’t have much else to do.”Crusty grunted.Harpreet smiled at them both, but whether it was because Jessamyn’s attempts at conversation amused or pleased her, Jess couldn’t tell.“I’ll be on the bridge, Payload Specialist,” said Kipper, rising to depart.“If Ethan’s on the bridge still, would you tell him I’m calling it a night?” Jess asked.Catching Harpreet’s gentle eye upon her, Jess restrained herself from adding but he can wake me up if he needs me.The Captain nodded curtly.Harpreet smiled, and this time Jess felt sure what it meant: Well done, daughter.Crusty, bent over the used walk-out suit for a thorough systems-check, called after Jess as she rose to leave.“Thanks for the offer to help.You’re like your ma, you know.”Jessamyn flushed and smiled.Usually people remarked upon her similarity to her granddad, which was fine, but this was a welcome change.Turning forward to her quarters, she tried to remember what she knew about her mom’s acquaintance with the gruff mechanic.She had just entered her room and pressed the hatch button to close behind her when she heard Crusty’s voice again.“Bells of Hades!” he swore.Jess caught the utterance as her door slid shut.She paused, then punched the hatch button to re-open her door.It pulled back just in time to reveal Crusty, racing for the bridge, shouting on the ship’s comm to the Captain.“Shut down the whole mid-section!”Harpreet, trailing in Crusty’s footsteps, stopped to speak to Jessamyn.“It’s the ob-deck leak.The patches didn’t take, and the seal-doors aren’t to airlock specification.He’s going to have to seal off the back end of the ship.”Jess looked down the hall.She could already hear the grind of the emergency airlock seals.“My brother!”“Is he not on the bridge, child?”Jessamyn was already dashing along the hall to make sure.She called out, “Ethan? Eth? You on the bridge?”Reaching the front of the ship, she looked to her brother’s seat at the communications panel.He wasn’t there.“Where’s Ethan?” cried Jess.“Stop the isolation protocol!”“Belay that,” shouted Kipper.“No,” Jess shouted, “You have to stop—”Kipper bellowed, “Get off my bridge, First Officer.”Harpreet, examining a screen, spoke softly to Jessamyn.“It cannot be stopped, daughter.The hull breach is venting air into space at a terrible pace.”“My brother!” cried Jessamyn.“Payload Specialist, seal the aft sleep quarters as well,” called Kipper.“Mombasu, get her off my bridge, now!”The order was unnecessary; Jessamyn was already running, hurling herself at the emergency bulkhead, calling her brother’s name.Harpreet grabbed Jess, threw her to the ground, and used her own weight to pin Jessamyn.“You cannot cross the seal!” said Harpreet.Jess struggled—a mad, wild thing desperate for freedom.Harpreet shouted, “Listen: the Captain has ordered the bulkhead on the far side to be closed as well.If I allowed you to pass, you would suffocate, sealed between doors.”The bulkhead’s set of airlock doors bolted into place, shuddering the floor beneath Jess’s pounding heart.Harpreet shifted off of her, allowing Jessamyn to move.But Jess lay still.“He’s trapped,” she whispered.“He’s safe from the breach,” replied Harpreet.“He is in his quarters and he is safe.”Crusty pounded down the hall, a leak detector in his outstretched hand.He ran the device along the seams of the bulkhead.“We have a lock-seal on this side, Captain,” he said into the comm-link.Kipper strode down the hall as well, calling into her own comm-link.“Communications Specialist Jaarda, do you have a secure seal on your side?”Jess dug her nails into her palms as she heard her brother’s voice
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