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.,.couple of seconds later the circle of light reached the outer edge of the, Redshift s' hull having lit the whole, hemisphere I faced The whole mp hemisphere.e ty.From here theRedshift was smaller than a basketball held in my outstretched hand FennMelgard would.have been merely an insect crawling on its surface but I would have seen himif he had been there So,.either he was on the other side or he was no longer with us The dull blacksurface of the sphere gave no,.clues.I gave my jets another command this time at an angle chosen to keep myumbilical cord tight but also to, , start me in an orbit around the ship a decaying orbit limited by mylifeline winding around the shipPage 80ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html,.I watched the time Fortunately the gravity fell off gradually enough that Icould ignore rate-of-time., problems caused by gravity differentials When I was in position for the nextglimpse I set the flash to start., going off at ten-second intervals.The first image of the ship was visible more quickly this time It was muchlarger than before but the., surface was still barren.I watched carefully each time I saw a new image of the hull of theRedshift.Each image was closer and larger but still vacant When I had traveled most ofthe way around the,.Redshift s' hull I turned on my, shoulder lamps and left them on.The open airlock door showed itself directly under me and I turned on onefinal blast from the jets to ease my impact A speed-of-light miscalculationdrove me to fall forward as I landed I bounced off the.hull and then fell gently back in one-sixth gee.I untangled my lifeline and regained my footing I walked back a few steps tothe airlock cavity flicking., the extra few meters of lifeline out of my way A switch next to the opendoor turned the airlock lights.back on I jumped lightly down into the opening.In the airlock I linked a shorter line from my suit to a hook on the walldisconnected my long tether and, , started reeling it in It was only after my gaze wandered while I waspulling in the lifeline that I noticed the.blood.Iassu ed m it was blood anyway There wasn't much else it could have been Sincethis environment,.leached the color from anything not protected by a field or specially treatedthe drops on the floor were, almost the same shade of gray as the floor itself but they definitely lookedlike blood spatters several, circular drops of different sizes each with rippled edges I suddenly changedmy mind about where Fenn,.Melgard must be If I was right he had died a long way from home.Page 81ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html,.I had let my preoccupation with Tara Cline and Jenni Sonders inhibit the flowof possibilities One theory.I hadn't explored was that Jenni and Fenn Melgard were both murdered by athird party Or could Fenn.have found a second victim? I discarded that possibility for now since no oneelse had been reported missing.If Fenn had been dripping blood when he was in the airlock he certainly hadn'tbeen wearing a jumpsuit,.He must have taken his trip outside at someone else's insistence assuming hewas even alive at that point,.And that someone else had either jettisoned a jumpsuit with Fenn or hidden itsomewhere or pushed the, , right buttons to send it into another layer of space No matter which wayit was done that third party., certainly had known a missing body with no missing suit would instantly tellus we should be looking for someone else.So not only did we have a killer on board, we had no clues whatsoever to thekiller's identity.I finished reeling in the lifeline as I considered the options My firstinstinct to call Bella on the bridge and., warn her felt unwise even before I reached to close the overhead airlockdoor If the killer were a,.crewmember the communications lines could be monitored The one slim advantagewe had at the,.moment was that the killer should believe no one yet suspected the truth.With the ceiling door closed against the endless night I started admitting airto the airlock The,.double-digit display of pressure as a percentage of normal began to riserapidly from 00 climbed steadily, to the low 90s and gradually slowed down until it stopped at 100,.Even after such a brief outing I was eager to get out of my jumpsuit Having toturn my torso to see the,.view at the edge of my vision made me slightly claustrophobic so I unfastenedmy helmet before I, reached to open the inner airlock door.I didn't complete my attempt to open the airlock door I didn't even get myhelmet entirely off I had.unlocked the neck seal and was starting to lift the helmet off my head when Ibecame aware of a sweet smell in the air a smell that shouldn't have beenPage 82ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthere.I tried to refasten my helmet but my fingers refused to cooperate A black fogat the edge of my vision.grew thicker and expanded toward the center until it obscured everythingbefore my eyes.I'm sure I felt nothing as I crumpled to the floor.***A sharp pain at the side of my neck was my first sensation as I revived.For a long disoriented moment I thought I was back on Redwall recovering froma beating at the hands, , of several of the older kids I bitterly swore at my parents whoever theywere for delivering me here., ,.But something wasn't right I wasn't lying on a filthy cot in what everyonesarcastically called "the.dormitory " The light filtering through my partly open eyelids was not comingfrom high barred windows.,.Finally I realized that the pain was caused by the lip of a jumpsuit helmetbiting into my neck I was lying.on the floor of a closed airlock.an airlock aboard theRedshift.I forced myself to a sitting position and took off the helmet remembering theodor I had smelled just, before I passed out I twisted my head around to see the master clock display.The airlock whirled I felt hung over My eyes refocused on the display.I had been out for several hours.Too many things didn't make sense Why would someone gas me in the airlock andthen just leave me
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