Smith stood in front of the ring of pods.
"Here is the situation. Three months ago 626 sent a distress call. Then the ship went silent. Last known status: crew alive, mining ops running. Now main power reads dead and the vessel is tumbling through the system with no control.
"We cannot dock. The docking collar is torn open. There is nothing left to lock onto. So we do this the ugly way. You sleep in these pods for the three-month burn. That saves air and rations. When we arrive, the same pods fire at the hull, clamp on, and cut a hole big enough for one person. One pod, one body. If a pod fails, we lose that person. That is the plan the fleet signed.
"This is an investigation, not an assault. We find out what happened to the crew and the research, and we leave. Green-One through Green-Five, you take position when Hayes calls it. Hayes, you do not improvise until you are inside and you can see the deck. Any questions that matter?"
Nobody spoke.
The pods were black shells just wide enough for a man. Webbing across the chest and legs. A mask that dropped from the collar. A small window over the face. No bulky armor. Same thin idea as the suits. Sleep in them. Hit the ship in them.
Hayes lay back. The graft rested on the left rail. The magnet tapped once and let go. The lid came down.
The dream started on Earth.
The path through the rocks. His mother ahead of him, showing which way was the real one. The cabin. Then a night before she got sick enough that the doctor started talking about medicine Hayes could not find. She sat on the bed and talked about his father.
He could see her mouth moving. He could not hear a word. He tried to lean in. The dream would not give him the sound.
It jumped.
Lilith, younger, dirt on her hands, carrying wire. They had snuck out past the wall for parts Odis needed. She talked the whole walk. He kept watch. That was them. Work that was also just being next to each other.
Honey bread. The radio. The flower on the path.
His mother's mouth again. Still silent.
Then Smith's voice cut through it.
"We're on station. Get up. Get your blood moving. The dock is still unusable. In ten minutes these pods become entry rounds. Stretch, suit, seal, and wait for my mark."
Hayes sat up too fast. Three months had made everything stiff. One through Five climbed out of their shells. Numbers already on their glass. Smith was standing like he had not slept at all.
Hayes rolled his shoulders and caught it.
Five was looking at him.
Not a quick look. Long enough that the outlands would have called it a problem. Hayes had stayed alive by noticing that kind of thing.
Five looked away and started putting on the suit.
Hayes did the same. Black layers. Magnet still there through the palm. Brace still there on the arm. Mask at the jaw.
Around the ring the lids stood open. Five stepped over to Hayes's pod like he was checking a strap. His hand went low. Something small went onto the inner rail. Then Five walked back to his own pod and sat down.
Smith came over to that shell.
"In. Seal it."
Five lay back. Smith put a hand on the frame, checked the lock, and went to the launch board.
Hayes was sweating inside the suit. He told himself it was the wake-up. He thought of the line from the academy and used it.
Stay on the task. Keep it simple.
"Launch on my count. Three. Two. One. Go."
The pods kicked off the shuttle.
Space. No fleet out here. Just the wreck.
626 filled the window.
It was huge. A dark juggernaut. Plates on plates, cargo spines, a dead crown where the bridge should be. No lights. The dock was a torn hole, metal peeled back and frozen. The whole ship rolled slow, a black mountain turning in nothing.
Hayes's pod was supposed to hit mid-ship. Cargo. The line Smith had drawn.
Then a small burst of electricity snapped under his left shoulder.
The magnet jumped. The cutter stuttered. The pod slid off line.
The ship moved in the glass. Mid-ship became the far end—the bridge end.
"Course—"
The comm broke up. The other pods were still on path, small and correct.
His was not.
The dark prow of 626 came up at him, and the injection collar started to spin.