Hermes and Raphael pushed.
It was not effortless, though it should have been impossible. The Soyuz spacecraft weighed thousands of metric tons, a steel leviathan built for orbit, not for the gentle hands of two living beings to guide.
And yet, as their bodies shone with the blinding fire of Paragon energy, they moved it. It was like swimming against an ocean current while pushing a dinghy in front of them. Muscles strained, the vacuum pressed against their bodies….
But they kept pushing for hours.
Hermes focused on every micro-adjustment. If they angled too far to the left, the spacecraft could re-enter the atmosphere wrong and burn up. Too far right, and it would spiral endlessly into the void. He adjusted the angle with delicate flicks of his wrist, his six radiant wings spreading wide to brace against the stars.
