Free The Diamond Deep by Brenda Cooper

toward the other door. Three suited figures. He had no sense of whether there should or could be more of them, but it felt there should be more.
    As they reached the far side, hands pulled him in and helped him unhook then handed him along the wall. At the far end, he passed the third person, who gripped his hand as tightly as possible, glove to glove.
    Marcelle.
    He chilled, seeing her here. Whatever was about to happen was going to be bad. He felt that, felt it deep.
    Her features were distorted by the scratched helmet glass, but he could make out a welcoming smile below eyes wide with wonder and fear. He held onto the wall with his left hand, a slight push setting him to floating 90 degrees from the wall. She did the same, using the other hand. It set them floating belly to belly. They touched free hands. A null-g hug they’d learned as youngsters when they were first taught how to suit up.
    They exchanged looks of pleasure at the success of the small joint maneuver.
    Ix. “Watch the far side.”
    The skin of the Fire . Onor braced, made sure Marcelle was braced. Everyone looked ready, and awkward. They bulked against the wall of the cargo bay. Onor felt naked without a weapon, but they had nothing that would work well in the awkward gloves.
    The outer locks were designed to allow the biggest cargo containers in and out of the ship.
    Lights showed through one of those locks.

Ruby chewed at her lip as the invading ship that had stepped on the camera attached itself to the outside of the Fire with a wobbling movement, as if it were testing its stickiness. The camera angle Ix had found was fairly clear, but even zoomed in, details were tough to see. A second ship did the same thing. “They are landing over airlocks,” Ix said.
    The third ship failed to get a grip on the Fire ’s silvery skin and ripped away so fast it seemed as if the ship vanished in an eyeblink. Ix replayed the bit of grainy footage. It was impossible to tell why this ship’s feet didn’t stick to the Fire , but in slow motion it looked more spectacular that it had when it happened. One of the legs ripped off and tumbled away. The other three feet held on, flexing, and then lost their holds fast, like a zipper, and the ship disappeared from between frames.
    Ani put a hand over her mouth and no sound came out, although her shoulders heaved.
    â€œIs it going to try again?” Ruby asked.
    â€œI’m sure it’s gone. It did not appear to have enough power to catch us.”
    She stared at the place it had been. “Were there people inside?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    The invaders —that’s how she thought of them now— the invaders looked small against the big generation ship’s outer skin.
    The sheer surprise of them clung to Ruby. “Those are the ones over C?”
    â€œYes,” Ix replied.
    Onor and Marcelle were there. Ruby wanted to be with them. “Can they know?” Ruby asked. “That the habitation section on C is empty?”
    â€œI do not believe it is possible.”
    Ani had dropped her hand from her mouth and it joined her other hand at about waist level, fingers twisting tight.
    â€œI’ve never seen you so nervous,” Ruby told her. “It’ll be okay.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œIt has to be.” Ruby spoke to Ix. “No one from the Fire could have sent them information?” she asked.
    â€œI would know.”
    Ruby believed. “So it must just be dumb luck.”
    Joel stood just far enough away that Ruby couldn’t hear the details of his whispered conversations. She slid over by him and curled her hand around his arm, wanting to be close when something happened.
    â€œLook!” KJ commanded their attention.
    An even smaller pod had detached from one of the bigger ones, or maybe been let loose. It looked like it came through a door, although between the graininess of the picture and the angle, it was hard to tell.