Free Into the Sea of Stars by William R. Forstchen Page A

and sweating, the other three helped brace him into position and he tried again.
    As if on rusted hinges, the handles gave way slowly then suddenly they broke free and started to spin of their own volition. The doorway slid open. A slight puff of air came out of the ship. Ian looked up and his mind blanked out in horror as the ship's radio overloaded with his hys terical screams.
     
    Ellen was back in the corner, still clawing at the escape latch back into their own ship, which would not open with the outside door unlatched. Yes, he could see that now. Panicked, Ian looked around, the only sound his own convulsive breathing and Ellen's soft whimpers coming over the radio set.
    "Ian, it's all right, it's all right." It was a soft, soothing voice. Richard, yes, it was Richard.
    He could feel the hands on his shoulder. His friend's face was barely visible behind the helmet, and his own vision was obscured by the moisture from his hyperven- tilation .
    He looked back and started to turn his head.
    "No, not yet, Ian. Don't look back until you're ready."
    "What—" He started to sob again. "What—Richard, what is it?"
    "It's a body, Ian," Richard said softly, "it's nothing but a body mummified by the low pressure and dry air. It can't hurt you now, Ian. He just gave you a start when the change in pressure made him drift out of the airlock toward you."
    "Yeah, just a start." Ian could feel his self-possession on the edge of falling apart again.
    "Take a few more deep breaths and when you feel ready you can turn around."
    "Where is he?"
    "Shelley moved him back into the colony's airlock. She's waiting for us in there. I'm going over to Ellen now." He let go of Ian, and, pushing off from the wall, he floated over to where Ellen hung like a cat clinging to a sheer wall. Her sobbing still filled the headset.
    Ian took a couple of more deep breaths and slowly turned.
    As she poked around the interior of the colony's air lock, Shelley was barely visible except for her headlamp. While she searched around, she absently hung on to the mummified body with one hand.
    Bracing himself, Ian pushed forward into the ship.
    "Dr. Lacklin , I've found the airlock into the main cor ridor of the central shaft.
    "Wait a minute, we better close the hatch behind us before continuing on in."
    Ian looked back toward Richard and Ellen.
    "Go on without us," Richard said. "I'm taking Ellen back in and giving her a stress pill."
    Stress pill! Hell, he was the one the damn mummy banged into. Out of the corner of his eye he examined the body that Shelley was still hanging on to. A cold grimace of desiccated flesh and bone stared back at him out of lifeless, haunting sockets. He looked away.
    Shelley, ignoring his fear, floated back to the docking door and closed it. Looking around the room, she noticed some Velcro stripping along one wall and without any ceremony pushed the mummy up against it. The fastabs on the body's uniform locked him into place. Leaving him on the wall, she floated back to Ian.
    As she passed by him there was a flash of a smile that made Ian shudder. She was enjoying this!
    "Want me to open this one?" she asked.
    He nodded and closed his eyes. Would he ever be able to open a door again?
    She turned the handle. There was a faint whisper of air as the pressure equalized. Something bumped against him. He wanted to scream, but with a supreme effort he repressed it. Opening his eyes, he discovered that Shelley was up against him.
    He half suspected that she had banged into him on purpose, and a slightly mischievous smile almost confirmed it. There were no bodies inside, however, and to gether they pushed into the main corridor and started to explore.
     
    "Shelley, Ian, this is Stasz . You better prepare for your return. Your in-suit reserve is below twenty percent."
    Ian checked the elapsed time on his arm-mounted watch. Nearly six hours and not one percent of the vessel explored. They hadn't even gotten out of the main shaft area.
    The sheer