Free Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation by Ryk Brown Page A

thrusters located at various points around the ring. The top ring of the ERT began to rise off the cart, stretching out the collapsed tunnel behind it as it rose away from the Aurora and toward the Celestia directly above.

    “ Team One is ascending toward the Celestia, ” the voice announced over the speakers on the Aurora’s bridge. “ ETA to contact: three minutes. ”
    “It’s kind of hard to decide if they are ascending or descending,” Nathan commented as he watched the deployment process on the main view screen through the flight apron cameras. “I guess it depends on which ship you’re looking from.”
    “At some point, they’ll have to invert themselves,” Cameron said, “or the gravity of Metis will pull them in head first.”
    “It wouldn’t injure them though,” Nathan said. “The gravity on Metis is too weak.”
    “True, but it would be… clumsy looking at best.”
    Nathan nodded indifference as he continued watching. Just as Cameron had predicted, about halfway between the Aurora and the Celestia, the two technicians holding onto the ERT’s ring inverted themselves so that they were now descending feet first toward the Celestia.
    “Eighty seconds to contact,” the technician announced over the comms. The technician controlling the ERT’s distal connection ring fired the ring’s thrusters several more times to compensate for the tunnel’s resistance to expansion as it began to approach its maximum length.
    “I’m not sure that thing is going to reach,” Nathan said.
    “It will reach,” Cameron answered confidently.
    Nathan turned slightly to call over his shoulder to Naralena. “How’s the fuel transfer team doing?”
    After a moment, Naralena answered. “The team leader reports the propellant transfer line is paying out correctly. They should be connected and ready to pressure test the hose in about five minutes.”
    “Very good.”
    “ Contact, ” the technician operating the ERT ring reported. “ Connecting ERT to the Celestia’s topside midship service airlock. ”
    “I suppose you’ve thought about what to do if we have to leave quickly,” Nathan said.
    “The ERT is self-retracting. When one end disconnects, the retraction winches at the opposite end automatically start pulling it back. It takes about ten minutes to fully retract the tunnel into its storage configuration.”
    “What happens if there are people inside the tunnel when we have to leave?”
    “The ERT has an iris at each end. In the event of a sudden decrease in pressure, the irises automatically close.”
    “Good to know.”
    “Celestia side is secured,” the technician reported.
    “Team Two is moving,” the leader of the second team announced.
    “All they have to do now is attach the other end of the ERT to our topside midship maintenance airlock, and we’ll be ready to start moving people and supplies over,” Cameron announced.
    “What’s first on the repair list?” Nathan asked.
    “We’ve already got a team working on the leak on the command deck. And another team is rigging a temporary tunnel the senior chief devised to join the command deck with the rest of the ship.”
    “No more EVA suits just to go forward, then.”
    “Should speed things along, yes. Lieutenant Montgomery’s plasma cannon turret team has attached several equipment-maneuvering units to the turret in order to fly it over to the Celestia.”
    “Where are they planning on installing it?” Nathan asked.
    “One of the survey teams discovered that the elevator platform for the missile launcher is fully functional, as are the bay doors,” Cameron explained. “Once they move the weapon over, they can close the doors and pressurize the bay in order to work more easily. There are also main power trunks running just under the missile deck, so tapping into them for power should be relatively easy.”
    “We might make a warship out of her sooner than expected,” Nathan said as he rose.
    “One gun does not make a