Free Fear the Future (The Fear Saga Book 3) by Stephen Moss Page A

enough power to gore them all if they were not careful. Then it was docile once more, its mighty breath exhausted, its bulk once more pliable.
    Samuel: ‘ok, we’re going to bring her in on this next push. charlie, we’ll need a good stretch of peace and quiet here, at least seven seconds, so we’ll go on your mark. remy, sending final trajectories now. tether team, you know your jobs. don’t get cocky. we can rebuild the tether but not the wreckers, delicate little flowers that they are.’
    His crew all laughed, the twenty-three souls he commanded spread out across the great ship: engineers, pilots, technicians, physicists, and then Sam himself. The commander, at once the least qualified in any of the many specialties the mission required, and the most qualified across all of them.
    As the clock counted down, he reached up with two of the four massive claws that were his wrecker’s hands and feet, each equally powerful, each completely interchangeable as he grappled, pulled, and pushed the two massive objects together, the two-million-ton asteroid and the seven-hundred-ton ship that was about to latch onto it.
    Charles: ‘this is it, 1.2, 0.8, 0.4 …’
    They braced for a particularly long and powerful burst from either end of the mighty ship, the entire hulk vibrating wildly as Charlie wasted nearly half a billion horsepower in two great blue geysers. The strain was herculean on the ship’s hull, but it was designed for it, a jail strong enough to imprison eight stars and keep their riotous fury penned.
    The word ‘go’ was not so much spoken as given unto their minds, initiating a ballet filled with equal parts effort and finesse.
    The two masses came together, eased by gentle pushes from Remy’s thrusters, tugged by massive exertion from the four wreckers that grasped the mount on the outside of one of the eight engines and the saddle they were bringing it into.
    Seconds passed like ages as they rushed against the impending clamor of the next pulse-out, 5.5, 5.0, 4.5, 4.0. Precious moments. Their captain spoke as the voice of command within all their minds.
    Samuel: ‘forward point five to matthew, three tenths off, pete, three … that’s it … that’s it … almost there.’
    The clamps seized in quick succession. They must all go or none, they either had the engine’s feet firmly in the stirrups or they must let it go free once more, that or risk the two momentous giants ripping each other apart.
    Samuel: ‘close it … go, go. we have seal on … clamp 3, clamp 1, clamp 4 … clamp 2. release it, charlie!’
    And the pulse came, a flood of power, now harnessed to the asteroid’s mass. Where the ship vibrated less now that it was held firm, the greater rock they were here to bring home shook as if awakening to its fate. If there had been atmosphere, and if the Wreckers had even been equipped with ears, the noise would have been deafening as the two great titans seemed to shout out for the first time in unified protest.
    The diminutive little humans were meddling with forces that should be beyond their control. But control them they must, and control them they would.
    A great dust rose from the surface of the asteroid once known as 1979va. It would never settle, it would rise up and off forever, forming a new tail as they turned the big rock from asteroid to comet, and then from comet into moon.
    But it was not Asteroid 1979va anymore. Captain Harkness spoke with deep-seated pride to his crew.
    Samuel: ‘we have her, team! well done! well done, all of you!’
    A virtual cheer rose up in the ether. Much later it would be taken up by the ever-growing teams of TASC when they received transmission of the monumental event, and even by the leaders of the nations adjusting to their new relationship with the once tame enterprise. For this was, by anyone’s measure, a great day.
    They had harnessed a part of the firmament. They were now in the business of literally moving mountains. There was much still to