Free Arrival by Ryk Brown

transfer tube.
    “ You’re not back yet? ” Frank’s impatient voice crackled over the comm-system.
    “Understood.”
                    
    The status indicator on the second pod changed on Frank’s display. “Pod two away!” Frank glanced at the ship’s status board. “Plasma must be reaching the engine cowlings on the tail. Their surface temperature is rising sharply.”
                    
    “Change your stance, Tony!” Mac yelled. Tony shifted his torso sideways as Mac reached down and activated Tony’s mag-boots. “I’m gonna recharge this bottle.” Mac launched himself gracefully through the midship hatch into the airlock bay and stuck the fire bottle into the recharge fitting in the wall next to its storage locker. The recharging system hissed as it filled the bottle with pressurized, fire-suppressive chemicals. Within seconds, the bottle was filled, and the red light on the recharge mechanism turned green. Mac released the locking mechanism from the bottle’s base and pulled it from the wall.
    Will came floating down out of the transfer tube overhead as Mac spun around to return to the fire. “How’s it going?”
    “Like shit!” Mac confessed. “Get Jack and haul ass back here before there’s no here to come back to!”
    “I’ll do my best!” Will promised. Mac patted him on the back as he moved through the hatch. Another strange sensation for Will. Bravado. Male bonding. Not something he would have expected. Especially from Mac.
    Will glanced briefly at the fire as he passed behind Tony. He was scared to death of it, and the less he saw, the better. He moved quickly along, hand-over-hand along the overhead rail, across the wardroom and then aft through the berthing corridor. His arms strained as he struggled to pull his own mass, as well as his pressure suit and life-support pack. He found himself wishing that he had spent more time working on his upper body strength, especially his arms. Movement in zero gravity was all about arm strength, and he had concentrated more on overall body conditioning during their journey, striving to combat the detrimental effects of prolonged living in microgravity on his cardiovascular system and overall health in general.
                    
    Jack pulled the release handle on the third drop pod. Time was critical, so Jack didn’t watch the pod drop away. He immediately moved back across the corridor to the fourth pod’s control panel, holding up his data pad again to watch the timer.
                    
    Will entered the access tube carefully to avoid jamming the top of his life-support pack in the hatch frame. He always felt so fragile inside his pressure suit. Only a layer of fabric encased him in his private little atmosphere. His very life was dependent upon a few high-tech machines on his back and the strength of the fabric around him. He drifted out of the tube and across the floor of the pod bay. Stopping his forward momentum, he righted himself and looked down the corridor. This place was unfamiliar to him. In the limited amount of time the science team had available for training aboard the Icarus, prior to the start of this mission, he had never actually been inside this part of the ship. He knew where it was located, how to get to it, and what it was for. But only from the plans, not from actual experience.
    It was dark inside. Apart from the glowing control lights on the walls, there was only the light on Jack’s helmet, halfway down the corridor. Will reached up and turned on his helmet lamp and headed off down the corridor. It was cold in here. He could feel his suit temperature dropping, and his faceplate was already fogging up.
    Jack was positioning himself in front of the fourth pod’s control panel. For some reason that Will didn’t understand, Jack was upside down, floating in front of the control panel. It was funny to Will how the flight crew seemed to pay little attention to the