Alice clipped on her tether, threw off the harness and leapt from her seat. She realized her mistake at once. Her fingers slipped off the open canopy as she tried and failed to slow her ascent into space.

In a moment of clarity she grabbed the tether and yanked. The line went taught and her body jerked against the cord. Alice whispered a silent thanks to whoever had installed the friction brake.

Twenty feet below her the Canvasback compensated for her clumsy exit. Alice pulled herself back down along the rope, each tug triggering a tiny burst from the crafts engine.

Back at the ship she released the tether's brake and departed again, this time emulating Marcos's hand-over-hand crawl. She made it safely to Marcos's line and grabbed hold.

She checked the time. Earth would be doomed in fifteen minutes, Marcos sooner. No time for caution. She pulled hard, accelerating headfirst toward the airlock. There was a brief moment of resistance as she took up the slack she'd spooled out earlier. She gave another pull and powered through.

The airlock door grew rapidly larger; Alice rotated her body to get her feet forward, absorbing the shock of impact with her legs.

The light on the airlock was now red. Alice slammed the button to start the cycle. Meanwhile she unhooked her own tether and clipped it next to Marcos's.

After what felt like an eternity the door slid open. A constellation of crimson orbs swirled in the narrow space, glittering in the bright lights of the airlock. The balls twitched and bounced, animated by roiling central bubbles.

It took Alice a moment to realize what she was looking at. Blood. Marcos's blood, boiling in the vacuum of space. And whatever hurt him was on the other side of the door.

Implausible horrors paraded through Alice's mind. Perspiration built inside her suit, the cold sweat of fear. But lives beyond measure hung in the balance. There would be no turning back.

Alice started the airlock cycle, then crouched against the far wall, ready to launch herself at the mystery assailant.

The door opened to a scene of carnage. Pieces of broken machinery floated through the air, slowly losing inertia as they careened off the control pod walls. Alice recognized one of the larger chunks as the body of a mining robot. Another one of Lynch's traps? Harmless now. At least, to her.

Floating motionless in the middle of the room was Marcos. Blood leaked out from a neat slash across his abdomen, trailing off in a cloud of more red gems. Though these ones weren't boiling.

The detail stuck in Alice's brain. Why weren't they boiling? Marcos's suit most have vented its gas supply to the cramped control pod. That meant there was a limited atmosphere here, maybe enough to keep Marcos alive. If she could close the wound and repair the suit, he might even make it back to Earth.

Alice checked her chronometer. Eight minutes. Earth could wait.

Alice knew the control pod contained a first aid kit; she remembered a group of engineers bike-shedding over what the proper mix of supplies was for a mining base operator. She was pretty sure liquid sutures and a suit patch had made the list.

Alice's heart sank as she checked for it on the wall. The housing was there, but the kit itself was gone. Had it not been installed? Or had it gotten knocked loose in the melee?

Alice scanned the bouncing detritus, looking for any piece large enough to be the kit. She had almost lost hope when she noticed a dented metal box in Marcos's hand. He had the kit!

She pulled the box from Marcos's hand, heedless of the cloud of blood. Opening the kit was tricky wearing thick gloves; the box slid from her grip as she attempted to squeeze the pressure clasp.

On the third attempt it popped open. Alice snatched out the liquid sutures. The applicator was strange but intuitive, and Marcos's wound was soon sealed.

The patch was a straightforward self-sealing affair, and soon Alice had Marcos's suit back together. She hoped. She carefully unscrewed Marcos's empty air tank, then replaced it with her own. Marcos's suit puffed out gently and seemed to hold pressure.

An icon on her helmet flashed to indicate the tank disconnect, but her gas levels were fine. Two minutes left to change Petbe's course. She could worry about the tank later; time to do what she came for.

She pulled out Robert's thumb drive and carefully slotted it in to the central console. A terminal opened and Alice ran the script.

> /media/usb0/petbe.sh

PETBE CONTROL CHANGE INITIATED

FOR MORE OPTIONS, PRESS 1

> █

Alice squinted at the screen. She'd reviewed Robert's code back in Portland; there hadn't been anything about 'more options.' What did it mean?

The mission was accomplished, Marcos was dead or dying. Curiosity could wait, right? Alice looked to the door, then back to the screen. She jammed the '1' key.

PLEASE LOG IN TO CONTINUE

username: █

This was foolish. She should go. And yet, what difference would a few seconds make? Alice hurriedly tapped in her old SpaceCore credentials. A message from her dead friend greeted her.

Hello Alice. I'm glad it is you. After what happened in Portland, I worried you might not make it. I'm pretty sure I won't. Or didn't. Anyhow, I'll keep this short, in case she's looking over your shoulder.

I know Weizza wants us to turn Petbe over to her. But she's a goddam psycho. There's another option - we can use Petbe's propulsion system, send it back into space. Disable communications and put it out of reach of everyone for good. What do you say?

EJECT PETBE FROM ORBIT? [Y/N]

> █

"Robert, you wonderful man," Alice whispered.

> Y

INITIATING EJECT SEQUENCE

Goodbye Alice

The screen went dark and the room began trembling lightly. Alice floated up toward the ceiling as Petbe changed course. Marcos's unconscious body bobbed up next to her.

"Well love, looks like we're done saving the world. Let's get you home."

As Alice wrangled Marcos's inert body back into the airlock, her hand landed on a bulky rectangle. The explosives for breaching the door.

She looked over to the console. If she left it someone could always send up another ship, override Robert's plan and bring Petbe back to Earth. But if she disabled it, the last link was cut. She smiled at Marcos.

"You did say you wanted fireworks."

Alice took the demolitions kit to the console and placed the charge. She set the detonator for fifteen minutes, then kicked back over to the airlock.

Her helmet flashed an orange 'Low Oxygen' warning. Alice stopped to retrieve her air tank. Marcos wasn't exerting himself; he'd have plenty of oxygen until they got back to the Canvasback.

She unscrewed the canister and plugged it back in to her own suit, waiting for the familiar hiss. It didn't come.

The tank was empty.

With rising dread Alice turned Marcos gently. There was another, smaller slash she had missed, below the first. Just a nick to the suit fabric really. But enough to bleed air.

Alice slapped another patch on the tear, but the damage was done. She'd have to make it back on the air she had. Thankfully the trip back was short.

Alice cycled the airlock, breathing slowly to conserve oxygen. Then the door opened and she gasped involuntarily. Covering the horizon was a swarm of mining robots. They crawled jerkily toward Alice.