"Something wrong?" Kim stared at Cora as their transport approached the slowly tumbling robot. "Well, aside from damn near everything, I mean?"
"I'm a little surprised." Cora shrugged and made a slight course correction. "I shouldn't be. Most of the humans I've met have treated me like a person, but I've encountered bigotry often enough to be pleased when we're not thought of as 'mere machines.'"
"There'll probably always be a few people who never grow up, but most are reasonable enough, I think." Kim popped her seat harness, floated over to the airlock, and attached a tether. Cora depressurized the compartment and gave her a thumbs-up. Kim opened the hatch, secured her feet to the hull, and walked onto the dorsal surface.
"The other ship is closer to him. She's making the first attempt."
"Understood." Cora nudged the forward thrusters to slow her approach and watched the other transport inch closer to Lopez. It moved slowly into position and tried to match his twisting and turning.
"Still can't get a reply on the radio." Boner grunted. "He's in a hell of a tumble."
Kim spoke from her position on the transport's roof. "I've got a clear look at him. Both right legs are twisted into weird angles and he's dented all over. The impact kicked the shit out of him."
"Uh, Ludmila? What're you doing?"
"Line up as best as you can. I'm gonna go out and see what I can do."
Cora shook her head. "Maybe you should let Kim and I do it. Our bodies are more durable than yours." Her console pinged and she glanced at the ladar screen. "There's a large piece of debris approaching."
"I see it, too. Must've popped off the 'visitor' when it was correcting its course." Boner grumbled under her breath. "Oh, look, its trajectory will intersect ours because of course it will. We need to do this fast."
"On it." The other transport's hatch opened and Likhachyova appeared, secured with one tether and holding another in her left hand. "I have an idea. Bring us closer."
"I'll see if there's something we can do about the debris." Cora positioned her ship between the slab of hull and the other ship and rotated to avoid placing Kim directly in its path.
"Hey," Likhachyova said, "see if you can capture it. It could be the find of a lifetime."
"I'll give it a shot, but I won't compromise anyone's safety." Cora set about matching the object's slow spin. "Kim, let me know when you're ready."
"That'll do nicely," Kim said a moment later. "Grabbing on now. Begin slowing our rotation."
Cora tapped the thrusters every few seconds.
"Glad I was able to get a military-grade body back in the day. A civilian one probably would've lost its arms a few seconds ago."
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yep. Running diagnostics just in case, but nothing vital broke."
Cora continued gradually slowing her ship's spin and watched the other transport each time it passed by the main viewport. She spotted Lopez swiping his pincers at the second tether and missing before Likhachyova spoke again.
"Almost there. Get ready for a jolt."
The robot's arms swung around again and this time his left pincer clamped onto the end of the tether and pulled it taut as his rotation continued. The ship twitched and the other end of the tether zipped past Likhachyova. She lunged at it and her fingertips brushed it a split-second before it passed out of reach. She fired off a frustrated snarl.
"What's wrong?" Boner stabilized her transport. "That wasn't the kind of jolt I expected."
"The tether ripped loose. Move us a little closer. There's one more thing I can try."
"On it."
Cora gave her thrusters one more nudge and brought her ship's rotation to a stop with the cockpit facing the other transport. She watched Likhachyova clamp her left hand onto something inside the hatch and reach out for Lopez's right arm.
"Oh, no," Kim blurted. "I don't think that's a good idea!"
"It's all we've …" Likhachyova grasped his pincers and groaned through clenched teeth as she pulled him toward her.
"How badly are you hurt?"
"I'm pretty sure my shoulder is dislocated." Likhachyova grunted and managed to point at Lopez's undamaged footpads, then point at the transport's roof, and give him one more tug. "Or worse."
Lopez magnetized his feet to the hull, aimed one of his cameras at Likhachyova, and waved his arm. She waved back, pulled herself into the ship, and closed the hatch. Boner chuckled.
"I hope one of you girls recorded that. Vance will probably think it's hotter than hell."
Kim laughed. "Oh, someone's getting laid tonight."
"That depends on how long I'm stuck in the medical bay." Likhachyova let out another groan. "One can hope, though."
"Speaking of which, how about we go pick him and the others up?"
"Sounds good." Likhachyova let out a long sigh. "Y'know, it just sank in -- I've been in command for only one week and my station's been destroyed by an alien spacecraft. Fuck me."
"Given the circumstances, I don't think it'll reflect badly on you. It's not like you could've moved the station out of its orbit to avoid the collision. And you didn't lose a single crew member."
"Yes, everyone survived. That's what matters." Likhachyova's tone brightened. "And we have a piece of the alien ship. Tranquility Station has the equipment needed to analyze it."
"Once we drop the crew off at Leonov Station, we'd be happy to carry it there ourselves." Cora plotted a course back to the other half of Odyssey Station.
"I'll secure it in our cargo hold while we're picking up the crew," Kim said. "If there's any money in it somewhere down the line, we should get a cut."
"I'm happy enough to get everyone to safety, but a bonus never hurts." Cora opened a channel to Odyssey. "Vance, we've picked Lopez up and we're on our way."
"That's fantastic news! We're waiting a safe distance from the station so we won't be hammered by an antenna or something. You won't even have to dock."
"Sounds good. See you there." Cora closed the channel and notified Leonov Station to prep the med-bay for Likhachyova and the other injured crew members. Then she kept a close watch on the ladar screen for more debris and waited to arrive.
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