Spindrift by Allen Steele Page A

and all too brief. “Enough of that,” she said softly, pushing him away before temptation could get the better of either of them. “You’ve got things to do upstairs.”
    â€œYeah. Like making sure we get out of dry dock without crashing into something.” Harker sighed as he gazed past her. Through the porthole, they could see a cargo pod maneuvering into docking position, carrying more supplies they’d need for the voyage. “What do you think?” he asked. “Can we get there and back without Ian killing us all?”
    At first she thought he was joking, but one look at his face told her that he was serious. “Don’t have any confidence in him, do you?” Raising his right hand, Ted closed his thumb and index finger an inch apart from each other. Emily shook her head. “Give him a chance. Maybe he’ll surprise us.”
    â€œRemember the botch he made of the rendezvous maneuver with Deimos Station? If Simone hadn’t corrected his orders…”
    â€œI’m sure he’s learned something from that.” She smiled. “Besides, you said it yourself…there are seven other people aboard who know their jobs, yourself included…”
    â€œOnly seven?” Harker raised an eyebrow. “You don’t count yourself?”
    â€œI’m just the shuttle driver. My job doesn’t begin until we reach Spindrift.” She shrugged. “Even then, chances are it’s only a lump of rock with some…I don’t know, something floating around it. If that’s the case, I’m just along for the ride.”
    â€œYes, well…” Harker glanced at his watch, then backed toward the door. “Look, I’d better go. Come upstairs when you’re done here, all right?”
    â€œWouldn’t miss it for the world. Ta.” She waved her fingertips, and he gave her a wink before pushing himself out into the corridor. Collins closed the door behind him, then reopened the closet and, pulling out her bag, began to unpack her things.
    She hoped she was right, that their mission would be uneventful, save for a practical demonstration of the starbridge’s hyperspace capability and perhaps the establishment of a cooperative relationship between the European Alliance and the Western Hemisphere Union. Yet it was hard to ignore the fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach, or the sense of unease she had when glancing through the porthole to see an Earth that she might never lay eyes on again.
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    â€œT-minus thirty seconds and counting.” Simone Monet’s slender hands ran across the board of the helm station, tripping a set of toggle switches. “Disconnecting from external power sources.”
    Green lights blinked along the panel above the engineering station. “Confirm that,” Martin Cohen said. “ Galileo now on internal power. Stand by for main-engine ignition in twenty-nine seconds.”
    â€œAll stations, sound off.” Ian Lawrence turned his head to gaze at the members of the flight crew, seated around him in the horseshoe-shaped compartment of Galileo ’s command center. The view of the dry dock through its wraparound windows was all but ignored; everyone’s attention was focused upon the screens above their consoles.
    â€œLife support, go.” This from Werner Gelb, seated next to Martin.
    â€œTelemetry, green for go.” Arkady had his left hand clasped against his headset, listening to last-minute communiqués from the dry dock.
    â€œHelm is go.” Although Simone was moments away from ceding her responsibilities to the ship’s AI, she wasn’t about to surrender without a fight.
    â€œEngineering is go.” Martin was the most nervous person in the room; his eyes didn’t move from the screens displaying the condition of Galileo ’s fusion reactor.
    â€œLogistics, go.” As executive officer, Antonia Vincenza’s primary task