“Time is short,” Brooks said quickly. “We’ve got two hours to get help to Lily Brogan and Davyyd Pedraza. Perhaps they have longer, but we can’t plan on that without knowing. Give me options.”

Cutter and was present in person, while Ham Sulp, Cenz, Dr. Y, Lt. Commander Pirra, and Rachel Zhu of drone control were all viewing remotely. Kai was still monitoring the channel of the pod, though also listening in.

“Response Team One is prepared to do a high-G launch to reach the pod, Captain, if you order it” Pirra said. She sounded breathy, her voice altered by the spacesuit she was already wearing.

“Not enough time,” Cutter said quickly. “Even if launched now, not enough time to reach target.”

“We can do some pretty hard launches,” Pirra noted quickly.

“G-forces extreme,” Cutter replied. “But possible. Other problems remain – such as fact that pod is on opposite side of debris field.”

“Shit,” Sulp muttered. “That cloud is going to be a bitch to get anything through.”

Brooks knew that they were already in a hard burn going between some of the difficult pods nearby – and that she was already cutting it close.

“I’m nixing that, but thank you Commander,” he said to Pirra. “You have your own job to do.”

“Aye, sir,” Pirra replied.

“I need other options,” Brooks continued. “What have we got?”

Rachel Zhu spoke up. “We have rescue drones that can get there in time, if we launch them through. They’re small and fast – they have a chance.”

“I know the models you speak of. We’re going to need to modify them,” Cenz said. “Normal rescue drones can interface with a pod, but this pod cannot interface externally – the drone will need the ability to secure the pod and extract the people inside safely. Or the ability to cleanse the air within.”

“That’s not standard kit on them, no. We can get it out there and it could start slowing down the pod, at least,” Zhu said.

“I feel this is unwise,” Cenz replied. “The pod already had heat damage to its outer hull and the uneven force of attaching to a single spot to slow it might very well crack the hull open.”

“We must modify pod to enhance capabilities,” Cutter clicked out.

“I concur,” Cenz said. “We can take a rescue drone and modify the payload. Do you believe it is possible, Zhu?”

“We’d need to fabricate some custom parts,” she said. “But we can do it. The question is making them in time.”

“I’ve already started looking into it,” Sulp said matter-of-factly. “Started a little bit ago. It’s only groundwork, some generic parts, but I think we can have this baby ready for launch in twenty minutes.”

“If everyone is in agreement,” Brooks said. “Then start immediately. Next we just have to figure out how we’re launching it; around the debris or through. Obviously the latter will be safest. But do we have time?”

“To be frank – I do not think so,” Cenz said. “Running the preliminary calculations, we will simply waste too much delta-v moving around the cloud to make our window.”

“I concur,” Y said. “That will take too long to make our short-term window.”

“Recommend we attempt both,” Cutter said. “Modify two drones. If one going around may not make it in time, send first through in hopes that it makes it. Send second around to guarantee arrival. If first does not survive – still chance second could save crew members if gas leak estimates were too high.”

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“Do it,” Brooks said. “I want both drones launched as soon as possible. Use any resources you have to.”

----------------------------------------

“Lily?” Kai called out.

The light lag had increased by only a fraction of a second since their first message, but the reply was much longer than six seconds in coming.

“I’m here,” Lily said.

Her voice was quieter than before, the sensors told Kai. Even accounting for the damage to the radio.

“How are you feeling?” Kai asked.

“I’m feeling tired. Kind of numb, I guess.”

“Physically or mentally?” Kai asked her carefully.

“Both,” Lily said. “It’s starting to smell bad in here, too. Like burning plastic or something.”

Kai knew that was consistent with the toxin in the air – it actually had no odor, but the damage to nerves could trigger scents such as that.

The curve chart suggested they had less than the maximum of four hours they had hoped for. It was all going to be tight.

Lily spoke again; “I think Davyyd’s going to die.”

“I’m sorry,” Kai said. “We’re doing everything we can to get help to you.”

“That’s what you said earlier,” Lily replied. She did not even sound angry. Just resigned. “But we’re still here.”

“We will have help directly en route soon,” Kai replied. “And I’m here. We can still talk.”

“Okay,” Lily replied.

“You’ve done good work, Lily. Without the information you’ve gathered we couldn’t be getting help to you. You just need to hold on now.”

There was a long pause.

“Lily, are you there?” Kai asked. “I need you to keep talking to me if you can.”

“Okay,” Lily replied again. “I’m just tired.”

“I know,” Kai replied. “Just hold on.”

“. . . what made you join Response?” Lily asked.

The question came out of left field, but Kai had fielded stranger questions in her time. She went with it.

“My family wanted me to do it,” Kai told her. “I was not actually interested in it, originally.”

“Really?” Lily asked, her voice perking up a little. “But now you’re a commander, right?”

“Yes. I was a dispatcher first, in Communications, then I joined Response as a field officer.”

“How long were you a field officer?”

“Almost twenty years,” Kai admitted. “I loved it. But eventually I accepted a promotion and became a desk jockey.”

“Do you miss it?” Lily asked.

“Yes and no. I miss helping people directly. But I keep my skills up just for times like this, when we need everyone.”

“Why did you join if you weren’t interested?”

“Because after I got an idea of what it was like through the dispatching, I thought ‘I could do that!’ I was young then. I knew I could do it, and so I applied myself.”

Kai hesitated. “Are you thinking about signing up, Lily? It’s very hard to get in, but I bet you could do it.”

“No . . .” Lily admitted. “But I keep thinking of Davyyd. He could have just run to an escape pod when things first went bad, and he’d be fine now. But he stopped and saved me. When we got to the pods, he wanted to go back. If he hadn’t waited, maybe . . .”

“Lily, if you’re feeling guilty, you don’t need to. Officer Pedraza is a very brave man, and he was doing his duty. It’s what he wanted to do – you have nothing to feel bad for.”

“I don’t feel bad,” Lily admitted. “I just feel kind of numb. But I just didn’t understand, you know?”

“Different people have different mindsets. Not everyone wants to be in Response, and that’s okay. We all are part of society in different ways.”

“I never really planned to become a drone repair tech,” Lily admitted. “I mean, I guess I like it. I like fixing things. I couldn’t be a doctor, though, I’m not comfortable with blood . . . Heh, and now I’m covered in it.”

“Are you bleeding, Lily?”

“Some of it was mine, but I’m not bleeding now. But Davyyd . . . He was bleeding a lot. The drone put a spray on him to stop it for now, but . . .”

Kai knew it was no good going down that route; even if a trained doctor had been aboard, without equipment the drone was the best thing to let tend to the officer. Even if all it could do was help him die in peace.

“What did you want to be, Lily?” Kai asked.

“I never really knew. I liked a lot of things, but none of them were things I wanted to do for a living.”

“What did you like?”

“Oh, you know . . . animals. I wanted to have a ranch with horses, but that’s not exactly a career without a lot more effort than I wanted to put in. It’s not just about riding them, after all.” She chuckled.

“I was actually the same way,” Kai told her. “I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. It was only after I found my way into Response that I felt like I found my calling.”

“I’m not that brave,” Lily said.

“Well, not all fields in Response involved personal danger,” Kai told her. “There’s support roles that still let you help people indirectly. We could talk more about that later, if you think you’d like to help others.”

There was silence again. Past ten seconds, then sixteen.

“Lily, are you there?”

Lily spoke suddenly, her voice sharp.

“Something’s wrong with Davyyd,” she said. “He’s choking!”