Lifeline

“You certainly know how to throw a wet towel on a hot idea, Cliffy.” Shen sounded disappointed.

“I’m just playing devil’s advocate—”

“Incoming! Look!” Shen’s shout rang through his helmet. Clancy spotted the light flashing on the CCD unit. Across the crater floor a thin line plowed across the lunar dirt. It looked like a giant mole racing just under the surface, creating a tunnel miles long.

Shen read from the CCD, picking off impact coordinates from the matrix of light-sensitive diodes. “Impact point: nine point six nine two three miles; preliminary velocity parameters indicate it was moving at one point oh oh four klicks. That’s pretty darned close for government work, huh, Cliffy?”

Clancy was floored. The impact was well within even theoretical error, much less experimental bounds. “Got the final location?” He gathered up his backpack to tear down the sensor.

“Roger dodger over and out.” He heard a click as Shen switched to the open channels. She turned to find the relay transmitter on top of the crater and spoke. “Clavius Base, we’ve got our Christmas present. Going to pick up the package and we’ll come on home.”

Clavius Base acknowledged them, and Shen started talking to Clancy again. “I think Orbitech 1 has nailed down the delivery system, wouldn’t you say?”

“Let’s get this stuff packed and go after the harness.”

“Right.” Shen bumped up against his buttocks. He felt the pressure through all the thick padding. It didn’t go away.

Clancy turned and noticed that she was patting him with her hand. He flinched and decided to ignore the exchange, not sure how else to react. Thank God she had at least picked one of the most private spots in the solar system.

Once the CCD and tripod were packed, Clancy led the way down the crater wall. Dust floated behind him, kicked up by his feet as he scrambled down the rocky incline. The dust drifted reluctantly back to the surface. The other jumbled debris looked frozen, delicately balanced.

His thoughts turned to Shen. If things were different—if he weren’t in charge of the whole blasted construction crew—he might work up enough courage to see whether her blatant flirtation meant something, or she was just being brash—Was she getting even for all the good-natured but rough comments most women construction engineers endured on the male-dominated crew.

He felt a surge of emotion from deep inside, a need to explain to her, to hold her and experience all the things he had been holding back for the past year … but he knew it could never happen. His position as construction boss demanded unwavering obedience, and if she were to take advantage of his authority.… Best to leave things be and not make a move, much as he wanted to.

He stepped over a section covered with loose gravel and turned to check on Shen. He felt his feet start to slide as the ejecta debris, undisturbed for centuries, broke loose and flowed under him. He waved his arms, trying to keep his balance on the steep wall.

Clancy managed to twist his body and cover his helmet with his padded arms as he fell. He bounced against rocks on his way down. Screams came over his suit radio. Clancy slammed into a boulder and heard a crack!

Shen’s shouts in the ear speakers seemed drowned in static as he lost consciousness.

Wiay Shen watched in horror as Clancy tumbled down the rocky slope. His space suit slammed off boulders, leaving tiny gravel slides where he struck. Clancy rolled end over end as if falling underwater; he kept his arms wrapped around his helmet.

It took Shen a full three seconds to react. When she realized the screaming came from her own mouth, she silenced herself and started scrambling down the incline after Clancy. The sluggish suit and the low gravity made her effort exaggerated and slow.

Clancy came to rest by the base of the crater wall two hundred yards below, the top half of his suit hidden by a boulder. He lay a hundred yards from the six-pack.

Shen bounced down the steep grade, taking long, careful jumps. She couldn’t see Clancy moving. “Cliff, can you hear me? Clifford!”

She reached the boulder, knelt by Clancy’s body, and ran a gloved hand over his space suit. It was still pressurized—at least he hadn’t popped a leak. She felt a rush of relief at the discovery. The only sound she could hear was her breathing.

“Cliff, say something, you klutz!” The joking tone seemed limp.

She shook her hands out and wriggled them underneath Clancy’s body. If his neck was broken, she shouldn’t try to move him … but if he was dying, it wouldn’t matter anyway. With a grunt, she rolled his body over. How could anybody be hurt through all that padding? she wondered. Through his helmet, she could see that his head hung to one side. She scanned the vitals on his chest-monitor unit:

BLOOD PRESSURE: 163/80

TEMPERATURE: 99.6

RESPIRATION RATE: 93