Howard took them up to the flight deck for their briefing, space suits and all. Pierce followed right behind them. Suddenly the mid-deck compartment was empty except for Douglas and Kinsman.
"Where the hell did Colt and Mary get to?" Art asked.
Kinsman peered through the thick glass of the airlock window but they were not inside.
"Maybe they took a walk outside," he said.
Douglas looked annoyed. "I'll bet that sonofabitch has her out in the payload bay."
"If he does, about the only thing they can do out there is hold hands, with gloves on, at that." 44
"Yeah? And what happens when Pierce or Howard look out and see them out there? Unauthorized EVA? They go down the tubes, and we go down with them!"
Kinsman looked at the suit rack. Two space suits missing, all right. He pushed himself over to the airlock hatch.
"What're you doing?" Douglas demanded.
"Maybe they're just outside the airlock, down against the bulkhead where they can't be seen from the flight deck windows."
Douglas's round face was wrinkled with angered worry as Kinsman ducked inside the cold metal womb of the circular airlock. There was a window to the outside, just above the heavy hatch that opened onto the vacuum of space.
Kinsman tapped against the metal wall of the airlock with his Academy ring. Three quick taps, three slower ones, and then three fast ones again. SOS. He did it twice. No response. Feeling a little frantic, he went to the other side and tried again.
A thumping sound. Like a gloved fist knocking against the outer wall.
Kinsman pushed back into the mid-deck compartment and swung the inner airlock hatch shut. Douglas glided over and peered into the window. A pump whined.
"Christ," muttered Douglas, "I hope nobody's watching the indicators on the controls upstairs."
We'll know soon enough, Kinsman said to himself. After long minutes of breath-holding suspense, Colt and Mary O'Hara squeezed through the inner airlock hatch.
"Let's get you out of these suits, pronto," Kinsman urged.
"What's the rush?" Colt asked.
"Howard's going to be down here in another minute. Smitty and Jill are going out with him. Schedule change."
Mary was already unzipping her gloves, her face white with concern.
