"Staggering," Kinsman suggested. "And look at you—no hands!"
She was floating freely, space suit laden with camera gear, tether flexing easily behind her. Kinsman could not see her face through the tinted visor, but he could hear the awe in her voice, even in her breathing.
"I've never seen anything so absolutely overpow- ering ..."
And then suddenly she was all business, reaching for a camera, snapping away at the Earth and the station and even the distant Moon, rapid-fire. She moved too fast and started to tumble. Kinsman jetted over and steadied her, holding her by the shoulders.
"Hey, take it easy. They're not going away. You've got lots of time."
"I want to get some shots of you, and the station. Can you go over by the power pod and go through some of the motions of your work on it?"
Kinsman posed for her, answered her questions, rescued a camera when she fumbled it out of her gloved hands and missed several grabs at it.
"Judging distances out here is a little wacky," he said as he handed the camera back to her.
Jill called them twice and ordered them back inside. 85
"Chet, you're already fifteen minutes over the schedule limit!"
"There's plenty slop in the schedule; we can stay out a while longer."
"You're going to get her exhausted." "I really feel fine," Linda said, her voice lyrical. "How much more film do you have?" Kinsman asked her.
Without needing to look at the camera she answered, "Six more shots."
"Okay. We'll come in when the film runs out, Jill." "You're going to be in darkness in another five minutes." Turning to Linda, floating upside-down with the cloud- decked Earth behind her, he said, "Save your film for the sunset, and then shoot like hell when it comes," "The sunset? What'll I focus on?" "You'll know when it happens. Just watch." It came fast but she was equal to it. As the station swung in its orbit toward the Earth's night shadow, the Sun dropped to the horizon and shot off a spectacular few moments of the purest reds and oranges and finally a heart-catching blue. Kinsman watched in silence, hearing Linda's breath going faster and faster as she worked the camera.
Then they were in darkness. Kinsman flicked on his helmet lamp, Linda was just hanging there, camera in hand.
"It's . . . impossible to describe." Her voice sounded empty, drained. "If I hadn't seen it ... if I didn't get it on film, I don't think I'd be able to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming."
Jill's voice rasped in his earphones. "Chet, get inside! This is against every safety reg, keeping her outside in the dark."
He looked toward the station. Lights were visible from the ports along its side. Otherwise he could barely make out its shape, even though it was only a few meters away.
"Okay, okay. Turn on the airlock lights so we can see the hatch."
Linda was still bubbling about the view outside long after they had pulled off their space suits and eaten sandwiches and cookies.
