Starquake.pdf

A jet on one of the herder rockets faltered as a meteorite tore through the fuel feed section, taking out
two of the three triply-redundant fuel valves and damaging the third. A fifth of a second later the jet
functioned correctly, but the next time it sputtered once again. The compensator mass that the herder
rocket was supposed to control started to wander out of its place in the ring. Soon all the masses were
wavering slightly as their rockets tried to maintain some semblance of order.
"Emergency!!" Dragon Slayer's computer sounded the alarm through the loudspeakers. "A meteorite has
damaged one of the herder rockets!"
Amalita was returning from checking the upper tank when the strong gravity tides of the neutron star
grabbed her and
pulled her back down the passageway where she collided with Jean, who was putting on her suit.The
next fraction of a second the two women were separated and jerked toward the outer wall of their
spherical spacecraft.
Amalita grabbed a stanchion and held on. "What's the matter?" she yelled at Pierre. Pierre cinched up
the belt on his console chair and activated his console.
"A rocket has malfunctioned," he said.
Jean, floating free near Pierre, was slammed again into the outer wall, then flew inward toward the center
of the ship, where she held onto the back of a chair. The next part of the cycle her legs were pulled
outward again as if she were on a rapidly spinning merry-go-round.
"Can you fix it?" Pierre asked the computer.
"No. The stress crack in the remaining fuel valve is growing," the computer reported. "You have a
maximum of five minutes."
"We'll be torn apart by the tides," Jean screamed as the forces pushed and pulled on her body. They
became stronger, ripped her from her precarious handhold and slammed her unconscious against the
outer wall. At the next cycle, her limp body came flying inward again.
"Got her!" said Amalita, moving quickly from one handhold to another in the lulls between the forces.
"Put her in an acceleration tank!" Pierre hollered. Meanwhile, Doc Wong had made his way around the
central column and helped Amalita open one of the circular hatches in the wall. They stuffed Jean into the
spherical tank. Jean roused a little as they were putting her in, and Doc managed to get her mask on
before they shut the door.
"Air OK?" Doc hollered over the intercom. The figure inside gave a dazed nod, and Doc noted her chest
expand in a deep breath. He activated the tank and water droplets splashed over the portholes as the
soothing liquid covered the bruised body.
The cheela communication console lit up. The robotic cheela, Sky-Teacher, was back on the screen.
Flitting about him in the background, blurred images of live cheela were busily responding to the
catastrophe.
"A rocket is failing," Sky-Teacher said. "Are you in danger?"