Narrator:

The young man walked up to the two of them, still

rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He removed a headphone

from his right ear.

Cliff:

“You Captain…” 

Narrator:

The young man reached

into his bag and pulled out a crumpled up blue slip of paper

and unfolded it,

Cliff:

“Glenn?”

Artie:

“Maybe. You Cliff?”

Narrator:

 asked Artie.

Cliff:

“Maybe. Assuming you can give me a good reason to

work on your ship.”

Narrator:

Artie looked at him confused.

Artie:

“Because you’ve been

instructed to?”

Cliff:

“Yea, but as an employee, I reserve the right to refuse

service on any ship I don’t deem worthy of my skills.”

Narrator:

Lem smirked, watching Artie’s attitude fade into his

commanding military background. She knew this new crew

member was about to see her captain’s real colors.

Artie:

“And as a captain, I have a right to leave your ass

behind and write you up as unreliable, forcing you to wait for

the next civilian transport in five months to take you home

without any payment. Then I’d leave without a second

thought.”

Cliff:

“I don’t appreciate the attitude, even from a Captain.

But fine, I guess you’ve made a solid point,” 

Narrator:

replied Cliff

crumpling up the paper and putting it back in his pocket.

Artie:

“You never came to load this morning,”

Narrator:

Artie replied.

Cliff:

“Overslept. No one told me I needed to help load

anyway. I’m the guy with the brains, not the brawn.”

Narrator:

Artie stared at him. He obviously wasn’t the strongest

person, and he hadn’t shown any signs of intelligence, making

Artie question his true worth. He could already sense he and

his new technical engineer where going to bump heads the

whole trip.

Cliff:

“That it?” 

Narrator:

asked Cliff.

Lem:

“Yea, that’s it,”

Narrator:

Lem replied standing next to him, putting

her welding gloves on, wearing her welding goggles over her

forehead.

Lem:

“That heating duct runs the full length of this level. If

it stays like that for another hour or so, the forward cabins on

this level will all freeze.”

Narrator:

Standing on the catwalk over the cargo containers, Lem

and Cliff peered down over at the uncoupled heating vent.

Lem:

“I’ll climb down there first,”

Narrator:

 said Lem lifting her leg over

the railing.

Cliff:

“You what?” 

Narrator:

Cliff gawked at her as if she had suggested

taking a leisure walk outside in space.

Lem straddled the railing and looked back over at him.

Lem:

“I’ll climb down, you hand me the cutter, then jump down

behind me.”

Narrator:

Cliff moved over toward the railing. There was at least a

twenty or thirty- foot drop down to the next level of the ship. All

they would be standing on was a narrow row of steel pipes

and tethered cables running the length of the duct.

Cliff:

“Yea, no. I’ll stay up here,” 

Narrator:

Cliff replied.

Lem hopped down onto the steel pipes, and looked

back up at him.

Lem:

“Come on. If a girl can do it, surely a beefy

man like yourself can. Woman up.”

Narrator:

Cliff stepped back out of her view and bit his lip. He

picked up the cutting kit, struggling to drag it across the walk.

With one mighty heave, he bent over the railing to hand it

down to her, trying not to drop it. Letting go of the kit, he stood

at the railing for a moment.

Cliff:

“On one condition. I get to look at

your butt on the way back up,” 

Narrator:

he said down to her.

Lem placed the kit down on the pipes, and looked back

up at him. She thought about the arrangement for a moment.

Lem:

“Fine. No touching though.”

Cliff turned away and smiled so she wouldn’t see.

Lem:

“Are you coming?”

Narrator:

Lem yelled back up at him.

Cliff moved back over toward the railing and looked

back down once more. He lifted his leg over the railing, feeling

butterflies starting to flutter in his stomach.

The trembling beneath everyone came to a standstill.

The ship fell quiet again.

Artie reached over and stabilized himself once more

using the mounting bracket.

Cliff turned toward Artie.

Cliff:

“What the hell!?”

Artie:

“I told you to shut it down! You nearly blew the engines

all together,”

Narrator:

Artie shouted back.

Cliff:

“We still had more than a thousand miles to make up!

Had I not compensated we’d still be off by eight hundred thousand!”

Artie:

“If we lost those engines we would have had no way of

slowing ourselves down!”

Narrator:

Artie shouted back.

Cliff huffed in anger. He turned back to the computer.

Cliff:

“The engines are still intact, so you can quit your

bitching,” 

Narrator:

said Cliff.

Cliff:

“Engaging rotation again.”

Lem:

“How close are we now?”

Narrator:

asked Lem over the radio.

Cliff rubbed his shoulder, feeling a bruise starting to

form and checked the screen.

Cliff:

“Can’t get any closer,” 

Narrator:

he said

with an unenthused snicker.

Artie untied himself from the mounting bracket and

drifted closer to the screen.

Artie:

“Great…”

Lem:

“What?”

Narrator:

 asked Lem and Patrick.

Artie:

“We’re going to slam right into the Earth,”

Narrator:

answered Artie.

Lara:

“What?”

Narrator:

 asked Lara over the radio.

Artie:

“We’re on a collision course,”

Narrator:

Artie replied with a heavy

sigh.

Cliff reached down and started untying himself from the

desk.

Cliff:

“At least we won’t miss it now.”