Astronomicon: Icarus

27 - A Change of Plan

"Airlock connection seal confirmed. They're docked," announced Iolo.

He had barely closed his mouth when the main lights in the control room flickered briefly. Captain Taylor looked at Iolo questioningly. Iolo checked over the status displays on the console then shrugged casually back at him. Everything appeared to be normal.

"That shouldn't happen," said the Captain.

"Probably some sort of static discharge between the hulls as they touched?" suggested Iolo.

"Maybe. Never seen that happen before. Anyway, here we go. Unlock our airlock, ready for boarding. I'll head down there and greet them," replied Captain Taylor setting off for the hatch to the lower deck.

He stepped out over the open hatch and launched himself downwards, only touching the ladder once before his mag-boots connected with the grimy floor plates of the cargo deck. He clunked his way through the open door to the small hallway and then through the next into the room which provided access to the main airlock, the ore hold and, opposite the airlock, the small baggage room.

The display on the airlock showed that the outer door was already open, presumably members of the Wagner's crew were already coming aboard. He waited while the display reported that the outer door was sealed, that the pressure was stable and then announced that the inner door was opening.

The mechanism clunked heavily and began to slide. Before it was open more than a few centimetres, all the lights flicked out, to be almost immediately replaced by the much dimmer emergency lighting. Moments later the airlock door motor cut out and everything went bizarrely quiet. He could hear the faint whirr of the fans in the air processing system slow down and gradually stop.

Captain Taylor was about to hit the intercom button when the lights flicked back into life and the airlock door recommenced its function. As it slid the rest of the way open, it revealed that the airlock was crammed with people, all in flight suits. It was only supposed to fit four people, but currently, there were at least six people squeezed inside.

"Captain Taylor?" asked a muscular-looking man with a blond crew cut hair and an impressively square jaw.

"Yes. Are you Captain Lee?"

"Yes, sir. Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted. I wasn't expecting so many of you."

"I want to get everyone together in the same place. This situation is more delicate than everyone thinks and I'd like to explain and sort it out. Do you have a room big enough for everyone to meet in together?"

"My control room is the largest, except for the hold," replied Captain Taylor.

"The control room will do nicely. Gather everyone together immediately."

"There are six of you?"

"Eight coming aboard in total, two more are waiting in our airlock."

"Okay, I'll show you the way up to our control room."

After calling Hugo, via the intercom, to bring the Oppenheimer survivors to the control room, Captain Taylor showed the Wagner crew to the ladder up to the control room and then returned to let the remaining two members of the Wagner crew, a man and a woman, come aboard. He could immediately tell by their accents that, unlike the rest of the visitors, they were British. The man carried a large holdall over his shoulder and asked to stow it in the baggage room before Captain Taylor then showed them up to the control room too.

Soon the entire space inside the control room was crowded with people. The survivors were standing along the port side windows, Felix, Iolo and Captain Taylor were near the front wall and the Wagner's British crew were standing near the floor hatch. Hugo and Ishaan had positioned themselves near the door to the central corridor that ran the length of the deck, Dmitry and Enzo by the starboard windows and five of the US Salvage team were mostly standing near the centre console. The only person missing was Colonel Linda Miller who had remained on board the Wagner.