“T minus 18 to the rendezvous point,” said Jackson. Greg returned to his seat and tried to clear his mind of the old memories and concentrate only on the task.
“Minus 4 to the next change of orbit,” Greg took over. “Engines?”
“They’re all fine, fuel level as expected, we’re ready!” answered the engineer responsible for the propulsion system.
“All right then, T minus 3 and we can start. I need full concentration. There is no second chance. If we miss, then the Hugo falls behind the comet and we can say goodbye to the rendezvous. We will have only two minutes for correction, otherwise the signal won’t reach the probe in time. So I’ll start the countdown: one-fifty-nine, one-fifty-eight, one-fifty-seven . . .
*
Siol Rebina was very nervous. As the Monarch’s first secretary, she had never
