21
THE FIRST THING she saw was the blinding brightness of the part of the station in the sun. The ring of the station arced way overhead and came down on both sides to join the part where she stood.
The docking area was on the side of the ring so that getting to the inside of the station’s habitat ring involved climbing up a near-vertical wall and the only thing that stopped you from falling into space was a set of gantries along the side of the tube.
Ari had already climbed from the ship; he’d hoisted up the trolley and was on the side of the soft dock tube, pushing the trolley across a foldout gantry that seemed designed for ship maintenance crews.
A tether railing led from the airlock where Melati stood along the outer side of the ship, and Melati attached her tether to it. Getting
