The burn finished, Rollin had no more time to cry over the should have been. The pair used the lines to pull back to the rails. Bloated as they were, their major joints suffered limited flexibility. Any gross movement took a great deal of effort. Rollin wasn’t sure how Mal could even move in the suit. She seemed so strong for her slender size.
Before much longer, the maintenance bot the pair hitched a ride on would flip around and use a short high-gravity burn to slow their speed. They needed to be gripping the rail before that happened or risk slamming into the craft as it slowed. As the thrust developed, broken bones became a real hazard. Even Rollin’s implants could be damaged in the extreme cold and a high enough impact.
After the robot slowed to a manageable pace, Rollin would use t
