[Cassy]

Outer space was like, really big. How would we find those missiles? At least Val had given us some place to look.

On the bridge, Eric took the pilot seat in front of a clear angled control panel, guiding the Ark Hope in an orderly search pattern. I sat beside him, leaving vacant two other chairs with associated control panels and the captain's seat behind us. We buckled in since the maneuvering thrusters produced only a tiny amount of artificial gravity. Only one other soul was aboard the colony ship meant to carry thousands — the mercenary I shot earlier. Before he woke up, we dragged him to the brig.

I operated the radar and visual scanners, but unfortunately, a missile platform might not be so easy to spot since weapon systems tend to be stealthy by design. A row of small window ports on the side walls provided unaided outside views, while a massive view screen spanning the curved front wall produced enhanced visuals. Depending on the ship's orientation, spectacular views of Mars filled the screen.

"Beautiful," I muttered in awe.

"I know, right?" Eric gushed. "Bet you didn't think I would take you on a sight-seeing cruise for our first date."

A chuckle passed my lips. "Oh, no. Searching for ballistic missiles doesn't count as a date. Neither did pirating the Ark Hope."

"Hmm," he said, while casting that boyish smirk that weakened my knees. "Will you let me make it up to you?"

"I'm counting on it."

"How about a few games of space pong later?"

"Sounds good to me." Actually, anything with Eric sounded good, excluding activities related to weapons of mass destruction. Good God, I'm falling for him.

A ping from the control panel interrupted the beginnings of a sensual fantasy. "Eric, I think we have something."

After glancing at my panel and extracting the radar-based coordinates, he adjusted the ship's course to intercept. I magnified the visual scanner and enhanced the brightness. The dark object, difficult to see against the infinite blackness, looked like six rockets attached in a straight row to a structural frame, which was fastened to a boxy satellite.

"That's it," Eric said. "A standard ship-based weapons platform, but stripped down and probably modified for remote operation. I sure would like to know how those guys got their hands on military equipment." Then his eyes lost their twinkle and his lips tightened. "Umm, Cassy... I hate to tell you this..."

My eyes widened as the realization took hold. "You're going to ask me to go out there?"

Eric cast his eyes to the side. "Umm, well, yeah. I'm piloting the ark in manual, and with only one fusion reactor on-line, she's sluggish. So I have to stay here."

"Couldn't we just ram it or something?"

"Well, that would be a last resort. But the ark is hard to steer, and we might not damage it enough to disable the missiles." His eyes came back to mine. "So, do you know how to use a personal thruster pack?"

"Yeah, I use them with mining claim bio-inspections." I replied, sighing. "Eric, I've already deactivated one nuke..." He tilted his head while those dreamy hazel eyes pleaded. I lowered my head into my hands as my gut twisted. "Oh my God, they've got nuclear warheads, don't they?"

"Probably. And Val thinks we don't have much time, so let's get you suited up."

I blew out a big breath, resigning to the inevitable. Actually, no way would I stand by with so many lives at stake. "Okay, fine. But you owe me big time."

*****

After putting on a white spacesuit that was a bit too large for me, Eric helped me attach the thruster pack, which surrounded me like a thick chair with no seat. Joystick-type controls wrapped around me within easy reach. A standard mechanical kit was attached at my right hip, including everything I should need to deactivate the missiles. Hopefully...

"Remember," Eric repeated for the third time. "I'll drop you off as close as I can, but the ark has too much momentum, so I won't be able to match velocity. You'll have to decelerate with your thrusters."

"Got it," I responded in as confident a tone as I could muster, despite the million butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I gazed up into Eric's eyes as he gave me my helmet.

"Oh, one more thing," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, then pulled me into his arms. Crooking his neck down, Eric connected his lips to mine. It was somewhat awkward, since I wore a bulky space suit and I could barely return the embrace. But the kiss — gentle, tender, lingering — transported my heart into a dream world of warmth and light. More than any words he could utter, the kiss begged 'come back to me,' and I stored the meaning within my heart.

Once inside the airlock, with the inner hatch closed behind me, I pushed the button to evacuate the air and then opened the outer hatch. Taking a deep breath, I stared out into the great void and my heart skipped a few beats. Every time I've done a space walk, a particular Nietzsche quote comes back to me: 'If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.'

"Radio check," I said into the com. "Can you hear me, Eric?"

"Loud and clear." He blew a kiss through the small, round window on the inside airlock hatch. "I have to get back to the bridge now. I'll tell you when it's time to go outside."

The moments dragged along as I waited in eerie silence surrounded by vacuum, my heart thumping nearly twice per second based on the biometric data.

Finally, Eric radioed, "Get ready, Cassy. We're coming up on the drop off point. The relative approach velocity is eighteen meters per second, so you'll have to thrust hard to not overshoot."

Grasping the hatch frame, I poked my head outside. "Okay, I'm ready," I replied with as much confidence as I could muster. "You are going to pick me up again, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but it's going to take a while to turn this beast around. I can only push one-tenth gee with a single fusion thruster."

"I'll be waiting, and you best not stand me up."

Eric chuckled at my situational humor attempt. "I wouldn't dare." After a brief pause, he said, "Five seconds, four, three... You've got this, Cassy!"

With a deep breath and a silent prayer, I fired my thrusters, pushing away from the Ark Hope into the dark abyss. The missile platform appeared ominously in the distance, as if a fearsome jabberwock that I must slay with my vorpal sword. Once far enough away from the ark, I turned my back and fired the thrusters, full force. The deceleration pressed my body into the pack frame. I couldn't see the missiles now, but I watched the range numbers tick down on my heads-up display.

When the relative velocity had decreased enough and the range showed forty meters, I spun back around to face the satellite. An involuntary gasp escaped my lips as icy dread crawled down my spine. It was a monster indeed, with six missiles sticking out like fiendish talons, each able to vaporize a Martian city if unleashed. I firmed my resolve — not going to let that happen.

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe." I uttered, quoting the opening of Lewis Carroll's famous poem.

"You know Jabberwocky? I love that poem." Eric said over the com, then continued with the next stanza. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"

I grinned, and warmth flowed through me like morning sunshine after a frosty night, melting away some of my anxiety. In my estimation, a boyfriend who likes Jabberwocky was a keeper. "Fortunately, I don't see any jubjub birds or bandersnatches, and my trusty vorpal sword stands ready," I countered.

"Atta girl!" came his response.

Puffing my maneuvering jets, I lined myself up with the satellite. It loomed larger as I approached. Interesting that once I gave it a whimsical name, Jabberwock, it didn't seem so threatening anymore. Maybe I should give that witch Khlo Azrial a new name — like Bimbo. Yeah, that works.

"Okay, I'm at the satellite," I said, as my mag-boots attached to the squarish hull beneath the missile platform. No response came but static. "Eric?" More static. I sighed. Fortunately, he had warned me about this, that we might exceed the radio range for a bit.

Okay, time to get to work.

The task was relatively simple: take off the missile access panel between the rocket motor and the steering jets, find the chemical propellant igniter wires, and snip them. Then repeat for all the missiles. Easy, I kept telling myself over and over. What could possibly go wrong?

I should never ask that question.

The launch platform held six missiles in a flat row, each about four meters long and almost one meter in diameter. Two breakaway clamps secured each one until it was launched. The platform structure was mounted at a single central point to the satellite box with a few recent-looking welds.

Puffing my jets, I turned on my headlights and flew close around the platform, looking for the missile access panels. "Oh, great..." I sighed to myself. "What is it with nuclear bombs, tight spaces, and me?" The panels were located on the underside of the missiles, so I would have to access them from underneath the platform, and to fit, I would have to remove my thruster pack.

One of the cardinal rules of non-thruster spacewalking that they drill into your head during training was to tether everything, especially yourself. Unattached things drift away and never return, and if that thing was you... Well, it might become a death sentence.

Moving under the platform, I attached my thruster pack to a structural beam. Then I extracted a spare tether from the mechanical kit, clipping one end to my spacesuit and the other end to the frame. Finally, and specifically in this order, I freed myself from the thruster pack.

Hand-over-hand, I propelled myself along a beam span until coming to the first missile, then I slid within the tight space between frame and missile, wedging a foot for extra support. With a motorized driver from the kit, attached to a thin cable so I don't lose it, I unscrewed the first of eight fasteners. It was tedious work taking several minutes, but eventually, I had the panel loose.

A hiss of static came over the com, followed by Eric's welcomed voice. "Cassy, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Got the first panel off." On the video view, I pointed the cutters at a pair of black and white wires. "Those are the igniter wires, right?"

"Yup. Give 'em a snip."

Holding my breath and gritting my teeth, I cut the wires. After nothing bad happened, I let out my breath. "Okay, one down, five to go."

"Good girl, Cassy. You're doing a great. I'm on my way back to you."

"You know, you're going to really, really, owe me after this is over," I remarked with a grin.

"I look forward to settling the debt."

I crawled commando-style through the tight space until I came to the next missile. Repeating the process, I set to removing the bolts, one-by-one.

But then a force threw me to the side, and my shoulder bumped into a beam. The driver flew from my hand, snapped back as it reached the end of its tether cable, and clunked my helmet.

"Eric!" I called out in a strained voice. "This thing is moving."

"I see it, Cassy. They're repositioning and getting ready to launch."

"Great... How much time do I have?" I asked, the words barely coming out.

"They'll have to warm the propellants first, but that's just a few minutes." His voice carried an urgent edge. "Cassy, we've done what we could. Get out of there!"

My heartbeat thrashed in my ears, and my breath became fast and shallow. Despite the terror that squeezed my chest, I had to do something or else thousands will suffer nuclear holocaust. A desperate idea came to me. "What if I send an electrical current down the igniter wires? Would that ignite the rocket engine?"

"Yes, but why would you want to manually launch?"

"No, not launch it. What if I welded the clamps shut first?"

Eric paused as if in thought. "That might work. The unbalanced thrust would tear the platform apart. But you don't have much time."

"On it," I replied, mainly to myself.

I pulled myself through the structure back to the first missile. From the mechanical kit, I yanked out the portable arc-welder and attached the grounding clip to the lower pincher-type clamp. Normally, these would open to release the missile before launch, but I aimed to prevent that.

Positioning the tip, I pulled the trigger, automatically dispensing the flux-core welding wire. Looking away from the dazzling blue-white flashes, I laid down tack welds in several places. It was probably the worst weld job ever, but all it had to do was prevent the clamp from opening. Scooting down further along the missile, I repeated the process for the lower clamp.

Okay, now to light it up.

Moving again, I came to the open panel and pulled the cut wires up, stripping the ends with a wire tool. The welder would supply the ignition current. I pinched the grounding clip to one wire.

"Cassy!" Eric called out, as he realized what I was about to do. "Don't be on that platform when the rocket ignites!"

"I have to for this to work." As I unclipped myself from the safety tether, a sense of dread came over me and tears clouded my vision. So many ways I might die here. "Eric, I'm sorry. I may not get another chance to say this to you, but... I love you." Then I touched the welder to the other wire and pulled the trigger.

The missile rumbled and the entire platform quaked as thrust gases burst from the tail cone. The clamps held, and with the platform acting like a cantilever to the satellite, the rocket thrust at one end sent the whole structure spinning like a giant firework. The centripetal forces flung me to the outside, slamming my body into a structural girder. Pain exploded in my ribs and I cried out.

Then the spinning structure flung me out as if hurling a baseball. I tumbled into deep space, dizzy, disoriented, delirious. A flash of light. Eric called my name as the abyss took me.

*****

Light. Light pierced my eyelids. A steady beeping sound.

Where am I? What happened? Images and sensations flickered across my mind too fast to make sense of them.

As I took a deep breath, pain radiated from my ribs, and I groaned.

"Cassy, can you hear me?"

I knew that voice, and it induced a pleasing warmth within me. Someone held my hand as I laid on a soft surface.

My eyes fluttered open, closed again because of the bright light, then reopened, squinting.

A familiar face gazed down at me — someone I loved. "Hi," I said.

"Hi yourself," Eric responded with a huge dimpled smile.

"What happened?"

"You blew up the missiles — that's what happened. A spectacular explosion, by the way. I had to go out and catch you. Told you I wouldn't stand you up."

I glanced around the white room. Three straps kept me from floating up from a narrow padded bed while a medical monitor beeped softly overhead and drew colored lines. Must be in an Ark Hope medical bay.

"So, we did it?"

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish girl! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" Eric sang, adjusting the poem to fit my gender. After blowing out a breath, he drew close, squeezing my hand. "You never gave me the chance to respond. We've only just met, Cassy, but I've kinda fallen for you, too."

Bending down, Eric pressed his lips against mine, sealing his proclamation with a gentle kiss that sent my spirit soaring. Yeah, definitely a keeper.

"Oh, and Cassy," Eric continued, holding my eyes within his.

"Hmm?"

"Let's dial down the suspense from now on, shall we?"