<Most of your comms systems are down,> sent Megan, her voice sounding full of relief. <It took me a while to figure out some way to talk to you. Whats happening over there?>

<Everyone but me and Bash is dead,> Gabrielle replied. According to the readout on her emergency breather, she still had air for twenty minutes, and no more. <Im on my way to the engineering section since it looks like Im going to have to trigger the mine from there.>

<Ive brought my ship as close to the Ingersoll as I dare,> sent Megan. <Any closer and I cant be sure the Wanderer wont turn on me again. Once youre done, you need to get the hell out of there immediately.>

Gabrielle came to another pressure field that sealed off the stretch of corridor that had been home to her and Bash since they had left Redstone.

She pushed on through this field, then yanked her mask down: no point in wasting air she might need soon. Making her way back inside the cabin, she quickly strapped the second mask over Bashs mouth and nose, before beginning to tug him towards the door.

He came to his feet easily, drifting forward to bang into the wall next to the door. Gabrielle grabbed him around the waist and worked hard at pushing and pulling him out into the corridor, cursing silently.

Already she was sweating. There had to be a better way of doing things, she was sure.

<Megan? Listen. Im loading Bash into a pod first, then Ill take care of the nova mine.>

Gabrielle was panting heavily from the effort. They had passed back into vacuum, and she wore her mask again, but she was using up its minuscule supply of air much too fast. It wasnt far from the cabin to the nearest escape-pod bay, but it had taken twice as long to get Bash there as she would have liked.

<No, Gabrielle, wait. Prep the mine first, then>

<No,> sent Gabrielle. <You dont understand. To prep the mine, I need to get all the way down to the engineering section, and its going to take much too long if I have to drag him along with me. Those things are already inside the ship, and I almost ran into one.> She hammered the palm release by the bay door, and it slid open. <Im at a pod bay right now. Ill send Bash over first, then head for engineering. Theres another pod bay down there which I can use to get off the ship.>

<Dont take too long,> Megan warned.

<I wont, I promise,> Gabrielle sent, then she manoeuvred Bash inside.

Menus and animated panels appeared around the escape pod even as she dragged him towards it. Getting it open, she shoved him inside. She was breathing heavily now, and the minutes left on her breather masks readout were rapidly ticking closer and closer to zero.