So everything there had to be built to operate not only in microgravity but also under varying degrees of acceleration, including and exceeding one full Earth gravity.

The loader he was piloting was a perfect example, easily using its powerful electromagnetic feet to walk up the inclined deck. The heavy-duty machine had no difficulty picking up deployment crates, armor cases, and everything else he needed. Delivering them up the inclined flight deck was relatively easy at that point, though the going was slow because Eric had little familiarity with the controls.

The big yellow machine was a chunky bipedal rig with a full-body interface. Not something that moved fast enough to be good in combat, but useful enough for when you had to shift large masses in microgravity or under acceleration effects.

It could handle several tons of material, even under acceleration effects like gravity, and it stomped up the incline with ease. Actually, the biggest problem he was having was that while the machine itself was designed to handle a gravity well, the interface system really was intended for microgravity. It wasn’t impossible to handle, obviously, but in gravity it was awkward to say the least.

Eric had delivered almost all of what he’d wanted to one of the port Cats that registered as still being above the waterline and was about to head back for more when a rumble ran through the deck, through his machine, and through him. Eric twisted around, looking for the source, but found it when his stomach lurched and jumped up into his chest as the deck suddenly dropped under him.

Linked and strapped as he was, he dropped with it. The brief sensation of freefall was a sign that it was time to haul ass.

Forget the rest of it. I’ve got enough.

Eric dropped out of the loader and pulled open the control panel for the catapult launcher he was using, throwing a couple of breakers to patch the system into emergency power. The electromagnets hummed in the background as they began to charge.

“Alright. Load one . . .” Eric mumbled to himself as he pressed the switch, sending a deployment module accelerating out the port hatch at high speed. “Away. Now . . . load two . . .”

“Holy shit!”

Lyssa’s self-imposed silence had been born of terror and was broken by terror when she saw a massive object blast away from the wreckage of the Odyssey, arcing over her boat and crashing into the water not fifty meters away. The swell thrown up by the splash caused her to bob heavily up and down as she stared at where the water had swallowed up whatever it was.

“What the hell is that damned fool doing?” she muttered, shaking her head in near disgust.

A bubbling disturbance breaking the surface was her first clue that a method may actually exist within the madness of her erstwhile companion. A few seconds after that a large cargo assault craft breached the surface and was bobbing some distance away.