“We can’t take the risk the fire will restart, Cal,” Dokal said. “Some of those canisters contained radioactive water. If we get any more oxidization on the plutonium, it could combust and rupture. Time is becoming critical. You’ve got to send the whole tank through.”

“It’s fifteen meters long, and weighs sixty tons!”

“But it’s only four meters wide. Whatever you need, Cal. There is no budget here today. You can thread up to six meters, our largest portal. I checked, and we have a pair available.”

“All right, I accept the risk,” Callum said calmly. “But my crew needs to be told.”

“Not Raina Jacek,” Poi Li said immediately. “Not with her political background.”

He almost argued. Almost. But a very bad part of his brain was thinking about being vetted by security. The problem simply wouldn’t exist if he had Poi Li’s trust on this one.

“Okay, Raina will be in the Gylgen control room. I’m talking about Alana, Colin, and Moshi; they’re the ones who’ll be physically tackling the tank with me.”

“They can be told,” Poi Li agreed.

“Let’s go, then.”

—

When Callum got to handling garage five, the crew was almost ready to go. Moshi, Colin, and Alana were in their green-and-yellow hazmat suits, running tests on the life support packs. Raina was sitting on a bench, with a thick hi-rez wraparound screen band on her face, muttering away to her mInet, hands raised midair as she deftly moved virtual icons around. Henry was with two support staff, already wearing his thermal regulator suit, which resembled a body stocking knitted out of slim tubes. The staff walked him over to the Govnex Mark VI space suit, a rigid torso with a hinged backpack that was already open for him. He had to wiggle through the small rectangular opening. Legs went in first, then he had to bend almost double, shoving his arms into the sleeves as he pushed his head through the neck ring. Callum winced in sympathy as he started to pull on his hazmat suit.

“We’re going for full disposal,” he told them. “I want to drop the whole tank out through Haumea.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re kidding, chief.”

“That’s crazy!”

“It’s not crazy,” Callum said levelly. “Something in those containers has leaked and blocked the valve. We don’t know what, and we don’t know how much. I cannot risk a partial clearance; that’d leave us a worse problem than we have now. So the whole thing goes, quick and clean. Dok has already cleared it with corporate.”

Raina had pulled her wraparound down to give him a skeptical stare. The others were all exchanging glances.

“It’s four meters in diameter, chief,” Colin protested.

Callum’s lips twitched a grin. “So we thread up to six. There’s a portal pair waiting for us on Haumea.”

“You’re shitting us!” Henry exclaimed in delight. “Nobody gets to use a six-meter portal.”

“We do.”

“Okay, then.” Alana pursed her lips in approval. “Now you’re talking!”