The blast created stark shadows and intolerably bright highlights. If Ivan’s eyes had been flesh and blood, he would be blinded just by the reflected light, even through closed eyelids. The radiation played across him, unfiltered by shielded walls. Some nanites perished, and were absorbed and rebuilt. Some were damaged, and either repaired themselves or were repaired by their fellows. Within two minutes, he was as good as new.

The deed had been done before the ferry was even docked. They’d been in a hurry. He regretted his outburst with the admiral, just a little. The man had gotten his goat, and Ivan had lashed out in response. Still, he didn’t think his words merited this reaction. Well, presumably the admiral had what he thought were good reasons for deciding to eliminate Ivan.

Meanwhile, hanging around the outside of the base didn’t have a lot of future. The urge continued to draw him toward celestial north. That had to be Ralph’s influence.

But how to get there? At this point, his plan consisted mostly of just winging it.

He raised his head carefully and surveyed the area. The ferry, to which he was still clinging, had just attached itself to a docking bay against Lagrange Four Naval base. The base itself was a miscellaneous hodge-podge of structures, containers, docks, and decommissioned ships converted to quarters. A shanty town would have looked more organized.

The chaos was an illusion, though. The Navy was a masterwork of organization, and each structure was catalogued, categorized, blueprinted, and monitored. They’d notice if a piece went flying off.

The ferry was a reasonable target, but slow. The Navy would have no problem pursuing and destroying a runaway ferry. Hell, they could stop and have lunch first.

Ivan spotted the Mad Astra, sitting at dock. There appeared to be no activity around the ship. No lights shone from any of the ports. There wasn’t even an airlock tube linking the ship to the base. Perhaps Captain Jennings hadn’t claimed it yet.

He scanned the area between the ferry and the Astra. Only a few short stretches where he’d have to free-fall. Not ideal, but it could be a lot worse.

It took almost six hours to complete the trip. Ivan wasn’t in a hurry, and the downside of being spotted was significant, to say the least. Eventually, though, he found himself on the outside of the Astra, on the side away from the base.

Going through the airlock would be easiest and quickest. But the airlock was in plain sight of the Dock Office, and if the Astra was on umbilical, an airlock activation would show up on monitoring consoles.

He heaved a mental sigh, a physical one not being possible in vacuum. Reluctantly, he placed his palm flat against the hull of the ship. This had been uncomfortable as hell, the last time. It probably would be this time as well.

* * *