Eric Flint: Threshold

"If you put yourselves on the right non-collision course first… sure." "Do you still have any reaction mass on board?"

"Yes," Jackie answered. "In a pinch we've got actually quite a few tons of water to spare, too. So, what do we do?" "It will be risky."

Helen laughed. "Right now we're all marooned and likely to die really slowly in the end. Screw the risk. What are we going to do?" Anthony grinned. "We are all going to land on Europa, my friends." "Wait a minute," Jackie said. "Nebula Stormisn't equipped to land anywhere, and even if we were, we haven't got an engine to do the landing with."

"That is why you need us. We have the engine. Munin was designed to be a SSTO capable of reaching low Earth orbit. We will need to use about two kilometers per second total in shifting our orbit to match up with yours en route to Europa. If we refuel fromNebula Storm -'top off the tanks,' as they say-we will have more than enough to counter the remaining one or two KPS differential with respect to Europa and land.

Remember, Munin is more than half as big asNebula Storm." Jackie and Joe looked at each other. "That's going to take some tricky flying,"

Joe said finally. "And we'll have to make connections that'll take the strain. And… Jesus, I dunno. We sure can't do VTOL in this, and we haven't got landing gear. And keeping it balanced…" Maddie nodded. "It's going to be hellish. But it probably is our only chance.

Europa isn't like Io. It's frozen, but a lot of water ice-which we can use for fuel-relatively smooth, and no volcanoes or other immediate threats. If wecan set down and live through it, we can fixNebula Storm , right?" Jackie frowned. "Probably. And we'll have theMunin for a reactor, too, if it turns out that we can't get ours running again-which we may not." "And once you are running again," Horst said,

"your Nebula Drive can be used-with the right kind of sailing-to get us heading home, yes?" "Yes, indeed," said A.J., sliding an arm around Helen's waist and hugging her in relief. "Yes, we can." "Then let's start designing," Jackie said. "Is Mia there?" "Yes, she is one of the survivors." "Good. Because we're all going to have to work on this, and when we finally match up, we'll only have a few hours to figure out how to lock our ships together well enough to take the stress of landing. At least it's not in an Earth gravity well, but it's still going to be a hell of a ride… and a lot of stress on any link we make." She started bringing up the plans of theNebula Storm and prepping them to send toMunin. Helen took A.J.'s hand and pulled him up. He looked startled. "What? I have to-" "Get some rest, that's what you need to do. They won't need your super-sensor skills for the planning. They'll need them when we get to the installation and when we do the landing. So we're going to go get food for everyone, have a dinner, try to relax, and then get some sleep." "An excellent idea,"

Madeline confirmed. "I will be doing the same thing in a little while.

Because I think I'm going to end up the pilot on our side." "And aside from a few calculations, we won't be needed until docking, either, Tony," Larry pointed out. "Sorry, guys, but you engineers work out the details. We'll be getting up in time to do the work." "And try,"

Madeline confirmed, "to get some rest yourselves, if you can. We will probablyall want to be wide awake when we get to the landing." "Yes," agreed Horst. "We will be busier than you, though. First we have to make burn to pass Io-which will be in a few minutes-and then Oberth as we reach it." "Good luck on that, then." Helen waved at the screen.

Then the two of them made their way to the galley. "You don't even sound scared," A.J. said. She turned and pressed into him. "I'm terrified, A.J. But there's nothing a xenopaleobiologist-whatever I am-can do. If anyone can get us out of this, it's the people on this ship. And then I just have to not make you, or anyone else, worry.

It's bad enough-I don't need to make it worse." His hands held her tightly. One moved up and stroked her hair. "I won't let you die." "I hope not. I married you for the miracles." He laughed softly and hugged her even tighter. Finally she let go and turned. "Now, let's get out the Joe Dinners. If thisdoes have a chance to be my last meal, it'll damn well be a good one."

Chapter 44 Eventually, Fitzgerald thought to check the time. Then he checked his radiation meter. He'd died fifteen or twenty minutes earlier. Perhaps half a hour, depending on his body's resistance to radiation. But whatever the specific moment it had happened, his life had ended. Even if, by some miracle, a spacecraft arrived to rescue him now-it would have to be theMunin, perhaps because Eberhart had been overcome by unlikely mercy-it wouldn't matter in the least. No doctor, no hospital, not even on Earth, could have saved him after this much radiation poisoning. But dignity mattered. It always mattered. Richard Fitzgerald had been slain by Jupiter himself, had he not? No one since the time of Homer could make that claim. He stopped gazing upon his murderer and looked ahead, toward Io. The huge moon was clearly visible now, clothed in its bright and fatal colors. So, as it turned out, there was still one last hope left. Perhaps Richard could last long enough to die on one of the solar system's true hell planets, after being struck down by the lord of the gods. Wouldn't that be something to boast about, if there turned out to be an afterlife? Richard didn't think there was, but… you never knew.

It was not to be. When he felt the first twinges of nausea, some time later, he reached to his belt and took out a gun. It looked like one of Vanna's, so he made sure it unlocked to his key code. Dignity mattered. It always mattered. Richard Fitzgerald was not going to go out suffocating on his own vomit in a spacesuit. He took one last look at Jupiter and fixed his eyes on Io. The moon was close enough now to see the details of its surface-which consisted mostly of volcanoes, it seemed. He pressed the gun to his faceplate, centering the barrel between his eyes as best he could. Then, looking straight onto the face of hell, pulled the trigger.

Chapter 45 Blotched, pockmarked, scarred with orange-yellow blotches, Io's hostile surface streamed byMunin a scant hundred kilometers below. Bombarded by radiation so intense that it would be almost instantly lethal without shielding, shrouded in a sulfurous atmosphere just barely thicker than vacuum, with a surface constantly reshaped by stupendous eruptions of molten rock, the tortured moon's leprous face wrung an involuntary shudder from Horst. In a short time, Odin would meet its end-out of sight ofMunin, as the lander would at that time be making its own Oberth Maneuver near the other side of Io.

The orbital adjustmentMunin had made to avoid hitting Io had sent her ahead of the doomed E.U. ship, passing some other debris along the way. "We are on course, Andy?" "All is ready. You just keep on with your design work." Horst studied the designs that he, Jackie, Mia, and Joe were working on. The fundamental challenges were really twofold.

First, fastening the two vessels together so that the power of theMunin 's rockets could be applied to both vessels. Second, determining where theMunin andNebula Storm could be fastened together that wouldn't cause the thrust from the rockets to be applied off-center, thus turning what should be straight thrust into a spin.

"The positive side is that we don't have to do most of it fast," Joe had pointed out. "We don't have to build these links to hold under ten Gs or anything." Mia shook her head. "There will be maneuvers that may well have significant peaks. Not ten gravities, but more than one."

There were some points suitable for anchoring at least part ofMunin onNebula Storm. The most obvious were the attachment points that were originally used to suspendNebula Storm in Ceres' gravity. Those had been heavily overengineered, and Joe was confident that they could take just about any strain that was likely to be encountered. Horst thought Joe was probably right. The obvious orientation to anchor the two vessels was one that placed their airlocks in as close proximity as possible. A couple of the tiedown locations were close, and if they could put a connecting tube between the vessels, they could use the internal supports ofNebula Storm as an anchor to the front landing gear ofMunin. Jackie had come up with the best way to adjust the center of mass: extending two of the four habitat sections onNebula Storm, the two which would be on either side ofMunin when locked down, and putting as much heavy stuff-including water-in them as necessary to mostly balance the center of mass. The main rockets ofMunin had some slight ability to deflect and adjust their angle of thrust, which would-they hoped-make up for minor deficiencies. To minimize vibration and movement during thrust, Mia wanted to use several tons of water. Freezing in place at the interface betweenMunin andNebula Storm, the ice would probably help. How long it would last no one could tell, but they didn't have many alternatives. The real sticky point was exactly how to manage the connections and the landing itself. "I do not see how we can pull off this landing," Horst said finally. "Muninis designed to land. Nebula Storm is not, and together-especially in the configuration we will need to maneuver in-I cannot imagine even Miss Fathom bringing us down uninjured." Static crackled in his ear before Jackie answered. Even with the best selection of frequencies and top-notch signal enhancement, the storm of electromagnetic noise around Io made conversation difficult."Yeah.