Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (86 page)

"You first," came over the radio just as something cut
into his hull. He looked up when he felt sudden heat above and then screamed as
plasma boiled there. The plasma of course was sucked out by the vacuum as his
cabin breached.

The girl had been smart, she'd cut along the seam to the window
where it could not only be repaired, but where it was weakest. She grinned
savagely as she watched the air and bits stream out of the cabin. When a finger
stuck through the hole she grinned and cut it off and then cut a few more holes
for good measure.

He started to babble and scream into the radio. She ignored it,
smiling savagely as she went about her grim work. She could hear him pant, try
to breath, try to stay alive as the heat and air boiled out of his cabin. The
bastard deserved it she thought.

Digs unlike her wasn't in a suit, and with his finger stuck in a
hole he wasn't about to get into one. For good measure she went over to the
lock and undogged it. It swung open and his lifeless body drifted into the
opening.

She stared into his boiling eyes and gaping mouth, watching the
water vapor crystallize around him for a long moment. “Good bye... dad,” she
said voice flat. She wanted to kick him, instead she reached down and hauled
his carcass up and out of the cabin and into the darkness of the void.

Instead of pitching his body though she hesitated. After a moment
she lashed it to the ship's hull. "Waste not after all," she
murmured. She was sure she could find the recyclers in Port town eager for more
biomass. Digs was just the right pile of shit to hand off to them with her
compliments.

...*...*...*...*...

A few hours later she'd patched her window with the bit from Dig's
drill. It wasn't pretty but it'd hold until she got to port. Just to be sure
she'd planned on spending the trip in her suit, leaving the cabin decompressed.
It would be an itchy five day trip but she could manage it. She'd treat herself
to a two minute shower when she got home. No, make it a four minute shower. 
It'd cost a lot but she could afford it now. She'd vampired his tug to be sure,
it wasn't like he needed it anymore. Just to be on the safe side she'd marked
the wreck for later retrieval. After all, it was now precious salvage. Salvage
she would need if mom had gotten around Felix somehow. She'd better not of
though, Mairi thought with a growl.

Whistling a jaunty
tune she headed for port with uplifted spirits.

The End

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