Earth Unaware (First Formic War)

out of it. Air. He’s saying they need air.”
    “I don’t see any other entrance besides the hatch we knocked on,” said Chepe. “We’ve been around the whole thing.”
    “Ask him if Alejandra is in there,” said Toron.
    “Ask him first if he can reach the outer hatch,” said Bahzím. “We might be able to get a docking tube sealed over it. Then they could open the hatch and fly right up to us.”
    Victor continued to cut metal while Nando wrote. Shards of twisted bulkheads and deck plating fell away as Victor’s shears chewed through them.
    “He’s shaking his head no,” said Nando. “They can’t reach the hatch.”
    “Why not?” asked Bahzím. “Because they sealed off that room or because it’s not accessible from where he’s at?”
    “I can’t fit all that on the board,” said Nando.
    “Just figure out a way to ask him,” said Bahzím.
    Nando wrote. Victor allowed himself a glance down the corridor. The man in the window looked half asleep. His eyes kept drooping. “He’s passing out,” said Victor.
    “Keep cutting, Vico,” said Father. “Stay focused.”
    Victor returned to his work, cutting furiously, pushing pieces away, trying to clear a path.
    “He’s writing again on the glass,” said Nando. “H … U … R…”
    “Hurt?” suggested Bahzím.
    “Hurry,” said Chepe. “He’s saying hurry. They’re out of air. Now he’s drifting away. We’re losing him.”
    “We’ve got to get air in there now!” said Toron.
    “Chepe,” said Bahzím. “You and Pitoso get a bubble over that hatch you found. Get nine masks and canisters. I want you to find another way to reach these people and get them air as fast as possible.”
    Victor guided the shears through a particularly thick girder. There was still so much to cut away, still so much work to do. We’re not going to make it, he realized. We have nine people just a few feet away, and we’re not going to reach them in time.
    *   *   *
    Chepe shot upward from the wreckage, twisting in such a way that his lifeline easily avoided the sharp protuberances. Protecting your line was the most critical part of flying, but it was also the first thing most novice flyers forgot. Everyone was always in such a rush to shoot forward that they never took the time to look back. Which was a mistake. If you wanted to avoid snags, kinks, knots, and cuts, you had to “keep your mind on your line,” as the saying went, and Chepe always did.
    The hatch he and Pitoso had found was on the opposite side of the wreckage, so Chepe flew straight up to a distance that he figured was at least twice the distance to the hatch and begin his descent, moving, as always, in an arc. Most young flyers assumed that the best route between two points was a straight line, but Chepe knew different. Tall arcs worked best. You avoided the obstructions that could snag your line, and wherever you were going, you always arrived with plenty of slack.
    Pitoso appeared beside him, keeping pace, moving in a parallel arc, with their lines trailing behind like a parabolic tail. They both slowed at the same instant as they approached the jagged debris around the hatch. As soon as they landed, Pitoso pulled the deflated bubble from his bag and unfolded it. Chepe then helped him spread it over the hatch. Bulo, another miner, arrived carrying a bag of masks and canisters, and Chepe took them and slid them under the bubble canopy. Then he reached back and detached his own lifeline. His suit powered off. His comm went silent. His HUD disappeared. He climbed under the canopy, found the ripcord and pulled it. The bubble inflated into a clear dome that sealed itself to the hull with Chepe and the masks inside. Pitoso plugged Chepe’s detached lifeline into the external valve on the bubble while Chepe took the internal line and plugged it into his back. Power returned to his suit, and with it, fresh air and heat.
    “I’m set,” said Chepe.
    “Go,” said Bahzím.
    Chepe removed the emergency lid from the center of the hatch to access the manual wheel lock. Then he gripped the wheel and turned. At first he strained, but the wheel suddenly loosened, and it spun quickly thereafter. Finally he felt the lock snap free, then slowly lifted the hatch. He felt no rush of air as the vacuum of the bubble was filled from air inside. He checked his sensors on his wrist and confirmed what he already suspected. “There’s no air beyond the hatch. There must be a leak