Page 87 of Journey to the Forbidden Zone

Focus, Díaz.

“Passive sensors still clear?” Carmen asked, her gaze snapping to Letitia.

“Clear, Captain,” Letitia confirmed, her voice clipped. “No energy signatures. No drive trails. Just us, the satellite, and Zed.”

“Six hundred meters,” Sark announced. “Vector still looks good.”

On the screen, the security satellite grew larger. It was a sleek, dark wedge, radiating silent menace – a threat in the middle of absolute darkness.

“Four hundred meters,” Sark said, his voice rising slightly in pitch. “Thrust vector holding. Zed’s initiating final-approach-deceleration burn.”

Carmen’s nails dug into the worn leather of Sark’s headrest. She could almost feel the vibration of Zed’s tiny maneuvering thrusters firing, the minute adjustments as he braked.

“Two hundred meters,” Sark breathed. “Deceleration nominal. On target.”

A flicker of relief, sharp and fleeting, pierced Carmen’s dread. Almost there. Thirty-eight-point-seven was looking better. Maybe?—

“Shit!” Sark’s curse ripped through the silence, sharp and panicked. His hands flew over the console. “Vector instability! Lateral drift! Captain, he’s?—”

Carmen’s heart slammed against her ribs. On the screen, Zed’s small form was veering sharply off-course, drifting sideways relative to the satellite. The smooth trajectory was gone, replaced by a sickening lurch. The tiny plume from his maneuvering thrusters flared erratically.

“What happened?” Carmen barked, leaning over Sark’s shoulder, her eyes glued to the display. “Sark! Talk to me!”

“Unknown!” Sark’s voice was high with fear. “Thruster malfunction? Micro-meteoroid impact? Data stream from Zed is fragmented.”

On the screen, Zed’s thrusters flared again, longer this time, a desperate burst. His drift slowed but didn’t stop. He was still sliding sideways, missing the satellite by meters. Dozens of meters.

“Fifty meters separation!” Sark yelled. He opened the comm. “Zed, you’re not correcting fast enough! You’re going to miss!”

Horror washed over Carmen, cold and absolute. Miss the satellite. Drift past it. Into the endless void. Zed could maneuver, but his thruster pack had limited fuel. He’d drift until his power cells died, a silent tomb in the dark. Thirty-eight-point-seven percent had just plummeted to zero.

“Situation, suboptimal,” Zed’s voice replied far too calmly through the speaker. “Port lateral thruster misfiring.”

“Shit,” Sark swore. “It must be gumming up. The sealant is probably leaking into the fuel line.”

“Zed,” Carmen ordered, “Max burn on that misfiring thruster.”

“Captain, that could?—”

“Do it now!” she barked.

Carmen held her breath for two seconds as nothing happened. Then Zed’s thrusters ignited again. Not a pulse. A sustained, blinding flare. His sideways drift halted abruptly. Then reversed. He was clawing his way back towards the satellite, a tiny, determined creature fighting the indifferent physics of the void.

“Come on,” Carmen whispered, the words barely audible. She wasn’t sure if she was urging Zed or the universe itself. “Come on, you stubborn piece of scrap.”

Zed’s thrusters cut out. Momentum carried him the last few meters. He slammed into the dark flank of the satellite with a jarring thud that Carmen felt in her own bones. For a heart-stopping second, he rebounded, floating free again.

“No!” Letitia gasped.

Then Zed’s telescopic arms shot out. They wrapped around the satellite’s angular body with startling speed, clamping on with the strength only a Mechan could muster.

A collective breath, held too long, escaped the bridge in a ragged sigh. Carmen’s knees felt weak. She forced herself to stand straighter, her grip on Sark’s chair the only thing keeping her upright.

“Contact confirmed,” Sark reported, his voice trembling with relief. “He’s secure. But now the satellite is drifting.” He turned to her. “Captain, I don’t know what will happen if it gets too far out of position.”

“Zed, fire retro-rockets; you’ve got to stabilize your position,” Carmen snapped.

Every muscle in her body tensed. Would the satellite blow? Would it trigger the recognizer chip inAntilles? Would Zed just drift off into space with it?