“Good plan,” Brandon observed. “Except for one little problem. Our fuel situation is becoming critical. In about four or five days, we will have to land or fire the thrusters for the trans-Earth trajectory anyway. Spending so much time in orbit was anticipated, due to the dust storm season when we arrived. But the asteroid impact and having to slow our rotation for the repairs and speed it back up again, used a lot of fuel. So, it’s forcing us to make a decision one way or the other. We can’t hold in orbit for very much longer than… perhaps five more days, six at the very most.”
“Then, let’s get busy,” Valerie declared, moving from her place near the control console.
“I’ll run the numbers and try to pin down a more accurate time-line for fuel consumption and landing,” Carl volunteered, turning back toward the computer screen. Sally went over and pulled up a stool next to Tom, sat down and draped her arm around his shoulders, then squeezed him slightly.
“We’ll get this thing figured out,” she promised him.
“I know that. It’s just going to take so much time.” He sighed quietly, leaning over and momentarily resting his head on her shoulder. Carl was busy at the console, Valerie and Brandon were heading off to start sending their emails, and Jackie was proceeding back up the ladder to fix another cup of tea and try to get some much-needed rest. Sally reached across, gently placing her hand on Tom’s opposite forearm, and lightly kissing the top of his head.
“I’m here if you need me,” She quietly whispered. Tom glanced up at Sally and gave her a tired smile; gratitude clearly etched on his features as he placed his hand atop hers and affectionately squeezed it.
*
A few hours later, Carl was number crunching with a program written in “R” that he quickly hacked up, when Brandon stepped out of the ladder-well.