The Girls From Alcyone: Merchantman (6 page)

If she could survive past the next…

Two minutes, six-point-nine seconds.

"Blast…"

Sigrid felt a lifeline snaking around her waist, coiling, tightening. Her forward trajectory changed as the line went taut, and she found herself rotating end over end in a gentle twenty-five-meter circle. She craned her neck, looking up. On the other end of the line was a figure in a stark, white EVA suit. Behind him floated the welcoming bulk of the
Ōmi Maru
.

The tether on which she'd been snared was hooked to a winch. The figure waved as he began to reel her in, their orbit around each other ever tightening.

She closed with the figure. A hand reached out and grabbed her arm, his faceplate pressed against hers. It was the chief—Chief Engineer Andrzej Topa.

"Your comlink seems to be malfunctioning, Ms. Novak."

Sigrid checked the system; she hadn't noticed during all her tumbling. Too out of breath, too dazed, too numb to respond, Sigrid nodded and gave the standard thumbs-up signal. This satisfied the chief, who smiled back at her.

"Good girl. Now let's get you home."

End

Author Notes

I originally wrote this story as a standalone adventure for Sigrid. But once I finished work on Merchantman, I realized I wasn't writing a short story at all (the first clue came when I kept typing after 'The End'). Merchantman was the beginning of a book, and it was the spark for The Girls from Alcyone II: Freelancer (it's also chapter two).

I hope you enjoyed it. I know I can't wait to share more of Sigrid Novak, Suko Tansho, Lady Hitomi Kimura and the rest of the girls from Alcyone very, very soon.

The Girls from Alcyone II: Freelancer is coming soon (2013).

Table of Contents

Merchantman

Author Notes