“Does that mean we get one use?” Darae asked.
Seo secured the support from the locker to a work board instead of holding it loose. Small as it looked, it was solid metal. Dropped inside the cabin, it could hurt a person before damaging anything else.
“It means there’s one set left in that size. We won’t use it until we know it fits.”
The red-tagged ring was a reserve past its service life. He shut it away and read the usable rescue ring’s equipment number to Mujin. Darae repeated the last digit incorrectly, then corrected herself.
“One, not seven. My handwriting hasn’t improved in space.”
“I’ll take that as testimony that it was bad before.”
Even while laughing, Seo kept his hands on the metal.
Narae’s main docking ring did not fit S-6’s old cargo interface. The auxiliary rescue ring could connect to a support interface by changing its inner supports. First, they needed to establish how the current reinforcing plate compared with the registered drawing.
Mujin changed their observation angle without attempting connection. The cover’s shadow moved sideways. Darae thought the locking groove had become clear, then lost it again.
“What if we went a little closer?”
“We check what we can from this distance first.”
Several times today, she had needed to put aside the feeling that bringing her body closer would make her eyes more accurate.
They requested the interior label and remaining repair documents. Beside the designated adult, Maru selected document numbers. Nobody would go out through a window to inspect the cover. Haeseong said the reinforcing plate had been replaced.
“Does the plate cover the original groove?” Seo asked.
“It’s on the protective-cover side. The record says the load-bearing ring is unchanged. I wasn’t outside to inspect the installation myself.”
They compared records and present observations. The projecting plate left too little clearance for Narae’s large ring. The candidate auxiliary ring was designed to use an approved surface farther inside. Whether it could do that on S-6 depended on the present surface and mounting points too.
Darae thought of the word FITS on a supplies sheet. At the office, even a matching specification ceased to settle things if a handle was bent. Here they still had no way to check it by hand.
Seo opened the auxiliary ring’s inspection history: last test date, support compatibility, restrictions when used as a pressure boundary. Darae moved a light over the label’s tiny print. Enlarging a screen for her eyes did not enlarge the actual marks on the metal.
A line crossed one support’s corner.
“That looks like a crack,” she said.
Seo used an inspection tool and magnified view instead of scratching it with a nail. The earlier inspection photograph showed the same shallow machining mark. He checked separately for deformation around it.
“It would have taken longer without the photo.”
“We still have to inspect it now.”
An earlier pass could not stand in for the present object.
Mujin sent the proposed method to the Safety Office in a short call fitted to their line of sight and relay booking. Observations and equipment numbers went first, explanation after. The docking specialist checked operating limits and abort conditions again.
S-6 received the same explanation. Connection would not mean immediately opening the inner doors. Mechanical restraint, pressure boundaries, and a safe passage all needed verification. Simply mixing two vessels’ air was not assistance.
Haeseong relayed it inside.
“If you hear us connect, don’t get up. Keep your positions.”
A voice answered, “Can we applaud when we hear it?”
Mujin glanced at Darae, then took the transmitter.
“As long as you keep hold of your handholds.”
Brief laughter passed. Darae put her hands on her lap, then checked her restraint again. The phase in which she could do less inside the cabin was approaching.
The supports were checked against the receiving specification in the onboard inspection fixture. Only the required components were exchanged. Nobody filed parts down or enlarged holes. Darae sealed the remaining pieces in a separate pouch and closed the locker, keeping the unusable ring from drifting beside prepared equipment.
With deployment permitted, Seo attached the prepared ring to Narae’s existing auxiliary-interface deployment mechanism. They closed and checked the work compartment’s pressure boundary before the mechanism transferred the ring to its designated exterior mount. Seo and Mujin checked pressure states before and after, and the external camera’s ring-lock indicators.
Seo reported readiness. Mujin compared the observed interface with the permitted limits one final time. The interchangeable supports were judged usable. The Safety Office authorized a limited connection.
Darae went from cargo handler to secured passenger again. Her toes searched for the floor markings. Here, her restraints established where she belonged before the floor did.
Haeseong called quietly, in a different voice from the one he used to relay instructions.
“You’re not taking a risk to connect just because we’re in a hurry, are you?”
Darae looked at Mujin. He took the transmitter.
“We know it’s urgent. That’s why we’ll use only the verified method. If it doesn’t fit, we separate and request other assistance. We’ll maintain the head count and contact even then.”
Haeseong acknowledged. Only now did Darae consider that people awaiting a connection could fear a collision too. A rescue vessel did not look reassuring in quite the same way to everyone.
She reread the final handover explanation. It included the next contact time and the person responsible for requesting help if docking failed. A written plan for failure was more useful now than a promise to succeed quickly.
Seo pointed to a loose paper corner in front of her seat. Holding herself with one hand, she secured it with the other. The curled edge could obscure the external display. However important its words, paper covering a necessary instrument became an obstruction.
Her reflection faded in the window as sunlight returned. Small repair plates on S-6 shone separately. One reminded her of an old mailbox lid. Knowing that people had repaired this place and lived here changed how the metal looked. For the pilot, it was still a surface he must avoid striking. She looked back to her own assigned indicators.
The approach began.
S-6 grew slowly beside the window. Its wall briefly seemed motionless, while relative-motion values kept changing. Mujin repeated that they would withdraw if they exceeded the planned limits. Darae watched without turning her head far.
The reinforcing plate blocked one side of the view.
Two ring marks almost overlapped, then passed aside. Mujin did not push farther. At reduced approach speed, he realigned their attitude. Darae barely felt it, but the gap between a window scratch and an exterior mark changed.
“Are we aborting?”
“Permitted realignment. Any farther outside the limit, and we abort.”
His voice stayed brief and even. She swallowed her next question rather than add to the work of his hands. She could speak when there was something to report.
Seo watched the equipment display; Darae watched cargo restraints. At every acceleration, the pump pouch’s new seal number caught her eye. This time the cushioning and reference marks stayed aligned.
A faint tremor came through her seat.
There was no sharp bang. The hull transmitted structures making contact and having their motion restrained. Darae felt her grip tighten and opened her fingers. Making her own body rigid would not improve the connection.
“Capture confirmed. Verifying restraint,” Mujin said.
Haeseong read the state on his side. Their lock indicators agreed. Mechanical-coupling verification was followed by pressure-boundary testing. Darae stayed away from the door. Each new green indicator brought a short explanation from Seo.
Structural restraint. Connection-space seal. Internal passage not yet authorized.
The last item remained gray.
Stable results arrived a few minutes later. The external auxiliary connection held within the approved conditions. Darae looked at the cabin wall. Two rooms that had been separate now adjoined through a narrow device.
That did not mean they were breathing the same air.
Mujin changed the attitude-holding method and sent the new fuel state to the Safety Office. He compared the predocking plan with their return conditions after connection. Reserve fuel remained at the bottom of his screen. Successful docking did not erase the journey home.
A little applause came from S-6: a few palms meeting nearby. Someone explained to a child that it was not time to open the door. Darae wanted to clap too. She smiled with her hands at her waist.
“Changing the status from delivery expected to waiting at the door.”
“Signature still pending, even at the door,” Seo said.
Once movement was permitted, he went to inspect the inner interface instruments. Darae checked destinations on her terminal. The sound cartridge, two sorbent canisters, and pump were all still aboard Narae. CONNECTION COMPLETE and HANDOVER COMPLETE could not share a button.
The equipment list acquired a record of the rescue ring’s use. She recorded the remaining unused supports too. Had this attempt failed, they could not have tried indefinitely under the same conditions. Mujin retained the separation procedure after docking.
S-6 sent an update.
Sorbent capacity: 41 percent. Pressure maintained. Oxygen supply normal. Temperature: 31.5 degrees Celsius.
Seo paused at the last number, for more than its increase. He was comparing coolant temperatures with system records from before S-6 separated.
“Has the pump stopped?” Haeseong asked.
“There’s still flow in the record. We need to separate moving heat from getting rid of it.”
Haeseong sent a photograph of the coolant instruments. Two similar pipes carried different labels. At first, Darae took red to mean a fault. The colors identified systems, not alarms.
Seo selected the details he needed explained. Darae looked at the pump pouch. The confidence of having brought the correct part still lingered in her hands. They needed to establish where it could work—and where the heat could go.
A short warning sounded over the link.
This time it was not the capacity indicator.
Haeseong read the instrument name.
“Heat-rejection margin warning. It’s separate from the filter.”