Jeff didn’t know why but some of what they intended made him nervous.  He was asked by commander Sapps if Charon mining would accept replacement value plus twenty five percent for two of his ore hoppers, Argus’ only manned out boat was just too big to go inside the jumbled interior of the sphere.  Jeff passed this on to the Charon general manager who accepted readily.  Russell and Chuck ferried the two ships numbers two and three now fully repaired over to Argus and docked.


    Russell stepped aboard Argus’ docking bay and into Debra Hilds’ arms, Chuck patiently waited for his friend outside the inner bay door.  “How long do you think you’ll stay with this?” he asked.


    “I’ve got my ten years in and all my comp time coming when I resign from UW science.  We’re due to put in on Charon before returning to the core, so I’ll see commander Sapps before we get there.”


    He pulled he close and they kissed gently.  “I love you” Russell said


    “I love you too Russ Carlin” said Debra Hilds.


    “I’ll wait for you,” he said as their hands unclasped. Russell walked slowly from the docking bay, not wanting to look back and make this any harder on them than it was.


    Chuck noticed his friends long face and put out his hand to him “welcome” he said “to the ranks of the hopelessly in live.”


    “What do you mean?” said Russell.


    “Just that sooner or later everyone meets their soul mate and sometimes it hurts a lot more than others.”  Chuck added, “My wife and I were engaged for eight years, until she finished college on mars.  Believe and learn from an old hand, Russ, missing them never gets easier.”A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    As Chuck and Russell were ferried back to the Twin in Argus’ out boat, Russell began to feel more pride, and less remorse, at leaving his new found love.  Back aboard the Twin, the engines were cycling and heating molecular hydrogen for injection into the fusion drive pod for ignition.  Russell and Chuck got into their g. beds and prepared for their three-week trip home.


    The Argus positioned herself one hundred meters from the sphere’s surface, waited while the two hopper’s finished cutting a one hundred foot diameter circle in the surface.  Twenty-five, five hundred-ton charges were placed in angled core holes all around the circle.  When detonated they should blow the new “hatch” clear at all edges.  The hoppers attached eighty feet of three-inch cable one end anchored to the “hatch” the other to the sphere.  So the hatch wouldn’t be lost.  Commander Sapps gave his hoppers the go ahead as he backed the Argus five hundred meters further away.  Both hoppers stood off to the loose side of the hatch three hundred meters from the sphere.  Debra Hilds fired the charges, and watched as the huge disk swung out into space, hit the end of its cable and began to swing back toward the opening, both hoppers turned their drive engines to face the disk and firing attitude jets in front forced it slowly back till it settled against the sphere.  As number two remained holding the hatch open number three core drilled into the hatch’s inner surface and fused another three-inch cable into the hole.  Number three then carried the other end to the sphere’s surface, and planted it similarly.  Debra Hilds called her commander and announced “We’ve got the door open and tied back, sir.”  “Permission to enter the UO, sir” she asked.


    “Permission granted,” replied Commander Sapps “and plant two AV relays one inside and one outside the hatch.  Two black cylinder shapes separated from hopper number three one locked magnetically to the outside of the hole’s edge, the other entered the sphere and attached itself to the inside lip of the hole.  Through these audio-visual relays Argus’ science staff could see and hear everything the hoppers encountered inside.