Prologue. Part 2

Not only the captain drew attention to the strange transport. The station's outer spotlights flashed orange. Obeying the request of the automatic dispatcher, the ship going to dock lit up like a light bulb in a dark room. The captain shuddered: even the most powerful gravitational compensators will not save him from overload, which would be caused by such a sharp activation of the main engines.

"Bloody reckless pilots!" an elderly woman, sitting to the left of the captain, exclaimed. She throwed her keychain on the floor and stood up. "Don't they even try to ask for a discount."

The transporter began to flyby maneuver above the station and disappeared from view.

A guy in blue overalls plopped down on the chair next to the captain.

"Did you see that?" he exclaimed. "I bet something happened on that ship." "A bad pilot happened, I presume." the captain remarked. "C'mon. We are on the border of outer space! Anything can happen here. They were in such a hurry, as if they were escaping from something. Or from someone, can you imagine? And what if the someone is on their ship? Maybe we should isolate ourselves on the Walrus, before it's too late?"

The captain ignored his pilot's fantasies.

"Have you prepared for the flight?" he asked. "I sent you a cargo mass summary half an hour ago." "Really? I seem to have missed the message. I met my friend here. Guess what, he returned from Enceladus last week..."

Captain yawned. He did not dislike his pilot. Rather, even he liked this guy. Especially when his mouth was closed.

"He have only four days on Mars, and then have to go again to the outer system. This is life! If I could too..."

Captain closed his eyes. Captain opened his eyes.