jordan scaled the side of the tank. he reached the top and peered over. "she seems all right," he called down. "part of the acid's gone. otherwise no damage."
damage enough, however. acid was a matter of life for anti. it had been splashed from the tank and, where it had spilled, metal was corroding rapidly. the wall against which the tank had crashed was bent and partly eaten through. that was no reason for alarm; the scavenging system of the ship would handle acid. the real question was what to do for anti.
"i've stewed in this soup for years," said anti. "get me out of here."
"how?"
"if you weren't as stupid as doctors pretend to be, you'd know how. no gravity, of course. i've got muscles, more than you think. i can walk as long as my bones don't break from the weight."
no gravity would be rough on docchi; having no arms, he would be virtually helpless. the prospect of floating free without being able to grasp something was terrifying.
"as soon as we can manage it," he said, forcing down his fear. "first we've got to drain and store the acid."
jordan had anticipated that. he'd swung off the tank and was busy expelling the water from an auxiliary compartment into space. as soon as the compartment was empty, he led a hose from it to the tank.
the pumps sucked and the acid level fell slowly.
docchi felt the ship lurch familiarly. "hurry," he called out to jordan.
the gravital unit was acting up. presumably it was getting ready to cut out. if it did—well, a free-floating globe of acid would be as destructive to the ship and those in it as a high velocity meteor cluster.
jordan jammed the lever as far as it would go and held it there. "all out," said jordan presently, and let the hose roll back into the wall. done in plenty of time. the gravital unit remained in operation for a full minute.
as soon as she was weightless, anti rose out of the tank.
in all the time docchi had known her, he had seen no more than a face framed in blue acid. periodic surgery, where it was necessary, had trimmed the flesh from her face. for the rest, she lived submerged in a corrosive liquid that destroyed the wild tissue as fast as it grew. or nearly as fast.
docchi averted his eyes.
"well, junkman, look at a real monster," snapped anti.
