A two-meter roughly square room three meters deep was quickly dug out. Twenty, one-inch aluminum bars, each ten feet long, were piled nearby, as were two five feet long. Once the room was complete, and a light plastic chair and table, cot, and ship's toilet were installed, Yuri began heating the short bars. When the end of the bar became hot enough, Yuri pushed it into the ice. It took several heatings for each end of the long bars, but finally, they had a cell, with each bar frozen into place on each end. Yoshi was brought out and placed into the cell before each end of the last two bars were frozen more than a foot and a half into the ice. There was no door. No one was in a mood to take chances with Yoshi.
The others were free to use their imaginations. For instance, there was no need for conventional doors, as walking didn't work in the gravity-free environment. Raoul's "cave" was more of a bubble, roughly round, with a flattened "bottom," and almost three meters high. The entrance was a two-meter circle.
Ron built a rather conventional room, but its entrance was a small, round tunnel. Ron had an ice plug in his room, a foot thick, and slightly larger than his tunnel in diameter. He said it was a "safety precaution."
Dolf's cave was more of an office. He got Ron to run connections to the main computer on the ship, and to the comm center. His cot was tucked absent-mindedly in one corner.
Similar connections ran to David's room. His was also rather conventional, but featured a roughly rectangular doorway.
Yuri claimed not to care. He simply hollowed out a roughly rectangular two-by-three meter space, with no enclosure at all to separate it from the main "room."
The lightweight plastic boxes and crates were quickly appropriated and converted into rough furniture. Actually, though, the 'furniture' was not really needed. If one wanted to sit, he could just "sit" on the air in the near-weightlessness. It would take hours for him to drift to the "floor." And if one wanted to sleep, one simply reclined in the air, tethered to keep from drifting about in the air currents. But furniture or no, within a week, the cave had begun to feel like 'home'.
The day the last of the 'rooms' was complete, Dolf sought out David. "Commander, I need to talk to you. Privately."
David raised an eyebrow. The first time he'd had that request, they'd almost been killed. "Sure, Dolf. Let's go aboard. There's no one there now."
David dropped casually into his acceleration couch. "What's on your mind, Dolf?"
"Commander, I think we can shorten this voyage by months." Dolf said quietly.
David straightened abruptly. "What? How?"
Dolf frowned. "We are carrying eight small oxy-hydrogen rockets."
David shrugged. "Of course. But what . . ."
"Sir!" Dolf interrupted. "Those rockets are intended for use on the asteroid. But what if we used them now?"
"Now? Wouldn't that screw up our orbit?"
Dolf nodded. "Yes, sir, it would. That's what I'm suggesting. But instead of just adding a boost to our present course, suppose we changed the comet's orbit? Moved perihelion even closer to the Sun?"
David shook his head. "I don't see it Dolf. Why would you want to do that?"
Don't you see, sir? The slingshot effect! The closer we come at perihelion, the faster we'll be propelled away. Add some boost from the rockets, and we could cut months off the travel time."
David frowned. "But that would skew our orbit . . ."
Dolf raised his hands in frustration. "To hell with our orbit! With those engines, we can change it back, or leave it changed, whatever we want! We have all the oxy and hydrogen we can use. Hell, we could practically use the rockets for constant boost!"
David smiled sourly. "Have you ever seen the nozzles on a used rocket? They're not like ion engines that can go on for years."
Dolf shook his head in irritation. "Then let's dismount the ion engines and use those. I don't think you realize how big a difference it would make."
"And I don't think you realize what a job that would be. The ion engines aren't designed to be easily or quickly removed." He paused, thinking. "I'm sorry, Dolf, but I don't think your ideas will work. But suppose we could rotate the comet so that Hope's ion engines could push directly against its center of mass? It would mean that we'd be on the far side of the comet from the Sun."
Dolf's annoyed expression faded to thoughtfulness. "Perhaps. . . The comet is roughly spherical, and we dug the hole toward its center. But how . . . Excuse me, Commander. I must think about this. It may just be possible!" He scrambled down the ladder and grabbed his tablet, sliding it into the docking station. Within seconds, David was able to come down the ladder, squeeze past Dolf, and exit the boarding hatch without Dolf even being aware of it.
When Dolf had completed his computations and observations, he shared his results with David, who immediately called a crew conference. He quickly summarized Dolf's idea, and then turned the floor over to Dolf himself.
"Once again," he began, "random chance has favored us. When we dug into the comet, we dug more or less straight toward the center of the head. As a result, we are less than a degree off pointing to the comet's center of mass. If we can rotate the comet to place the ship opposite the direction we wish to move the comet, it is possible that we will be able to change the comet's orbit, to move perihelion closer to the Sun. This would result in a 'slingshot' effect that would speed up the comet, and shorten our voyage by months."
"I'll make the decision," David said, "but I want everyone's input before I do. Yuri, what do you think?"
The Russian shook his head. "I am against it. It would be an unjustified risk to the ship, our mission, and ourselves. Ice is a very unforgiving material. Even the small vibrations from the ion engines would quickly shatter our ice wall. And that is not to mention the acceleration itself.
"I think the ice wall would shatter, and the Hope would come driving forward to crash its nose into the ice. Besides," he added, "Frank has a supply lift scheduled for as soon as we regain contact. It is programmed to follow the original orbit. If we emerge from behind the sun on a totally different, unpredictable orbit, they would have to wait until our orbit stabilized, and then completely reprogram the launch and the control system, and delay the whole process."
David nodded. "Ron?"
"I must agree with Yuri. I do not think the possibility of cutting a few weeks off the duration of the mission justifies the risks that would be necessary."
"Raoul?"
"I would like to arrive at the asteroid early," Raoul said slowly. "But I do not wish to risk our lives to do it. I think the 'slingshot effect' should remain science fiction for a few more years."
David straightened with a nod. "And I'm afraid I must agree. I'm sorry, Dolf, but I just can't permit such unnecessary risk."
Dolf scowled, but said nothing. He stood carefully and stomped off to his room. At least, he tried to stomp. Somehow, the effect was lost in virtual weightlessness. He considered referring the matter to Frank, but he was unwilling to go over David's head.
But he did talk to Frank, in a carefully-scripted interview, one which had to be done over a period of time, due to the light speed lag, and then assembled into a coherent whole. In the interview, Frank continued to hammer at his theme of 'mankind's great stride into space', and emphasize the fact that no individual government sponsored it, that it was purely for the benefit of humanity.
"Why do you think the United States is pursuing you so mercilessly?" Dolf asked.
"I have no idea," Frank replied. "The only criminal charge they've actually filed is for 'suspected' violation of the technology transfer laws, and we've released our procurement documents that prove we purchased nothing from America.
"Throughout his political career, the President of the United States has supported space exploration. Now, when someone finally does what he has dreamed of, he has his UN Ambassador file absolutely ridiculous charges before the International Criminal Court. I do not understand it. Mr. President, do you no longer want man to pursue his destiny in space? Or is it simply that it's being done by someone other than NASA? Please, Mr. President. As the saying goes, 'if you can't lead or follow, get the hell out of the way!'"