Cutting the plastic was easy enough, but extracting the bale, tightly wedged in by the others, proved impossible.
'We'll have to cut them all free,' Kurikka said, slashing at the strand, 'then shove them apart.'
The bales surged and pushed against each other as the strain was released, moving with a life of their own. Soon there were bales floating all around them, bumping into them, getting in their way. With the pressure relieved, they grabbed the one they wanted and managed to heave it free. Kurikka turned it end for end and threw his light on it.
There was an exit hole in it.
'The next one. The meteorite is still further on,' he said.
Floating bales filled the space around them, jammed against them when they tried to move. The second layer was still wedged tightly together.
'We'll never get these free,' Don said.
'Maybe we won't have to - look!' He flashed his light into the opening and deep down it lit up a roughened surface. 'It's inside this one!'
With a quick slash of his knife he cut open the bale and heavy clothing drifted out. They rooted like mice in grain, hurling the clothing aside, stuffing it behind them, digging deeper and deeper until they came to it.
'That's it,' Don said. He was exhausted and empty of any emotion.
It looked so commonplace. A chunk of dirty rock. He prised at it with his knife and it floated free, turning as it rose. When it rotated the other side came into view.
This side of the meteorite was hollowed out, and lined with whitish crystals.
'The can, quick!' Don said, pulling back. 'And don't touch it with your gloves.'
'Those crystals - are they what you want?' the Chief asked, prodding the rock with his knife tip so that it floated into the container he was holding.
'I think so. I hope so.' Don was soaked with sweat and his head hurt. 'Seal it up.'
With slow precision the Chief took out the tube of di-epoxy and squeezed a circle of it on to the lid, then flipped it shut. He pushed down hard to seal it, and made sure it was closed all the way round.
'In two minutes it will be harder than steel,' he said.
'Good. Let's leave the knives here, they must be contaminated. And be careful taking off your suit, since we have surely brushed against material that is already contaminated.'
'Right. Follow me back, this thing will be sealed before we reach the lock.' He ploughed away through the floating bales and clothing with Don staying close behind.
'What would a dried virus look like?' the Chief asked, when they were in the lock and the air was being let back in.
'I have no idea, it could look like anything. These crystals perhaps.' He wiped his glove across his helmet to remove the water film that condensed there as air rushed in. 'When can we open our suits?'
'Not before the green light comes on. We'll do it outside the air lock. The metal in here is chilled now, it can give you a bad burn.'
When the door opened they floated out into the mid-pipe. Don put out his hand.
'Let me have the container,' he said. 'Then move away and take off your suit -without touching the outside. I'll pull on it if you need help. Then get out of here, back to the control-room. I'll follow as soon as you are clear.'
Kurikka protested. 'You'll need help getting out of your suit...'
'No I won't. I'm not concerned about my contamination. I'm enough of a doctor to recognize the symptoms.
'I don't have to worry about catching the fever - because I already have it.'
They had hit the fifty per cent mark a day earlier, when the uninfected people had to quarantine out the ill ones. Now, four out of five people aboard the great ship were down with the fever.
Mars was two days away. Rockets were waiting, with volunteer nurses and doctors standing by. No one would be permitted to leave the Johannes Kepler. It was a plague ship - and would be kept quarantined that way until - if and when - a cure for the fever was found. Food, drugs, equipment, anything could be put aboard. Nothing could come out.
There were now twenty-two dead.
Don took another pain-pill and blotted the sweat from his face with a damp towel. He was taking far more of the pills than were safe, he knew that, but he could not collapse. Not now The equipment before him blurred and he blinked his eyes back into focus, then made an adjustment on the glass petcock that slowed the flow of reaction agent to a steady drip.
'Let me do that, Doctor,' Rama said.
'You should not be in here, you don't have it yet.'
'That is of no importance, sir. I am the only one who can aid you in any way and you must permit it. What is the condition of the duplication process now?'
'I don't know. I'm not sure if I am even doing anything, or if there even is a virus in this solution. We have no animals -other than ourselves - to test it on. But I dissolved those crystals in nutrient solution, different solutions at different temperatures. I filtered them, recombined them, and I put the resulting liquid through this apparatus. It may be clear water for all I know...' His voice rasped and he coughed, then dabbed at his forehead again. 'How is the situation in control?'
'I have just talked to them. Chief Kurikka is there, with Computerman Boyd. Neither of them is sick yet, so they are optimistic that they can bring the ship in. I unhappily report that Dr Ugalde is in a coma, so can no longer aid. But Mars Control says that they can work through our computer and direct the final manoeuvres even if no one is left in control. The remaining mass will be used to put us into as low an orbit as is possible.'
The timer buzzed and Don started across the room to the ultracentrifuge. Suddenly, with no warning at all, he sprawled full length on the deck. His legs had simply given way. Rama put his arms around him and helped him to a chair.
Til be all right in a moment, Rama. Switch off the centrifuge, will you.'
The shrill whine changed to a deepening moan as the rotating machine slowed to a stop.
'With some luck,' Don said, levering himself to his feet, holding on to the back of the chair, 'this could be it. This is the result of the first extraction. The viricidal agent.'
'Shall we take it out, use it at once?' Rama asked excitedly.
Don shook his head no. 'In a moment. First help me with the soup from these other jars' He held up the flask and looked at the murky fluid slopping about inside. 'There are more of the crystals here in nutrient solution. I put them up at the same time as the ones I used for the first run. If there was nothing in the first solution, the viruses may not have been reconstituted yet, we may find it in here. We're working in the dark.'
With careful precision he made the adjustments, poured in the liquid and began the second run of the R.N.A. duplication apparatus. Only then did he turn to the centrifuge and flip the lid open. He took out one of the vials and held it to the light. There was a brownish deposit on the bottom, with a clear liquid above.
'Bring me a syringe with a 20 gauge needle.'
Inserting the point, he drew back his thumb and filled the cylinder.
'Take this,' he said, handing it to Rama. 'Inject the worst cases'
'The dosage?'
'I don't know - this stuff is concentrated - 35 cc's I guess, at least that much. Intravenously. Worst cases first, then all the others. There is enough for everyone in the centrifuge. I have to watch the second run.'
A buzzer. Temperature 110 degrees. Filtrate. Careful, there's no more of this if you spill it. It would be easier if the hands didn't shake so. But the hands shake, so brace them. Pour it. Don't spill it.
A buzzer. What now? What came next? Cold water on the face, head under the faucet, that always helps. Is that me in the mirror? Haven't been shaving lately, have you Doc? Frighten the patients with a face like that. Now, what comes next?