July 3, 2010

Reunification

The energy ratios in the collision were such that my Shorty got a nice kick in the opposite direction, putting us on course to pick up the other half of the chatty pair. The locals were well trained and excited to have an interesting task. I observed the navigation pings and confirmed that we were properly aligned as the attitude maneuver brought the Eights forward once again.

"We've got a little surprise for you." I tapped toward the new passenger.

"?" was all I got back.

The locals began to buckle and shift as we approached the other shorty, on collision course. Pinging the handler on the target shorty, we set up and executed another singleton transfer. Relieved of their hosting duties, the AB Shorty was left with a reduced velocity and we picked up another reversal of our own direction of travel.

Kicking up the synchro drive a notch or two, we headed back to our observation zone, both shorties following in formation. That's when the Sixes on my shorty began to sing and ring. I had not spotted it, but the chatty pair had reunited down on the Eights and the squeal of joy was at such a frequency that I thought the Sixes were about to disassociate into a plasma.

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