Rei's Spacewalk - Part 6 of 10

Five years before the events that were described in Rome's Evolution, Rei and Rome had left the Tabit system and were just starting out on their one-year trip to Deucado. At the time, they didn't know it would only take a year, they were planning on more like two-plus years. However, Rei had a burst of inspiration that allowed them to ultimately double their speed. This is a little vignette about Rei's spacewalk which facilitated a vastly shortened journey. This is part 6 of 10:

     The circumstances didn’t matter. The propulsion system was dead weight. The time had come to cut it loose. Rei searched the base of the cargo section’s rear stabilizer and spotted the release panel, outlined in red. He unclipped the screwdriver from its eyelet and clipped the tiny attached cable on its end back in place. It was a smart design so that if he dropped it, it would not float off.
     Rei bent over and pried open the panel which came loose and started drifting away in space. He didn’t need it so he let it go. His helmet lights illuminated the cavity where he saw a hand-crank, a charge meter and an ignition switch. He knelt down on both knees but as soon as he did, his magnetic boots broke their grip and he started drifting away from the ship feet first. A quick burst of the hand-thruster brought him back in contact with the Ark. Rome tugged to make sure he was OK and he double-tugged his assurance back.
     Learning from his mistake, Rei placed the sole of one boot right next to the panel and kneeled down on the other knee. He was able to reach the magneto crank easily and started turning it. He turned it about six times but the needle within the analog gauge did not move. That meant he had generated no charge. Rei thought about the mechanics. The crank turned some permanent magnets which passed around a twin set of coils. This created a flow of electricity which charged up a capacitor. The meter was just another coil which moved the delicate needle based upon the stored charge. It was basic physics.
     Rei cranked furiously for a minute, round and round, growing increasingly frustrated. The needle never budged. Rome tugged on the tether and Rei tugged back, perhaps a little too hard. Rome tugged again and this time he tugged back more gently so she would know he was truly all right.
     Rei scowled at the panel. It was the simplest design in the world. It was made to last hundreds and hundreds of years in the vacuum of space. As long as the permanent magnets retained their magnetism, and there was no reason why they wouldn’t, it should work. The only possible thing that it could be was… Rei laughed at himself. He gently tapped at the needle gauge with the handle of the screwdriver and the needle popped to the fully charged position instantly.
     “Stuck, duh,” Rei thought to himself. He used his thumb to depress the safety then pressed the ignition switch and stood up. A puff of smoke shot out of the rim of cargo section where the lattice-work attached. The smoke raced around the circumference of the ship until it was out of sight. Rei bent past the rear stabilizer and in a less than a minute, the circle of smoke came back around, ending where it began.

Tomorrow, an idea strikes Rei regarding his music slab.