There was a hail from the comms subsystem. I slowed to real-time and accepted a voice-only link to the station command. “Heaven-1, Statcom, please verify receipt of mission profile.” “Yep. Got it right here.” I imagined myself grinning—best I could do—at the stunned silence. “Er, you’re a little light on procedure there, Heaven-1.” “Ya think? Sorry Statcom, but this part of my training was scheduled for next week. We’re going to have to wing it, I’m afraid.”

