Collision Orbit

A routine cargo run turns into a desperate fight for survival when the Aspera suffers a sudden drive‑tube blowout in the black between Mars and Jupiter. The pilot, a gritty young spaceman, finds himself tethered to a crippled hull, a frightened stowaway girl, and a ship that can’t be docked for weeks. With no spare parts and a million‑mile gap to the nearest repair base, every second counts.

He pulls a makeshift patch from the cabin, steps into the void on a lubricated tether, and begins a painstaking hand‑calculation of a new trajectory that will miss Jupiter by tens of millions of miles. The narrative balances gritty engineering details—quabba cigarettes, improvised lubber lines, and the cold press of open space—as the ship drifts farther from safety. Listeners are drawn into a classic, hard‑science struggle where wit and will are the only tools left.