"William Forstchen - Article 23" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

Seay settled down into an empty chair across from Justin and Matt and strapped in.

"We'll be playing the saluting game again once we get back out there. And besides, the word is you two
guys are hot shots, regular heroes for risking your lives to save those two girls. I was proud to have you
in my company this summer. You even made me look good!"

Matt blushed at the mention of saving Tanya and Sue. It had even made the news nets back on Earth and
resulted in the two of them being interviewed by the local holo station in Lafayette, Indiana while they
were there on leave. Matt, who was normally good for a long yarn, simply went tongue-tied when the
camera was turned on him, so Justin wound up doing ninety-nine percent of the talking.

He looked down shyly at the red and gold stripe above his left pocket, the life-saving award given to any
member of the United Space Military Command who risked his life to save another. He noticed for the
first time that Brian was wearing one as well. Brian saw him looking at the decoration and smiled.
"It was nothing much, just a little depressuri-zation accident down on the Moon. I breathed vacuum for a
couple seconds when I went out to pull my roommate back in, and they made a big fuss about it later.
Hell, the guy owed me twenty bucks on a falcon flying game I didn't want to lose the money!"

Brian laughed quietly and Justin looked at him with renewed respect.

"You joined the Vacuum Breathers' club?"

Brian nodded, a bit embarrassed.

The Vacuum Breathers' club was a mythical club open to anyone who had ever been exposed, without
benefit of pressurized suit, to the vacuum of space. Quite a few were qualified to join it, the only problem
was that the vast majority of people eligible for membership received their qualification by dying.

"What happened?" Justin asked.

"I really didn't have time to think," Brian said. "I heard the depressurizing alarm go off in my room right
after I stepped out and closed the door. They figured out later that an old gasket seal on the window had
let go. I looked through the door porthole and saw my roommate Abdul flopping around inside."

He hesitated for an instant as if the memory were alive and floating before him. "You know that once the
pressure goes you can't open the door from the inside."

Justin nodded. It was a grim part of standard procedure better to lose the people inside rather than a
whole station.

"There were no emergency suits in there and I figured that by the time I got one on he'd be finished. So I
secured the door down the corridor behind me, called Base Central Control to release the safety on the
door into the room, and went in after him.

"When I popped the door, we didn't have time to drop the pressure in the corridor. Luckily the door
opened in rather than out. The moment I

opened the door it just exploded inward; I went in and dragged Abdul out. I got a mild case of the bends
from it and my eyes hurt for a couple of days, but that was it."