Landskricht meanwhile was adjusting the computer, every now and then looking at Zavirdyaev in a friendly manner and nodding.
However, while he was delivering his soothing speech, he began to feel that long-forgotten fear creeping up on him from behind. Inexplicable, irrational, like in a dream, and funny to say, in childhood.
You can feel fear when you hide in a wall opening from a gang of SFS militiamen, or KANAR... or even German soldiers - that's one thing. All this threatens well-known troubles. Well-known and well-understood.
You can also experience fear from meeting snakes or even centipedes - here each person has his own way, but there is logic here - all these fears are sewn into the genetic memory by nature itself and inform the primate, even having learned, unlike its less capable relatives, to kill its own kind with metal and fire, that a snake can fatally bite and if you eat a centipede, or more precisely some scolopendra, then you can lie down and not get up. And there are also irrational fears that every filmmaker dreams of mastering - this is when you stand in a night field and are simply afraid of the howling wind, although you understand perfectly well that no one and nothing threatens you. Or you are afraid of something incomprehensible, waking up in the middle of the night and hiding your head under the blanket. And your legs, so that something does not see how they stick out from the shelter. It was complete crap, but for some reason this is exactly what Zavirdyaev remembered now, when he looked at the familiar face and the black hair fluttering incongruously in zero gravity.
At some point, Landskricht reached out to Zavirdyaev again and grabbed his hand, protected by a glove, with hers.
- Were you controlling the ship manually? - she asked in a businesslike manner.
Zavirdyaev did not control it manually.
He also noticed that she was not wearing any gloves. The irrational fear, which most likely was not going to truly take hold of Zavirdyaev, but arose due to non-standard neural activity, had somehow evaporated.
- So, Madam, - Zavirdyaev continued, having already dispelled the incomprehensible feelings, - it is still very difficult for me to imagine how you survived the takeoff. You know, I almost... almost passed out. In general, in my case, this is not easy to bear.
- I'm not just talking about a space monster, - Landskricht answered. - Do you think this is a figure of speech? A joke? I'll show you now. With these words, she looked back, where the airlock was located.
Then she pushed off with her legs and swam away from the chair. She still hadn't fastened the belts she was untangling.
Grasping the handrail, she reached for the panel located near the rectangular door with rounded corners. Obviously with expertise, she began to type something on the panel and soon a warning sound was heard. The AI reported that the airlock was ready to open.
- What are you doing? - Zavirdyaev shouted, hastily lowering the visor of his helmet.
Then he began to unfasten the belts. When all he had to do was unhook the cable connecting the spacesuit to the ship, Landskricht was already floating through the opened door. For a moment, Zavirdyaev stared at the instrument panel, searching for the menu concerning the operation of the airlock.
The airlock door was already closing by that time. Should he stick something in there, at least his hand? It was unknown how this thing would work, maybe it would jam, then not close and depressurize the ship, and what then? It would also cripple his hand. The old saying "learn the material" came to mind. The door closed.
Then, realizing that he did not want to waste precious seconds, Zavirdyaev simply turned to the onboard computer, ordering it to block the airlock, explaining that the operation of the airlock could threaten the life of the second crew member - the AI should have taken this more than seriously.
To Zavirdyaev's surprise, the computer replied that priority in controlling the ship had now passed to Haldoris Landskricht - the artificial intelligence already knew her name.
- Judging by everything, it won't be for very long, - Zavirdyaev thought with impotent anger and annoyance, but he kept silent.
He turned his whole body and headed for the airlock,
Flying to the ill-fated node, Zavirdyaev managed to curse the AI properly, but it had no effect.