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door—the hinges must be bent.”
    “The air distribution system has repressurized to normal,” Hopper announced.
    “ Hopper ,” Dolph quickly commanded, “push the pressure
up to the redline limits and start venting the habitat.” They had to reduce the
pressure differential to a minimum, if not get it going the other way. It would
be many seconds before venting the large volume of  the habitat would have much
effect. His ears, though, told him it had started—and they could help it. “Sasha,
help me with the inner door.”
    If they got it open, he realized, and the vestibule blew,
they’d be sucked into vacuum as well as Tina and Inspector McCarthy. But
neither of them wasted a moment reaching for their helmets. They crouched on
opposite sides of the oval door and pulled on its wheel handle in . They
strained, the motors strained, metal squealed, air whistled by going out, and
gradually the door swung open.
    McCarthy shoved Tina through and Dolph hooked a tool tether
to her belt.
    “Internal pressure down to point two one.” Hopper announced. Dolph felt the rush of air out increase second by second, and
quickly reached down for the Inspector’s hand, but she slipped away and slid
toward the outer door in the slipstream, frantically trying to slow herself by
grabbing pieces of equipment on the wall of the air lock.
    Without really thinking, he dove through the inner door past
the struggling Inspector McCarthy and grabbed the rim of the outer door with
his hands. Straining muscles he hadn’t used in a long time, he pulled himself
back in against the airflow and moved to help her.
    He was just in time. The Inspector lost her last handhold
and was blown into him. They untangled and he tried to help her up toward the
inner door. But the position was awkward and the airflow was too strong for
even their combined efforts to get her anywhere. He had to cut that wind down,
if only for a few seconds.
    “Dolph!” Sasha screamed. “ Hopper , put full reservoir
pressure into the suit lines. Now!”
    Nothing happened. His luck, Dolph thought. The remaining
pipe must have been good. When you wanted something to give, it was rock
solid. The operating principal seemed to be that whatever he wanted wasn’t
going to...
    Dolph heard a pipe burst behind him like a cannon shot. Air
rushed into the vestibule and, momentarily, the wind through the air lock
abated. He pushed the inspector through the inner door and pulled himself in,
with both Sasha and Inspector McCarthy helping.
    As soon as his feet were clear, Sasha slammed the inner lock
door shut behind him with a force that made the whole habitat ring. They had
the barest moment to look at each other before a great rending boom echoed
through the habitat. The leak through the incomplete seal of the inner door now
became a scream.
    “Vestibule air pressure is now one microbar and falling,” Hopper informed them.
    Dolph reached for the emergency seal foam, but Inspector
McCarthy stopped him.
    “There’s no way the outer air lock door can be shut against
that, and we still have to get out, “ she yelled. “Best get Tina in a bag and
our helmets on, then tell the computer to recover as much air as it can. With
vacuum on both sides, getting out will be easy.” Inspector McCarthy put a hand
on his arm as he moved to get her. “Let me help her.”
    “It’s okay,” Sasha said. Dolph nodded.
    “Tina, let’s go for another ride,” McCarthy suggested.
    Tina giggled, obviously no longer afraid of the older woman.
“Where’s my ice cream?”
    “It’s back in the Hopper , young lady. You’ll have to
get in your rescue tube now.”
    “Are we going to go there now ?”
    “Soon.”
    Dolph checked his seal as Inspector McCarthy tried to coax
Tina into a rescue tube.
    “This is different,” Tina whined. “It’s not my ball. I want my ball.”
    “It’s okay, Tina,” Sasha said. “This will get you to the Hopper and your ice cream. We have to wait a while for the air