Metafire

Scooter was listening now, "You mean I can't continue to do this manually?"

"That's right."

Scooter was mad. After the contact was terminated, he told the group that he was going to detach from Bluebird and take his tug home. Edenfield contacted Ferguson.

"Well," Ferguson said, "why don't all of you just invite yourselves over to Scooter's home?"

"What!"

"Can Scooter get away from Bluebird without much bumping?"

"He says he can."

"Then all of you go with him. Bluebird is on automatic. Just the need for resupply is going to lead to substantial bumping around. You might as well leave. Our people see no way you can disarm the bomb. We don't know all the ways it's triggered."

"I won't leave, John. The rest can go." Jim Edenfield felt there was a need for at least one person to stay behind.