Edge of Infinity by Jonathan Strahan [Editor] Page A

forward in two slow bounds. The arena was well lit, as always, the Europa sky dark and glittering far above. No sign yet of the sun breaking over the horizon, but already a sliver of Jupiter was sunlit and their scheduled departure was imminent. He could see how Will was pinned and could tell instantly there was no way to get him loose without a loader. The nearest driver, a new kid, was spinning his treads back and forth on the ice, panicking.
    “Don’t cut off my arm,” Will wailed. “Ra! I need my arm.”
    “No one’s cutting off anything,” Rahiti promised. Although it was useless, he threw himself against one of the hundred-ton crates.”Hold on, okay?”
    A more experienced driver took over from the newbie and with a few deft manoeuvres got the crate shifted away. Will went limp. Rahiti pulled him free, ignored the twisted and flattened look of the arm, and wrapped his arm around Will’s waist. He jumped them toward the nearest hatch.
    “Emergency crew’s on its way,” Carpenter said over the headset, the useless bastard.
    “I’ve got him,” Rahiti bit out. “Open airlock six.”
    By the time Rahiti got them both into the lock, Will was beginning to stir back to consciousness. His face was glassy under his mask. The skinsuit had sealed over any tears or breaches, but his arm was still hanging so gruesomely that Rahiti couldn’t look at it.
    “Sorry, sorry,” Will mumbled as he came around. “Didn’t see it. Don’t cut it off.”
    The airlock cycled up. Rahiti got his helmet off, then slid Will’s off too. “It’s okay. Not your fault.”
    Will’s skin was sweaty-clammy, a ghastly shade of grey. “Messed up the plan.”
    “I built in an extension,” Rahiti said. “We’re good.”
    The inner hatch rolled open. A young med tech with bright red hair poked her head in. “How is he?”
    “How would you be?” Rahiti snapped. “Where’s the stretcher?”
    She blinked at Will. “They said minor accident.”
    “Minor, my ass.” Rahiti hopped and pulled, using the handholds, and got Will into the passage. He’d never seen the tech before. Asterius Outpost wasn’t a huge place, three hundred people maybe, but it was the pass-through for any personnel heading up or back from North Pole Station and Conamara. “He’s in shock, his arm is crushed, you didn’t check the feeds?”
    “My arm’s fine,” Will said, his voice slurring. He gave the tech a lopsided smile. “What’s your name?”
    She was young and new, but at least trained enough to ignore his flirting and plant a round disk to Will’s neck. “Telemetry’s on, we’re on our way,” she said briskly into her own set, and only then did she answer. “I’m Anu.”
    “Anu,” Will said. “Watcha doing later, Anu?”
    Rahiti pulled him into the lift and said, “Shut up, Will.”
    The infirmary waiting room was half-full, but the doctor on duty hustled them immediately into a cubicle. Rahiti didn’t think much of Dr. Desai – in his experience, she was as snooty as the rest of them – but she was both concerned and efficient as she slipped Will a painkiller.
    “Mr. Ochoa, you can wait outside,” she said.
    Will’s good hand came up and snagged Rahiti’s arm. “No. Stay with me.”
    Desai said, “Only family or next of kin.”
    “Who the fuck can afford to bring family here?” Rahiti asked hotly.
    “Language, please,” she said. “Are you registered partners?”
    Will’s grip grew only tighter. “Don’t let them cut off my arm.”
    “I’m married. My wife’s in Hawaii,” Rahiti said. Half a billion miles away, maybe on a beach somewhere. Javinta liked beaches, but hated to swim; who wanted to bathe in tiny bits of seaweed and dead fish and ocean pollution? Maybe even now she was sitting in the sand, watching the waves, thinking about breaking the six months of silence that stretched all the way to Europa.
    The scanner in Desai’s hand shed green light on Will’s crushed arm, piercing the skinsuit and