To the rookies, the slip was heaven. Each young face, ground into hardness from 73 days of intense gravity training, smoothed out as their weightless bodies free-glided through the cargo bays. More than once, it provoked a spiritual awakening in a one of the soldiers. It never lasted.
Barker set the thrusters on stand-by, letting the Earth pull them forward. In five hours the military transport umbilical would be within reach and their short-lived Valhalla would be over.
Barker almost felt jealous.
Four hours and fifty minutes later, Barker connected to the umbilical and set his self-destruct countdown to silent.