Meteor Strike! by Donald E. Westlake
Harvey Ricks, a newly hired Interplanetal Business Machines engineer, boards a General Transits lighter at Tangiers Poe bound for the Moon, carrying seven aluminum crates of film and microfilmed books destined for Quartermaster Base's isolated maintenance crew. A lifelong habit of masking fear with bravado has already cost Ricks a failed first semester at MIT; he rebuilt himself through disciplined study, graduated near the top of his class, and volunteered for Moon duty purely because his pride wouldn't let him refuse. During blastoff from Earth, Chief Cargomaster Glenn Blair talks the three new engineer passengers through the crushing acceleration; Ricks nearly panics and vomits but conceals it, needling Blair afterward to prove he wasn't scared. Aboard Space Station One, awaiting the fifteen-day leg toward the Moon, a meteor too small to be blocked by Earth's shadow from radar strikes Section Five, the cargo hold containing the seven crates. Station Manager Irv Mendel refuses Cargomaster Blair's demand to open the sealed bulkhead and rescue the shipment, fearing a full hull breach would destabilize the Station; Blair argues that losing the entertainment cargo would wreck morale at Quartermaster Base, whose eighty-four-man crew depends on it to avoid breakdowns, fights, and worse during their two-year isolation. Mendel instead radios Quartermaster Base for repair ships ("reeps"). After a fourteen-day wait, pilot Ed Wiley and fellow reep operator Dan arrive with a hull replacement panel. Ricks challenges Blair to let him assist with the exterior repair, goading him until Blair agrees, partly out of his own tangled, emotionally-charged rivalry with Ricks. Outside the Station in vacuum, Ricks is overwhelmed by the scale of space but manages his tasks: releasing Wiley's ship from its moorings and then wrestling the drifting eight-foot replacement panel on tether cables while Blair guides Dan's reep in extracting the meteor and Wiley's reep scores the damaged hull section. The meteor is worked free without further depressurization; Blair patches the inner hull, the outer panel is fitted and welded into place with Ricks's help, and the ship is resealed and resanded smooth. Back inside, Blair inspects Section Five and finds the seven QB crates split open by the vacuum but their contents intact. Ricks, delayed terror finally catching up with him, broods alone for hours vowing to curb his recklessness, but by the time the connecting barbell from Station Three arrives to carry the cargo and passengers onward, his fear has already curdled into self-congratulation. Blair comes to thank him for his help; Ricks responds with his habitual cocky deflection, and Blair leaves curtly. Alone again, Ricks reflects that he has once more talked himself into a dangerous test and come through, acknowledging that with two more years of this ahead of him, a greater reckoning still awaits.
By Donald E. Westlake · First published 1961 · Genre: Science Fiction, Hard Science Fiction, Character-driven Drama · 15,958 words
First lines
_Harvey Ricks had always bit off more than he cared to chew. Somehow, he had always managed to chew, and swallow. Now, standing for the first time in the vacuum of Space, he wondered if this was the bite that would choke him._
What this Textopian page supports
Meteor Strike! is listed on Textopian as a novella by Donald E. Westlake, dated 1961 CE.
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- Work type: Novella
- Author: Donald E. Westlake
- Date: 1961 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Science Fiction, Hard Science Fiction, Character-driven Drama, Psychological Fiction, Coming-of-age
- Length: 15,958 words
- Structure: 1 section, 306 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Meteor Strike! by Donald E. Westlake
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Science Fiction — The entire work is speculative fiction exploring humanity's future expansion into space with advanced technology, orbital mechanics, and established space colonies and commercial operations in 1994.
- Hard Science Fiction — Extensively detailed technical descriptions of spacecraft design, orbital mechanics, space station architecture, propulsion systems, and realistic physics of zero-gravity and space operations.
- Character-driven Drama — Significant focus on interpersonal relationships and character dynamics, particularly the complex competitive relationship between Ricks and Blair that drives character behavior and development.
- Psychological Fiction — Deep exploration of the protagonist's internal psychology including his defensive bravado as protective mechanism, anxiety management, fear response, and psychological growth through crisis.
Tags
science-fiction · hard-science-fiction · space-travel · space-stations · lunar-base · near-future · psychological-drama · character-driven · young-protagonist · fear-and-courage · bravado · pride