He meant extra wiring or pipes, all the replaceable pieces that fed into the part and anchored it to the ship. Cutting a power cord was fine. Cutting the part wasn't.
The women all answered in unison, some with a tired rhythm in their voice. They had been over this so many times already. "At least half a meter," they said
"At the least," Arjuna repeated. "At the least. More is better. Err on the side of caution. If you cut the part too short or if you damage it when you cut it free, it's junk. We'll get nothing for it."
Rena looked to her right and saw Abbi beside her. Abbi had come to El Cavador as a young bride from a Peruvian free-miner family that had never allowed their women to do spacewalks. She looked terrified.
"Stay close to me," said Rena. "We'll go everywhere together."
Abbi nodded, grateful.
Rena's heart ached for the woman. Abbi had lost her only son, Mono, when El Cavador was destroyed, and the loss had been devastating. Ever since then Abbi had been detached and distant. Rena had tried comforting her on a few occasions, but Abbi had always brushed off the gestures and preferred to be left alone. Now, however, she was terrified and desperate for companionship.
"We'll help each other," Rena told her. "No one's alone on this."
Abbi nodded again, putting on her best face. She was trying at least, thought Rena.
Arjuna's voice returned. "We'll have the nets open. Once you pull a part, bring it outside and push it to the nets."
The nets had been a source of contention among the women. Arjuna had ordered his original crew to man the nets and catch the salvaged parts while he had ordered the women of El Cavador to go inside the wreckage and retrieve the valuables.
"You see what he's doing, don't you?" Julexi had said. "He's giving us the dangerous work and giving the light, safe labor to his own family."
"We're better cutters than they are," Rena had said. "We know the parts better than they do. He's doing this for practical reasons. We'll move faster and salvage more this way."
It was true, but no one liked it.
"You see how she always takes his side instead of ours?" Julexi had said. "Arjuna can do no wrong as far as Rena is concerned."
It was a ridiculous accusation. Rena had argued privately with Arjuna on a half-dozen issues, usually winning those arguments and getting what the family needed. But she never bragged about these small victories to the women. No one else even knew they had occurred. That would only fuel those who still griped about being here. They would use those arguments as proof that coming along had been a mistake. It didn't matter that all ships had arguments like the ones Rena had with Arjuna. It didn't matter that all families operated that way. It had happened every day aboard El Cavador. People argued. Disagreements were voiced on how things should be done. Opposing viewpoints were considered. Compromises were made.
But people like Julexi seemed to forget that fact when they were so desperate to build a case against their current situation.
Arjuna said, "Hatch is opening in five ... four ... three ... two ... one."
The hatch cracked, and the rush of oxygen in the airlock was sucked out into the vacuum of space. With the bolts pulled back and the seal broken, Rena pushed on the hatch, and it swung outward, revealing the wide, infinite expanse of space beyond. She had told herself that she would be the first one out, leading by example, showing the women that they could do this without lifelines, that all would be well.
But fear paralyzed her. The blackness was a well she would fall into and continue on forever. It had taken Segundo. It would take her, too.
"What are you waiting for?" said Julexi. It was an accusation as much as a question. It was as if she were saying: You see how she hesitates? You see how she's afraid?
It was exactly the motivation Rena needed to shatter the fear. She reached up, pulled herself through the hole, got her feet outside on the hull of the ship, and pushed off hard toward the wreckage, moving a little faster than was necessary to prove she wasn't afraid.
She flew, heading straight for the flat side of the wrecked ship's hull, which they had determined was the safest place to land.
She knew the others were behind her. She could hear their grunts and exhalations as they launched from the Gagak's hull and made for the wreck.
Right at the last moment, Rena tapped the retros on her shoulder pack, which shot out small bursts of compressed air and slowed the forward movement of her upper body. As she had hoped, the lower half of her body continued forward and she rotated so that her feet were now in front of her. She landed expertly feetfirst with her boot magnets turned on, anchoring herself to the wreck. Then she quickly turned around, saw the others coming, and shuffled back out of the way.
Abbi came next, but she didn't land nearly as gracefully. She failed to get her feet under her in time and hit the hull with her shoulder and bounced away, nearly spinning off into space. Rena caught her by the arm and pulled her back, helping her to a standing position. Abbi was breathing hard, eyes were wide with terror, but she nodded her thanks and worked to compose herself.
Julexi twisted her ankle on her landing, and when Rena approached her to help her up, Julexi waved her brusquely away. "Don't pretend to care. I'm fine."
They found a hatch and went inside, entering into the airlock of a cargo bay. It was completely dark, and when Rena shined her spotlight around the room, the beam fell upon two corpses twenty meters away. They had expected this, but Rena still gave a quick intake of breath. The bodies were both men. One of them was turned away from them, but the other seemed to be looking at them, his expression pained. They wore heavy, nonmatching jumpsuits, which meant they were probably part of a clan; corporates would have had uniforms.
The women crowded around Rena, staring at the bodies. Rena lowered her beam and faced them. "We knew we'd find corpses in here. Ignore them. Let's focus on the equipment."
A quick scan of the cargo bay revealed all sorts of useful tools and heavy equipment: suits, helmets, mining tools, even a few digger mechs that looked to be in perfect working condition and worth a small fortune each. Most of it was anchored down tight and thus had not been thrown around and damaged during the battle. Rena radioed back up to Arjuna and rattled off what they had found.