"No can do, Ash. No sense to it."
I was straining to hear the words now, even with his set right next to mine, I knelt down and touched helmets with him.
"Listen, Ash—he's got the stuff. The diagrams, the charts, the figures—everything. He's even got the tech detail to put it together for him."
"All right, Lou. It figured. But can the yak. Come on, boy, over my shoulder you go, and down to the can with you."
"Lemme lay! Goddam it, quit tryin' to move me! I didn't walk over here—I got flung when the dome let go!" He was screaming.
"Sorry, Lou!"
"S'all right." He bubbled a chuckle. "I see by my infallible little TSN instruments that I'm gonna run outta breathin' material 'na couple minutes. 'S'all right by me. Luck to ya, Ash."
"Yeah."
But he didn't strangle. He didn't choke in his helmet; there was still air in his tanks when he died.