He went on heavily, "There is not much doubt as to what happened. The outer armored door of the lock was open and undamaged. The inner door had been punched through by a missile about the' size of my fist, producing explosive decompression in the connecting compartments. Apparently they had had the enormous bad luck to have a meteor enter the ship through the door just as it was opened."
"Wait a minute, Skipper," objected Miller. "Was every airtight door in the ship wide open? One rock shouldn't have done the trick."
"We couldn't get into the after part of the ship; it still holds pressure. But we could reconstruct what happened, because we could count the bodies- seven of them, the entire ship's company. They were all near the lock and not in spacesuits, except for one man in the lock-his suit was pierced by a fragment apparently. The others seem to have been gathered at the lock, waiting for him to come in." Yancey looked grave. "Red, I think we are going to have to put in a recommended technical order over this- something to require personnel to spread out while suit operations are going on, so that an accident to the lock won't affect the entire ship's company."
Miller frowned. "I suppose so, Captain. Might be awkward to comply with, sometimes, in a small ship."
"It's awkward to lose your breath, too. Now about the investigation-you'll be the president, Red, and Novak and Brunn will be your other two members. The rest of us will remain in the ship until the board has completed its work. When they have finished and have removed from the Pathfinder anything needed as evidence I will allow sufficient time for each of you to satisfy his curiosity."
"How about the surgeon, Captain? I want him for an expert witness."
"Okay, Red. Dr. Pickering, you go with the board."
The cadets crowded into the stateroom shared by Matt and Oscar. "Can you beat it?" said Tex. "Of all the cheap tricks! We have to sit in here, a week or ten days, maybe, while a board measures how big a hole there is in the door."
"Forget it, Tex," advised Oscar. "I figure the Old Man didn't want you carving your initials in things, or maybe snagging the busted door for a souvenir, before they found out what the score was."
"Oh, nuts!"