The outer door opened into space and he popped away from the Ship, borne outward by the air pressure.
It was silent.
He could tell by the way the Ship appeared and disappeared that he was spinning end over end. There was no gravity, even this close to the Ship's artificial fields.
It was the first time any of his generation had been in free space.
It was awkward. He floundered.
He could see the pilot ship lying off there to his left. Above him.
Below him.
He tried to do something about that, fumbled for the blast studs, found them, pushed one.
It was like guiding a very small rocket that has very powerful trigger jets.
It seemed to take an eternity to bring himself under control.