Dard gingerly descended the steep stair, coming into the section where he had been stored away for the cold sleep. And Kordov was going into that very cabin. The three boxes on the far rack were open. On the other rack the coffins were solidly white as if they had been carved from virgin snow.
Kordov pressed a button and the topmost box came down to the floor. He freed it from the arms which had lowered it and trundled his prize to the door with Dard’s help. Together they brought the coffin into a second chamber which was a miniature laboratory. Kordov went down on his knees to read the dials. After a minute inspection he sighed with relief.
“It is well. Now we shall open—”
The lid resisted as if ages of time had applied a stiff glue.
But under continued pressure it gave at last with a faint swish of air. Crisp cold curled up about them, bringing with it chemical scents. The First Scientist examined the stiff body in the exposed hollow.
“Yes, yes! Now we must help him to live again. First-on the cot there—”
Dard helped lift the man onto the cot in the middle of the room. Under direction he rubbed the icy flesh with oils from a bottle Kordov thrust upon him, watching the First Scientist inject various fluids over the heart and in scattered veins. Warmth was coming back into the body as they worked. And when the man had fully roused, been fed, and had fallen into the sudden second sleep, Dard aided in dressing him and helped transport the body up to the control cabin to be laid out on the accelerator mat.
“Who- oh, Cully!” Kimber identified the newly revived crewman. “That’s good. Who else are you going to bring around?”
Kordov, puffing a little, took a moment to consider. “We have Santee, Rogan, and Macley there.”
“The ship’s not Santee’s sort of job, and Cully’s our engineer. Wait a minute Rogan! He’s had space training-as a tel-visor expert. We’ll need him—”