It was too late for lifeboats, the damage had been done.

‘You’ve doomed us all Specialist!’

‘Just doing my job as Safety officer Commander.’

‘But we’re all going to die!’

‘That’s a fact of life, but this way we avoid Pirates.’

‘What?’

‘You said yourself: the chance of a hull breach is practically zero, unless someone opened an airlock. So that’s what I did’

‘Did you say Pirates?’

‘No need to thank me. I know we’d be unlikely to meet Pirates Orbiting Saturn, but not zero. However, the odds of encountering Pirates and a hull breach happening simultaneously are tiny.’