I groaned and flexed my fingers, twirling my wrist in a circle to try to loosen it up. The crackle within the joint made it feel better, but there was still pain when I clutched my tool to start working again.

"What's the matter wit' you?" Marta asked me. I shook my head and she raised her eyebrows.

"It's my wrist. I broke it when I was a kid."

She frowned. "You should have Doctor fix it."

"Well, it's not still broken."

Marta lowered her head and used her stylus against her order board. I bent to my own work.

"It's this cold. I haven't gotten used to it. It never hurt like this until I came to Sam."

I didn't think she was still listening to me, but my com beeped in my ear and I received the order to report immediately to Doctor.

"Dammit, Marta," I mouthed, but I gave no voice to it in case she was still listening to me. I did not want to have to report to Discipline afterward, for language.

I dropped my tool to the ground and released my belt to leave it behind, too. I turned toward the Gateline and saw that another worker was already heading over to take my position. Might as well, I suppose. Shift would be over by the time I could get back after a damn useless visit to Doctor.

The path was level enough that I was able to jog to Gateline, so at least the trip only took 10 minutes or so. And with my helmet on, the wind couldn't bite at my face like it once did on Earth during winter jogs. The freezing winds on Earth never did more than sting, though. Here on Enceladus, they could probably cause instant frostbite.

If you were lucky.