System Upkeep

A diplomatic failure with an alien species has placed the entire human race in immediate danger. The response: a hastily assembled space shuttle designated MM2002, loaded with a twenty-thousand gigaton bomb, and launched toward the aliens' base of operations with a crew that includes one pilot whose competence is best described as approximate. The journey runs through the planet's asteroid belt with time constraints, unreliable equipment, and a weapon large enough to end the problem permanently — or everything else.