Markus came back on the air. "Jiro and Dinah, you must be ready to fire the main propulsion at apogee—" The word was cut off by a constriction of his throat, and he coughed several times. When he resumed speaking, his voice had a strangled timbre. "About two minutes from now. Focus on that—initiate the startup procedures. Vyacheslav can help me with this little problem." He was coughing convulsively. "Switching off," he said.