"About your request for radiation shielding: sorry to report this request has been denied. I hate to send bad news when you guys are up there doing such a swell job, but I think you'll take it in the proper spirit."
(aside from the bomb, maybe? ~Chara)
btw one of the very last bits of Dark Star shows Talby being swept away by some sparkly "Phoenix Asteroids", and this is totally cribbed from some Ray Bradbury story about a shattered spaceship and the conversations that occur among the astronauts as they drift apart, their fates sealed, able only to breathe a little while longer and exchange dying recriminations or wonderments. I can't remember the name of the story. ~Chara