H. B. Fyfe

“ The ship now seemed to be rushing at him, and Tremont deduced that his orbital speed had increased as he approached the focus represented by the Annabel. He would doubtless pass near the air lock at about his expulsion speed.
"Here's the chance!" he exulted. "A little air let out to slow down ... or even just to veer close enough to lay hands on something! You launched me, Peters, but you didn't lose me."
Getting through the airlock should be easy enough. He might be well up the shaft before the others emerged from the control room. ”

“ It did not strike Tremont as being a very promising bit of data—warning him merely that when he began to feel the want of air, it would be about 21:30. He longed for a pen-knife.
"There's one thing I'm going to ask about on my next trip to Sol—if I make one!" he muttered. "Has anyone developed a reliable, small suit air lock, so you can pass things out from your pockets?"
He thrust his hands once more into the arms of the suit, and felt as far along his belt as he could. He did manage to reach the usual position of the standard rocket pistol. The hook was empty. ”

“ He seemed to remember that she had turned up in the Customs dome to ask his advice on travel....
"Ye-ah!" he growled to himself. "After I phoned to lease a rocket. She must have known, but how?"
Someone in the shipping office? Well, why not Peters, the pilot? And then Braigh had come along, pretending to have been on his way back to Centauri VI and hoping to buy a fast passage on a small vessel for business reasons. He had been free and ready with his money, leading Tremont to consider cutting his own expenses on the charter. ”

“ He stretched out an arm to remove towel and razor from one of the lockers, then carefully folded the bunk upward and hooked it securely in place.
With room to turn now, he swung around and slid open a double door in the flat surface, revealing a shaft three feet square whose center was also the theoretical intersection of his cabin walls. Tremont pulled himself into the shaft. From "up" forward, light leaked through a partly open hatch, and he could hear a murmur of voices as he jackknifed in the opposite direction. ”

“ He ignored the begging of the suddenly frightened voice, and dived into the air lock. In seconds, he had the outer hatch shut and was nervously watching the air pressure building up on the gauge.
If they notice at all, they'll think it's Braigh coming back! he exulted.
He made it into the central shaft without meeting anyone. Pulling himself forward in the bulky suit was an awkward task, but well worth it for the expression on Peters' face when Tremont burst through the control-room hatch. ”

“ It seemed, on the face of it, that the three of them had never met until the Annabel lifted.
"But they had, all right!" Tremont told himself. "That was no chance, anywhere along the line. I've been very neatly highjacked!"
The girl must have trailed him to make sure they picked up the right man. Braigh had never explained exactly what he was doing on the satellite; he could have arranged for the assignment of the rocket, or perhaps of the pilot, when Tremont called. Then they had gathered around to hitch rides, and had been in control ever since. ”

“ Another promising activity would be to bang Braigh's head against a bulkhead with one hand and Dorothy's with the other.
Wonder if they found the gun in my locker? he mused.
Finally, only a lifetime or two after he hoped to see it, he sighted the ship again. His watch claimed the trip had lasted less than ninety minutes.
He encountered unexpected trouble approaching the hull. Realizing that he was lucky to come close at all by such a guess, he tried to steer himself with brief jets from his air tank, and wound up on the verge of bashing directly into a fin. ”

“ On the other hand, traveling back every five years to buy up plans and licenses for the latest inventions or processes—that was profitable enough to provide a good living for many a man in Tremont's business. ”

“ Large-scale shipments of necessities were handled by the Federated Governments. To carry even precious or power metals to Earth or to return with any type of manufactured luxury was simply too expensive in money, fuel, effort, and time. ”