Robert E. Gilbert

“ Vicenzo and Aziz, waving their arms, leaned at an increasingly acute angle. Their boots broke from the magnetic deck. They fell slowly, accelerating at about two meters per second, and dropped into the netted wall which had become the floor.
Henry dangled below what was now the ceiling. Objects fell from the net beside him. Tools, machine parts, books, and canned food slowly showered down on Vicenzo and Aziz, who thrashed and swore in the growing junk heap.
"We're deceleratin'!" Aziz yelled. "That old man really is gonna kill us! We'll crash on Saturn!" ”

“ Fire shot past Henry's gyrating figure. A thin cable followed the small rocket. Henry's flailing arms struck the cable, and his gauntleted hands gripped the strands. He pulled back the spent rocket, and the missile's magnetic head clanked against his spacesuit. The lifeline reeled him toward the station. ”

“ I don't see how they expect one man to run an ice-sweeper, even if he is handy like me. This is a dangerous job, although you might not think so. Do you realize, young fellow, we're whizzing around Saturn once every nine hours, four minutes, and twelve seconds? That's an orbital velocity of nineteen point eight kilometers per second! We've got to go that fast to stay in this orbit."
"There's no one else here but you?" Henry said.
"Think what would happen if something slowed us down!" Ranjit exclaimed. "We'd start falling toward Saturn and finally crash! ”

“ Aziz demanded, somewhat dazed. "We're fallin'!" Henry opened the switch on the spacesuit's loudspeaker.
The bunk in the wall that had been the ceiling unfolded, and Ranjit's wrinkled face peeped through the exposed hatch. "What a mess!" he chuckled. "Things wasn't fastened down like they should of been. Of course, it never needed to be before. I never knowed—"
"How are you standing the gravity?" Henry panted.
"It's just two-tenths G," Ranjit said. "Hang on, and I'll take us back to no weight. This old sweeper's spinning like a top." ”

“ Ain't many people can come that close with a life rocket and not hit a fellow. For a second, I thought the rocket was going to bust you. Of course, being skillful the way I am, it didn't seem likely, but I—"
"Water," Henry moaned.
"Water? Why sure. How long you been drifting, boy? Must be mighty thirsty. What's your name? I'm Ranjit. I've never got used to people not telling their last names. Of course, even when I was your age, most people called each other by their first names. ”

“ All of Henry's education, haphazard as it had been, emphasized the belief that a person who caused another to pass beyond could only be regarded with loathing. A person who saved a life must be treated with eternal gratitude and veneration by the beneficiary.
Ranjit said, "Let's go, Henry! What are you up to? I've had a feeling you ain't exactly zeroed."
"I—I think I should tell you," Henry said.
"Listen. Somebody coming aboard," Ranjit said, jerking his arm from Henry's relaxed grip and facing the doorway in the netting. Henry waited for Vicenzo and Aziz to enter the compartment. ”

“ Come, Morna, let us take our chances in our own ship. We—"
"I hear them out there!" Henry said.
Joachim squeaked, bounded to the bunk, and sprang through the hatch. "Bet he bumped his head," Ranjit hoped. "Up you go, Morna. Strap yourself to a couch."
Morna climbed on the bunk and through the hatch. Ranjit followed, "It's a trick," Morna said. "He'll be alone with his gangster friends."
"There's a set of spanner wrenches right there in the net," Ranjit said, pointing. "There's a roll of wire over yonder." He closed the hatch.
Henry raised the bunk back to the ceiling. ”

“ Vicenzo promised. He secured Ranjit beside Joachim and then started tying Henry's wrists to the pipe.
"Be careful what you do to the sweeper, Vicenzo," Henry begged. "Ranjit was telling me how dangerous it is. If anything causes the velocity to drop, we'll fall on Saturn."
"You think I'm stupid? That's the way with anything in an orbit. The closer to a planet, the faster you've got to go. Bring the girl, Aziz." ”

“ The sweeper is supposed to vanish without a trace. I'm sorry I ruined your radio, Ranjit. I was supposed to try to keep the crew from becoming suspicious while Vicenzo and Aziz were clinching. They're going to move the sweeper into a Sun orbit, somewhere, and use it for a base. They're going to hijack spaceships."
"Of all the crazy schemes!" Ranjit snorted. "You gangsters are space happy! You're ready for the psychodocs! You can't get away with gangstering these days! I fought your grandfathers in the Crime War. I was in the Battle of Jupiter Orbit. ”

“ Ranjit responded. "I'm Ranjit, and this is Henry. Why didn't you make an appointment? The tanks are about empty, and you may have to wait several hours. What do you feed your atomics, water or hydrogen? It'll be even longer if you need hydrogen. I haven't done any electrolysis today. I wasn't expecting—Look at that girl, Henry! I'm 107 years old, but I can still appreciate a sight like that! I don't see how a homely fellow like you, Joachim, ever got such a luscious girl."
"Ours is strictly a business relationship," said Morna with indignant formality. "We do need fuel, Ranjit. ”

“ Horizontal and vertical wrinkles formed ragged crosshatching on Ranjit's forehead. His nose and ears were large and grotesque with age. He unsealed the spacesuit at the waist and, holding Henry against the deck with one hand, pulled off the top section.
"Water!" Henry gasped. Peeping secretly, he saw that the teletype, near the airvalve, was dismantled, with the parts tied in bunches floating over the empty case. He located the radio above an aluminum desk in the far corner. He could see no visular set anywhere. ”

“ Vicenzo and Aziz had not turned off their loudspeakers. "Nothing but tanks and ladderchutes," Vicenzo was saying. "There has to be a control room somewhere."
Aziz said, "Maybe there's another door behind all the junk in there. I'll get it outta the old man."
As Vicenzo's spacesuited figure appeared below in the doorway, Henry swung his arm. The spanner clanged against the back of Vicenzo's helmet. The man tumbled across the compartment into the netting. The rocket launcher whirled from his hands, struck the ceiling, and bounced to the deck. ”

“ Saving another person's life was considered the most magnificent act that anyone could perform, and almost the only way to become a public hero, since actors, entertainers, policemen, and officials were thought to be no better than anyone else. ”

“ Henry saw no lighted windows, but he experimentally aimed his signal torch at a dome on top of the space station.
Moving with the exact velocity of the Ring, the sweeper, a bundle of huge cylindrical tanks bound together with fragile girders, apparently grew larger. A rectangular snout, swinging from side to side and probing into the Ring, dangled below the front of the sweeper. Dancing in mutual gravitational attraction, the tiny moons constantly closed the open lane behind the snout. ”

“ Aziz swung his gauntleted fist. Henry struck Aziz across the arm with the spanner, denting the metal of the spacesuit. Vicenzo jerked his head from a box and roared, "Get him! He busted my skull!"
Henry jumped from the net to the corner beside the desk. The two men slowly stalked him. Vicenzo had his knife, and Aziz experimentally flexed his metal-sheathed hands.
"We're going to fix you, Henry," Vicenzo promised. "You're just a little smarter than you should be."
"He ain't smart atall," Aziz growled. "What for did ya want to turn cube, Henry? ”