Space Tug

ns. It had to be done directly-by hand, as it were. Joe watched out the ports and playe

ne of the satellite's orbit, when for a time the sunlight that reached it was light which had passed through Earth's atmosphere and bee

incredible, abysmal blackness which at this first experience of its appearance produced an almost superstitious terror. Formerl

d shade. But where the Earth should be there seemed a vast nothingness. It looked like an opening to annihilation. It looked like the veritable Pit of

k of things, and that was the feeling. One did not feel in danger o

ue-white electric bulbs. They were bright and distinct, but the feeling of loneliness above that awful appearance of the Pi

control board. The ship surged, and turned, and surged forward

ther portholes, looking out. The Chief said heavily, "Fella

u fellows with me!" H

almost over

ch sent the ship on produced tremendous emotional effects. When the Platform was only one mile away, Haney switched on the ship's sear

ply: "Slow up

good idea to ram the Platform aft

Earth seemed almost about to engulf the Platform. They were a few hundred feet higher than the great me

ther than was at all plausible. Nothing so slender should conceivably reach so far without bending of its own weight. B

he ship held

loud, meta

the magnetic grapple. It was a landing-line. It was the means by which the

with its valves swung wide. Their searchlight beam glared into it. They saw the metal floor, and the bulging plastic sidewal

ubstance of the Platform, they heard the sounds of the great outer doors swinging shut. They were within the artificial satellite of Earth. It was bright in the lock, and Joe stared out the cabin port

r of the steering rocket

ueer. It would have seemed natural for them to rejoice on arrivin

o weigh something, now we've got here. So

He handed them out and opened the door. A biting chill came in it. Joe slipped o

lly large airlock was made practical. When this ship was about to take off again, pumps would not labor for hours to pump the air out. The sidewalls would inflate and closely enclose the ship's hull, and so force the air in the lock bac

fted his right foot, he had to turn his left slightly inward. His arms tried to float absurdly upward. When he was in motion and essayed to pause, his whole body tended to continue forward with a sedate toppling motion that brought him down flat on his face. He had to put one foot f

's crew. Joe had seen him often enough on the television screen in the Communications Room at

with irony, "for a splendidly futile job

hand. Joe fumbled in his pocket

Haney, and Chief Bender, and Mike Scandia." He wav

st job is more futility-to get the guided missiles you've br

n any particular direction-withdrew itself. A man floated through t

and Haney. Will you

Sanford called sharply: "Don't touch the hull without gloves! If it i

noticed. A part of the spaceship's hull gave off heat like that

, "You want to report you

which he had entered. Joe f

casually into a four-foot metal tube. He drifted smoothly away along the lighted bore, not touching the sidewalls

or 30 feet the lighted aluminum sidewall of the tube sped past him. Then his shoulder rubbed,

ang of this yet," sa

he had known frustration. He could prove by mathematics that space exploration could be carried on by midgets at a fraction of the cost and risk of the same job done by normal-sized men. He was, of course, quite rig

were full-sized men who would joyfully have changed places w

l that faced its end. Sanford was waiting.

u can talk down to Earth. It'll be relayed, now, b

uty there. He sat before a group of radar screens, with thigh grips across his

snapped

He made his way to it by handholds on the walls. He fumbled into the c

creens was upside-down with reference to himself, and Sanford had hooked a knee negligently around the arm of a firml

ed the rockets that attacked us, and that your crew behaved splendidly, and that you have landed i

, "Our arrival'

ported that the Platform still exists. But we haven't communicated since the bombs went off. They probably think we h

n board and hence in command, because he was best-qualified to direct the scientifi

ess. "Calling Space Platform! Calling Space Platform! CALLING SPACE

Our cargo is now being unloaded. Our landing rockets had to be expended against presumably hostile bombs, and we are now

ne. Sanford said sharply, "Go on

y ship," Joe said shortly.

furiously. "Tell 'em you're a hero! Tell 'em you

creens, shake his head. He got up and fumbled his way alo

but along it back to the unloading lock. Wordlessly, he set t

llow. To thrust hard for a short time produced exactly the same effect as to push gently for a longer period. Anything floated tranquilly in the line along which it was moved. The man who had to stop it, though, needed to use exactly as much energy as

himself needed most in the storage chamber. A crate floated from the ship to the crewman. Standing head downward, he stopped its original movement, braced himself, and sent it floating to Joe. He braced h

takingly. He gradually began to understand the process. But the muscles of his stomach ac

h the wall. He said calmly: "That guy Sanford has cracked up. He's potty. If this were jail he'd be stir-crazy. He's yelling into the c

ace of the ship in the lock: "

ke had done. But he didn't land as skillfully. He touched the wall on his hands and knees and bounced away a

ney. He caught it and was drawn gently to the wall. Haney

" he said ruefully.

ember who'd been unloading. He knew him to

he said our coming was useless. He talked about the futility of everything wh

be knocked off. But Sanford's taking it badly. The rest of us have let him act as he pl

ff! We've got rockets of our own up here now!

as before: "Your landing rockets set off four bombs on the way from Earth. You

it could be reached by bombs from Earth, the bombs could be reached by guided missiles f

. "We can handle just si

ng before we get more. Somebody sent up four bombs today. Supp

venth bomb shot at us knocks us o

ded. He s

s from Earth. Of course the United States could go to war because we've b

anford's cracked up because he

going to be killed, and he can't think of any way to stop it. His brains are the only things he's ever believed in, and now they're no good. He can't accept the idea that he's stupid, s

ded. He

a nice guy, but he's not used to frustration and he can't take it. Therefore he scorns everything that frustrates him-and everyth

s why I speak so firmly. In five minutes we're due to come out of the Earth's sha

nd clicked in an erratic rhythm. Brent walked with the mincing steps necessary for movement in weightlessness. The others imitated him. Their hands no longer hung naturally by their sides, but tended to make extravagant gestures with the slightest muscular imp

ass ports in the sidewall. Outside the glass were metal shutters. Brent served out den

ones seemed faint and widely spaced. Beneath their feet as they held to handrails lay the featurel

d go through all its phases in no longer a time. They saw now the thinnest possible crescent of the new Earth. But in minutes-almost in seconds-the deep red sunshine brightened to gold. The hair-thin line of light widened to a narrow ribbon which described an eight-thousand-mile half-circle. It brigh

sunlight. They watched flecks of cloud and the long shadows of mount

ld them, it was

man who had been loading launching tubes now briskly worked to prepare a meal on

that there was a hydroponic garden here. Plants grew in it under sunlamps which were turned on for a certain number of h

see and choose the particular morsels they fancied next. The threads stretched to let through the

yed in its saucer because of magnets in both plastic articles. The saucer stayed on the table because the table was magnetic, too. And the coffee did not float out to mid-air in a hot, round brownish ball, because there was a transpare

be as normal and Earth-like as possible. The total absence of weight would be bad enough. She believed it needed to be countered, as a ps

d Brent

some familiar things about. To have to drink from a cup that one squeezes is tolerable. But we'd

is a friend of mine. She

rred to me! As a psychologist, I could see how good her ideas were when she brought them up, but as a male I'd never have dreamed of them." Th

hip. A ship could jettison refuse and leave it behind, or store it during a voyage and dump it at either end. But the Space Platform would never land. It could roll on forever.

some way to turn it to fertilizer for the hydroponic gardens. It's hardly worth

sile launching tubes, and he had been brought up to date on the state of t

oked a

se missiles out to intercept 'em. Six of 'em. They can get close enough to set off their proximity fuses, anyhow. But what are we

any ideas?

in the Platform, I assure you. And as Sanford puts it quite soundly, abo

oke. But Joe was astonished at what his own brain made of it. He thoug

hen Mike shouted gleefully. The Chief blinked, and a moment later grunted wrathful unintelligible syllables of Mohawk, and then trie

are times when a guy wants to murd

them with a lively, helpless curiosit

barked and impatient description, and then Mike interrupted to snap a correcti

So we'll go out and pelt the stars with garbage. I think we'd better get at it right now, too. In

o get space suits from the ship. The grin on his small face threatened to c

up, it will tear his present adjustment to bits. He's gone psychotic. I think, though, that he'll allo

Joe, "I sugge

ised a large

, Joe," he said. "

o the control room. He heard Sanford's voice, sardonic

t. We've just so much ammunition now. You say you may send us more in three weeks instead of a

ommunicator switch with the heel of his hand. The image on the t

disposal party out on the outside of th

at him in moc

the human race has ever done," he observed. "But wh

can make a defense against bombs f

aised his

clover with you," he said in fine i

was feverishly derisive. Joe would have done

f we surround the Platform with a cluster of tin cans and such things, they may do as well. Things we throw away won't drop to Earth. Ultimately, they'll actually circle us, like

rd la

the next supply ship," said Joe. "We could have masse

ke the watch here and let everybody go out with you. By all mean

e waited for Joe to leave. Joe did not like it

Joe came upon them. Mike was grotesque in the cut-down outfit built for him. Actually, the only difference was in the size of the fabric suit and the length of the arms and legs. He could carry a

nd with extravagantly insulated soles to the magnetic boots. In theory, there simply is no temperature in space. In practice, a metal hull heats up in sunshine to very much more than any record-hot-day temperature on Earth. In shadow, too,

ated visibly. Presently the pump stopped. Corey opened the outer door. He went out, paying plastic rope behind him. An instant later he reappeared and removed the rope. He'd made his line fast outside. He closed the outer lock-do

tars and the vast round bulk of Earth seemed farther away to a man in a space suit than to a man looking out a port. Where shadows cut across the Platform's irregular surface, there was utter blackne

Platform. The man next to the lock was anchored to a steel hand-hold. The third man of the line also anchored himself. The fifth. The seventh. They were a straggling lin

below them as well as from overhead. Nor did any ever have a mottled greenish planet rolling

out upon an expedition whose purpose was to throw

tism to hold one to his feet. It was actually more practical to throw straight up with an underhand ges

e the Earth with it forever. But when they were thrown away, their orbits were displaced a little. Each can thrown downward just now, for example, would always be between the Platform and the Earth on this side of its orbit. But on the other side of Earth it would be above th

transmitted to his

anded sharply. "It so

allowed everybody to speak at once. Most of them did.

f the small metal world. The antenna of his walkie-talkie glittered above h

estion Sanford. His tone was mild and matter of

Was it wise? Shouldn't there

llows know perfectly well. It's futile to try to avoid it. So very sensibly I

pace suit radio. He heard his own heart beatin

that none of us can get back in. It would be useless, anyhow. Everything's f

Sanford's madness it was perfectly possible

wore space suits with from half an hour to an hour's oxygen supply. They had no tools with which

e the Platform, Sanford, laughi