"Who'd ever figure the _Annie
Jones_ would blast off from Venus--and then stop at the space station!"
"Shows you ain't so smart," retorted Mason. "Lots of ships do that. They
carry just enough fuel to get 'em off the surface, so they'll be light
while they're blasting out of Venus' gravity. Then they stop at the
space station to refuel for the long haul."
"All right," barked Loring, "lay off the lecture! Just get that space
suit on in a hurry!"
"Listen, wise guy," challenged Mason, "just tell me one thing. If we
bail out of this tub in space suits, who's going to pick us up?"
"We're not bailing out!" said Loring.
"We're not? Then what are we suiting up for?"
"Just in case," said Loring. "Now listen to me. In a few minutes the
_Annie Jones_'ll make contact with traffic control. Only instead of
talking to the pilot--they'll be talking to us. Because we'll have taken
over."
"But unless we land they'll be suspicious. And if we land ..."
Loring interrupted. "Nobody's going to suspect a thing. I'll tell
traffic control we've got an extra-heavy load. Then they won't let us
land. We follow their orders and blast off into space--find an emergency
fuel station--head for Tara--and nobody suspects anything.
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