Mimas (Satellite) -- Fiction; Saturn (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Space ships -- Fiction; Tourists -- Fiction
He locked them together finally, and then, vaguely, he remembered
running for the airlock. He found it, pulled the catch and opened
Norma's lock from the outside. He stood for a moment within her ship.
She was slumped over the pilot chair in her spacesuit. He ran to her
and lifted her across his shoulder, heading back for the lock. Then
he was through it and Norma sat on the floor, partly conscious, in
his own ship. He ran forward to the controls, pushing aside Mrs.
Entwhistle--who had fallen across both chairs, breaking her strap in
the process.
He fired all the aft rockets at once, blasting straight up towards the
top of the ring.
In seconds they were clear, but not before he had seen a huge, almost
spherical meteor grind into and through Norma's ship....
* * * * *
Both women were conscious when they reached the spaceport. Socrates
smiled at Mrs. Entwhistle.
"Yes sir, you're a lucky young lady."
"Lucky? I feel almost dead."
"Ridiculous! You were the only tourist ever taken through that ring,
the crepe ring. You'll be famous. Wait until you tell all your friends.
I only took you because you seemed so obviously brave...."
"Go ahead," Norma chided, "pile it on, pile it on--"
Socrates told her, in his severest tones, that he'd get to her later.
After that, he was busy bringing the little ship down on Mimas' one
spacefield.
Mr. Entwhistle and Farquhart met them when they landed. The smaller,
thinner man seemed worried, but now he took his wife's hand and asked
her, "How did you like it?"
Socrates waited breathlessly. If Farquhart found out....
"I loved it!" Mrs. Entwhistle fairly shrieked. "Wait until you hear,
Arnold--and wait until we get back to Earth. We'll leave at once, on
tomorrow's liner. After I tell Aunt Sophie--"
"See?" Socrates turned to Farquhart.
"Um, I must admit it looks good this time, Smith. What about you, Miss?"
Norma grinned. "I had quite a time, quite a time. _My_ ship--"
Socrates kissed her soundly on the lips, and whatever else she might
have said was lost in the hurried smacking sound.
Farquhart cleared his throat. "I never knew you took two passengers up
at once, Smith. And I didn't see her before--"
"She's here, isn't she?"
"Umm--"
"You never know what we'll do here on Mimas...."
"Umm, well--I guess you're in order this time, Smith. Good luck."
Norma said, "My ship--"
Socrates kissed her again. Then he said. "If you don't shut up I think
I'll have to marry you. That's exactly what I'll have to do...."
Norma's eyes glowed at him. "As I was saying, darling, _our_ ship...."
This time she was kissing him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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