"Honey, I just don't think it will be so easy to lay hands on a
tractor. I bet Jeffers already phoned the garage and all the airlocks
with some good lie that will keep me from getting through."
After a brief search, he located the spacesuits. Many, evidently
intended for replacements, had never been unpacked, but there were a
dozen or so serviced and standing ready for emergencies. He showed
Betty how to climb into one, and checked her seals and valves after
donning a suit himself.
"That switch under your chin," he said, touching helmets so she could
hear him. "Leave it turned off. _Anybody_ might be listening!"
He led the way out a rear door of the warehouse. With the heavy knife
that was standard suit equipment, he deliberately slashed a four-foot
square section out of the dome. He motioned to Betty to step through,
then trailed along with the plastic under his arm.
He caught up and touched helmets again.
"Just act as if you're on business," he told her. "For all anyone can
see, we might be inspecting the dome."
"Where are you going?" asked Betty.
"Right through the wall, and then head for the nearest mine. Jeffers
can't be running _everything_!"
"Is there any way to get to a TV?" asked the girl. "I ... uh ... Daddy
gave me a good number to call if I needed help."
"How good?"
"Pretty official, as a matter of fact."
"All right," Tolliver decided. "We'll try the ship you just came in on.
They might have finished refueling and left her empty."
They had to cross one open lane between buildings, and Tolliver was
very conscious of moving figures in the distance; but no one seemed to
look their way.
Reaching the foot of the main dome over the establishment, he glanced
furtively about, then plunged his knife into the transparent material.
From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Betty make a startled
gesture, but he had his work cut out for him. This was tougher than the
interior dome.
Finally, he managed to saw a ragged slit through which they could
squeeze. There was room to walk between the inner and outer layer, so
he moved along a few yards. A little dust began to blow about where
they had gone through. He touched helmets once more.
"This time," he said, "the air will really start to blow, so get
through as fast as you can. If I can slap this piece of plastic over
the rip, it may stow down the loss of pressure enough to give us quite
a lead before the alarms go off."
Through the faceplates, he saw the girl nod, wide-eyed.
As soon as he plunged the knife into the outer layer, he could see
dusty, moist air puffing out into the near-vacuum of Ganymede's
surface. Fumbling, he cut as fast as he could and shoved Betty through
the small opening.
Squeezing through in his turn, he left one arm inside to spread the
plastic sheet as best he could. The internal air pressure slapped it
against the inside of the dome as if glued, although it immediately
showed an alarming tendency to balloon through the ruptured spot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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