Outside, Bull cleaned out the second tube and reached across without thinking to start cutting on number three. Forgetting that he had pulled all his lines as taut as possible, and that a move in the wrong direction would pull some of them free, he felt his feet break loose and in seconds he was floating twenty feet from the ship with only one line connecting him to safety.
Skip spotted him floating clear, but Captain Stevens shouted. "He's almost free. And he won't dare try to haul himself in by that one line or he might tear it loose, too. He's lucky if some of the eddies around the ship don't do that anyway."
Skip made no comment but started for the outer lock room on the double. By the time the rest had figured what he was up to, he was already in a suit and had shut the lock door behind him. Remembering Bull's trouble on the way along the shell, Skip carefully put out his lines and made as much speed as possible. He didn't dare to look to see if Bull was still out there, or if he had broken free. When the tubes were reached, he looked up and drew a deep breath—Bull was still O.K. Bracing himself carefully, Skip drew in on Bull's line foot by foot. Since it was firmly attached at Bull's suit, there was no danger of it pulling out at that point. At last Bull was along side of Skip.
Once more firmly attached to the ship, Bull slumped against it momentarily. It was impossible to communicate between the suits; and the filters in the helmets didn't permit a look into one another's faces.
When Bull looked up after catching his breath, Skip was already at work on the remaining tubes. Placing himself alongside Skip, he added his torch to the work.
Splinter by splinter, chunk by chunk they burned away the traction line debris. To get the tubes completely free, one of them had to climb into the tubes. Bull did this. The hard work in the confined space of the suits caused sweat to pour from their every pore.
Bull was reaching for one of the last scraps of metal when he noticed that his suit was getting hot. The metal fittings in his hands were becoming too warm to hold. In sudden panic once more he remembered Malcolm. Was his own anti-heat unit becoming depleted? Scuttling out of the tube, he found Skip waiting for him. Looking around, the sight which met his eyes didn't at first register. They could no longer see the sun. They seemed part of it.