The valve was hot enough to sear his hand. Jim carefully wrapped his handkerchief around the handle and twisted gently. Inside pressure squirted a thin stream of water from the supply tank into the hot vacuum of space. As it vaporized and dissociated into its atoms, Jim felt a mighty surge of expansion against the ship. The blows of a soft fist pummeled the side.
Jim groaned as the softened plates of the hull creaked and buckled, but he held the valve as it was. An inside panel split and let a thin sifting of insulation drift to the deck. His knee was against the deck plates and he became conscious of the burning through the cloth of his uniform. But he stayed there, until through the windows he saw nothing but the speckled black of space turn slowly up. Then he shut the valve off and, rubbing his burned knee, anxiously hobbled to the tracer.
The red line had not so much swoop to it now. "Ya!" he shouted exultantly. The centrifugal force from his forward velocity needed just a little help to begin pushing him away from the sun. Jim read the water tank gauge; about twenty gallons left.
Fidgeting, he waited another hour. The sun's horizon swung up into view, the blazing plain filled the windows and at last he saw again the other horizon. It would not do to twist the valve too soon; he had to wait until the outlet was directly toward the sun so he wouldn't lose any precious forward velocity.
The sun's horizon bisected the windows. Now! Encouraged by his other success, Jim twisted the valve hard. He stepped back so his sore knee would not rest against the plates.
The ship bounced like a beachball in the tremendous upshoot of the gases outside. Jim clung to a stanchion to keep from being knocked off his feet.
Like a rubber ball dimpled by a thumb, the ship's skin began to bulge inward. Jim tried to let go his hold to get the valve.
The bounce of the ship knocked him to his knees. A little steel desk came sliding across the compartment, banging him on the shoulder. He let go with one hand and shoved the desk between the bulging wall and a cross bulkhead. A white line appeared across the desk, and the paint crackled as it began to fold in the middle.
Jim let go and dived for the valve. A panel split wide and insulation poured out. A scream bubbled from his throat as radiation cut a line across his face.