Tom started to protest, but then shrugged his shoulders and followed Roger and Astro into the ship. On the stand, Simms continued his appeal to the crowd.
"Just two more tickets left, ladies and gentlemen! Who'll be the lucky two?"
Suddenly Gus Wallace appeared from behind the ship and approached the stand, calling, "Hey, Simms!"
Simms stopped speaking and turned to his partner. "Yeah?"
"Everything's all set. Let's blast off!"
"I'll be with you as soon as I sell the last two tickets," said Simms. "Here you are, ladies and gents, the last two—"
Wallace grabbed him by the arm and yanked him from the stand. "I said we blast off, you idiot! You want to risk everything for two lousy credits?"
"O.K., O.K. Don't blow a fuse!"
Simms quickly closed the stand, turned out the lighted sign, and followed Wallace into the old freighter. He then collected the tickets and made sure all the passengers were strapped into their acceleration chairs and finally went below to the power deck. Wallace disappeared into the control room and seconds later his voice was heard over the ship's intercom gruffly announcing the blast-off. The lights in the cabin dimmed, the air was filled with a low whining hiss, and for an instant the old ship bucked and groaned. Suddenly, with a loud explosive roar, she blasted into the sky and began a sluggish arching climb into space.
"All right, fellas," said Roger, after the force of acceleration eased off, "let's try a little encircling maneuver on those girls up ahead."