Ballard smiled at the stars as he bounded back to the hill where the tools lay. Walton had been a fool to lock him out here with cutting, burning, and pounding equipment—and almost two hours in which to use them. Things weren't so bad after all.
He decided to try the welding torch first. He crossed over to the almost-completed blinker tower and picked up the torch and power-pack, then from a tool box he selected a cutting nozzle.
Carefully, so not to exert himself and waste oxygen, he glided down with his gear to the aft section of the Minnow's hull just forward of the tubes where the skin was thinnest. As he ignited the torch, he was aware of what a temptation it was to drain off all the oxygen contained in the power-pack into his own cylinder. Quickly he went ahead and applied the torch to the skin of the ship. Ballard glanced at his chronometer: An hour and a half to go. Good. Fifteen minutes would be long enough to tell whether the torch would cut through the skin or not. If it would, then he could use the rest of the time in cutting the hole.
After the first five minutes he turned the nozzle away and examined the spot where it had been applied. Not a mark.
Six minutes went by. Then seven, eight, nine—
Again he looked at the skin; still no change.
Three more minutes went by. Ballard felt sweat break out on his face as he pulled the torch away for a third time. For a moment—his eyes still blinded by the glare—he could see nothing. His heart sank. Then he detected a faint red spot with a whitish center. It was working. Three more minutes and the hole would be started. He turned back the nozzle to the glowing spot. Then with dismay he watched the torch sputter and go dead. Frantically he pushed the activator button—
Stunned, he finally noticed that the power-pack read empty. Walton had nearly exhausted it on the blinker tower.
Ballard glanced at his wrist. He still had an hour and fourteen minutes.
He didn't smile at the stars this time as he went back up the hill. Things didn't seem ironic any more, merely dangerous. He loaded the heat-beam with its larger power-pack onto the equipment platform and slowly dragged it behind him down to the ship.