"You'll get below, mister," he commanded grimly. "You'll be handcuffed to your bunk from here on out."
"Sir?... I don't understand," stammered Serj.
"Like hell you don't. You cut that cable," Jonner accused.
Serj started to shrug, but he dropped his eyes.
"They paid me," he said in a low tone. "They paid me a thousand solars."
"What good would a thousand solars do you when you're dead, Serj ... dead of suffocation and drifting forever in space?"
Serj looked up in astonishment.
"Why, you can still reach Earth by radio, easy," he said. "It wouldn't take long for a rescue ship to reach us."
"Chemical rockets have their limitations," said Jonner coldly.
"And you don't realize what speed we've built up with steady acceleration. We'd head straight out of the system, and nothing could intercept us, if that tug had gotten too far before we noticed it was gone."