Rising, he floated past the rockette toward the control room door.
"Don't open that, sir. The ship's about to separate."
"What? It's only 1855 hours."
"That is Eastern Standard Time, sir. The clock at the other end of the aisle, over the men's room, gives the Standard Star Time our ship schedule operates on."
Those neon hands pointed at 1900.
With a strangled yell he lunged for the door, but as his hand closed about the handle something clicked and it resisted his straining and then his pounding fists.
A buzzer sounded and a cheery masculine voice spoke over the intercom. "Hello again passengers, this is your pilot Hugh Webley wishing you a pleasant crossing. Please re-enter your safticorsettes. The Bolo II will now separate."
"Intercom," the Commissioner shouted. Shoving past the slack-jawed rockette, he literally swam down the gravityless aisle to the engineering hatchway. It opened to his shouts.
"Yeah?" A giant with a handlebar mustache peered up at him.
"I'm Commissioner Elbert. Call your pilot at once. I order the ship not to separate."