"We've got to!" Morrow answered. "There's no other way."
"We can't do the impossible, chief," Bert gasped.
A group of tiny figures broke away from the rim of the space station. The tugmen were coming to help.
Then Kevin grasped the hideous truth. There were not enough rocket pistols to bring the men to the full ship and return with any reserve to guide the projectile.
"Get back!" he shouted. "Save the pistols. We're coming in."
Behind them their only chance for life continued serenely upward into a new orbit. There, 900 miles above the earth, it would revolve forever with more fuel in its tanks than it needed.
Fuel that would have saved the lives of 90 desperate men.