"They are a great people, stupid but great. They will try to punish us till they die."
The wreckage drifted closer and closer to Jupiter, and still the red beam played steadily on the fleeing prisoners' ship. The distance had become so great that it could only be seen through an old telescope that the prisoners had somehow procured. But the prisoners were gasping. Their hull was cherry-red on the outside, and still heating. A few more minutes and the heat would be unbearable.
"They are getting closer—closer—they are in the sunlight. Now I can see better. I believe they will skip by—no! They've dived into the vapor! They're out again. Skipped out like a flat stone on water. Sinking again—almost over the horizon. Gone, I guess. Whew, it's hot!"
They were accelerating so fast that they had to turn on the interior gravity buttons to equalize the pressure on their bodies. Behind lay the vast, fog-bound planet of Jupiter. Ahead was the beautiful sun. And somewhere beyond, and still invisible, Earth the lovely, the green, the Mother of the human race!