abandon ship.” When Spacemaster O’Leary had cut off, Lieutenant Stone said, “I’m sorry, Rob. I know how much you thought of Spaceman Hawley, but there’s nothing more to be done. Better get together what stuff you want to take along.” However, as the officer began getting up his things, Rob remained at the screen, poring over it and a little mathematical machine called an electronic computer. “Ready to go, Rob?” Lieutenant Stone asked sometime later. “I think I’ve found something, sir!” Rob said, holding a place on the screen with his finger. “A die-hard, if I ever saw one,” murmured his superior, with an admiring grin. He came over to see. “Scylla is known to have a slightly unpredictable orbit,” Rob said. “During the past few minutes I’ve traced it cutting inward toward the planet. I’ve checked the moon’s gravity-and-distance ratio on the computer, and I believe if we delay the abandon-ship for several more minutes we can pull free of Saturn and its family!” “Let me see,” the lieutenant said. They checked the slight movement of Saturn’s tenth satellite, which had been discovered in 1963. Scylla was tiny, a dense ball of rock only three miles in diameter. But its diminishing gravity pull as it moved away could be enough to swing the balance in favor of the Rigel. Lieutenant Stone agreed with Rob’s finding in general, although in the brief time available there was no opportunity to make a positive measurement. He phoned the skipper, who was ready to send out the first space boat. Lieutenant Stone reported to him Rob’s find. “If you agree it’s worth a chance, lieutenant, I’ll play ball,” the skipper replied. As Rob stared apprehensively at the big planet from the side port, he tormented himself about whether he had done the right thing in suggesting what he did. Had the Rigel been abandoned, as was planned, all hands would have been saved. As things stood now, however, the entire crew might perish. Still, Rob could not really regret taking the responsibility. Times before, when there had been lives at stake, he had stuck by his convictions and had never failed to accept danger when that seemed the best move for all concerned. Rob and Lieutenant Stone kept their eyes glued on the TV screen, particularly the speck that was Scylla and the slight
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