When I'd finished it, I went back to the engine room and took a look at
the drive. Then I went to the cargo compartment and stood looking at
the hatches. They were sealed--welded shut.
I went back up forward, and waited until Pat had to leave the controls
for a few minutes.
The minute she dropped through the hatch I was over at an emergency
tool kit, and a few seconds later I was ripping off bulkhead
panels with a screwdriver. I got a fast look at banks of dials and
instruments, and slapped the panels back up before Pat got back. Then I
went down to my cabin and just sat on a bunk, staring at the wall.
That cocky little bastard! That frozen-faced terrier of a man, cursing
me with all his heart because I was getting the chance he'd have had,
if he hadn't given his right arm too soon!
And he had wished me luck.
I was proud, then, of being an Earthman, of being a fighting man, of
having earned the right to get my name in the history books.