They went inside and found dinner ready. ‘Call for you, Captain.’ announced Hazel.
‘Already?’
‘City Hall. Told ’em you were out but would call back. Nine point six centimeters.’
‘Come eat your dinner, dear, while it’s hot’
‘You all go ahead. I won’t be long.’
Nor was he. Dr Stone looked inquiringly at him as he joined them. ‘The Mayor,’ he told her and the others. ‘Welcome to Rock City and all that sort of thing. Advised me that the Citizen’s Committee has set a speed limit of a hundred miles an hour for ships, five hundred miles an hour for scooters, anywhere within a thousand miles of City Hall.’
Hazel bristled. ‘I suppose you told him what they could do with their speed limits?’
‘I did not. I apologized sweetly for having unwittingly offended on my approach and said that I would be over to pay my respects tomorrow or the next day.’
‘I thought Mars would have some elbow room,’ Hazel grumbled. ‘It turned out to be nothing but scissorbills and pantywaists and tax collectors. So we come on out to the wide open spaces and what do we find? Traffic cops! And my only son without the spunk to talk back to them. I think I’ll go to Saturn.’
‘I hear that Titan Base is awfully chilly,’ her son answered without rancor. “Why not Jupiter? Pol, flip the salt over this way, please.’
‘Jupiter? The position isn’t favorable. Besides I hear that, Ganymede has more regulations than a girls’ school.’
‘Mother, you are the only juvenile delinquent old enough for a geriatrics clinic whom I have ever known. You know perfectly well that an artificial colony has to have regulations.’
‘An excuse for miniature Napoleons! This whole system has taken to wearing corsets.’
‘What’s a corset?’ inquired Lowell.
‘Uh … a predecessor to the spacesuit, sort of.’
Lowell still looked puzzled; his mother said, ‘Never mind, dear. When we get back, Mother will show you one, in the museum.’
Captain Stone proposed that they all turn in right after supper; they had all run short on sleep during the maneuvering approach. ‘I keep seeing spots before my eyes,’ he said, rubbing them, ‘from staring into the tank. I think I’ll sleep the clock around.’
Hazel started to answer when an alarm shrilled; he passed instantly from sleepy to alert. ‘Object on collision course! Grab something, everybody.’ He clutched at a stanchion with one hand, gathered in Lowell with the other.
But no shove from a firing jato followed. ‘Green,’ Hazel announced quietly. ‘Whatever it is, it isn’t moving fast enough to hurt us. Chances favor a near miss, anyway.’
Captain Stone took a deep breath, ‘I hope you’re right, but I’ve been on the short end of too many long shots to place much faith in statistics. I’ve been jumpy ever since we entered the Belt’
Meade went aft with dirty dishes. She returned in a hurry, round eyed. ‘Daddy — somebody’s at the door.’
‘What? Meade, you’re imagining things.’
‘No, I’m not I heard him. Listen.’
‘Quiet, everyone.’ In the silence they could hear the steady hiss of an air injector; the lock was cycling. Roger Stone lunged toward the airlock; he was stopped by a sharp warning from his mother. ‘Son! Hold it a second’
‘What?’
‘Keep back from that door.’ She had her gun out and at the ready.
‘Huh? Don’t be silly. And put that thing away; it isn’t charged anyhow.’
‘He won’t know that. Whoever is coming in that lock.’
Dr Stone said quietly, ‘Mother Hazel, what are you nervous about?’
‘Can’t you see? We’ve got a ship here with food in it. And oxy. And a certain amount of single-H. This isn’t Luna City; there are men out here who would be tempted.’
Dr Stone did not answer but turned to her husband. He hesitated only momentarily, then snapped, ‘Go forward, dear. Take Lowell. Meade, you go along and lock the access hatch. Leave the ship’s phones open. If you hear anything wrong, radio City Hall and tell them we are being hijacked. Move!’ He was already ducking into his stateroom, came out with his own gun.
By the time the hatch to the control room had clanged shut the airlock finished cycling. The four remaining waited, surrounding the airlock inner door. ‘Shall we jump him, Dad?’ Castor whispered.