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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Patch - -Author: William Shedenhelm - -Release Date: December 1, 2020 [EBook #63934] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATCH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>PATCH</h1> - -<h2>By WILLIAM SHEDENHELM</h2> - -<p>Old pilots like Pop Gillette weren't needed any<br /> -more to run the big ships. Nowadays you were boosted<br /> -and roosted by the grace of Gimmick. Sooner or later,<br /> -Pop predicted, something was gonna louse up....</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1950.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The wall speaker in the control tower was crackling softly with space -static when the voice first cut in. "Lorelei calling Venusport for -landing. Over."</p> - -<p>Even across ten thousand miles of space the sharp New England twang -clearly showed the origin of its owner. Joe flicked the transmitting -stud and winked at the radar man.</p> - -<p>"Venusport to Lorelei. Come on in, you old space pirate. Use Ramp Four. -Out."</p> - -<p>He glanced at the green spot on the radar sweep screen that was the -Lorelei, entered a set of figures in the tower log, then leaned back in -the chair in front of the control panels and lit a cigarette.</p> - -<p>"That Pop," he said, nodding vaguely at the radar screen and the log -book, "must be damn near two hundred years old, and he's still the best -pilot in the System. Used to have the All-Planetary run back when it -was really something. When they put in automatics for cruising it made -him so mad he quit and never would go back. Said he wasn't going to let -a bunch of machines run his ship, even out in space."</p> - -<p>He blew a beam of smoke at the spot that moved slowly toward the center -of the radar sweep screen.</p> - -<p>"He bought the tub he calls the Lorelei at a surplus sale, and spends -all his time batting around the odd corners of space that the Survey -Patrol hasn't gotten to yet." Joe puffed his cigarette reminiscently -for a minute. "I remember the first time I saw him land the Lorelei. -Lord, what a sight. No one else has ever had the nerve to try it the -way he does it, or at least lived to tell about it. I wonder if he's -gotten too old to do it anymore."</p> - -<p>The radar man stared at the faint speck that showed above the horizon, -then brought it into magnified focus on the tele-screen.</p> - -<p>"He's coming in awfully funny," he said.</p> - -<p>Joe got up and stood staring out through the sides of the big plastic -bubble that formed the walls and roof of the control tower.</p> - -<p>"I think he's going to try it. Watch this!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The stubby ovaloid was angling in towards the Port from a little above -horizontal, as though to make a belly landing. Just short of the field, -the steering jets gave a tremendous side blast that whipped the ship -into a tight upward arc. All the ship's jets winked out, and the ship -whistled straight up for over a mile, began to slow, and dropped back -in free fall. The ship dropped faster and faster toward the concrete -apron, tail first, its jets dead.</p> - -<p>Two hundred feet above the ramp Pop Gillette hit the bank of firing -buttons and hit it hard. The heavy ship shuddered to a stop five feet -above the ramp, cracking the concrete with the fury of its rear jets, -spinning like an enormous pin-wheel, its rotator jets gushing fire in -hundred-yard sweeps.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>The heavy ship shuddered to a stop five feet above the ramp</i>....</p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead and dropped into his chair.</p> - -<p>"Brother! Someday his tubes are going to misfire when he tries that, -and the Lorelei is going to be spread from here to Marsport!"</p> - -<p>The radar man did not answer immediately. He was still standing at the -dome, his mouth slightly agape, staring at the stubby ship that now lay -silent in Ramp Four. He pulled himself together, closed his mouth with -a click, and moved back to the sweep screen.</p> - -<p>"Who the hell <i>is</i> that guy?"</p> - -<p>"You've heard of Pop Gillette. Everybody in space has. Anytime you want -to tell a whopper about space, all you have to say is, 'I remember -one time when Pop Gillette and me was out around so-and-so....' And -whatever nutty place you name, he's probably really been there, and -whatever nutty thing you can think of to happen, it probably really did -happen to him."</p> - -<p>The radar man nodded in recognition, and Joe went on.</p> - -<p>"Like the time he got mad at the people at White Sands Port. One night -he goosed an asteroid down right in the middle of their main landing -strips. The damn thing was a quarter of a mile long, and almost as -high. How he got it down through the atmosphere, nobody knows, but he -did ... and he landed it so gently that nobody knew anything about it -until they looked out their windows the next morning. They finally got -the Patrol on him, and told him the asteroid was legally his, so he had -to think of a way to get rid of it. He did. Turned out to be laced with -uranium, so he rented the whole darned field for a month, cut the thing -up and carted it away. Sold it for a fortune."</p> - -<p>The outer door of the ovaloid ship was now open, and as one of the -Port's zeeps rolled alongside, a man, miniature in the distance, -slid down the ship's side-ladder and climbed aboard. Joe swung the -directional p.a. at the zeep.</p> - -<p>"Hey Pop ... come on up!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The little figure waved, and the zeep headed for the control tower. As -it drew nearer they could begin to see Pop Gillette more clearly. He -was a thin little man, deeply space tanned. He could have been anyplace -from fifty to three hundred and fifty. He rode sitting on the rear edge -of the speeding zeep, balanced precariously, calmly puffing a Venusian -cigarote.</p> - -<p>He came through the outer control rooms like a Martian whirlwind, -spraying greetings and minor presents in all directions.</p> - -<p>"Hi there, Tom. Saw your uncle out near Ganymede. Living with a Phobian -Bat Woman....</p> - -<p>"Hi there. Here's that gooloo bird's tail feather you asked for five or -six years ago!" (It had been near twenty years ago, when the recipient -was four years old.)</p> - -<p>"Hello, Honey. You know that Neptunian Rock Egg you wanted? Got a -couple in my ship as big as your head. Come up to the hotel for supper -tonight and I'll give them to you!" He winked roguishly at Honey and -whirled into the control room.</p> - -<p>"Hi Joe, you landlocked lard-bottom. What have you been doing?" And -before Joe could start to answer, he went on. "Had an unusual thing -happen to me out on Pluto. I was out prospecting for liquid hydrogen -wells when I sprung a leak in my oxygen tank. I got it fixed, but most -of my oxy had leaked out. Had enough for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, -and the ship was two hours away. Thought I'd never make it. Finally -started back with a load of icicles under my arm. Every few minutes I'd -stop, break off a piece, and drop it into my tank. Turned out to be -pure oxygen, frozen stiff!"</p> - -<p>When Joe had regained his composure, he tossed a wink at the radar man, -who was again standing with his mouth ajar.</p> - -<p>"Say, Pop," Joe said with careful casualness. "All-Planetary's -Mercury-Venus liner is coming in about oh-four-four."</p> - -<p>Pop choked on a lungful of cigarote smoke, and, turning crimson through -his space tan, glared at Joe.</p> - -<p>"You better clear out of this tower, son. When that bunch of gears -comes in, it's apt to take this whole side off the planet!"</p> - -<p>Joe kept his face serious.</p> - -<p>"I hear this is one of the new models," he said. "They only use the -pilot for landings. Take-offs and cruising are all automatic."</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette tossed his cigarote into the disposal in disgust.</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't put it past that bunch of pants-brains to just point -the things and light a fuse. Those young punks they have for pilots -couldn't belly on the moon."</p> - -<p>"But Pop," Joe said. "You're too old to work a liner even if they did -go back to manuals."</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette flashed red and purple, and glared at Joe.</p> - -<p>"Too old! Do you know what I hit when I brought the Lorelei in just -now? Fourteen damn G's! If she wasn't an old meteor patrol ship she'd -crack open like an egg the way I handle her. Too old my space-warped -rear!"</p> - -<p>"But ships are bigger these days, Pop. When you were shoving them they -couldn't have weighed over half a million tons. The one that's due this -afternoon tops two million. That's a lot of ship."</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette shook his head derisively at such ignorance, which was, -after all, to be expected from a ground crew man.</p> - -<p>"They're all the same. Once you have the feel of it," he rippled his -fingers as though working a bank of firing keys, "it works anyplace. -I run the Lorelei just like I used to run my liners. I can cut it a -bit finer than I could a big ship, but elsewise it doesn't make any -difference how big they come. I could stand that liner on her butt -and write my name clean across that field." He jerked his head at the -four-mile-wide Venusport, and glared at Joe and the radar man. "And -cross the 't's' and dot the 'i's'!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was an hour later, while they were sitting around drinking Venusian -wine, that the call came through. You always expect a distress call to -be weak and difficult to understand, but this one wasn't. It was as -clear as though the transmitter were in the next room.</p> - -<p>"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! All-Planetary Liner Twelve calling Venusport! -Over!"</p> - -<p>At the first sound of the universal distress call, Joe and the radar -man went into action. Joe hit a red stud that alerted all the units -at the Port, and cut in the speakers in the other control sections, -while the radar man got a rough bearing on the liner, and switched up -the amplification until he had the ship located within a foot, and its -speed and course plotted to five decimal places.</p> - -<p>All this in the time it took the first call to come through. Joe -flipped the transmitting stud.</p> - -<p>"Venusport to All-Planetary Twelve. All other units clear the air -immediately. Come in."</p> - -<p>The voice cut in sharply through the space static again, sounding a -little frightened and tense.</p> - -<p>"All-Planetary Twelve calling Venusport. Something went wrong with the -radar deflectors. We took a meteor through the control room. Luckily -it just clipped us, but it put a ten foot hole in the side. The man on -duty got out okay, but we lost all the air in that section. We can't -bring her in with that hole in her. We have to have air in the control -room, or all the switches arc out. Over."</p> - -<p>Outside, the control tower ships were being moved out of the way, back -into the hangars and into the pits. Blinker lights and radio landing -beams were flickering out "Stay Clear!" warnings to all ships in that -segment of space. Joe flipped the stud again.</p> - -<p>"Is the hole too big for a plastic patch? Over."</p> - -<p>"It's a good ten feet across. We haven't got any patches that big, and -even if we did have, they wouldn't do any good. Once we pumped the air -back in, the pressure would boot the patch out into space. The only -thing that will work is a welding job. Over."</p> - -<p>Joe shook his head glumly and flipped the stud.</p> - -<p>"We've got enough monalloy here to fix it, but we haven't got a -portable welding outfit that could handle the job. Down here we could -have it fixed in half an hour. Over."</p> - -<p>There was a pause before the voice came back.</p> - -<p>"That's a lot of help. Over."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Pop Gillette tugged at Joe's sleeve. Joe started to shake him loose, -but stopped when he felt the old man's grip tighten on his arm like a -space grapple.</p> - -<p>"Let me have that thing," he said. He took the mike from Joe and -flipped the stud.</p> - -<p>"Hey there! What's your cargo?"</p> - -<p>The speaker was silent for a moment, other than for the faint crackle -of the space static. Then the voice cut in again, a little more -resigned than before, as it rattled off the list of cargo.</p> - -<p>"Let's see. We've got twenty tons of unrefined uranium from Titan, -fifty thousand gallons of mercury from Gany, and twenty tons of canned -wooklah meat from Jupe. At least we can live on wooklah meat on our way -to Alpha Centauri." He laughed nervously. "Boy, is All-Planetary going -to be mad, at a hundred bucks a can. Over."</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette scratched his chin reflectively. Finally he shook his head -in disgust.</p> - -<p>"I could have told that bunch of fat-headed clod-lubbers they couldn't -trust a bunch of machinery. If they'd of had a pilot watching the -screens instead of some half-baked crewman, this wouldn't have -happened. Easiest thing in the world to blast around a meteor, but try -to tell that to <i>that</i> bunch." He spat in disgust. "I swore I'd never -lift a hand for All-Planetary again as long as I lived, but now I guess -I'll have to go up and fix that damned liner. First vacation I've had -in five years and I have to play nurse-maid to a bunch of half-wits!"</p> - -<p>He glared at Joe. "Well, are you coming or aren't you?"</p> - -<p>Joe looked at him blankly.</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette shook his head sadly at the mental level of Venusport's -personnel.</p> - -<p>"Somebody's got to bring the Lorelei back down, don't they? Lord, the -people they put in responsible positions these days.... Come on! Get -the cadmium out!" And he was halfway down the stairs before Joe was on -his feet.</p> - -<p>"And bring a roll of scotch tape!" he shouted back.</p> - -<p>What happened after that is pretty well a matter of the records. Every -telecast carried the report for days. Pop Gillette got aboard the liner -by bringing the Lorelei alongside. Then, with Joe holding her steady as -she went, Pop jumped across the twenty feet of open space, scotch tape -in his space suit pocket, to the liner's open port.</p> - -<p>Then he brought the liner down for a tail landing, as pretty as you -please.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was ten minutes later that Pop Gillette and Joe sat drinking their -Venusian wine again, watching the ground crews welding a new plate on -the liner, a mile away across the Port.</p> - -<p>"But how did you do it?" Joe asked. "And why the scotch tape?"</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette deftly poured a tumbler of wine down his throat and -reached for the bottle.</p> - -<p>"Simplest thing in the world. I used the tape to stick a couple of bed -sheets over the hole, inside and out."</p> - -<p>Joe stared at him in puzzlement.</p> - -<p>"Bedsheets? What for?"</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette cast his eyes heavenwards as for deliverance. "I'm sure -glad I don't run a liner anymore. I might get somebody like you for a -co-pilot. I had to have a <i>mold</i>, didn't I? You heard the pilot say -the patch had to be metal to stand the pressure. Fifteen pounds to the -inch over a ten foot patch is a lot of pressure. Well, after I had the -sheets over the hole, I turned it towards the sun, filled the mold, and -turned it around away from the sun. The temperature drop in space did -the rest."</p> - -<p>Joe put his hand to his brow and glanced at his wine glass -suspiciously. "I vaguely get what you're talking about, but just <i>what</i> -did you make the patch out of?"</p> - -<p>Pop Gillette chuckled wryly.</p> - -<p>"The mercury, of course. Froze hard as steel when I turned her away -from the sun. Perfect fit, too."</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Patch, by William Shedenhelm - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATCH *** - -***** This file should be named 63934-h.htm or 63934-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/3/63934/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Patch - -Author: William Shedenhelm - -Release Date: December 1, 2020 [EBook #63934] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATCH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - PATCH - - By WILLIAM SHEDENHELM - - Old pilots like Pop Gillette weren't needed any - more to run the big ships. Nowadays you were boosted - and roosted by the grace of Gimmick. Sooner or later, - Pop predicted, something was gonna louse up.... - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1950. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -The wall speaker in the control tower was crackling softly with space -static when the voice first cut in. "Lorelei calling Venusport for -landing. Over." - -Even across ten thousand miles of space the sharp New England twang -clearly showed the origin of its owner. Joe flicked the transmitting -stud and winked at the radar man. - -"Venusport to Lorelei. Come on in, you old space pirate. Use Ramp Four. -Out." - -He glanced at the green spot on the radar sweep screen that was the -Lorelei, entered a set of figures in the tower log, then leaned back in -the chair in front of the control panels and lit a cigarette. - -"That Pop," he said, nodding vaguely at the radar screen and the log -book, "must be damn near two hundred years old, and he's still the best -pilot in the System. Used to have the All-Planetary run back when it -was really something. When they put in automatics for cruising it made -him so mad he quit and never would go back. Said he wasn't going to let -a bunch of machines run his ship, even out in space." - -He blew a beam of smoke at the spot that moved slowly toward the center -of the radar sweep screen. - -"He bought the tub he calls the Lorelei at a surplus sale, and spends -all his time batting around the odd corners of space that the Survey -Patrol hasn't gotten to yet." Joe puffed his cigarette reminiscently -for a minute. "I remember the first time I saw him land the Lorelei. -Lord, what a sight. No one else has ever had the nerve to try it the -way he does it, or at least lived to tell about it. I wonder if he's -gotten too old to do it anymore." - -The radar man stared at the faint speck that showed above the horizon, -then brought it into magnified focus on the tele-screen. - -"He's coming in awfully funny," he said. - -Joe got up and stood staring out through the sides of the big plastic -bubble that formed the walls and roof of the control tower. - -"I think he's going to try it. Watch this!" - - * * * * * - -The stubby ovaloid was angling in towards the Port from a little above -horizontal, as though to make a belly landing. Just short of the field, -the steering jets gave a tremendous side blast that whipped the ship -into a tight upward arc. All the ship's jets winked out, and the ship -whistled straight up for over a mile, began to slow, and dropped back -in free fall. The ship dropped faster and faster toward the concrete -apron, tail first, its jets dead. - -Two hundred feet above the ramp Pop Gillette hit the bank of firing -buttons and hit it hard. The heavy ship shuddered to a stop five feet -above the ramp, cracking the concrete with the fury of its rear jets, -spinning like an enormous pin-wheel, its rotator jets gushing fire in -hundred-yard sweeps. - -[Illustration: The heavy ship shuddered to a stop five feet above the -ramp....] - -Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead and dropped into his chair. - -"Brother! Someday his tubes are going to misfire when he tries that, -and the Lorelei is going to be spread from here to Marsport!" - -The radar man did not answer immediately. He was still standing at the -dome, his mouth slightly agape, staring at the stubby ship that now lay -silent in Ramp Four. He pulled himself together, closed his mouth with -a click, and moved back to the sweep screen. - -"Who the hell _is_ that guy?" - -"You've heard of Pop Gillette. Everybody in space has. Anytime you want -to tell a whopper about space, all you have to say is, 'I remember -one time when Pop Gillette and me was out around so-and-so....' And -whatever nutty place you name, he's probably really been there, and -whatever nutty thing you can think of to happen, it probably really did -happen to him." - -The radar man nodded in recognition, and Joe went on. - -"Like the time he got mad at the people at White Sands Port. One night -he goosed an asteroid down right in the middle of their main landing -strips. The damn thing was a quarter of a mile long, and almost as -high. How he got it down through the atmosphere, nobody knows, but he -did ... and he landed it so gently that nobody knew anything about it -until they looked out their windows the next morning. They finally got -the Patrol on him, and told him the asteroid was legally his, so he had -to think of a way to get rid of it. He did. Turned out to be laced with -uranium, so he rented the whole darned field for a month, cut the thing -up and carted it away. Sold it for a fortune." - -The outer door of the ovaloid ship was now open, and as one of the -Port's zeeps rolled alongside, a man, miniature in the distance, -slid down the ship's side-ladder and climbed aboard. Joe swung the -directional p.a. at the zeep. - -"Hey Pop ... come on up!" - - * * * * * - -The little figure waved, and the zeep headed for the control tower. As -it drew nearer they could begin to see Pop Gillette more clearly. He -was a thin little man, deeply space tanned. He could have been anyplace -from fifty to three hundred and fifty. He rode sitting on the rear edge -of the speeding zeep, balanced precariously, calmly puffing a Venusian -cigarote. - -He came through the outer control rooms like a Martian whirlwind, -spraying greetings and minor presents in all directions. - -"Hi there, Tom. Saw your uncle out near Ganymede. Living with a Phobian -Bat Woman.... - -"Hi there. Here's that gooloo bird's tail feather you asked for five or -six years ago!" (It had been near twenty years ago, when the recipient -was four years old.) - -"Hello, Honey. You know that Neptunian Rock Egg you wanted? Got a -couple in my ship as big as your head. Come up to the hotel for supper -tonight and I'll give them to you!" He winked roguishly at Honey and -whirled into the control room. - -"Hi Joe, you landlocked lard-bottom. What have you been doing?" And -before Joe could start to answer, he went on. "Had an unusual thing -happen to me out on Pluto. I was out prospecting for liquid hydrogen -wells when I sprung a leak in my oxygen tank. I got it fixed, but most -of my oxy had leaked out. Had enough for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, -and the ship was two hours away. Thought I'd never make it. Finally -started back with a load of icicles under my arm. Every few minutes I'd -stop, break off a piece, and drop it into my tank. Turned out to be -pure oxygen, frozen stiff!" - -When Joe had regained his composure, he tossed a wink at the radar man, -who was again standing with his mouth ajar. - -"Say, Pop," Joe said with careful casualness. "All-Planetary's -Mercury-Venus liner is coming in about oh-four-four." - -Pop choked on a lungful of cigarote smoke, and, turning crimson through -his space tan, glared at Joe. - -"You better clear out of this tower, son. When that bunch of gears -comes in, it's apt to take this whole side off the planet!" - -Joe kept his face serious. - -"I hear this is one of the new models," he said. "They only use the -pilot for landings. Take-offs and cruising are all automatic." - -Pop Gillette tossed his cigarote into the disposal in disgust. - -"I wouldn't put it past that bunch of pants-brains to just point -the things and light a fuse. Those young punks they have for pilots -couldn't belly on the moon." - -"But Pop," Joe said. "You're too old to work a liner even if they did -go back to manuals." - -Pop Gillette flashed red and purple, and glared at Joe. - -"Too old! Do you know what I hit when I brought the Lorelei in just -now? Fourteen damn G's! If she wasn't an old meteor patrol ship she'd -crack open like an egg the way I handle her. Too old my space-warped -rear!" - -"But ships are bigger these days, Pop. When you were shoving them they -couldn't have weighed over half a million tons. The one that's due this -afternoon tops two million. That's a lot of ship." - -Pop Gillette shook his head derisively at such ignorance, which was, -after all, to be expected from a ground crew man. - -"They're all the same. Once you have the feel of it," he rippled his -fingers as though working a bank of firing keys, "it works anyplace. -I run the Lorelei just like I used to run my liners. I can cut it a -bit finer than I could a big ship, but elsewise it doesn't make any -difference how big they come. I could stand that liner on her butt -and write my name clean across that field." He jerked his head at the -four-mile-wide Venusport, and glared at Joe and the radar man. "And -cross the 't's' and dot the 'i's'!" - - * * * * * - -It was an hour later, while they were sitting around drinking Venusian -wine, that the call came through. You always expect a distress call to -be weak and difficult to understand, but this one wasn't. It was as -clear as though the transmitter were in the next room. - -"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! All-Planetary Liner Twelve calling Venusport! -Over!" - -At the first sound of the universal distress call, Joe and the radar -man went into action. Joe hit a red stud that alerted all the units -at the Port, and cut in the speakers in the other control sections, -while the radar man got a rough bearing on the liner, and switched up -the amplification until he had the ship located within a foot, and its -speed and course plotted to five decimal places. - -All this in the time it took the first call to come through. Joe -flipped the transmitting stud. - -"Venusport to All-Planetary Twelve. All other units clear the air -immediately. Come in." - -The voice cut in sharply through the space static again, sounding a -little frightened and tense. - -"All-Planetary Twelve calling Venusport. Something went wrong with the -radar deflectors. We took a meteor through the control room. Luckily -it just clipped us, but it put a ten foot hole in the side. The man on -duty got out okay, but we lost all the air in that section. We can't -bring her in with that hole in her. We have to have air in the control -room, or all the switches arc out. Over." - -Outside, the control tower ships were being moved out of the way, back -into the hangars and into the pits. Blinker lights and radio landing -beams were flickering out "Stay Clear!" warnings to all ships in that -segment of space. Joe flipped the stud again. - -"Is the hole too big for a plastic patch? Over." - -"It's a good ten feet across. We haven't got any patches that big, and -even if we did have, they wouldn't do any good. Once we pumped the air -back in, the pressure would boot the patch out into space. The only -thing that will work is a welding job. Over." - -Joe shook his head glumly and flipped the stud. - -"We've got enough monalloy here to fix it, but we haven't got a -portable welding outfit that could handle the job. Down here we could -have it fixed in half an hour. Over." - -There was a pause before the voice came back. - -"That's a lot of help. Over." - - * * * * * - -Pop Gillette tugged at Joe's sleeve. Joe started to shake him loose, -but stopped when he felt the old man's grip tighten on his arm like a -space grapple. - -"Let me have that thing," he said. He took the mike from Joe and -flipped the stud. - -"Hey there! What's your cargo?" - -The speaker was silent for a moment, other than for the faint crackle -of the space static. Then the voice cut in again, a little more -resigned than before, as it rattled off the list of cargo. - -"Let's see. We've got twenty tons of unrefined uranium from Titan, -fifty thousand gallons of mercury from Gany, and twenty tons of canned -wooklah meat from Jupe. At least we can live on wooklah meat on our way -to Alpha Centauri." He laughed nervously. "Boy, is All-Planetary going -to be mad, at a hundred bucks a can. Over." - -Pop Gillette scratched his chin reflectively. Finally he shook his head -in disgust. - -"I could have told that bunch of fat-headed clod-lubbers they couldn't -trust a bunch of machinery. If they'd of had a pilot watching the -screens instead of some half-baked crewman, this wouldn't have -happened. Easiest thing in the world to blast around a meteor, but try -to tell that to _that_ bunch." He spat in disgust. "I swore I'd never -lift a hand for All-Planetary again as long as I lived, but now I guess -I'll have to go up and fix that damned liner. First vacation I've had -in five years and I have to play nurse-maid to a bunch of half-wits!" - -He glared at Joe. "Well, are you coming or aren't you?" - -Joe looked at him blankly. - -Pop Gillette shook his head sadly at the mental level of Venusport's -personnel. - -"Somebody's got to bring the Lorelei back down, don't they? Lord, the -people they put in responsible positions these days.... Come on! Get -the cadmium out!" And he was halfway down the stairs before Joe was on -his feet. - -"And bring a roll of scotch tape!" he shouted back. - -What happened after that is pretty well a matter of the records. Every -telecast carried the report for days. Pop Gillette got aboard the liner -by bringing the Lorelei alongside. Then, with Joe holding her steady as -she went, Pop jumped across the twenty feet of open space, scotch tape -in his space suit pocket, to the liner's open port. - -Then he brought the liner down for a tail landing, as pretty as you -please. - - * * * * * - -It was ten minutes later that Pop Gillette and Joe sat drinking their -Venusian wine again, watching the ground crews welding a new plate on -the liner, a mile away across the Port. - -"But how did you do it?" Joe asked. "And why the scotch tape?" - -Pop Gillette deftly poured a tumbler of wine down his throat and -reached for the bottle. - -"Simplest thing in the world. I used the tape to stick a couple of bed -sheets over the hole, inside and out." - -Joe stared at him in puzzlement. - -"Bedsheets? What for?" - -Pop Gillette cast his eyes heavenwards as for deliverance. "I'm sure -glad I don't run a liner anymore. I might get somebody like you for a -co-pilot. I had to have a _mold_, didn't I? You heard the pilot say -the patch had to be metal to stand the pressure. Fifteen pounds to the -inch over a ten foot patch is a lot of pressure. Well, after I had the -sheets over the hole, I turned it towards the sun, filled the mold, and -turned it around away from the sun. The temperature drop in space did -the rest." - -Joe put his hand to his brow and glanced at his wine glass -suspiciously. "I vaguely get what you're talking about, but just _what_ -did you make the patch out of?" - -Pop Gillette chuckled wryly. - -"The mercury, of course. Froze hard as steel when I turned her away -from the sun. Perfect fit, too." - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Patch, by William Shedenhelm - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATCH *** - -***** This file should be named 63934.txt or 63934.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/3/63934/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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