h the patrol-ship captain waiting on the screen.

"We could have done it sooner, you know," said the latter curiously.
"Well, now that I see him beside you, perhaps you'll explain your
request to delay, and also what those pips trailing you are."

"It's all the same story," said Tremont, and explained his
difficulties.

The patrol captain frowned and expressed a wish to lay hands on the
highjackers.

"Well, they're due back in"--Tremont consulted his watch--"about two
hours. I wanted them near the ends of their orbits as you approached."

"You mean there are three bodies out there?"

"Live ones, in spacesuits," said Tremont. "Experience is a great
teacher. As soon as I sighted Braigh coming back, I set up a regular
system."

He explained how he had removed all tools from the three spacesuits,
added extra tanks, and stuffed the trio into them, either unconscious
or at gunpoint.

"Then, having fastened the ankles together and wired the wrists to the
thighs so they couldn't move at all, I launched them one at a time
with enough pressure in the air lock to give four-hour orbits. That
gave me sleeping time."

"And what about them?" asked the captain.

"Oh, at the end of that period, they'd come drifting in at one-hour
intervals. Counting all the necessary operations, each of them got
thirty minutes actually out of the suit to eat and so on. Then out
he'd go while I fished in the next one. They didn't like it, but they
weren't so tough one at a time."

"Let's see--" mused the captain. "Every four hours, you'd have to
spend ... why, only two hours processing them. As a result, you kept
complete control and came shooting in here with your own satellite
system revolving about you."

"And your friends? How have they been passing the time?"

"Well, either figuring out how to take me next time," guessed Tremont,
"or wishing they were moving in more honest circles!"

END

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