nbosch, were only a fraction
of an inch away from death.

Jayjay Kelvin listened to Smith talk for another half hour, throwing
in objections when necessary, but offering no opinions.

"All we have to do," Smith said at last, "is get rid of that little
bit of metal beyond the thread in the female socket. But there's no
way to get it out. We can't use a chisel because the force would warp
the threads. Besides, we couldn't get a chisel in there."

"And we don't have a chisel," Captain Al-Amin added. "We don't have
any tools at all."

"Except," said Jayjay, "an electric hand drill and a quarter-inch
bit."

"Well, sure," said Smith. "But what good will that do us?"

"If we rigged a belt between the drill's motor and the sleeve of the
female socket, the sleeve would rotate as if it were on a lathe,
wouldn't it?"

Smith blinked. "Sure. Yeah! Hey!" His face brightened. Then it looked
sad again. "But what good would that do us?"

"You said that all we have between us and success is a fraction of an
inch of metal. If we can remove that fraction of an inch, we're
successful."

"But how can you put a thread into that socket?" Smith asked.

Jayjay beamed as though it were his birthday. "We don't have to put a
thread in there. All we have to do is give the thread on the male plug
room to move in. All we have to do is clear away that metal. So we'll
use the drill motor to turn the sleeve as if it were on a lathe."

Smith still didn't look enthusiastic. "All right. We have a lathe. But
what are we going to use for tools? What are we going to cut the metal
with?"

Jayjay's smile became broader. "Carbon steel. What else?"

"Oh?" said Smith. "And where do we get these tools, Mr. Kelvin? From
the circumambient ether?"

"Not at all," said Jayjay. "Did you ever chip flint?"

"What?"

"Never mind. All we have to do is use that quarter-inch bit."

Smith still looked confused. "I don't get it. A bit that big won't fit
in."

"We simply crack a piece off that hard carbon steel," Jayjay said. "We
can make a lathe tool that will fit into the small space between the
inner and outer tubes. The fractured edge will be sharp enough to take
out the excess metal. The male plug can move in, and we'll have
contact."

"Well, I'll be--" Smith used another French word.

Captain Atef Al-Amin cast his eyes upwards. "_Creatio ex nihilo_," he
said softly.

* * * * *

When the Interplanetary Police ship