is to put that anchor in there. That's the first space job a man can
get in the Belt, the only way to get space experience. Working by
himself, a man learns to preserve his own life out there.

Operating a space tug, on the other hand, is a two-man job because a
man cannot both be on the surface of the asteroid and in his ship at
the same time. But every space tug man has had long experience as an
anchor setter before he's allowed to be in a position where he is
capable of killing someone besides himself if he makes a stupid
mistake in that deadly vacuum.

"On contact, Jack," the instrument man said as soon as he had a firm
grip on the anchor. "Release safety line."

"Safety line released, Harry," Jack's voice said in his earphones.

Jack had pressed a switch that released the ship's end of the safety
line so that it now floated free. Harry pulled it towards himself and
attached the free end to the eye of the anchor bolt, on a loop of
nickel-steel that had been placed there for that purpose. "Safety line
secured," he reported. "Ready for tug line."

In the pilot's compartment, Jack manipulated the controls again. The
ship moved away from the asteroid and yawed around so that the "tail"
was pointed toward the anchor bolt. Protruding from a special port was
a heavy-duty universal joint with special attachments. Harry reached
out, grasped it with one hand, and pulled it toward him, guiding it
toward the eyebolt. A cable attached to its other end snaked out of
the tug.

Harry worked hard for some ten or fifteen minutes to get the universal
joint firmly bolted to the eye of the anchor. When he was through, he
said: "O.K., Jack. Try 'er."

The tug moved gently away from the asteroid, and the cable that bound
the two together became taut. Harry carefully inspected his handiwork
to make sure that everything had been done properly and that the
mechanism would stand the stress.

"So far so good," he muttered, more to himself than to Jack.

Then he carefully set two compact little strain gauges on the anchor
itself, at ninety degrees from each other on the circumference of the
huge anchor bolt. Two others were already in position in the universal
joint itself. When everything was ready, he said: "Give 'er a try at
length."

The tug moved away from the asteroid, paying out the cable as it
went.

Hauling around an asteroid that had a mass on the order of one hundred
seventy-four million metric tons required adequate p