At about the ventilators?" "Take
us days to remove all the screens and
purifiers," said Hoskins, "and then we'd be up against the intake
ports. You could stroll out through any of them about as far as your
forearm.
And after that it's hull-metal, skipper. _That_ you don't
cut, not with a piece of the Sun's core." The Captain got up and began
pacing, slowly and steadily, as if the problem could be trodden out
like ripe grapes. He closed his eyes and said, "I've been circling
around that idea for thirty minutes now. Look: the hull can't be cut
because it is built so it can't fail. It doesn't fail. The port
controls were also built so they wouldn't fail. They do fail. The
thing that keeps us in stays
in shape. The thing
that lets us out goes bad. Effect: we stay inside. Cause: something
that wants us
to stay inside." "Oh,"
said Johnny clearly. They looked at him. He
raised his head, stiffened his spine against the bulkhead. Paresi
smiled at him. "Sure, Johnny. The machine didn't fail. It
was--controlled. It's all
right." Then he turne
