The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tight Squeeze, by Dean Charles Ing

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Title: Tight Squeeze

Author: Dean Charles Ing

Release Date: November 5, 2007 [EBook #23337]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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TIGHT SQUEEZE

BY DEAN C. ING

[Transcriber note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science
Fiction February 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

_He knew the theory of repairing the gizmo all right. He had that
nicely taped. But there was the little matter of threading a wire
through a too-small hole while under zero-g, and working in a
spacesuit!_

MacNamara ambled across the loading ramp, savoring the dry, dusty air
that smelled unmistakable of spaceship. He half-consciously separated
the odors; the sweet, volatile scent of fuel, the sharp aroma of
lingering exhaust gases from early morning test-firing, the delicate
odor of silicon plastic which was being stowed as payload. He shielded
his eyes against the sun, watching as men struggled with the last
plastic girders to be strapped down, high above the dazzling ground of
White Sands. The slender cargo doors stood open around _Valier's_ girth,
awaiting his own personal O.K.

This flight would be the fourth for Major Edward MacNamara; as he neared
the great, squatting shock absorbers he could feel the tension begin to
knot his stomach. He had, of course, been overwhelmed by the opportunity
to participate in Operation Doughnut. The fact that he had been one of
the best mechanical engineers in the Air Force never occurred to him at
the time. He was a pilot, and a good one, but he had languished as C.O.
of a maintenance squadron for nearly two years before he was given
another crack at glory. Now, he wasn't at all sure he was happy with the
transition. They needed master mechanics for Operation Doughnut, but he
felt they should be left on the ground when