A freighter crew receives unusual orders transforming their routine interplanetary cargo run into a mission of corporate strategy and legal subterfuge. The ship, abruptly reassigned to perform “special tasks,” is ordered to develop a previously untapped natural industry on a barren asteroid. Under company orders, the crew is mandated to secure a foothold by claiming that they will exploit an undeveloped resource, thereby earning perpetual rights to remain. Their plan hinges on exploiting a legal loophole that forces the planetary authorities to admit them for a trial period in which they must prove their claim by establishing a new commercial venture. On arrival at the asteroid, governed by a local tyrant who clandestinely controls it through a band of space pirates, the crew’s initial scheme is to mine pumice from the rocky surface and use it to produce a hard, industrial soap. However, when excavations reveal sedimentary rock rather than the expected igneous material, the project derails. As the crew struggles to locate the necessary pumice, they confront the bitter reality of the ruling governor’s manipulations – a man who exploits interplanetary legal standards to maintain his de facto authority despite his own susceptibility to the Law’s constraints. Amid these complications, internal tensions flare. The aging captain is anxious over a critical physical examination that jeopardizes his command, while the resourceful first mate devises a chain of inventive alternatives when his initial commercial venture fails. With time running short—only ten days are allowed by the local authorities to demonstrate a viable industry—the first mate shifts strategy by organizing hydraulic drilling in search of an alternative resource. His persistence pays off when, instead of pumice, the drill uncovers a pocket of valuable fuel oil produced by ancient geological processes. The discovery of oil provides the legal pretext to claim the right to remain. Yet, the situation quickly escalates when the governor, whose hidden fleet of fast attack spacecraft is sheltered beneath an artificial lake, attempts to thwart the crew’s claim. In a daring counterattack, the first mate implements an ingenious ploy using caches of silver and salt to set up an electroplating device in the lake. This contraption electrically coats the governor’s concealed vessels, causing them to malfunction catastrophically as they attempt to launch. The ensuing destruction of the pirate fleet not only undermines the governor’s stranglehold on the asteroid but also clears the way for the arrival of Space Patrol units summoned by the crew to secure the area. Throughout the unfolding crisis, complications arise over personnel issues: a critical medical report marks one officer as unfit for space travel due to heart problems, casting doubt over the future of the entire crew. In a twist of bureaucratic error, it is eventually revealed that the medical disqualification was mistakenly attributed because of a mix-up in reporting—saving the capable first mate from an unjust exile and allowing him to continue his pivotal role. In the end, the crew’s blend of resourcefulness, audacity, and clever interpretation of interplanetary law secures their claim on the asteroid. With the tyrannical governor’s forces neutralized and the local population freed from oppressive control, the crew not only ensures the right to remain and exploit the newly discovered fuel oil resource on the desolate body but also strikes a blow against corporate and governmental manipulation. The adventure, marked by rapid shifts in strategy and surprising technical ingenuity, encapsulates a saga of daring enterprise in a frontier where legal loopholes and unconventional methods are the keys to survival and victory.
By Nelson S. Bond · First published 1942 · Genre: Science Fiction, Pulp Fiction, Space Opera