Captain Hastings placed his hand reassuringly on his holstered buju when he realized there was no mistake: with his main thruster gone, his ship was about to be torn asunder by the tidal forces of a neutron star.

Hastings checked the air vent. Pressure-rated duct - iron - was what he needed. He removed a section and guided it to the back of the ship, just out of reach of the plasma containment field’s magnetic grasp. He aligned the iron cylinder and secured it to the hydraulic shuttle release mechanism.

Back in the cockpit, Hastings checked the strap on his holster; his buju was secure. He braced himself and pulled the shuttle-release lever. The carefully positioned iron cylinder, now free, pierced the plasma containment field. The plasma erupted in a violent stream that punctured the ship’s hull and, as Hastings had planned, propelled the ship through a more distant path around the neutron star.

Relieved that the danger had passed, Hastings began to wonder how he would get home, his ship’s fuel completely spent. As he pondered his fate, Hastings saw the shuttle he had just released, floating aimlessly about. “Jeepers,” thought Hastings. “I could have just taken the shuttle!”

With that, Hastings unholstered his buju, popped the top, and took a long, slow, refreshing swig. “Caffeine free,” thought Hastings. “Fran would like that.”