 How did the crew take the ship back from Moran?
The plans were thrashed out very painstakingly, in formal conference on the space-yacht Nadine , with Moran present and allowed to take part in the discussion. Now it lay astern, and Moran could see the planet that had been chosen for his marooning. The fact was verified by the thick, dense cloud-masses which covered most of the surface,—all the surface, in fact, outside the ice-cap. In short, the ice-cap proved that a man could endure the air and temperature conditions he would find. They didn't seem to resent what he'd tried to do, or that he'd brought them an indefinite distance in an indefinite direction from their last landing-point, and they had still to re-locate themselves. They'd been on Coryus Three and they'd gotten departure clearance from its space-port. With clearance-papers in order, they could land unquestioned at any other space-port and take off again—provided the other space-port was one they had clearance for. Without rigid control of space-travel, any criminal anywhere could escape the consequences of any crime simply by buying a ticket to another world. The trouble was that the Nadine had clearance papers covering five persons aboard—four men and a girl Carol. Wherever the yacht landed, such a disparity between its documents and its crew would spark an investigation. Moran, at least, would be picked out as a fugitive from Coryus Three. In effect, with six people on board instead of five, the Nadine could not land anywhere for supplies. Blaster in hand, he'd made the Nadine take off from Coryus III with a trip-tape picked at random for guidance. Only people accustomed to desperate actions would have remained so calm when Moran had used desperate measures against them. The emergency-kit contained antiseptics, seeds, and a weapon or two, with elaborate advice to castaways. Moran had needed to get off-planet, and fast. But space-travel regulations are especially designed to prevent such escapes. He'd locked two of the Nadine's crew in the engine-room, rushed to the control-room without encountering the others, dogged the door shut, and threaded in the first trip-tape to come to hand. But his present companions got the drive dismantled two days later and once the yacht was out of overdrive they efficiently gave him his choice of surrendering or else. He surrendered, stipulating that he wouldn't be landed back on Coryus; he still clung to hope of avoiding return—which was almost certain anyhow.
 The crew, locked in the engine room, dismantled the overdrive.
 The crew, locked in the engine room, dismantled the overdrive.  The crew, locked in the engine room, dismantled the direction-finder.  The crew, locked in the control room, dismantled the fuel-block.  The crew, locked in the control room, dismantled the interplanetary drive.