Hanging By A Thread

Hanging by a Thread is a taut science-fiction adventure in which a routine cargo run to Pluto becomes a fight for survival in deep space. On the interplanetary freighter Persephone, businessman Jayjay Kelvin and sociology student Jeffry Hull debate the realities of space travel—until Jayjay's confident dismissal of "impossible" hazards is shattered by a catastrophic impact that tears the ship apart. A tiny, overlooked object becomes a lethal projectile, and the Persephone is left spinning, crippled, and short on oxygen, with only five crewmen alive. Captain Atef al-Amin, badly injured, and Jayjay must improvise a rescue, stabilize the ship, and awaken Jeffry Hull to the brutal facts of their situation. Their only hope lies in the emergency "screamers," but the ship's rescue system proves fatally flawed: every coupling is defective, and the crew realizes their emergency gear may be useless. As panic spreads, Jayjay uncovers the deeper cause—a design and testing failure that should never have passed inspection. Blending hard science, dry wit, and escalating danger, the novel turns orbital mechanics and bureaucratic engineering into a deadly puzzle, where the smallest mistake can doom everyone aboard. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.