Robert Heinlein's "Gentlemen, Be Seated": An accident on moon

This fast paced story is of an accident on moon - an underground pressurized passage losing its air due to a rocket crash on surface. And the superhuman effort & novel technique that saved the three men trapped.

Story summary.
Told in first person by Jack Arnold, a journalist who is visiting Luna City on moon.

There is some construction work going on - building pressured underground tunnels. One Mr Knowles is Jack's guide, & takes him down a tunnel where some sections have been completed & pressured, but other end i still being built. Because they are going through pressured parts, they don't take space suites along.

Near the end of the completed parts, they meet a gang of workmen returning from the day's work. Knowles knows them; enlists one called Konski to provide some expert guidence for the visitor.

They are in the pressured tunnel section still undergoing testing when there is a leak. Chamber already has some kind of balloons that automatically go to the point of leak to fix it - only the leak is too big for them. Lights go out, then heating. Knowles is sent to get help - returns because next section has also lost pressure.

Title of the story comes from the novel way they fix leak till help comes - and almost die. Konski & Jack take turns sitting on the point of leak after placing part of the space suite Konski was carrying!

Fact sheet.
Gentlemen, Be Seated, short story, review
Rating: B
First published: May 1948
Publication history.

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "Jay Score" (1941): A shared plot element is: to survive an accident in space, protagonists must expose their body physically to elements guaranteed to kill them.