The Incomplete Theft

An alien operative, disguised as a human engineer, infiltrates an Earth spaceport to steal a revolutionary teleportation-driven spacecraft. He evades guards with an invisibility device, subdues an unexpected attendant, and rushes to program and activate the hyperkinetic projector. A last-minute adjustment to the generator reduces the projected field so that the ship's interior is sent into space while the hull remains behind, leaving the thief and the vessel's internal compartment adrift in interstellar vacuum. The plot closes on an ironic outcome born of technological risk and miscalculation.