) For just being a story (maybe) that was being told, this was a pretty nifty episode. I did wonder at Jock, though. He points out the nearby planet Aridan as being a haven for pirates, there have been numerous hijackings of Earth freighters leaving Minera recently, and yet Jock seems to think that he's in no danger at all.
Steve, on the other hand, having crossed over to Jock's ship, opened the inner airlock door and seen irrefutable evidence that the ship has been taken over by the enemy, steps further into the ship and is promptly clubbed over the head. Why didn't he shoot the pirate captain from inside the airlock the moment the door opened?
I did like how the pirates would consider water to be a precious commodity, although you would think that they would know to be careful when siphoning water out of a ship's tank, rather than dumping it into space. And why didn't the one pirate hallucinate about being offered water, rather than rum?
It apparently didn't occur to the pirates when Steve kicked their water container over, that the very shape of the container would ensure that some of the water would remain inside. It was not tipped upside down, only onto its side.
Lucky that the Professor and Venus foresaw that the pirates would be suspicious about the water, and brought along the trick glass. The pirates should have been suspicious of the fact that the Professor just happened to be carrying a glass with him!