When everything was in readiness for a test blast, Rock sat at the console with the others crowding around him to keep their eyes on the many dials. The electronic brain and autopilot were in satisfactory order and would be called upon later if the ship were able to move under its own thrust.
Rock pressed colored buttons and shoved knife switches and floor levers.
“Jet chamber pressures are up!” Johnny said happily.
“The fuel flow gauge is right!” Sparky called.
“The coolant is circulating!” Hugh reported.
The boys felt a vibration and heard a muted hum. Then they felt a slight tug. They had already been traveling at substantial speed under orbital velocity, but the slight increase was unmistakable. A check of the dynamometer, that recorded thrust, indicated that the jets were operating properly. Rock cut off so that they could make plans.
“We could reduce speed and try for landing on Venus,” Rock proposed, looking out the port at the big planet that was buried within its dense veil, “but we’d have to be awfully lucky to land within radio range of any of the research settlements. Besides our radio being weak, there’s a lot of static on Venus from sunspots.”
“I’m in favor of trying to get back home,” Shep declared. “Even if we get off course we may be close enough to radio Luna or some of the space stations for help.”
“As a matter of fact, Luna will be right in our path on the way back,” Rock said.
Shep’s suggestion seemed to be the best idea and was voted for unanimously. After all had helped in figuring out the mathematics of their course, Rock fed the tape into the autopilot. Next everyone took to shock couches.
TheNorthern Crosswas in the fortunate position of being headed Earthward, meaning that its orbital speed could be added to their required velocity. In a manner of speaking, it was as if Venus were a slingshot hurling the pebble of theNorthern Crossinto space.
Under the crushing pressure of their mounting acceleration, Rock watched the rising space speed in his overhead prism with concern. Would the engines of the ship, inactive for so long, respond at maximum efficiency? If they did, would the old vessel hold together under the strain?
The jets responded, at any rate. Rock’s body seemed to be squeezed flat, his eyeballs pressed deeply into their sockets, his vision blurred.
Then the ship began leveling off, and the pressure lifted from Rock’s body. Before long it was gone entirely, and he knew they could unstrap. The first thing the boys did when they were up was to check the dials on the console. Everything appeared to be satisfactory enough; theNorthern Crossshould be able to carry them all the way. The radio was set on automatic SOS. Although extremely remote, there was the distant possibility that some ship might be within range.
Later the same day, when Rock had a moment of relaxation, he located his father’s private cabin. Being among his father’s things was almost like being in his presence and seeing him for the first time. There were the few neat clothes still hanging in the closet and the polished black boots in an orderly row.
On a wall desk he saw a picture of his mother and a fountain pen lying with the cap off. On the floor he found a sheet of radiogram paper on which his father had evidently been writing before the disaster.
Rock read the letter that his father had intended to radio to his wife on Earth. The boy’s eyes grew misty and there was a thickening in his throat.
The twenty-year-old message carried a tone of foreboding. It was as though Dr. Merrill felt that the four remaining less-experienced men of his original crew of nineteen could not successfully bring the ship back to port. “So close to my dream of a satellite hospital and yet so far,” were his unhappy words. “And yet we shall try with all our might, my dear, to come home. This treasure of oursmustnot go to waste. There is so much good that it can do.”
The letter ended abruptly as Dr. Merrill wrote, “Fox has just called me forward. I think they may be having trouble. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”
But of course neither Dr. Merrill nor anyone else ever told what had happened.
Rock tenderly folded the brittle paper and tucked it away safely. His mother would cherish this last word from her husband.
Rock knew now why his mother had scrimped and saved, working at the algae canning plant, to make him eligible for cadet school. But he didn’t know how hurt she must have been when he washed out. She hadn’t told him that.
The days dragged by slowly. With only a backdrop of star smudges to look at and unpalatable meals of hard, ancient food to eat, it was not exactly an enjoyable trip. Added to this of course were the youths’ additional worries about the welfare of their two buddies and whether theNorthern Crosswould hold together until the beloved sphere of Earth swam into view.
When the ship moved into the environs of Luna, the weary five knew that Earth could not be far off. Ninety-nine per cent of their journey was already over.
Rock studied the enlarging globe of Earth’s satellite. Its wrinkled, gray face shone dazzlingly bright under the full glare of the sun. The filtering glass was lowered over the forward port to cut down the brilliance.
It was on the space day following that there occurred an incident that filled the boys with exuberant hope. They were almost at their closest approach to Luna. The gray desolate lands were right “below.”
A crackling was heard over the automatically set radio.
“Somebody must have picked up our signal and is trying to make contact!” Shep cried out.
Rock moved to the console to begin cutting speed. Then all gathered around the radio.
Hugh was the radio expert. He scooped up the mike and slid into the chair in front of the bank of knobs.
“SS Northern Cross,” he said eagerly. “SS Northern Cross.Come in, whoever you are! Please come in!”
The crackling continued. Then there was a fragment of voice that was quickly lost in a babble of sound.
Hugh kept talking into the mike.
“It’s that faulty antenna!” Rock groaned.
The crackling continued. Just as Hugh was about to give up, a voice came in weakly again. It was a voice the boys had to strain to hear, but they caught the vital message: “Hugh—Rock!” it said. “We picked up your SOS. We’ve had to make an emergency landing on Luna.”
“Leo!” Shep said. “It’s Leo!”
“Ask him quickly if Ed is all right and what their position is,” Rock said to Hugh.
“Yeah, we’re both all right,” came Leo’s reply. “Our position—”
A rattle of static cut him off. The boys groaned. It would be impossible to search the moon for a space ship. They had to get the exact location from Leo.
They listened hopefully. Hugh kept talking, saying that they weren’t getting clear reception.
Then Leo’s distorted voice came through again briefly. This time he got out the latitude and longitude of theDog Star. Rock eagerly wrote it down.
“Here comes Kalmus!” they heard Leo say next in a frenzied voice.
That was the last they heard. There followed a garbled sound and then complete silence.
“Kalmus must have destroyed the set,” Rock said gravely.
“We know where to find them now, though,” Shep said with satisfaction.
Rock went to the chart files and dug through the celestial maps for one of Luna. He checked the position as given them by Leo.
“The place is near Archimedes in Mare Nubium,” Rock pointed out. “Get out your pencils and take a seat at the calculators, boys; we’ve got some navigation figuring to do!”
The velocity and orbital figures were worked out. Then the directions were computed in the mechanical brain and fed into the autopilot. The chemical braking rockets were switched in after the ship had turned about-face. No terrestrial landing was ever made with atomic rockets because of radioactive contamination of the ground.
The boys strapped down and braced for the agony of deceleration. It was a cumbersome job, clad as they were in space gear.
As the ship decelerated, Rock focused his hurting eyes on the prism overhead. The filter cut out the over-all glare of reflected sunlight from Luna’s boiling-hot surface, but the harsh blacks of dead shadow and the whites of naked sunlight were still painfully vivid. He watched the shimmering heat vapors, the miles and miles of gray pumice, heaped in waves in some places so that it resembled a gigantic sea whose motion has been suddenly stilled. Finally the great curving mouth of Archimedes began to enlarge and grow in prominence. The crater’s high, rugged walls filled the square of Rock’s prism.
Later he felt that easy, reassuring bump of the tripod fins that told him they had landed safely.
“Everybody O.K.?” Rock asked, looking around.
Johnny was pale and the others were a little groggy (they’d had to hit a deceleration of 7 G’s in order to stop the ship in time), but all attested to being alive, if shaky. Rock went over to the port to study their surroundings.
“We didn’t get off course very much,” he announced. “I can make out theDog Starabout a quarter of a mile away.”
In their elevated position, the boys had an extensive view of the landscape. For miles around, the ground was dead black. Only in the distance did the razor-sharp line of sunlight begin. TheNorthern Crosswas in the broad shadow of Archimedes and the distantDog Starwas also. Between the ships lay irregular rock shapes and uneven ground. A rift sliced across the area, appearing to make contact between the ships impossible.
“I wonder if Kalmus knows we’ve landed?” Shep said.
“Even if they don’t know we’re here,” Johnny put in, “they are protected by that big ditch. Not to mention being safely inside the ship.”
“I’ll admit we’ve got our job cut out for us,” Rock said, “but I don’t think we should try going back to Earth for help and count on theDog Starremaining here to be captured. We might never see Ed and Leo again.”
“Rock is right,” Hugh said. “We’ll have to figure out how to get over to theDog Starand free the boys from those crooks as soon as possible.”
Rock got out the pair of binoculars he had found among the things belonging to the ill-fated crewmen before them. Then he looked through them at the distant globe of theDog Star. The ship had barely missed a high wall of dark-colored lunabase rock. The wall was jagged and spongy, like most formations on Luna, which had so little atmospheric erosion to wear them down. As he examined the wall, a sudden idea came to him.
“Why don’t a couple of us try to get over to that rock wall next to theDog Star?” he proposed. “We can climb it and look through some of the ports. That way we may be able to see what the others are up to and make our plans accordingly.”
“Why just two?” Sparky wanted to know.
“Less chance of being seen by Kalmus,” Rock answered. “Also, if the two get caught, that still leaves three to think of something to do.”
“We haven’t yet figured how to cross that big ditch,” Hugh pointed out.
“I’ve thought of that too,” Rock said. “We can carry along a bunk ladder out of one of the dorms. From here it looks as if the ladder will span the ditch.”
“It sounds risky,” Johnny remarked.
“We’ve got to do something,” Shep countered. “I agree with Rock. How about you and me trying it, Rock?”
The matter was settled. But before anyone could go outside, the area had to be given time to clear of residual radioactivity around the atomic rocket nozzles. After waiting an hour, Rock and Shep got the ladder and carried it downstairs several flights to the air lock.
The ladder was tossed through the air lock to the ground. It floated feather-light. The former cadets descended by way of the ship’s ladder. They carried a Geiger counter for checking contamination. Besides the portable ladder, they had with them binoculars, a safety rope, and a walkie-talkie radio for communicating with theNorthern Cross.
The area was free of contamination. The boys found walking quite awkward at first and laughed at their own clumsy efforts as they fairly danced along through the volcanic and meteoric dust. There was quite a difference between being absolutely weightless in magnetic-soled shoes and being of one-sixth Earth weight without such shoes. They finally got the hang of it and found they could take gliding steps of about five feet at a time.
They kept behind rocks and ground rises to minimize the chance of their being seen. They still could not be certain Kalmus had not seen theNorthern Crosscome down.
The rocks and ground were covered with a down of hoarfrost. This was due to Luna’s scant moisture content condensing in the exceedingly rare atmosphere which was made up principally of carbon dioxide. As they moved along, Rock saw that Shep was beginning to grow a whitish fuzz of dry ice on his suit.
It was hard for Rock to realize that the temperature around them was several hundred degrees below zero, while only a scant mile or two farther out it was hotter than boiling water under the full rays of the sun. This was only one of Luna’s many strange features that fascinated him. He wished this had been a trip of exploration and fun instead of the grim battle that it was.
As they approached the great rift in the ground, Rock began to get a queasy feeling.
“Wide, isn’t it?” he asked Shep over his suit radio.
“And deep,” Shep replied, after a look over the brink that had showed no bottom.
They brought the ladder over to the edge and carefully spanned the gulf with it.
“It just does make it!” Rock gasped. “There’s only about a foot to spare on each end.”
They found a wedge of rock like a dinosaur’s tooth deeply embedded in the ground not far from the crack. Around this they tied one end of their safety rope. Then Rock tied the other end around his waist.
“Hold on to the ladder to make sure it doesn’t slip,” Rock told his friend, and slowly he started out over the plunging abyss.
Rock looked down through the rungs at the black emptiness below. Although he wore the safety line, a fall could be dangerous. He looked ahead as he kept moving forward. The other end of the ladder was wobbling back and forth. When he reached the opposite side of the brink and climbed onto firm ground, he was aware only of the perspiration trickling down his face. It made him turn down his suit heat a couple of degrees.
He untied the safety line and threw it back to Shep. Then his friend started over the perilous bridge, with Rock holding his side of the ladder as firm as he was able. Shep made it safely too, so they were both vastly relieved.
“We’ll just leave the ladder in place,” Rock suggested, then added gravely, “That’s in case we have to cross it in a hurry.”
Without the ladder to hamper them they could be more furtive in their movements. They dodged lithely around towering chunks of light-colored lunarite and darker lunabase. The rock formations looked like petrified sponges jutting up out of a dried-up sea bottom. When the two had to go out in the open, they sprinted toward the next place of cover. Since hoarfrost continued to gather on their suits, they constantly brushed it off. A moving white figure even in the deep shadows might be noticed by anyone in theDog Star.
Now only a few hundred feet separated Rock and Shep from the space ship. They began swinging inward nearer theglacisor outer slope of the crater, heading toward the wall of lunabase.
“If they’ve seen us, they haven’t given any sign,” Rock said with some measure of satisfaction when they had reached the foot of the wall and were watching the dumbbell shape of theDog Starjust a short distance away. Standing on its tripod base, it looked like a huge kettle.
Rock and Shep started up the rugged slope. Although precipitous and craggy, it did not look to be too difficult to climb since there were natural footholds at almost every step. Nevertheless a slip would be perilous, if not fatal. The boys had been well drilled in the dire effects of having one’s space suit ripped open. In such case the suit collapsed like a burst balloon, admitting the killing cold or heat, whichever it might be, causing death.
When Rock and Shep were at a height level with the ports of theDog Star, they began crawling laterally toward the ship. Rime covered the corallike edges, making them slippery as the comparative warmth of their space suits melted the ice particles. They were about fifty feet from the ship at this point. Rock checked the counter. There was no gamma-ray contamination from theDog Star. It was safe to approach closer.
They got as close as they dared to the port that looked in on the main control room. They could see Leo and Ed working intently on an opened gear-box beside the instrument console. Across the room sat Jack Judas, a grim look on his beetle-browed face. And in his hand the boys could see a blaster.
“They did smuggle weapons aboard, Rock!” Shep said. “They must have hidden them carefully.”
“That proves they planned the scheme from the very beginning,” Rock said.
“And it’s going to make it harder for us, because we’re unarmed,” Shep remarked.
“I believe the boys are stalling them,” Rock said. “They probably doctored the controls and brought the ship down just to give us time to catch up with them.”
“I wish there were some way to let them know we’ve landed,” Shep said. “That is, if Kalmus hasn’t found out already.”
Shep started to move into a better position to see when suddenly his foothold gave away beneath him. His cry blasted loudly over Rock’s receiver. Rock made an instinctive grab for his friend. He barely caught hold of an anchor ring on the other’s space belt in time to keep him from tumbling all the way to the ground. Rock steadied him as Shep thrust about with his feet for a new foothold.
“I thought I was a goner!” Shep said tremulously.
During the boys’ struggles they had evidently released loose material, for they saw a quantity of the porous stone cascade down the wall and strike the side of the ship.
“We’ve got to scram!” Rock said urgently. “They’re bound to have heard that inside! Now they’ll know we’re on Luna!”
They scrambled downward as fast as possible, without being reckless. It seemed as if the lunabase were more slippery than ever. Twice the boys’ feet slipped, and only timely bracing by the other prevented disaster.
When they were about halfway down, Shep’s foot wedged into a crevice.
“Look what I had to do with my big feet!” Shep groaned.
“Don’t worry,” Rock said. “It’ll take them a few minutes to get space suits on if they have decided to come out and investigate.”
Rock gently but firmly began working on his friend’s imprisoned foot. He moved it back and forth, tugging and pushing. But it held fast. Even after several minutes, Shep was still a prisoner.
Then suddenly the thing that the boys had feared happened. The air lock of theDog Staropened and a ladder was thrust out until it reached the ground. Kalmus and two of his companions began descending. They all carried blasters.
“Now we’re done—” Shep blurted, only to be shushed abruptly by his friend. Shep had forgotten that all the suit radios were on the same wave length.
“I think we’re barking up the wrong tree!” the boys heard Ben Spooner say when they were on the ground. “That wasn’t anything but some loose rock that fell off that hill up there.”
“Rocks don’t just fall on Luna!” Kalmus retorted. “Something has to move them! I still believe those guys have traced us here! Leo must have been able to contact them by radio before I could break up the set!”
“I don’t see anybody around,” Mumbly Pegg remarked.
“’Course you don’t see ’em!” Kalmus growled. “You dead brain! You don’t think they’re standing around waiting to be caught, do you? Start climbing up that hill, both of you!”
Rock eased down as flat as he could get and motioned Shep to do the same. Through his helmet, Rock could see the grimace of pain on Shep’s face as his movement put pressure on the trapped foot. Rock cautioned him not to groan or speak a word.
Over his radio Rock heard Spooner and Pegg breathing hard as they began scrambling up the formation, followed by Kalmus. Rock kept perfectly still, hoping with all his might that the men would not discover them.
“I still think we’re barking up the wrong tree!” stocky Ben Spooner repeated as his breathing grew harder at every upward step.
“Shut up and keep climbing!” came Kalmus’ voice. “They’re bound to be up there!”
Shep was trying manfully to be silent, but every now and then an involuntary sob of pain escaped his lips. They could hear Mumbly Pegg murmuring to himself, in his own peculiar incessant manner.
Now Spooner was getting closer. He was only about fifteen feet away, and, as if following some telepathic message, he continued approaching the youths.
“We’re done for,” Rock thought, with despair. “There’s nothing to keep him from finding us.”
Rock lowered himself still flatter, until the sharp edges of lunar stone pressed dangerously into his inflated suit. Spooner still climbed. Another couple of feet and he would be looking right down on them. They heard the sucking of his tired breath and choking wheezes as if he couldn’t take another step.
“Tony!” Rock heard him call weakly. “I can’t go any higher! Besides, I can see the top and nobody’s up here! I’ve got to come down!”
“Come on down then, you weakling!” Kalmus grated. “What a bunch of saps I brought along with me!”
“I can see the top too,” came Pegg’s voice from another part of the formation. “There’s nobody up here, Tony.”
“I guess you guys were right after all,” Kalmus finally conceded.
It seemed a terribly long time before the men got to the ground and disappeared into the ship. Rock gave them time to remove their space gear before daring to speak over his radio.
“Boy, that’s the closest call we’ll ever have!” Shep said.
“We’re still not out of the woods,” Rock reminded him. “We’ve got to get you free.”
He went after the trapped foot with a more determined vengeance. Shep howled, but Rock finally jerked it free of the stubborn crevice.
When they reached the bottom, Shep was limping and said his ankle hurt. Rock supported him and they headed back toward theNorthern Cross. They continued with caution, keeping out of the open as much as possible.
“I don’t see that we accomplished much,” Shep said wearily.
“It’s given me another plan, at least,” Rock replied, brushing at a new growth of ice crystals.
“Oh, oh, here we go again!” Shep sighed, then winced as his ankle hurt him again.
“All of us,” Rock began, “except you—if you’re not up to it—will come back over here. We’ve already proved that the trip can be made without their seeing us. We’ll station ourselves around the air lock, except for one who will climb the formation and kick rocks down again on the ship. This time Kalmus will be sure it’s us, and they’ll come out to investigate again. When they come out, our bunch will slip inside. If Judas has been left to watch Leo and Ed, he shouldn’t give us much trouble by himself if we slip up on him and catch him unawares. Once we’ve locked out the other three they’ll give in willingly just to get back inside.”
“That’s pretty daring,” Shep said doubtfully, “but I guess we’ve got to be daring if we’re going to save the boys.”
As they walked, Rock radioed theNorthern Crosswith the walkie-talkie he’d been carrying on his back, telling the boys of their close call.
When the two reached the ladder bridge across the rift, Shep had difficulty crossing with his injured foot. He went first, and as Rock steadied the frail bridge, he held his breath tensely for fear Shep would slip. They had used the safety rope again, but, if one of them should fall, he could easily rip open his suit as he thudded against the jagged side of the chasm.
Once more, however, they got across without mishap and were soon back at the ship. The boys helped them in eagerly.
“Are you fellows ready to go back with me?” Rock asked them.
They looked at him in amazement. He explained his new plan to them. All considered it taking a big chance, but, not being able to think of anything better, they agreed that they might as well try it.
“Kalmus is getting mean and nasty,” Shep told them. “This thing seems to be getting on his nerves. There’s no telling what he’ll do to the boys before this is all over. He and his men have blasters, and they mean business.”
The boys prepared a snack for themselves, then began to dress, trying to choose the best of the antiquated suits.
Shep did not suit up. He said that he wouldn’t be able to help any because of his ankle, which was noticeably swollen now. He wouldn’t let any of the others stay behind with him, however.
When all were dressed and ready to go, they said good-by to their crippled buddy.
“What’ll I do if you don’t come back?” Shep asked Rock.
“I guess you’ll just have to come over and join us,” Rock replied, half-jokingly. “Two could possibly get the ship back to port in a pinch but not one man alone.”
“I think I’ll prefer your coming back,” Shep said, with a broad grin. “Good luck, you guys.”
The four of them started out. Rock showed his friends the route he and Shep had taken before, one that appeared safe from possible inquiring eyes aboard theDog Star. It took them some time to cross the chasm, since each fellow had to tie on the safety rope as he went over.
“I’ll climb the lunabase formation,” Rock told them, “because I was up there before and know the way. The rest of you keep away from the ports and sneak up to the air lock over there. When I see that you’re ready, I’ll kick some stone down onto the ship. That should bring them outside in a few minutes. We’ve already made our plans from then on.”
Rock watched Hugh, Sparky, and Johnny slip agilely into the open and bound like gazelles over to the air lock. Then he started to climb the wall as he and Shep had done before.
It was then that the shocking collapse of Rock’s bold plan came about.
Kalmus and all three of his men darted swiftly from behind the ship, two on each side. They leveled their blasters at the boys, warning them to stay in their tracks.
“Keep them covered, Ben,” Kalmus ordered. “Come on, Jack and Mumbly. There’s another one around here somewhere. I saw four of them.”
The shocking suddenness of the countermove had left Rock numb and immobile for a few seconds. But he quickly regained his composure and sprang into action. He leaped to the ground and scrambled madly to safety behind the lunabase formation.
He had barely ducked behind a monolith before two helmeted heads loomed some twenty feet away. A glance in the other direction showed him the third. He had to get out of there quickly.
He dashed into the open and with great leaps tried to put as much distance between himself and his pursuers as he could. He got a good start on them before they caught sight of him and gave chase.
“Stop!” Kalmus roared. “We’ll shoot if you don’t!”
Rock kept running, heading for the chasm. If the three were shooting at him, he had no way of telling in the near airlessness of the planet. He wouldn’t know unless he felt the hot stab of a heat ray and the explosive loss of air from his suit.
Reaching the rift, he cast a hurried glance behind and saw the three still following. Not having time to tie on the safety rope, Rock started across the chasm.
Over his radio he continued to hear Kalmus’ threats. The voice grew louder as the pursuers drew close. Being able to move ten feet or so at a jump, it wouldn’t take them many seconds to reach the chasm.
Rock clutched at the far bank and hauled himself onto safe ground. As he exhaustedly pulled the ladder across out of reach of the others, he looked up to see them almost at the edge. But without the ladder, they were helpless to advance any farther.
Fearing a well-placed shot, Rock scrambled for cover behind a protective clump of boulders not far off. Only then did he feel that he could dare take a deep breath since the terrible ordeal had begun. Kalmus and his two companions seemed reluctant to attempt a jump of the chasm and headed back to theDog Star.
Almost exhausted, he pulled the ladder across and out of their reach.
Almost exhausted, he pulled the ladder across and out of their reach.
Rock continued on to theNorthern Cross.
When Shep admitted him into the ship, Rock related the unhappy story with bitter tears in his eyes.
“You guys should have set me adrift long ago!” Rock burst out. “I’ve been giving orders ever since we started, and every plan has backfired! Now there are only the two of us left!”
“We had to have a leader,” Shep said more calmly. “We chose you because we thought you were the best. We still do. Now quit feeling sorry for yourself!”
“I don’t know what could have happened!” Rock sighed, shaking his head.
“Iknow,” Shep said. “Kalmus just happened to see you fellows coming, that’s all.”
Rock sat down wearily. “You take over from here, Shep. I’m licked.”
Shep could see that his friend was genuinely distressed. He concealed the harrowing pain he felt in his ankle and tried to think of their next move. Minutes passed without Rock speaking. He merely stared out the port at the star-jeweled sky and the shimmering ball of Earth that could look so close to a person in space and yet be so far away.
“You said that two could run this ship in a pinch,” Shep spoke to break the silence. “We’ll just have to take theNorthern Crossback to port ourselves and get help from the Space Guard. The boys will probably try to stall longer and keep theDog Staron the ground.”
“I guess that is the only way,” Rock admitted, then added dismally, “If the ship isn’t here when the Guard comes back, we probably won’t see the fellows anymore, that’s all.”
“What you need is a good rest, Rock,” Shep told him. “None of us has had one since we came here. Let’s get a few hours of sleep, one at a time, and then get back to the problem when we’re more refreshed. I’ll stand first watch to see if theDog Startakes off.”
“I am pretty tired,” Rock said. “This time we’ll do what you say, Shep,” he smiled feebly. “You be sure to wake me to relieve you.”
Rock stretched out in a chair and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next thing he remembered was his friend shaking him. Rock stirred sleepily.
“I guess I’ll be shot for going to sleep on guard duty,” Shep confessed. “I just couldn’t help it, though.”
Rock had no reason to doubt that theDog Starwould not still be in its same spot, but some impulse prompted him to look out the port just the same. His heart suddenly seemed to go dead inside of him.
“The ship is gone, Shep!”
“Oh, no!”
The glasses revealed indisputably that the ship had blasted off. There was only a blackened ring and a depression where theDog Starhad been before.
“They’ve gotten the jump on us again!” Rock said brokenly.
“Kalmus must have threatened the boys, or else Judas got the ship off,” Shep said.
“Whatever it was, they’re gone now,” Rock said hopelessly. “They can be heading for almost any place in the solar system.”
“What do you think we should do now?” Shep asked.
“Go ahead with our same plan to notify the Guard, I guess,” Rock replied tonelessly. “They’ll probably send out some cruisers to look for theDog Star.”
Rock stared solemnly out the port. “It’s my fault all this has happened. My fault that we ever started out on this crazy treasure hunt and my fault that the boys are in the hands of these space pirates!”
“Don’t blame yourself, Rock. The fellows knew very well what they were getting into. It’s not your fault that things haven’t worked out.”
Rock tried to shake off the pall of despair that had dogged him for the past few hours and got busily to work. “Well, no use just sitting here on Luna talking about it,” he murmured. “Let’s get that ankle of yours bandaged and then we’ll start up the engines.”
It was going to be a tricky undertaking to manage all the complicated controls between the two of them. Shep was further hindered by his ankle that had stiffened while he had slept. Rock had remembered seeing a first-aid kit and he went for it. He wrapped the ankle tightly so that Shep would be able to get about with a minimum of pain. They had to cut the sides of Shep’s magnetic-soled shoe so that there would be as little discomfort as possible. Shep could have done without magnetic shoes altogether, being content to float about weightlessly in the ship when they were beyond Luna’s gravity pull, but this would have interfered with running the ship, which required a certain amount of body leverage.
The two got their individual duties synchronized so that there would be no hitch, Rock taking the bulk of the work.
They calculated their figures and prepared the tape for the autopilot. Then they strapped down in the couch room for the take-off. Rock still did not trust theNorthern Crosstoo far, and at this moment he was concerned lest the old ship might not respond to the lift of her jets. The next few moments would tell the story.
Rock felt the vibration of the ship as the fuel pumps went to work. The overhead prism showed the flow meter registering properly, but the big question was still whether the ship would be able to lift itself into the heights. Then a sudden movement seemed to cut Rock’s breath off in his throat. His body pressed deeply into his couch, aching, but Rock was glad. The ship was rising from the soil of Luna.
They pushed theNorthern Crossalong at the top speed they believed was reasonably safe. The ship creaked and groaned under the burden of maximum thrust. As yet she had given no indication of suffering worse than this, but it was clear that the space vessel had seen her best days.
When theNorthern Crosswas about two-thirds of the way home, a suspicious dot was seen on the radarscope, moving too slowly for a meteor.
“Shep!” Rock called. “Take a look at this, will you?”
Shep limped over as Rock got out his binoculars.
“I can’t believe it!” Rock blurted. “It’s theDog Star!”
“What!” Shep cried, and grabbed the binoculars from Rock. “ItistheDog Star!”
“Kalmus has got more nerve than I thought he had!” Rock said. “I didn’t think he’d risk heading straight for Earth!”
“Whatever the reason, we’ve got him in our sights,” Shep said. “What’ll we do?”
“Follow him in, I guess,” Rock answered. “Whatever station he heads for, we’ll put the Guard right on him and his cronies.”
“I’d advise our keeping our distance so we won’t scare him off,” Shep suggested.
Rock nodded. “When we get closer in, we may be able to radio a warning to the stations to be on the lookout for him.”
They followed theDog Starfor an entire space day, keeping the same distance between the ships. The craft was undoubtedly still heading for Earth and its company of artificial satellites. If her occupants had spotted the other ship, they did not seem alarmed. Kalmus appeared to be walking right into capture at a time when victory seemed to be completely his. It didn’t make sense.
Hours later, Rock was interrupted from study of a sky chart when Shep cried out in an anguished voice. Rock dashed over to the port where his friend was looking out.
“There’s been an explosion aboard theDog Star!” Shep blurted. “A big burst of flame poured out of it!”
“We’ve got to get to her right away!” Rock said hoarsely.
It took some time to change course and swing around in pursuit of theDog Star’s new glide path. Rock fretted impatiently. He had nightmare visions of what might have happened or might now be happening to his buddies aboard the stricken vessel.
As soon as theNorthern Crosshad matched flight paths with the other craft, Rock reduced their velocity so they could creep up on theDog Star“overhead.” The maneuver was accomplished as quickly as possible. TheNorthern Crossnow lay “above” theDog Star, with a space of about a hundred feet between.
Rock set the controls on hold positions as Shep procured a long towline. The boys dressed hurriedly in space gear, then opened the air lock closest to the ragged topside hole they had seen in the other ship. They secured the safety line to an outside anchor ring, then Rock fastened the line to his own suit.
“Maybe you’d better stay out of this with that bad ankle of yours,” Rock told Shep.
“And let you go across on your own?” Shep retorted. “No, I’m sticking with you this time.”
Rock shoved off briskly from the ship’s hull and floated across the gulf of vacuum toward theDog Star. He landed on the hull not far from the explosion hole that was amidships near a rocket-tube cluster. Shep pulled in the line and then launched himself across the emptiness. Rock steadied him as he landed.
The two scrambled immediately down through the gaping cavity, careful not to snag their suits on the sharp edges. The boys climbed down along the bulkheads of the corridor where smoke swirled like fog.
Reaching the floor, they were met by four running figures in space suits. The boys recognized Kalmus and his three companions in a desperate hurry.
Rock lashed out boldly at Kalmus who was rushing at him. He heard the big fellow groan over his suit radio as the blow landed. But then Rock was charged by Jack Judas. He was lifted off the floor and, because of his helplessness when not in contact with it, was sent crashing heavily against the wall of the corridor.
Rock scrambled down off the wall to resume the battle. Shep was courageously taking on all four of their attackers. Rock leaped into the middle of it all, swinging fiercely. Another blow sent him careening into the wall. Shep was flat on the floor now.
Expecting no mercy from the victors, Rock was amazed to see the four withdraw from the fight and run off down the corridor in the direction they had been heading in before. Rock and Shep tiredly climbed to their feet.
“They weren’t after us!” Shep gasped. “They were just trying to get away!”
“They’re heading for the lifeboat rockets, I guess,” Rock panted. “They looked scared to death!”
“Let’s get to the fellows!” Shep said.
They hurried along to the main control room. It was empty, so they moved farther along to the navigation room. The door was locked and from inside there came the sound of beating fists. With their heavy space boots Rock and Shep began kicking the light metal door with passionate vigor. Finally they tore the lock loose and the twisted door swung inward.
Sparky, Ed, and Johnny were sagging against the far wall, their eyelids half-closed. Leo was giggling strangely and chattering as if enjoying himself. Sparky kept crying out, “I can’t hear!”
Only Hugh appeared normal. It was he who had been beating on the door. His face was red with fright and shiny with sweat.
“The air pressure is down!” Hugh gasped to Rock and Shep. “Give us air!”