At last Jerry decided he should not wait any longer. With a prayer on his lips, he pressed the starter button. The engine rumbled sluggishly, coughed, then quickened to full strength. He jammed the fuel pedal hard and tried to guide the jeep’s swirling, spinning motion through the Lunar sand. Slowly the little car pulled itself like a weary swimmer toward the firm bank. Finally the wheels found good traction and the jeep lurched onto the roadway.
Jerry heaved a tremendous sigh and sped down the path toward the geology camp.
Less than an hour later Jerry was being permitted into the room of one of the huts where his father had been carried for examination by the camp physician. Jerry had been told that his father had suffered a slight concussion, but that he would be all right.
Capt. Welsh smiled from his cot as Jerry walked in.
“Hi, space man,” his father greeted. “The doctor says the men here were mighty happy to get their mail on time.”
“I’m glad I came on here, then, instead of going back to the observatory,” Jerry murmured.
“You did the job in the best tradition of the Space Mail Service, Jerry,” Capt. Welsh said, smiling proudly. “If I had any doubts that you’d be able to follow me some day, Son, they’re gone now.”
Jerry nodded happily. A few doubts had been removed from his own mind in the past hour.
It had already been a wonderful birthday for the twins, Sue and Steve Shannon, when their father asked, “How about it, kids—are you ready for that space ride I promised?”
Sue’s big hazel eyes looked like walnuts as she stared in surprise. Steve’s blue eyes were more like plums. Could they really believe what they were hearing?
“I said I’d take you on the ride when you two reached 12, didn’t I?” Mr. Shannon went on.
They hadn’t forgotten and were suddenly as excited as two young ducks who have just discovered water. Mr. Shannon looked at his watch. “We’d better get ready. The next flight is at four o’clock.”
Less than a half hour later, Mrs. Shannon was bidding goodbye to the three as they climbed into the family helicopter on the roof of their home. In this year of 2004 nearly everybody owned a ’copter. Mrs. Shannon had been invited to go along but she said no coaxing in the world could get her up in one of those “rocket things.”
The overhead doors of the garage swung open as Mrs. Shannon pushed the button on the wall. As soon as the three riders were comfortably seated, Mr. Shannon started up the engine and the overhead blade began churning. Gently the ’copter lifted into the blue sky and headed out over the city.
“I can’t really believe we’re going to take a trip into space!” Sue said happily.
“Some day I’m going to be a spaceman and travel toallthe planets!” Steve declared.
The plane passed over beautiful triple-decked highways, over green farms loaded with scientific equipment and solar mirrors, over plastic-domed skyscrapers. Presently a large oval appeared just ahead. “There’s the space port!” Sue exclaimed.
When Mr. Shannon got the signal to land, he brought the helicopter down into the parking lot at the edge of the port. Then the three jumped out onto the ground. As they walked toward the main building, the twins excitedly noticed the busy activity of the field. What impressed them most were the massive torpedo-shaped rockets which were half-buried in their concrete launching pits.
“Where is that biggest rocket going, Dad?” Steve asked.
When his father said it was going to the moon, a tingle raced up the boy’s spine and all at once he wished he could be on the ship himself.
“There’s our rocket over there,” Mr. Shannon said, pointing to a smaller craft of light-weight beryllium metal just across the way. Near the pit was a sign that read:
SPACE RIDES DAILY.ENJOY THE THRILL OF A LIFETIME A THOUSAND MILES ABOVE EARTH.
Mr. Shannon got their tickets. Then after a heart check-up they waited in line with the other eager sight-seers. Finally the space port officer took down the chain that held back the crowd and permitted them to approach the rocket. They had to cross a bridge to get from the pit edge into the ship. As they crossed, Steve looked down into the hot pit and saw clouds of flame and smoke pouring from the great jet tubes.
In the ship, the Shannons were given couch numbers in a large room with the rest of their companions. Then a steward came around with a special candy which he told the passengers to eat to prevent their getting sick. Next everyone was issued queer-looking shoes with metal soles.
“What’re these for, Dad?” Sue wanted to know.
She saw her father and brother exchange winks. “She’ll find out, won’t she?” Mr. Shannon teased.
As Steve and Sue lay on their soft couches and fastened plastic belts across their bodies, their father explained the purpose of this. “We’ll blast-off at a pretty fast speed and if we weren’t buckled down we’d be thrown about and hurt.”
When the moment of blast-off came, Steve and Sue went through the most exciting experience of their lives. A loud roar filled their ears and it felt suddenly as if the bottom of their stomachs had dropped out. They were pressed deeply into their couches and they had the feeling of being flattened out as though under the foot of an elephant. Then slowly Steve and Sue felt the awful weight lifting from them and finally it was gone altogether.
“Ugh!” Sue groaned dizzily, unstrapping herself as the others were doing. “What happened?”
When she tried to walk, she understood the purpose of the metal-soled shoes. “We scarcely weigh anything now,” their father explained. “The magnetism of our soles is the only thing that keeps us from floating about like a feather.”
The guide, who said his name was Mr. Quinlan, led the sight-seers to a huge window. The young Shannons gasped in wonder at what they saw. The sky was nearly pitch black and filled with more burning lights than they even guessed could exist.
“We’re about a thousand miles above the earth,” Mr. Quinlan said. “We’re out of the earth’s atmosphere and that’s why the sky is dark and the stars so brilliant. Our rear jets are thrusting just barely enough to keep us from being pulled back down to earth.”
The guide next said that they would go outside the ship in space suits. Sue and Steve whooped in joy for they had not expected this. Mr. Quinlan distributed space gear from a cabinet. Then he explained how they were put on. After the flexible suits and plastic helmets were donned, everyone turned on his oxygen, which came from shoulder tanks. The others looked to Steve like balloon toys inflated with air and he had to laugh as they waddled about.
The tourists were led out of a side door onto a balcony which resembled a large fire escape. Everyone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short length of cord in front of him.
“If one of us were to lose contact with the ship,” Mr. Shannon warned his son and daughter, “he’d go drifting off into space.” Sue and Steve shuddered at the thought of this.
Everyone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short length of cordEveryone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short length of cord
Everyone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short length of cord
Mr. Quinlan pointed out whirls of misty clouds that were called nebulas. He also showed them star clusters and the brighter planets. The sight-seers had a closeup view of the earth that looked like a shimmering green ball. The guide did his speaking through a small radio attached to his suit. Each tourist had a receiver in his helmet through which he could listen.
For almost a full hour Sue and Steve, together with the other spell-bound passengers, took in the splendor of this strange silent place, the vastness of which staggered the imagination.
“Isn’t this a wonderful tribute to the greatness of God’s creation?” Mr. Shannon said to his children. Steve and Sue had to agree with him wholeheartedly.
When Mr. Quinlan was ready to go back into the ship, he tried the outside door switch, but the door failed to open. Over his two-way radio circuit, the passengers could hear a worried discussion between him and the pilot inside. They learned that a tube of compressed air which operated the outer door was jammed. There was nothing that could be done about it from the inside. Some of the women began sobbing, believing they would never return to earth again.
Mr. Shannon looked at his son and daughter anxiously. “Keep your chins up, kids,” he said. “Nothing was ever gained by people losing their heads. I’m sure they’ll figure out some way to save us.”
“I—I’m not afraid, Dad,” Steve said bravely.
There were tears of fright in Sue’s brown eyes but her small chin was courageously set and she would not permit herself to give in to the terror she really felt.
“You’re brave ones,” their father said, putting his big arms around their shoulders.
Mr. Quinlan approached the Shannons. “Mr. Shannon,” he said, “I’ve got something important to talk over with you and your son.”
The two listened closely as the guide outlined a daring plan. He pointed to a small, circular opening some ten feet above the platform. He said that if a person could climb into the opening he could turn an emergency valve that would double the air pressure and clear the jammed tube. Since Steve was the only boy on the platform, and therefore the smallest, Mr. Quinlan wanted to know if Steve would try it. Steve felt his heart fluttering crazily. He was both afraid and excited.
“There’s only one danger, son,” the guide pointed out. “You’ll have to unfasten your safety line. If you think you can keep calm, though, there should be no real risk.”
“What will happen if the job isn’t done?” Mr. Shannon asked grimly.
Mr. Quinlan shrugged. “There’s not much that can be done. These suits will run out of oxygen in twenty minutes and only your boy is slim enough to get inside the opening. Then, too, they can’t land the ship without the risk of tossing us all out.”
Mr. Shannon said quietly to Steve, “It’s up to you, son. If you believe you can go through with it without losing your head and getting thrown from the ship....”
Steve swallowed hard, thinking of the lives of the others around him that depended upon him. “I’ll try it,” he managed to say.
He felt his knees go weak when the safety rope was unfastened from his waist and he realized there was nothing now but his magnetic shoes to hold him to the ship. Carefully Mr. Quinlan boosted him up toward the opening above.Tick-tick-tickwent his metal soles against the shiny skin of the craft as he made his way upward by means of special climbing handles on the rocket hull.
“Keep calm,” he told himself. “A spaceman doesn’t lose his head.”
He was thankful for the firm grip of his gloves as his fingers closed about the sides of the chamber and he pulled himself up inside. It was a close fit even for him. Mr. Quinlan had told him that usually the emergency valve was easily reached from the deck above but that during this trip the deck was closed off for repairs and couldn’t be entered.
Steve found the valve handle and turned it as he was instructed. Almost immediately he heard the deafening blast of many voices in his receiver. Among the words he heard were, “The door’s opening!” Steve sighed deeply and carefully started down again.
But the danger was not over yet. He still had to be very cautious. This was brought to him sickeningly when he drew his foot back with greater force than usual and found himself weaving backward into space. With a chill of terror he grabbed a climbing handle and pulled himself snug against the ship’s hull again. Finally he felt the strong arms of his father on the lower part of his legs. He relaxed and was helped down onto the platform amid the cheers of everyone around.
The sight-seers, sobered by their close call, trooped silently back into the ship. A moment later the craft began dropping earthward, its jets acting as brakes to check the rapid descent.
After landing, the Shannons were called into the office of the Chief of Operations at the space port.
“Young man,” the chief said to Steve, “let me congratulate you for the brave thing you did.” He offered his hand and Steve felt a flush of pride as he took the big palm in his own.
“Such an unselfish deed can never be fully repaid,” the chief went on. “Tell me, Steve, do you like space-going?”
Steve’s eyes glowed with stars. “Very much, sir,” he said. “Some day I’m going to become a spaceman myself.”
“Then this little reward we have for you and your sister may help you reach your goal.” He held out a plastic-sealed card. Steve took it as his heart raced. It was a lifetime rocket pass!
Sue and Steve Shannon were riding with their father in a “space ferry” several thousand miles above the Earth. They could look out of the plastic windows of the little ship and see the winding curve of Central America far below.
“Look, Steve!” Sue exclaimed. “I see the Panama Canal!”
“There’s a storm over the Gulf of Mexico,” Steve said, studying a big gray patch over the water. “It makes you feel like a king being so high above everything!”
The Atlantic and Pacific were throbbing blue carpets, topped by breakers of molten silver where the sunlight hit them. It was a marvelous sight, more like a scene from a fairy-land.
“There’s the big space ship we got off,” Sue pointed out. “It’s beginning to drop back to Earth.”
“And there’s the ‘Wheel in the Sky,’” Steve said, looking ahead. “We’ll soon be there! Isn’t it great?”
Compared to the tiny ship they were in, which was shaped like a medicine capsule, the Wheel in the Sky was a gigantic thing. It looked like an automobile wheel and by its moving spokes the children saw that it was turning just like one.
“Why does the Wheel spin, Dad?” Steve asked.
“That’s in order to give the people inside of it a feeling of weight,” Mr. Shannon explained. “As I told you before, things in space have no weight because there is no gravity out here to speak of. What happens when you ride on the merry-go-round on the school playground?”
“You have to hold on tight or it’ll throw you off,” Steve answered.
“The Wheel in the Sky does the same thing. It tries to throw you off, but since you are safely inside of it, all it can do is throw your weight against the floor of the Wheel. Understand?”
The children nodded and smiled, pleased at knowing one more fact about the strange ways of space.
As the ferry neared the big space station, Steve watched the black heavens all around them. The stars were thicker than salt crystals and glittered like precious gems. Close to the Wheel, the ferry had to use its rockets in order to keep up with the spinning of the Wheel. Presently a door in the rim of the Wheel opened. Two men in space suits appeared in the doorway and threw out a line which stuck to the ferry by magnetism. Then the men pulled the little ship inside and closed the doors.
“Here we are!” the ferry pilot called to his passengers. “Everybody out!”
Since there was fresh air in the hangar, the riders did not have to use space suits. Just as his father had said, Steve found that he could walk around as easily as he did back in Arkansas.
“Ready for a tour of the Wheel, kids?” Mr. Shannon asked.
“Sure!” the twins replied together.
Mr. Shannon worked for the American Space Supply Company which carried supplies to the planets of the Solar System. This was the year 2004 and by now nearly all the planets or their moons had budding Earth colonies. Sue and Steve had earned free lifetime space passes because of a heroic act Steve had done a month before on the twins’ very first trip into space.
As Mr. Shannon took the two around the “man-made moon,” they were almost overcome by all the wonderful things they saw. They learned that the Wheel in the Sky was both a scientific laboratory and a military lookout. With their big telescopes, the Space Guard could see every mile of Earth, for the Wheel circled the globe several times a day.
While the Shannons were in the Military Lookout Room peering at the world through a telescope, Sue said, “I wish Mom could be here with us.”
“I do, too, Sis,” Steve replied. “But it would take all the soldiers in the Humpty-Dumpty story to get Mom into a rocket, wouldn’t it, Dad?”
Mr. Shannon chuckled. “I believe it would, Son.”
Their father leaned over and whispered something to the officer at the telescope, who nodded. The man slipped a high power lens on the telescope and turned it on a certain part of the United States, toward which the Wheel was slowly moving.
“Take another look, Sue,” her father said.
Sue eagerly went to the eyepiece. The telescope brought a city into very close range. It seemed as if she had only to reach out a finger to touch the tall spire of a building. Suddenly she gasped. She knew that building! It was the home office of her father’s place of work. The city was Little Rock, Arkansas, their own home!
“Steve, look!” she said excitedly to her brother and let him see for himself.
Steve was as thrilled as Sue. Together they moved the telescope lens over all the familiar spots of the great space city, which in this day had a million population. They were able to locate the wee speck that was their own home in the suburbs.
“I can almost see Mom hanging out the wash in the yard!” Steve said with a grin.
Before the children were through looking, they noticed several black hazy spots in different parts of the state.
“What are these, Dad?” Steve asked, showing them to his father.
“They’re tornadoes, Son,” Mr. Shannon replied. “There seems to be an unusually large crop of them this season. There are even some close to Little Rock. The Weather Control Bureau here has a way of dealing with them, though. They do many skillful things in Weather Control. They can make it rain in dry parts of the world and even melt snow drifts in blizzard areas.”
“What can they do about a tornado?” Steve asked.
“When one threatens a city they fire a guided missile—a bomb—that breaks up the twister before it can do any harm. We’ll visit the Weather Control Bureau as soon as we’ve been to the hub of the Wheel.”
Mr. Shannon led them out of the Military Lookout Room. Steve and Sue then found a job of climbing facing them. In order to reach the hub, they had to go through one of the spokes leading into the center of the Wheel. The children saw before them a nylon ladder stretching as far as they could see down a long corridor.
“Let’s start climbing,” their father said.
“Why can’t we just walk along the hall,” Sue asked, “instead of doing it the hard way?”
“You’re forgetting that the Wheel is always throwing you outward as it spins,” Mr. Shannon said. “If you tried to walk down the spoke it would be like trying to walk against a hurricane. For this reason, you two must be careful not to lose your grip on the ladder or you’ll be flung down the corridor against the rim.”
The three began climbing hand over hand along the ladder. They got along very well until Sue suddenly became dizzy and lost her hold. She screamed as she began flying down the corridor. Steve’s heart nearly stopped beating for a moment. He heard his father calling out loudly in a frantic voice: “Grab the ladder, Sue! Grab the ladder!”
At first Sue did not seem to hear and kept hollering in fright. Then she understood and reached out wildly with her hands for the nylon ladder as she swept along. One hand seized a piece of it and she held on for dear life, her body still hanging in mid-air as the force of the turning Wheel kept trying to throw her outward.
“Hold on, Sue!” her father called. “We’re coming!”
He and Steve swiftly crawled along the ladder to the spot where Sue was clinging with one hand.
“Hurry!” she cried. “I can’t hang on much longer!”
Just as she was about to let go, Steve reached her and held on to her with his free hand. Then his father lent his help and Sue was safe. She sobbed for a moment from the fright she had had and Mr. Shannon suggested that they go back to the rim where they would be safe again. Both children agreed, for they had suddenly lost all interest in the hub.
By the time they got to the Weather Control Bureau they found more worry awaiting them. Men were hustling about the huge room with serious looks on their faces. One of them was looking into the eyepiece of a large machine that was pointed out the window down onto Earth.
“What’s wrong?” Mr. Shannon asked one of the men.
“A tornado is headed for Little Rock, Arkansas!” was the shocking reply. “I hope our missile scores a hit, but it isn’t going to be easy because the Wheel has already moved past the United States!”
“The missile’sgotto hit!” Steve burst out. “Our home and Mom are there!”
“Yes, it’s simplygotto!” Sue added tearfully.
The Shannons had to stand helplessly on the side as the tornado fighters went to work. The missile gun was in another part of the Wheel, but the orders for firing it would leave this room by radio.
“Oh, why couldn’t Mom have come with us?” Sue asked. “She would have been safe here!”
Steve felt his whole body tensing like a wound spring. The perspiration was beading his forehead and his knees were weak. On his father’s face there was a dark look and Steve saw that his big hands were opening and closing.
“Twenty seconds to go before firing,” the man at the machine said slowly over the radio mike on his chest. “Steady. Eighteen—seventeen—”
“Why don’t they hurry?” Sue cried. “They’re so slow!”
“They have to do it a certain way,” Mr. Shannon answered. “They know what they’re doing, Honey. Don’t be afraid.”
But shewasafraid. And so was Steve. And her father, too. Everyone in the room was afraid because no one could say whether the tornado could be destroyed before it hit the city or not.
“Eight—seven—six—” droned the unhurried voice of the operator.
The Shannons hardly dared breathe for fear of disturbing the man at the machine. Steve felt Sue’s body quivering next to him. It seemed as if the seconds were dragging on endlessly.
“Three—two—one—FIRE!”
Steve felt nothing but he knew the tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second Earthward.
For long, awfully long, moments after the operator had said, “Fire!” the Shannons waited for him to speak again. He kept looking calmly through the eyepiece of the machine as though just studying the stars. Then at last they saw a smile spread over his face and he said to everyone in the room, “It’s a hit! Little Rock is safe!”
The tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second EarthwardThe tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second Earthward
The tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second Earthward
Sue and Steve whooped as if it were Christmas morning. Where a minute before they had been greatly worried, now they were happy as they never believed they could be.
“Whew!” Mr. Shannon sighed. “I’m afraid I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime!”
“Not me, Dad,” Steve said, as the fire of adventure began to glow again in his eyes. “I won’t be satisfied until I’ve seen what lies beyond the Wheel in the Sky!”
Steve and Sue Shannon were at Mars Port No. 13. This was one of the many colonies on the planet Mars where Earth scientists were carrying on work. It was a town of plastic tops, called domes, that were clear as glass. The town was at the center of three canals that led outward into the red desert.
The Shannon twins were now touring the largest dome with Biff Warren, who worked for their father’s space cargo company. Suddenly their tour brought them to a large cafeteria where many of the workers were eating.
“Umm!” Sue exclaimed. “Smell that turkey!”
“Yeah!” Steve said. “It sure makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?”
“Which reminds me,” Biff said, looking at his watch. “We’ll have to finish up our sightseeing pretty soon. The quicker we get back to your father’s ship, the quicker we can have our own turkey feast!”
“I can hardly wait for that!” Sue sighed, as the wonderful smell of the holiday meal kept tickling her nose.
When Thanksgiving dinner was finished aboard the big space freighter that had brought the children to Mars, the ship would take off into space. But before that, Biff, Sue and Steve would have to go twenty miles back down the ice canal to reach the ship.
Biff had become a close friend of the young Shannons, having made trips with them to other ports in space. Sue liked Biff because of his quick smile and gentle patience. Steve liked him because he was all that Steve would like to be some day himself—a fearless, bold spaceman.
They finished up their tour of the dome. They saw the room where giant machines made oxygen out of chemicals and blew it through the building so that there was fresh air to breathe all the time. And they saw the astronomy hall far up on top of the dome where scientists could see the heavens through the thin atmosphere much clearer than they could from Earth.
“Isn’t it about time for the fuel rocket to be shot off, Biff?” Steve asked.
Biff nodded. “I think it’s just about time,” he said. “We’ll suit up and go outside to see.”
In the dressing room they put on their space suits. As though they were his own children, Biff carefully checked the young Shannons’ air tanks, built-in heaters, and their helmet radios for talking to one another. Finally Biff rubbed gelatin on their helmets so that they would not frost over in the cold that was a hundred degrees below zero.
Outside they found space-suited figures gathered around the fuel rocket cannon. The cannon was pointed toward a shiny ball high up in the purple-black sky.
“Look, Sis, there’s the space ship toward which they’re going to shoot the fuel rocket,” Steve said.
“I see it!” Sue cried, her eyes dancing excitedly.
“They have to line up the cannon with the ship just right or the rocket won’t reach it,” Biff said.
“Won’t the rocket hit the ship?” Steve asked.
“No, it’ll lose all its speed by the time it reaches the ship,” Biff told him. “Then they’ll take on fuel from the rocket by means of a long hose.”
Suddenly the three of them heard a loud roar and saw a burst of flame. Like a bullet, the rocket left the muzzle of the giant gun and rose into the sky.
“They’ll be shooting off more rockets before they have enough fuel for the space ship,” Biff said. “There’ll be a little wait in between each firing.”
“Look, Biff, isn’t the space ship right over the canal where we’ll be heading back?” Steve asked.
“That’s right, Steve,” Biff answered. “You’ll remember, our ship is at the end of the canal. We’ll be able to see the rockets go off as we head back—which we’d better do right now, if we’re going to have any turkey and pumpkin pie!”
The canals of Mars had been carved out of a great desert by water and fierce winds. Because of the ice that filled them, they made good highways. The three went to the canal bank to see if their sled was ready to go, and it was. The sled looked like a big bombing plane with the wings off. Instead of wheels, there were long runners beneath it. In this sled Biff and his young helpers had brought supplies to the colony several hours before.
Steve, Sue and Biff climbed into the front seat. Then Biff shut the door. He pushed buttons in front of them. Steve and Sue felt the sled’s engines throbbing. The next moment the sled shot off over the smooth sheet of ice, Biff holding tightly to the steering wheel.
“Wheeeeee!” Sue screamed in delight. “Offffffffff weeeeeeee goooooooooo!”
“Like a rooooller cooooster!” Steve shouted.
They sped along at a hundred miles an hour. This was as much fun as they had had on their last space journey.
Each of their trips into space seemed to be more exciting than the last. They had won a lifetime free pass into space and by now they were sure they would need a lifetime in which to see all of its many wonders. A brave act by Steve on their first space trip had earned them their pass. Right now, Steve thought that their mother and home, back in Arkansas, seemed as far away as Deneb, the North Star of Mars.
“We’ll be there in about ten minutes,” Biff said. “The ship leaves in thirty, which gives us some spare time.”
“Look,” Sue said, “there comes the first fuel rocket back down in a parachute.”
“That’s right, Sue,” Biff replied.
Steve studied the bank of the canal. Along it he saw scrubby cactus, which was forever fighting for life in the cold, dry atmosphere. Beyond the bank stretched acres of red wasteland, and sand drifts piled up by strong winds that never stopped blowing.
A few minutes later, Sue noticed a bright streak against the purple sky. It was nearly as bright as the tiny sun, which was so far away that it could not keep Mars warm.
“There goes another fuel rocket!” Sue called out, pointing through the windshield.
As Biff caught sight of it, he jerked up sharply in his seat, bumping the shoulders of Sue and Steve on both sides of him.
“That rocket’s too low!” he exclaimed. “It’s not lifting! Something’s gone wrong!”
Steve felt chills run up his spine. He was seeing the danger too, now. The rocket was dropping ahead of them, a screaming bomb filled with explosive fuel. It was still quite a distance away, but even Steve knew that it would make a terrible blast when it struck the ice.
Biff’s feet hit the brakes of the sled and the runners chewed into the hard ice pack, shrieking, and bringing the sled to a skidding stop. The riders were slammed forward. Sue and Steve were dazed, but not hurt. When Steve’s mind cleared, he saw that Biff had thrown himself over in front of Sue and him to protect them. But in doing this, his helmet had thumped against the windshield. He was now slumped over and not moving.
“Sue!” Steve cried. “Biff is hurt!”
Just then they felt the shock of the explosion. It tilted the sled at an angle and dropped it down again with a hard jolt. The air was filled with flying chunks of ice. It looked like a hailstorm outside. The ice clattered against the windshield like stones. Sue and Steve were relieved when it finally stopped. But the explosion had left the ice sheet in front of them broken and choked with lumps of ice.
“Steve,” Sue moaned, “what are we going to do?”
Steve looked at Biff who was still not moving. He could see a big lump on Biff’s forehead where his head had struck the helmet, knocking him out. The children tried to revive their friend, but could not.
“We’ve got to get the sled to the ship ourselves, Sue!” her brother said. “Biff may need a doctor! Besides, I bet we’ve all missed our Thanksgiving dinner!”
“I won’t want any dinner if Biff is hurt badly!” Sue said tearfully.
At first it seemed like an impossible thing for a pair of twelve-year-olds to run the big sled. But Steve remembered how Biff had worked the controls and he believed he, too, could do it. He changed seats with the unconscious spaceman and tried the levers and buttons.
Presently the sled’s rockets began to pour fire out of the rear. But Steve couldn’t get the sled to move. He was afraid it had been damaged. Then Sue showed him a lever to push which she had remembered seeing Biff shove. As Steve worked it gently, the sled started off slowly.
“We’ll go slow,” Steve said, “and take it very easy.”
The explosion had hit at the far edge of the canal so that there was a narrow place on the other side where the ice was still smooth. Steve carefully guided the sled across the canal and through the unbroken part. When there was smooth ice before them, Steve picked up speed a little. As he drove, Sue tried to awaken Biff.
Steve would have found their adventure a lot of fun if things weren’t so serious at the moment. It wasn’t every day that a boy had the chance to drive a giant rocket sled on a distant planet!
At last Steve saw the round top of the space ship just over the horizon. It was at that moment that Sue called out the good news:
“Biff’s awakening, Steve!”
The boy saw their friend slowly rise up, then shake his head to clear it. When he smiled at them in his pleasant way, they were sure that he was going to be all right. By the time they had told him what had happened, he was his old self again. He took the controls and looked at his watch.
“Time’s running out,” he said. “We’ve got to hit top speed again. Hold onto your helmets! Here we go!”
And off they went at lightning speed once more. It seemed to Steve as if they covered the distance between them and the space ship in seconds.
As the sled came to a gentle stop beneath the giant freighter, Biff said, “It looks like we’ll make our Thanksgiving dinner on time after all, doesn’t it, kids?”
“Yeah,” Steve answered, “and this is certainly one Thanksgiving that I’m really thankful!”
“I know what you mean, Steve,” Sue said thoughtfully. “We’re thankful that we’re alive!”
Biff and Steve both nodded. It was a holiday none of them would ever forget.
The big rocket freighter was speeding through the star dust of outer space. It was carrying supplies to Callisto (one of the twelve moons of Jupiter) and the Shannons, on another space adventure.
Steve and Sue looked out a window of the freighter at the airless world growing in size. Callisto was a gigantic roughened rock, but it was a globe larger than the planet Mercury. It reminded Steve of a giant cockle-burr hanging in the sky.
Suddenly the children heard a tiny voice behind them say, “Rocket away!”
They turned and Sue exclaimed, “It’s Bud!”
The blue parakeet, a budgy, blinked lazily at them. The twins had met Mr. Whittle’s pet a week ago. He had taken a liking to them from the very start. They didn’t know that a few hours from now their very lives would depend on this little fellow.
“We’d better take him back to Mr. Whittle,” Steve said.
The budgy kept studying them with his flat face and blinking his tiny button eyes. Then he squawked again, “Rocket away!”
“It’ll be ‘rocket away’ for you, young fellow!” Steve said sternly. “Up on my finger, Bud!”
The bird did as he was ordered. They took him down the hall to Mr. Whittle’s room. Bud’s owner, off duty now, was a tall, spidery crewman with a big Adam’s apple. He always gave his pet full run of the ship.
Mr. Whittle whistled to the parakeet, but the bird stayed on Steve’s finger.
Mr. Whittle chuckled. “Hey, I believe he likes you two better than his master!”
“We like him, too,” Sue told the crewman.
“You can keep him for a few days if you want to,” Mr. Whittle said. “I’m going to be pretty busy after we land.”
“Gee, we’d like to look after him!” Steve answered.
“If you take him outside on Callisto, you’ll have to put him in that air-tight cage over there I had made. It’s sort of like a space suit for him.”
Sue and Steve played with Bud in the room they used for games until it was time to “strap down” for landing. Then they went to the couch hall and lay down on cots like the other space travelers were doing. They buckled straps across their bodies to keep them in place.
For a long time, Steve and Sue lay there as the big freighter began cutting its rushing speed. It felt to Steve as if a giant anvil were crushing downward on his chest. Take-off and landing were always the roughest moments in space travel, as the twins had already found out on other space trips.
At last the ship set down on Callisto. The young Shannons went back to the game room. Then with the bird on Steve’s shoulder, the twins looked out the window at the strange new world.
They saw a land bathed in ghostly twilight. Very little light was coming from the sun. It was so far away that it was only a small circle. Most of the light came from a huge shape that looked like somebody’s lost beach ball resting on the ground. Its bottom edge just touched the horizon.
Sue and Steve were joined by their father, who worked for the space freight company.
“That’s His Majesty, Jupiter—the king of planets,” Mr. Shannon told them. “He’s over a million miles away and yet he looks close enough to touch, doesn’t he?”
“Let’s go outdoors, Dad!” Steve begged.
“No reason why we can’t,” Mr. Shannon replied.
After they had put on their space clothes, Steve popped Bud into his warm, air-tight cage.
As they all went outside, they saw the crewmen unloading the cargo.
“There’s the colony over there,” Mr. Shannon said, pointing to a high framework that looked something like an oil derrick.
“They mine here for a mineral called magna. It’s very valuable, because without it we couldn’t have atomic engines. Magna is what keeps our rocket tubes from melting under the terrific heat that goes through them.”
“May we go down into the mines, Dad?” Steve asked.
“We’ll see if we can,” said his father.