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diff --git a/old/53456-0.txt b/old/53456-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1ac57c0..0000000 --- a/old/53456-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3830 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Readers Science Fiction Stories, by -Richard Mace Elam - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Young Readers Science Fiction Stories - -Author: Richard Mace Elam - -Illustrator: Victor Prezio - -Release Date: November 5, 2016 [EBook #53456] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG READERS SCIENCE FICTION *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - YOUNG READERS - Science Fiction Stories - - - By RICHARD M. ELAM - - ILLUSTRATED BY - VICTOR PREZIO - - _Publishers_ GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC. _New York_ - - © 1957 by - LANTERN PRESS, INC. - By arrangement with Lantern Press, Inc. - - PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA BY - GEORGE J. MC LEOD, LIMITED, TORONTO, ONTARIO - MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - TO - THE YOUNG TRAVELERS - OF TOMORROW - - - - - _CONTENTS_ - - - _Beth and the Twilight Star_ 13 - _Gib Takes a Space Test_ 28 - _The Space Mail Run_ 39 - _All Aboard for Space_ 55 - _Wheel in the Sky_ 69 - _Danger on the Ice Canal_ 83 - _Cargo for Callisto_ 95 - _The Big Show on Titan_ 107 - _Adventure on the Sun’s Doorstep_ 119 - _The Flying Mountain_ 132 - _Castaways in Space_ 144 - _The Big Space Ball Game_ 158 - _Paper Treasure for Mars_ 171 - - - - - _ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - - She saw a strange land unfolding before her eyes 22 - Everyone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short - length of cord 62 - The tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a - second Earthward 81 - He saw her flinging her arms and legs about like a drowning - swimmer 128 - Benasco was seated on the floor like a child with a new - scrapbook 187 - - - - - YOUNG READERS - Science Fiction Stories - - - - - _BETH AND THE TWILIGHT STAR_ - - -Beth Harrison and her father had driven into the desert to look for dead -branches of “jumping cactus,” which were used in making lamps for Mr. -Harrison’s tourist shop in Tucson. He and Beth had just gotten out of -the station wagon and were gazing up a slope of bristly cacti. - -“This looks like a good place, Daddy,” Beth said. - -Mr. Harrison nodded. “We’ll have to hurry, though. It’s getting late.” - -They started up the sandy slope carrying straw market bags that would -hold their gleanings. - -“Maybe we’ll see some Flying Saucers,” Beth said half-jokingly. “Someone -thought he saw one out here the other day.” - -Her father grinned. “Flying Saucers indeed! You and that lively -imagination of yours, Beth!” - -They set to work searching for dead branches. They found a few good -specimens. But they were not enough to suit Beth and she decided to -broaden the search. She went over the slope and up and down another, and -before long her roaming carried her out of sight of her father. - -Amidst the stunning colors of the sunset, Beth could make out a lone -star—Sirius—the brightest true star in all the sky. It reminded her of a -pearl glowing in the heavens. - -Presently Beth had a bag full of cactus wood for the lamp shop. She was -about to return to her father when suddenly she saw something ahead that -she had not noticed before. Almost hidden within a dense thicket of -smoky green _paloverde_ was a shiny surface that reflected the dying -sun’s rays. Her imagination stirred, Beth decided to investigate. - -She put down her bag and made her way into the thicket. As she moved -carefully through the thorns, she found some of the branches pushed -aside as if someone had used this path before. She was almost through -when she tripped and fell head-first. Her forehead bumped against an -unyielding branch, causing her to see more than one star this time. - -She didn’t know how long she lay on the ground half-stunned before she -got to her feet. There was a painful bruise on her forehead, but her -curiosity was still strong and she went on. The shiny surface turned out -to be a wall as smooth and glossy as steel. - -“Jeepers!” Beth thought. “What can it be?” - -She reached out to touch the wall. Before she could do so, a door opened -in the wall. - -The first thing she noticed beyond was a soft yellow light filling a -handsome room. Feeling like Alice on the threshold of Wonderland, she -stepped inside, more thrilled than afraid. - -She heard a sighing behind her and saw the door closing shut. Only then -did she become frightened. She beat against the wall, wishing that she -had not been so rash as to venture into such a strange place. - -She heard a voice say, “That will not help.” - -Beth turned and saw a girl of about her own age standing on a -richly-carpeted platform across the room. The odd unearthliness of the -girl struck Beth immediately. She was pretty and her skin was milky -white. Her costume seemed to be of a blue phosphorescent material, as -did her shoes. Her short hair was almost as red as glowing coals. - -“Wh—who are you?” Beth stammered. - -“I am Linnia,” the girl replied in a voice that sounded almost as if she -were singing. “You are Beth.” - -“Yes,” Beth replied in amazement, “but how did you—?” - -“I can read your mind.” - -Beth gulped. “You can?” - -“Come over and sit down,” Linnia said. “We shall talk.” - -She sat in a nearby chair that seemed to be made of steel matchsticks, -it looked so frail. Beth sat in the chair opposite and found that it was -very sturdy. - -“You are thinking that I look very strange to you,” Linnia said. “You -seem strange to me too, but that is because we are of different worlds.” - -Beth gulped again. “D—different worlds?” - -Suddenly the yellow light in the room changed to a pulsing orange. -Linnia straightened up quickly. “That is the signal,” she spoke. “I did -not expect it so soon. We must hurry and prepare ourselves!” - -Beth started asking questions, but Linnia said not now. Beth found -herself following the girl across the room to a row of couches. Beth lay -down on one and somehow knew exactly what she was to do. She guessed -that Linnia was putting the thoughts into her head. She lifted the -straps that hung at the sides and buckled them across her body. - -The couch was soft as a cloud and Beth was thinking how much she would -like to have a bed like this when all at once she felt herself sinking -deeply into the cushion as if a great hand were thrusting her down. For -several moments she was as giddy as if she were riding the -roller-coaster at the carnival. Then finally her breath came back and -she felt herself rise to the top of the cushion again. - -“We can get up,” she heard Linnia say. “We’re coasting now.” - -They unbuckled their straps and rose to their feet. Linnia walked over -to the wall, pressed a button, and a blind rolled back, revealing a long -window. - -“Look,” Linnia said. - -Beth joined her and looked out the window. Her heart fairly rose into -her throat. She was up in the sky, far up in the sky! Through a veil of -clouds beneath she could see the curve of the earth itself! - -Beth seized Linnia by the arm. “Jeepers, what’s going on! Where are you -taking me?” - -Linnia pointed to the white beacon of Sirius in the blue-black sky. - -“You’re from Sirius?” Beth asked in amazement. - -“Yes, from Tata Moori, one of its planets. Our work on earth is through -for right now and my father and I are returning home to make a report.” - -Linnia went on to say that her father’s space ship was only one of many -which were studying the earth to see how the people here lived. Her -father’s assignment had been to make an analysis of the soil. The -visitors intended no harm and in time they planned to meet the people of -earth face to face. - -“Well, I have already met you,” Beth said boldly, “and I’m ready to go -back!” - -Linnia shook her flame-topped head. “We tried to keep our ship hidden, -but you found it, Beth, and so there is nothing to do but take you back -with us for awhile. When you came close, the electric eye opened the -door and let you inside before it was time for any earth person to see -one of our ships.” - -“But my father and mother,” Beth said desperately, “and my friends! -They’ll be worried to death! You must not take me, Linnia! Please, isn’t -there something you can do?” - -Linnia studied Beth’s pleading face. Then she replied, “I’ll talk to my -father. He’s busy running the ship, but I’ll do what I can for you. -While I’m gone, you can see what it’s like on our world by pushing the -button on that cabinet against the wall. Father and I look at the film -sometimes to keep from getting homesick.” - -Beth was in no mood for looking at pictures. She was feeling worse by -the minute as she considered what it would be like to be parted from her -family and friends. As she sat in the chair, dreading and wondering, -suddenly it became too much for her and she began to cry. - -“Jeepers, why did I ever wander off from Daddy?” she moaned. - -The tears made her feel better and presently she was calm enough to go -over to the cabinet and turn it on. A large screen brightened and she -saw a strange land unfolding before her eyes. - -There were winding highways raised into the sky and skyscrapers like -tall crystal columns. She saw motorcars of tear-drop design and -helicopters filling the air. The people looked much like Linnia, with -phosphorescent clothing, and all had hair as flaming red as Linnia’s -own. - -[Illustration: _She saw a strange land unfolding before her eyes_] - -Yes, Tata Moori looked like an exciting place to visit, but it was not a -visit Beth would want to make without another person from her own -planet. As she thought about her predicament, she began to be scared -again and the tears filled her eyes once more. Why, Sirius was -_trillions_ of miles from Earth! - -She went to the window. The dwindling earth was becoming a green ball -against the black deeps of space. The stars were dazzling and seemed as -countless as the sands of the seashore. The view made Beth terribly -homesick. - -Finally Linnia returned. - -Beth looked at her anxiously, trying to read her fate in the foreign -girl’s eyes. - -“What did your father say?” Beth asked, with fluttering heart. “Did he -say he’d take me back? Please tell me he did!” - -Linnia smiled. “Yes, Beth. He said that we are not supposed to take -younger persons to Tata Moori. He was angry with me for not telling him -you were aboard, but I told him you came in just before we blasted off.” - -“Gee, I’m so relieved!” Beth said happily. “I don’t mean I wouldn’t like -your company, Linnia, but you know how it is.” - -“Yes, I know,” Linnia replied wistfully. “I have missed my mother and -friends too. I had to take my brother’s place on this trip when he -became sick. You see, everyone on Tata Moori learns science when they -are very young.” - -“I’ve been wondering how it is that you speak English, Linnia.” - -“We keep tuned in on your radio and television,” Linnia answered. -“That’s how we learned your language and so many other things about -you.” - -“You people seem to be ahead of us in progress,” Beth said. “I believe -there is much we can learn from you.” - -“We can learn much from you too,” Linnia spoke. “I hope the people of -our planets are permitted to meet very soon.” - -The girls had to belt down on their couches again because of the -mounting speed at which they were returning to earth. Beth felt herself -sinking deeply into her cushion once more and she grew breathless again. -Minutes later, the ship stopped moving. - -Beth hurriedly unbuckled and ran over to the window. Through a break in -the _paloverde_ thicket she could see her father’s station wagon parked -at the roadside. She was back at the same place she had started from. - -“Thank goodness!” she breathed. - -Linnia walked with her to the outer door. - -“My father said he’d like to have met you,” Linnia said, “but he is too -busy preparing for our blast off again. We must hurry because we are -behind schedule. Before you leave, Beth, Father has said that you must -promise never to speak a word about all this to anyone. I have searched -your mind and I know you to be honest.” - -Beth was disappointed that she could not make known her fabulous -journey, but she promised that she would never tell. - -Linnia waved her hand at the door and the electric eye opened it. - -“Goodbye, Beth,” Linnia said. - -“Goodbye, Linnia.” - -Beth heard the sighing of the door as it closed behind her. - -Suddenly her head began aching and she remembered the fall she had taken -earlier. As she made her way out of the thicket, she began to have a -queer feeling about her adventure. It made her wonder if perhaps she -might not have been unconscious and imagined the whole thing. - -When she reached the car, her father said with some concern, “You were -gone so long I started to come for you, Beth. What happened to your -forehead?” - -She told him about her fall but did not mention the space ship. - -“Did you see something land a few minutes ago, Daddy?” Beth asked. - -Mr. Harrison grinned. “You mean, maybe, a Flying Saucer? No, I’m afraid -I didn’t. Are you sure your imagination isn’t working overtime again, -Beth?” - -As they were about to get into the car, Beth saw a dark object in the -distance rise from the ground and move off into the deepening twilight. -She was certain she did not imagine this. - -“You saw that, didn’t you, Daddy?” Beth asked. - -Mr. Harrison nodded. “Probably a hawk. Hmm, it looks like it’s heading -right for the Evening Star, doesn’t it?” - -Beth gazed at the brilliant light of Sirius, gorgeously bright now with -darkness closing in. - -“I wish I knew if it really was,” Beth murmured. - - - - - _GIB TAKES A SPACE TEST_ - - -Gib Bromfield was nine, and the thing he wanted to do most was to make a -flight into space. A colony on the Moon had already been started for -scientific research, and a huge man-made space platform circled the -Earth once every twenty-four hours. - -“I want to go back to the Moon with you, Father,” Gib would plead every -time Mr. Bromfield came home on a furlough. - -“I’m afraid you’re still a little young, Gib,” his father would reply. -“Some day you will be able to go out into space with me, but not yet.” - -Mr. Bromfield was a construction engineer, and he was helping to build a -big spaceport on the Moon. He came home to see his family every six -months. Each time he returned, Gib couldn’t wait to meet him at the -front door of their prefabricated home. - -Gib would shake hands with him like a man and take his bags from him. -Then he would step back and admire the tall, handsome man in the glossy -black boots and gray uniform of the Space Service. By this time, Mother -usually came running up, followed by Sandra, Gib’s little sister. - -On Mr. Bromfield’s latest visit, Gib waited until the usual family talk -had subsided before he started asking his father about his recent -adventures. After Father had brought him up to date, Gib asked the same -question he always asked: - -“Father, my I go back with you this time for a short visit—just a short -one?” - -Mr. Bromfield smiled and rumpled Gib’s blond hair. “It’s not the time -element, Gib,” he said patiently. “It’s the rigors of space itself, -which are much rougher than Captain Rocket on TV would have us believe.” - -Gib’s face fell. He had hoped that this time his father would give in -and let him go back. Mr. Bromfield could see that his son was -disappointed. He stared at Gib thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke -again. - -“All right, Gib, I’ll put you through S.Q.T. If you pass it and still -want to go spaceward, I’ll take you.” - -“Gee, do you mean that?” Gib burst out. - -He was so excited he didn’t know what to do. Gib had never had any doubt -that he would pass the S.Q.T.—the Space Qualification Test—that all -those who go spaceward must take. - -Mr. Bromfield went immediately to the video-phone and put through a call -to S.Q.T., having them place Gib’s name on the space test list. - -“Thanks, Father!” Gib said excitedly. “At last I’ll be going spaceward!” - -“We’ll see,” Mr. Bromfield replied soberly. - -Gib spent the next afternoon on the first part of the test, which was a -complete physical examination. - -“It didn’t hurt the tiniest bit,” Gib joked with his father that night. -“If all the parts of the test are as easy as this first one, I won’t -have any trouble.” - -Mr. Bromfield did not say anything, but he smiled to himself as though -he knew something that Gib did not know. - -Gib and his father took the elevated expressway to the S.Q.T. center -early the next morning in their atom-powered Johnson Superjet. The final -portions of Gib’s test would be covered today. - -The first part was familiarity with the space suit. In company with -about fifty other candidates, Gib was given a supply of clothing. Then -everyone was shown how to zip up their thickly insulated suits in front. -Next, an attendant snapped metal cylinders to their shoulders and -screwed the flexible tubing into valves on their suits. Last to be put -on were helmets of light metal that had a darkened glass in front so -that the wearer could look out. - -“Now, all of you turn the little black knob on your chests,” the tester -said. His voice sounded muffled to Gib because of the helmet he wore. - -Gib turned his knob and felt his suit blowing up like a balloon as air -flowed in from the oxygen tanks. - -“This is how you would be dressed for a walk on the Moon,” the tester -told them. “Now I want all of you to walk into the next room.” - -As Gib went into the room with the others, he was thinking how easy the -test had been up until now. And what fun it was taking the very tests -that Captain Rocket himself must have taken at one time! He thought his -father was surely mistaken for having doubted his ability to pass the -S.Q.T. - -The tester left the room and shut the door. In a few moments Gib began -to have a strange sensation. He was feeling lighter and lighter, and the -others with him were beginning to float right off the floor! - -Gib struggled frantically as he felt himself go off balance. Each -movement he made, however, shot him off at swift, crazy angles. He felt -himself sweating with fear, and for the first time he was believing that -maybe the S.Q.T. wasn’t going to be so easy after all. - -It seemed as if he had the strength of a Samson, but it was a strength -he could not control. A simple kick sent him hurtling across the room -toward the wall! He tried to brake himself, but nothing he did would -stop him. He crashed headlong into the wall. It shook him up a little, -but he was not hurt. He saw that the wall was thickly padded. - -After about fifteen minutes of helplessness, Gib felt himself getting -heavier again and saw his companions drop to the floor in normal -position. The tester came in with some doctors. The doctors looked over -each candidate and asked many questions. Gib was still dazed and wasn’t -sure of the answers he gave. - -When the doctors were through, the tester explained what had happened: -“This room was de-gravitized, which means the Earth’s gravity in here -was cut off by mechanical means. It’s the same condition you will find -in a space ship when the gravity plates are turned off. From the looks -of some of you, this experience was something of a shock. But the final -test will be even rougher. Anybody who wants to drop out now may do so.” - -Gib saw that about a third of the candidates had had enough. Gib was -still giddy himself and started to join them. He was disappointed in the -harshness of “zero-gravity.” It had always looked so simple to him the -way that Captain Rocket “swam” about in his rocket flyer. - -Gib did not want his father to think him a quitter, though, and decided -to stick out the test to the end. When his turn came, he was led into a -huge room by himself and up to a queer-looking machine. It resembled one -of the thrill rides at a carnival, the one that whirls you round and -round like a ball on the end of a string. Gib entered a tiny cabin at -the end of the large swinging arm and sat down in a thick foam-rubber -reclining chair. - -As he was strapped down, the tester said to him, “This is called the -‘Centrifuge,’ son, and it simulates the blast-off from Earth in a rocket -ship. You appear to be a little young to be taking it, so if you’ve had -enough just yank that lever in front of you and we’ll stop the machine.” - -“I—I will,” Gib replied, getting scared already. - -He got more scared as all sorts of instruments were strapped to him. The -tester explained that these were to record his reactions. As the door -was closed on him. Gib had a trapped feeling. Then he composed himself -and waited for the worst, telling himself that a spaceman must be brave. - -Presently he felt the cabin begin to move, slowly at first. This much -was fun, Gib thought, just like the carnival ride. As the cabin picked -up speed, it was even more thrilling. But then as the speed increased -still more, Gib began to lose his enjoyment. - -Faster and faster he went, and Gib was crushed deeply into the chair -cushion. He felt his cheeks draw back from his teeth, the corners of his -eyes making him squint. There was heavy pressure on his chest, as if an -elephant were standing on him. His breath hung in his throat and he saw -strange colors and darting forms before his eyes. - -He stood the agonizing effect as long as he could, and then his -frightfully heavy hand crept unsteadily toward the lever in front of him -and jerked it. - -The cabin began losing speed and finally stopped. Gib saw a blurred -image open the door and offer his hand. As he stumbled out, his head -feeling big as a watermelon, Gib vaguely remembered hearing the tester -say: - -“You needn’t feel badly about this, son. You almost lasted it out. Come -back in another year or two and then I think you’ll be able to pass.” - -Gib still wasn’t quite himself as he met his father in the waiting room. -He was quivering all over, and his dad wouldn’t quite come into focus. - -“I flunked the test, Father,” Gib told him. - -“It sounds to me as if you’re glad you did,” Mr. Bromfield replied, with -a chuckle. “I was afraid it might be too rough for you, son, but I knew -there was no other way to show you that space travel isn’t as easy as -the comic books make out.” - -“I’ll try again next year,” Gib said, “or the year after that, anyway. -That’s what the tester told me.” - -“I’m sure you’ll be ready then,” Mr. Bromfield replied. “Now, what do -you say we go home? Captain Rocket is almost due on TV.” - - - - - _THE SPACE MAIL RUN_ - - -The way he felt now, Jerry Welsh was almost sorry he had left Earth. The -Moonship landing seemed to be crushing the very life out of him, -although he lay flat on a couch to ease the strain. - -Jerry turned his head toward his father, who was strapped down like -himself, and suffering too. The craft was under its own control, for no -human could withstand the rocket’s present speed and still be able to -steer in for a landing. - -Capt. Welsh was on his bi-weekly mail run to Luna, the Moon, and for the -first time in ten years of service he had a passenger—his own -twelve-year-old son. - -At last Jerry felt a hard jolt under him. He knew the rocket’s tail fins -had finally touched ground. Jerry unstrapped himself with rubbery -fingers and sat up. Then he tried to stand, but flopped down again. - -“Wow, I feel giddy!” he groaned. - -His father laughed. “You’ll get your bearings presently, Son.” - -How long Jerry had waited to make this space mail run with his father! -Then finally last year, Capt. Welsh had said that Jerry could go with -him when he became twelve, as he was especially husky and strong for his -age. - -But now that the great moment had come at last, Jerry wasn’t sure he was -enjoying it as he had expected, for he had found space so vast, so dark, -and so frightening. - -“Do you still want to be a spaceman, Jerry?” his dad asked suddenly, as -though Jerry had spoken his thoughts aloud. - -“I—I think so, Dad,” he replied hesitantly. - -“I see you’re doubtful, Jerry,” Capt. Welsh said. “I won’t put you on -the spot so early.” - -They climbed into space gear—electrically-heated suits and clear plastic -helmets fitted with radios. Lastly they donned oxygen tanks and flooded -their suits with the life-sustaining gas. - -They gathered up the mail sacks and climbed down the ladder to the -ground, heading for the largest of a group of buildings which made up -Moonhaven, center of Earthmen’s activity on the airless planet. - -The stars burned fantastically bright overhead. Traces of frost topped -the distant Lunar Alps. It was incredibly cold out here, for the Moon -was in its two-week period of night. - -Capt. Welsh got a receipt for the largest mail bag, and then he and -Jerry went out a rear door of the building carrying the rest. An -atom-powered mail car awaited them. It had an open top and huge wheels -that looked like saw-toothed gears. - -“Climb aboard the Moon jeep, Jerry,” his father said. “We’ve got ten -mail deliveries to make.” - -Inside, Capt. Welsh pulled down a section of the dash panel revealing a -map. “Here’s a map of our route. There aren’t many mail stops on the -Moon yet, but they are all important.” - -“And the mail must go through!” Jerry added. - -Capt. Welsh nodded soberly. “That’s the first law, Jerry.” - -As they moved off Jerry saw the big friendly globe of Earth hanging like -a green jewel halfway up the jet black sky. He wondered what his mother -and baby sister were doing this moment a quarter of a million miles -away. - -Capt. Welsh showed Jerry how to run the jeep. Jerry found this easy for -he had already had a course in mechanics in preparation for his future -career as a space man. But sometime later their peaceful ride was -interrupted when Capt. Welsh suddenly leaned over and grabbed the wheel. - -Jerry was thrown to the side as the car swerved. The vehicle -straightened out and slammed to a halt as his father controlled the -wheel and applied the brakes. - -“What happened?” Jerry breathed, his heart pounding. - -His father pointed behind them. “Look.” - -Jerry turned and saw the edge of a treacherous ditch running right -across the roadway where they would have passed over. The gorge was -several feet wide. - -“I didn’t even see it,” Jerry murmured, sick with fear at what might -have happened. - -This wasn’t the first time he’d been shaken on this journey. It made him -wonder as he had once before if he had what it took to be a space man, -or if this adventure would make him decide never to leave the atmosphere -of Earth again. - -“Scared?” his father asked. Jerry nodded. - -“Don’t worry. I was too for a moment.” - -“You were?” Jerry asked with surprise. - -“Fear was given to man, so he could save himself from danger, Jerry,” -Capt. Welsh said. “Don’t be ashamed of it. Fear is nothing to be ashamed -of unless you let it get the best of you. Never forget that.” - -They arrived at their first delivery point, an engineering project on a -plateau surrounded by mountains. There were the foundations of great -buildings to come, constructed of hard Lunar granite. - -The space-suited figures came running when they recognized Capt. Welsh -and his mail car. Jerry marveled how the formerly stern expressions of -the workmen brightened when the foreman handed mail out to them. - -“It must be fun bringing mail to men who are so far from their homes and -families,” Jerry said when they were on their way again. - -“I guess that’s why I’ve put up with the lonely hours of seeing nothing -but stardust for the past ten years,” Capt. Welsh answered. “But I love -it, Son, and I wouldn’t trade jobs with any man.” - -Their next delivery site was a cavern where men were prospecting for -uranium. They too were overjoyed at receiving messages from home. The -jeep rolled on from there to a huge plain which was being prepared for a -future spaceport. Capt. Welsh and his helper dropped off another mail -sack and then were on their way again. Some hours later, all but two -deliveries had been made. - -“Next stop is the astronomy observatory,” Capt. Welsh told Jerry. - -They crawled over sandy hills that taxed the gripping power of their -spiked wheels, wound in and out of towering buttresses of black basalt, -and bored through natural tunnels like a pair of human moles. Then the -observatory came into view. - -A smiling little scientist with thick glasses signed for the mail at the -door. He invited Jerry to come back and visit the place before he -returned to Earth. - -“You haven’t seen anything until you look through their great -telescope,” Capt. Welsh told Jerry as they drove off. - -“What’s our last stop?” Jerry wanted to know. - -“A geology camp where some scientists are digging into ancient rocks,” -his father said. “It’s only about seven miles away, but the going will -be a little rough before we get there. It’s a good thing it’s our last -stop because we don’t have any too much oxygen left in our shoulder -tanks. I usually don’t take this long on a mail run.” - -The roadway carried them through a narrow pass with a high hill of loose -rock on one side and a sloping embankment on the other. Jerry’s first -warning of trouble came when he was flung suddenly forward. He heard the -sickening drag of the wheels as his father’s boot hit the brakes. Just -ahead of them he saw a cascade of rocks sliding down the hill. - -The next moment Jerry felt an even harder blow as the jeep was grazed by -one of the large boulders. The small car was swept out of the roadway -like a toy and rammed against a pillar at the cliff edge. - -Jerry screamed in fear as he felt himself being thrown out of the car. -He struck the ground hard and began rolling head over heels down the -precipice. - -When the numbing shock of his fall had worn off, Jerry climbed dazedly -to his feet and looked up the slope down which he had been thrown. - -“Dad!” he cried. He slipped and scrambled up the incline in reckless -haste. He found Capt. Welsh sprawled unconscious just below the upper -brink of the precipice. Jerry knelt and looked into his face through the -clear plastic helmet. His father’s eyes were closed and there was an -ugly bruise on his forehead where it must have struck the helmet in his -fall. - -“What am I going to do?” Jerry groaned aloud. - -He himself would have to make the decisions and carry them through if -the two of them were to survive. It was a shocking thought. Then it came -to him what his father had said about fear: a person need never be -ashamed of fear so long as it was not permitted to get the upper hand. - -Jerry pulled his father up onto the roadway and tried to bring him -around, but without result. Jerry examined the jeep. One side was badly -smashed, but the engine still appeared sound. The car was tipped over -against the rock column. Jerry was thankful that the jeep was only -one-sixth of its Earth-weight on the moon. It was a tremendous effort -but he finally righted the car and got it back on the road. - -He jumped into the front seat and started the engine. It sputtered, then -hummed into activity! Jerry studied the map on the panel. He located -their present position by the giant crater, Plato, at his distant right. -Then he traced the winding route leading to the geology camp. He was -closer to the camp than the observatory, but ahead lay a rugged route, -one with which Jerry was totally unfamiliar. He got out and went back to -where Capt. Welsh lay. - -“Which way should I go, Dad, ahead or back?” he asked helplessly, just -as though his father were able to answer him. - -Something told him that Capt. Welsh would want him to go ahead—to finish -the mail run that had never missed a round in ten years. Jerry got his -father into the back seat, then gunned the jeep and struck off into the -unknown ahead. - -He was thankful for the old worn trail that led the way for him. It -presently carried him through a gloomy valley. Jerry switched on his -headlights, but the twin spears of brightness gave him little comfort in -the spooky place. Grotesque rock columns rose like menacing ghosts on -both sides of him. - -At last he was out in the open again. The road led him around the steep -ledge of a yawning crater, evidently caused by a huge crashing fireball -from outer space. - -Jerry carefully guided the jeep along the dangerous cliff. If one of his -wheels should slip over the side, it would be a fall to frightful death -a hundred feet straight down. At last even this peril was past, and -Jerry drove up a gradual incline over bare rock to a bluff that -overlooked the distant land for many miles. - -“The camp!” he said joyfully. “That’s it below—only a few miles away!” - -He followed a curve that swept onto the plain below. When he was on a -level again, it seemed that all his troubles were over. He felt better -by the moment as he drove closer and closer to his destination. - -Then, without warning, his wheels began to bog down in a pumice mire. -His heart did a flip-flop and he checked the map. He saw a warning to -drivers to avoid this spot. In his overconfidence, he had blundered -right into it! - -He gave the little jeep full power. It jerked crazily through the -clinging stuff. Over to the right the pumice seemed to thin out, and -farther over he could see the roadway he should have taken. He swung his -wheels to the right and the jeep lurched through the gray sand, using up -a lot of power, but making little progress. For minutes on end Jerry -gave the jeep all it had, and he could hear its engine laboring tiredly. - -Suddenly the motor died. Jerry tried to start it again but could not. He -checked his temperature gauge. The engine was extremely hot from the -continual use of top power. From his mechanical school course, Jerry -realized the rotors had “frozen” and that it wouldn’t run again until -they had cooled off. - -As he waited impatiently for the engine to cool, a warning voice in his -mind was saying: “Your oxygen is getting lower by the second. If the -jeep doesn’t get out of here within the next fifteen minutes, you and -your dad will never make it.” - -Jerry shook off the terrible thoughts. He stamped his feet to warm them. -The electric circuit in his suit seemed to be breaking down. If it -collapsed completely, he would be frozen instantly by the Lunar cold. - -Jerry massaged his dad’s hands and legs in case his suit, too, was -getting colder. He worked steadily until his hands ached. Then he -checked the gauge again. It was falling slowly, but heavy insulation was -still keeping the engine hot. - -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. - - - - - _ALL ABOARD FOR SPACE_ - - -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 to _all_ the 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. - -[Illustration: _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-tick_ went 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! - - - - - _WHEEL IN THE SKY_ - - -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’s _got_ to hit!” Steve burst out. “Our home and Mom are -there!” - -“Yes, it’s simply _got_ to!” 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 she _was_ afraid. 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!” - -[Illustration: _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!” - - - - - _DANGER ON THE ICE CANAL_ - - -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. - - - - - _CARGO FOR CALLISTO_ - - -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. - -As they walked toward the mining place, Mr. Shannon said, “Underneath us -are pockets of poisonous gas like that found in Jupiter’s atmosphere. -Sometimes it leaks into the mining tunnels causing danger from -suffocation.” - -“I sure hope the gas stays where it belongs while we’re down there!” -Steve said and swallowed the lump of fear in his throat. - -They turned their attention to Jupiter. It looked even more like a beach -ball now with its stripes of beautiful colors. Mr. Shannon said the -bands were floating ice bergs of the poisonous gases he was talking -about. - -“No ship can land on Jupiter,” he said. “Its gravity would crush a -spaceman flat. Gravity pull is much stronger on the larger planets, you -know. Jupiter’s atmosphere is many thousands of miles deep. Raging -storms are going on beneath it all the time.” - -“Ooo!” Sue gasped. “I guess we’re close enough to it then!” - -Other wonders of the sky were the round beacons of Jupiter’s other -moons, three of which were about the same size as Callisto. They hung -like bright searchlights in the starry heavens. - -The men at the mining place greeted the Shannons warmly. They had not -seen anyone from Earth for so long that they had grown very lonely. - -The chief mining engineer said he would be glad to take the visitors on -an underground tour. His name was Dr. Harding. He was plump and short -and wore black-rimmed glasses inside his space helmet. - -He led them into an elevator and it sank into the darkness. Steve -remembered about the poisonous gases that crept about underground and it -made him shiver to think about it. - -Dr. Harding watched Bud hopping around uncomfortably inside his small -space cage. “Do you remember, Mr. Shannon,” he asked over his suit -radio, “when they used to use canary birds in mines to warn about -leaking gas? The birds would notice it first and give the miners time to -get out.” - -“I’ve read about that, Dr. Harding,” said Mr. Shannon. - -“Now we have automatic warning machines in the tunnels to do that,” the -chief engineer told Sue and Steve. - -Deeper and deeper below the soil of Callisto the elevator sank. At last -the cage reached the bottom, and the riders found themselves in a large -cavern. There were machines and men all about, working busily. Tracks -led off into tunnels and ore cars were running on them. Some were going -empty into the tunnels while others were coming out full of rock and -gravel. - -“The magna is separated from the rock in that big machine over there,” -Dr. Harding explained. “Want to ride an ore car into one of the -tunnels?” - -“Sure!” Steve spoke up. - -“The mine is air-conditioned,” the chief engineer said, “so we can take -off our helmets.” - -This done, Steve let Bud out of his cage. The little bird hopped up on -his gloved finger, saying, “Rocket away!” several times. His two-word -language seemed to do for everything. - -One worker controlled all the cars at a main switch in the middle of the -cavern. The Shannons and their guide climbed into an empty ore car and -it rolled into a tunnel. - -Glistening dark rock crowded in on Sue and Steve from all sides. Steve -hoped the walls were strong enough so they would not come crashing down -on their heads! There were lights along the way to help brighten the -gloom. - -After clicking along like a trolley for awhile, the car came to the end -of the line. It was a large room with more machines and workmen. The men -were digging magna ore out of the wall with drills. - -As Dr. Harding explained about the work, Bud began flitting about as -though sight-seeing on his own. He was shy of the workers at first, but -then made friends with them. He spoke to them with his favorite two -words and the men laughed in great fun to hear him. - -Then a few minutes later, Bud began acting queerly. He flew back to -Steve’s finger and started wobbling as though dizzy. - -“What’s the matter with him?” Steve asked. - -“He’s sick or something!” Sue cried out. She took the budgy from Steve -and cuddled him in her own gloves. But the little blue bird seemed to be -no better. - -Dr. Harding walked over to look at the bird. Then he ordered, “Everybody -into the ore car! We have to get out of here fast! Sue, hold the bird up -close to your suit!” - -The workers dropped their tools as if they were red hot and climbed into -the car. Mr. Shannon helped Sue and Steve on, then jumped on himself. - -Dr. Harding pressed the electric button that was the signal to the -operator in the main cavern to move the car. The car began to roll down -the track. It picked up speed as Dr. Harding kept pressing the button. - -“Leaking gas, Dr. Harding?” Mr. Shannon asked worriedly. - -The chief engineer nodded. He sniffed the air like a hunting dog after a -scent. “Take a deep breath, everyone, then hold it!” - -Steve thought his lungs would burst, but finally Dr. Harding let them -take another deep breath. By the time they had taken one more, the car -had reached the main cavern. As it rolled to a stop, Dr. Harding jumped -down and ran over to the car operator. - -Steve saw a door slide down and close off the tunnel where they had come -out. Then the little man gave a deep sigh and took off his black-rimmed -glasses to wipe them. - -Sue and Steve watched Bud hopefully. He was standing more steadily on -Sue’s finger now. - -“I think he’ll be all right,” the chief engineer said. “We sure owe Bud -a lot for warning us the way he did. Something must have happened to the -warning machine. It was supposed to set off a siren.” - -“If it weren’t for Bud we might have been overcome before we could have -gotten out of there!” Mr. Shannon added. - -“You’re so right!” Dr. Harding said. “The men will go back in there in -gas masks to find the leak and see what’s wrong with the warning -machine.” - -“We’re plenty lucky!” Steve sighed, his spine still prickly from their -narrow escape. - -Sue kissed the budgy. “You’re a hero, Bud,” she told him, “and we love -you!” - -Bud blinked lazily. Then as if to show that he was all right again, he -squawked, “Rocket away!” - - - - - _THE BIG SHOW ON TITAN_ - - -The space freighter had landed on Titan, the largest moon in all the -Solar System. The Shannon twins had been anxious to reach this moon of -Saturn because their father had told them that something very exciting -might happen here before they left. - -There was still another reason why the children had looked forward to -the landing. They would meet a boy of their own age who was the son of a -worker. He had been living on Titan for the past two years and would be -able to show them around. - -Steve and Sue came down the outside “gangway” of the cargo ship and -stepped onto the frozen ground of the distant world. The twins wore -space suits, of course, for the air outside was extremely cold and it -was poisonous as well with raw methane and ammonia. - -Steve saw beautiful Saturn, with its colored rings, filling much of the -blue sky. Titan was a world of close mountains, worn smooth by lots of -windy weather. A film of glistening ice covered the peaks like caps of -glass. - -“Look up there, Sue!” Steve said. “Over our heads! That’s the famous -skyport of Titan!” - -“I wish we could go up there!” Sue said. - -“Maybe we’ll get the chance,” answered Steve. - -Ahead of them stood a rounded plastic dome. Men were carrying into it -cartons of supplies which the space freighter had brought. The twins’ -father, who was an official of the American Space Supply Company, was -still aboard to take care of the unloading. - -A boy came out of the domed building. “Are you the Shannons?” he asked -over his space radio. - -“Yes, we are,” Steve replied. - -“I’m Bobby King.” - -Sue and Steve said they were glad to meet him. He asked if they would -like to go up and see the skyport. - -Both the young Shannons answered a quick, “Sure!” together. - -They followed their new friend into the plastic dome. Bobby King pointed -to an overhead cable. Hanging from the heavy cord was a cable car. - -“All aboard!” Bobby called, like a train conductor. - -Sue and Steve giggled with pleasure as they entered the car, followed by -Bobby. Bobby pushed a switch and the cable car began to move. - -“We’re going up like a corkscrew,” Bobby said. - -Round and round, right out of the top of the building, moved the cable -car. Up and up it went. It took about ten minutes to reach the top. As -soon as they got out, two men passed them who were talking about a storm -that was on the way. - -“Boy, if there’s a storm coming, you two are sure in luck!” Bobby told -Sue and Steve. - -Steve and Sue looked at one another, puzzled. Why should their young -friend be pleased over a coming storm? - -They saw before them a space that looked as flat as a highway and larger -than a football field. There was a row of hangars along the far side. - -“Wow, we sure must be high!” Steve burst out. They seemed to be almost -on a level with the mountains. - -“We’re a whole mile off the ground,” Bobby told him. “The skyport rests -on the corners of two mountain ridges.” - -They went over to one of the clear plastic walls that edged the skyport. - -“Gee, the freighter sure is little down there!” Sue said. - -It almost took Steve’s breath away. The big space ship indeed looked no -larger than a toy down below. - -“Why did they go to such trouble to build this?” Steve asked. - -“Because there wasn’t any place flat enough on the ground,” Bobby -answered. “My father says they need a main skyport on Titan because -there are so many companies here digging for uranium. The colonists fly -here to get their supplies and mail.” - -“I see some dark clouds over the mountains,” Sue said. “Does that mean a -storm is coming?” - -Bobby’s helmet nodded. “It sure does! You two are the luckiest ones! You -got here right at the start of the storm season.” - -Steve and Sue were still puzzled as to why Bobby wanted it to storm. - -Bobby showed his guests a faint star burning through the blue -atmosphere. “That’s Earth,” he told them, “750 million miles away. My -father thinks we can go back for a visit in a few weeks. I’ll be glad.” - -“Where do you live here, Bobby?” Sue asked. - -“My father and I stay in an apartment a little way from here,” Bobby -answered. - -“How about school?” Steve wanted to know. “Do they have one on Titan?” - -Bobby shook his head. “My father teaches me. He’s out with some -prospectors today.” - -Bobby showed them Titan’s other nine sister moons, which looked like -glowing fireballs. Steve saw that most of the daylight came from Saturn -because the sun was so far away. It wasn’t nearly as bright here as it -was on Earth. - -“I wish we could run over to Saturn for a visit,” Sue said, jokingly. - -“You don’t really, Sue,” Bobby told her. “You couldn’t stand up in its -heavy gravity. Saturn’s almost as big as Jupiter, you know.” - -“What are Saturn’s rings made of?” Steve asked. - -“Oodles and oodles of rocks,” Bobby replied. “They are traveling so fast -that they make the rings look like one solid piece.” - -Wind was beginning to howl around them and this seemed to make Bobby -very excited. - -The coming storm must be something special, Steve thought. His curiosity -had been aroused strongly. - -The clouds gathered darker and more thickly behind the mountains. The -wind was driving harder. - -“Hadn’t we better go inside?” Sue asked, worriedly. - -“Shucks, no!” Bobby said. “It won’t be any fun unless we’re right out in -it! There won’t be any rain. It’s too cold on Titan for rain.” - -Suddenly the three heard a loud siren wail. - -“That means a jet plane is coming in,” Bobby said. “All planes have to -land when word of a storm gets around.” - -The plane’s wheels touched down and the ship rolled along until a hook -on it caught a line that stretched across the runway. The line brought -the plane to a sharp halt. - -The jet’s wings were folded down and the ship was pushed off to a -hangar. Two more ships landed afterward. Then a blinding flash lighted -up the sky. It made Steve and Sue blink and jump in fright. - -“Look!” Bobby exclaimed. “The storm has begun!” - -Other men had come out to see what was going to happen and they lined up -along the edges of the skyport with the children. - -Bobby pointed to a sparkling balloon of light that burst into a blossom -of sparks over the mountains. A moment later a red dagger flash skipped -across the peaks. During all this there were loud crashes and rumblings. -Steve was scared and thrilled at the same time. - -“It’s just like fireworks!” Sue called out. - -Now Steve could understand why Bobby had looked forward to the storm. He -guessed, too, that this was the exciting surprise their father had said -might happen while they were here. - -An orange pinwheel, like a Fourth of July sparkler, rose from a mountain -top and looped upward. It grew bigger and bigger and fainter and fainter -at the same time. It was really a beauty. - -“What causes the fireworks?” Steve asked above the noise. - -“Partly strong wind,” Bobby said loudly, “and partly Titan’s gases -exploding against the mountain tops!” - -They watched spellbound for fifteen minutes, then a half hour. The -Shannons were sure they had never seen anything quite so breathtaking as -this. - -At one time a row of peaks seemed to glow with a sheet of red flame. The -flame danced and flickered like a forest fire for a long time before it -faded out. - -The children had been enjoying themselves so thoroughly that they knew -nothing of the peril that was heading their way. - -The first warning came when one of the skyport men standing nearby -shouted over his space suit radio. Steve whirled in alarm. His heart -seemed to stop beating completely for a terrible moment. - -A tardy plane had come in for a landing on the sky platform. But the -howling wind had kept everyone from hearing the warning siren. - -Because of the fierce blowing, the plane had not hooked firmly to the -braking line. It scooted off to the side and was heading for the very -spot where Bobby, Steve and Sue stood. - -“Bobby!” Steve cried. “Get out of the way!” As Bobby ducked for safety, -Steve also moved quickly. Sue screamed as Bobby grabbed her hastily by -her space glove. He had to jerk her sharply in order to get her out of -the path of the runaway plane. - -The plane crashed into the plastic wall of the skyport, tearing out a -section of wall as though it were thin cardboard. The ship was left -dangling on the very edge as if ready to fall a mile to the ground. - -“The poor pilot!” Sue cried. “Oh, I can’t look!” - -But the skyport men had come running quickly over and together they -pulled the jet plane back to safety. They helped the scared pilot out. -He walked shakily off into one of the hangars. - -“Whew! That was close!” Steve breathed. “For him and us, too!” - -“My heart is still thumping like a drum!” Bobby said. - -As for Sue, she was too upset to say anything at all. - -They turned to look at the fireworks to take their minds off the -accident. The wonderful ending of the show almost made them forget it -completely. - -They saw a dazzling white light burst like an empty volcano. The banner -of fire rose as high into the sky as huge Saturn. Then it spilled over -like a great fountain. It changed into purple, then blue, green and red. - -Before dying out, it gave the big planet a lovely ruddy glow, showing up -its rings like a gleaming necklace of rubies. That was the end of -Nature’s grand performance. - -“Wow, wasn’t that terrific?” Steve asked. “A show like that in a -grandstand on Earth would cost you three-and-a-half.” - -“Maybe four!” Sue chimed in. - -“You can’t see this show anywhere on Earth, Steve,” Bobby said. “Titan -is the only place. And the good thing about it is that it’s all for -free!” - - - - - _ADVENTURE ON THE SUN’S DOORSTEP_ - - -Sue and Steve Shannon watched the magic world of stardust through a port -of the rocket freighter. The ship was moving under power of its atomic -engines, headed toward the sun. - -They had one more cargo stop to make before returning to their beloved -soil on the Earth. - -The twins heard the clack of magnetic soles behind them. Without such -shoes holding them to the floor, space travelers would float about -helplessly like wingless birds. - -“Hi, kids,” greeted their father. “Growing tired of the view?” - -“I guess I am, Dad,” Steve admitted. His blue eyes were tired. - -“How far away is Apollo’s Chariot now?” Sue asked. - -Mr. Shannon grinned. “That’s the umpteenth time you two have asked that. -But I suppose I’m as restless as you are to get back to Mom in -Arkansas.” - -Hearing this made Steve suddenly homesick. There was really no place -like home, just like the poet had said. Steve knew Sue felt the same -way. He had seen a wistful look in her hazel eyes every time they had -talked of Little Rock. - -The seemingly endless days finally did end. The three Shannons went up -into the lookout dome with the crewmen. The dome was covered by a -darkened plastic screen to cut down the blinding glare of the sun, which -was very close. - -It was a heart-stopping sight for Sue and Steve. The planet Mercury -covered the face of the sun like a black plate. Streaming out from the -edges were mountainous tongues of living fire. Mr. Shannon called this -flaming halo the sun’s _chromosphere_. - -“Gee, what a thing to see!” Steve gasped. - -“It’s—it’s unbelievable!” Sue added, breathless. - -“Indeed, it is,” Mr. Shannon agreed. “See that thing like a lighted -wheel just ahead of us? That’s Apollo’s Chariot. It was named after the -famous Greek sun god, you know.” - -Sue and Steve knew that Apollo’s Chariot was really a space laboratory -that was a home for scientists who were studying the sun. They had been -the ones who had given their tiny world its colorful nickname. It was -protected with asbestos and other special material to shield it from the -heat as it circled the great star, month after month, year after year. - -“We had to contact Apollo’s Chariot while Mercury was shading our ship -from the sun’s rays,” Mr. Shannon said. “We aren’t protected like -Apollo’s Chariot is.” - -“Mercury seems as big as the sun, the way it covers it completely,” -Steve remarked. - -“That’s because we’re so close to Mercury,” his father explained. -“Actually, the sun is so much bigger it’s like comparing a pinpoint to a -grapefruit!” - -In the midnight darkness between the ships, giant searchlights had to be -turned on. Then the scientists on the other ship came out onto their -loading platform to receive their cargo. Conversation was carried on by -means of space suit radios with those aboard the freighter, who stood on -their own outside platform. - -“Why can’t we get closer to Apollo’s Chariot?” Steve asked Biff Warren, -who was the twins’ favorite among the crewmen. Biff was piling boxes and -crates at the edge of the platform. - -“Space regulations,” answered Biff. “If a meteor should hit one of us, -the other ship would explode too if we were close. Also, rocket tubes -are so tricky that you never know when one is going to misfire and send -your ship scooting off suddenly in the wrong direction.” - -One end of a double cable was fastened to rings on the freighter’s -platform. Then the other end was tossed across the space between the two -ships and attached by the scientists to their own side. - -Steve saw the crewmen around him pick up cords from out of the cable -equipment box. They fastened one end to buckles on their suits and the -other to the cable. Steve guessed that the lines were a safety measure -to keep the men from drifting off into space as they carried the cargo -across. - -The first crewman picked up a crate as lightly as if it were a pile of -feathers. Then with his foot he shoved off from the platform. - -He guided the crate through the emptiness with his gloved hands and the -men on the opposite platform helped him aboard. Another crewman stepped -off the freighter with another crate. Then another crewman with another -piece of cargo. The carriers returned by the other cable line. - -Steve went over to his dad who, as an official of the American Space -Supply Company, was supervising the work as always. “Dad, may Sue and I -carry a box across? We’ll be careful.” - -Mr. Shannon thought a moment. “I suppose it will be all right. There’s -no way you can go adrift if you fasten on to the cable. But you have to -be careful you’re snapped on securely.” - -Mr. Shannon made a place for them in line. Sue in front. There was a -wait before Sue’s turn so that more crates could be placed on the -platform’s edge. The children looked beyond Apollo’s Chariot at the huge -black circle of Mercury as it masked the mighty sun. - -“Biff,” Steve asked his friend as he was stacking the crates, “why -couldn’t the Apollo scientists study the sun from Mercury?” - -Biff chuckled and it made a funny crackling sound over the young -Shannons’ radios. “Men will land on Mercury when they grow hides of -asbestos, Steve. It’s so hot on the sunward side that there are supposed -to be lakes and pools of lead there! The other side never sees the sun, -so you can imagine how cold it is! Think you two would like to go -there?” - -“I should say not!” Sue answered for both of them. - -When the next piece of cargo was ready to go over, Biff checked the -children’s safety cords. Then he let Sue push off from the platform with -a box in front of her. A few moments later, Steve followed. The boy -heard his sister giggle excitedly as they floated across. Searchlight -beams were in their eyes but they didn’t mind. Steve, too, thought this -great fun after being cramped for so long on the freighter. He looked -down at the empty space below, but he knew he could not fall and so was -not afraid. Reaching the other platform, he and his sister were helped -aboard. - -“They sure are using young crewmen these days!” joked one of the -scientists, a tall man who seemed to be working harder than the others. -“Nice work, young folks!” - -The scientist was in the act of changing the children’s cords over to -the returning cable when a slight mishap occurred. One of the crates -coming over bumped into him. He laughed as he again got to his feet but -his laughter quickly changed to alarm when Sue suddenly pushed off from -the platform. She had thought her cable line was secure and that she was -ready to make the exciting trip back across the gulf. - -“Wait, miss!” the scientist called. “I didn’t finish fastening your -cable cord!” He reached for Sue but her suit slipped out of the fingers -of his bulky space gloves. - -Steve froze for an instant in terror at what he had seen. Then without -thought of anything else except his sister’s danger, he dove right off -the platform after Sue, not realizing or caring that his own cable cord -was not fastened. - -If the scientist had not grabbed for Sue she might have floated safely -across to the freighter. But by touching her he had sent her off in a -direction beneath it. - -Over his radio, Steve heard her screaming for help and saw her flinging -her arms and legs about like a drowning swimmer. Steve was moving faster -than she and presently caught up with her. - -“What are we going to do, Steve?” she cried, holding tightly to him. “We -can’t stop! And it’s so dark out here!” - -Steve knew that unless someone came to their aid they would drift on and -on since there was no air to slow them down. But he didn’t tell Sue -this. - -He remembered, as he had at times before, that a spaceman must keep his -head in an emergency. He spoke comforting words to Sue, telling her to -try to be calm, that help would be coming. - -[Illustration: _He saw her flinging her arms and legs about like a -drowning swimmer_] - -Even as he told her this a spear of light hit them and a voice broke in -on their radio: “Steve! Sue! Stop struggling! I’m on my way to you!” - -“Biff!” Steve exclaimed, and the dread in his heart suddenly lifted. He -looked over his shoulder and saw their big friend approaching, guided by -the light that had been flashed on them from the freighter. - -There was a little plume of flame trailing behind him. In a few minutes -he had caught up with them. Sue was so glad to see him she grabbed the -big spaceman and her helmet bumped against his in an attempted kiss. - -“Oh, I’m so glad to see you, Biff!” she sobbed. “I was so _awfully_ -scared!” - -“You’re all right now,” Biff said gently. “Both of you hold on to me and -we’ll go back.” - -Steve took Biff’s left arm and Sue firmly grasped one of Steve’s. Biff -carried a type of hand rocket, called a “pusher,” that he had used to -shoot himself along toward them. By pointing the rocket in the opposite -direction from which he wanted to go, the “pusher” pushed him in the -manner of the rocket tubes on the freighter. - -Biff pointed the pusher away from the freighter. Steve saw a burst of -fire beside them and the three of them sped off toward the big ship. As -Sue reached the platform, her father was there to help her aboard. She -could see in his eyes the fear he had felt for them. - -Steve was surprised to have the crew greet him warmly with pats on the -back. The boy turned to his father. “Why are they calling me a hero?” he -asked. “It was Biff who saved us!” - -“Not taking credit away from Biff, any good spaceman would have done -what he did,” said Mr. Shannon. “But few would have attempted your trick -of jumping into space after your sister with no way of getting back. -Right, Biff?” - -Biff nodded his plastic helmet. “It wasn’t the smartest thing you could -have done, Steve, but it showed your bravery. Courage counts just as -much as ability in a spaceman. Don’t ever forget that, son.” - -Steve, who wanted to be a spaceman some day, would not forget it. - - - - - _THE FLYING MOUNTAIN_ - - -Steve and Sue were playing a game as the freighter headed through space -toward Earth. It was fun trying to see who could build the higher tower -of sticks. The young Shannons were in extra good spirits. Before long -they would be seeing Mom and their home in Arkansas, after being in -space for so many months. - -Steve carefully placed the last stick on his tower which was almost as -high as he could reach. - -“_I_ won, Sis!” he exclaimed. But as he drew his hand away, it brushed -against the tower, causing the sticks to drift off in all directions. - -“_I_ won!” Sue cried gleefully, “Yours broke up!” - -Steve made a face and began picking the sticks out of the air before -they floated too far. It was lack of weight in space that made it -possible to play such a game. The twins would have hung in the air like -the sticks if their shoe soles were not held to the floor by magnetism. - -“I’ll beat you next time,” Steve boasted. - -Before they could start again, their father came into the room. “It -looks as though we may not be getting home as quickly as we had -expected, kids. Captain Furman has received an S. O. S. from a passenger -rocket that’s down on the asteroid, Sierra.” The twins knew an asteroid -to be one of the thousands of tiny planets in the Solar System. - -“Are we going to her aid?” Steve asked. - -“It depends on whether we have enough fuel or not,” his father replied. -“Even atomic fuel runs out sometime, you know. Captain Furman is talking -with his officers now. It’ll be a shame if we can’t help the _Pole -Star_—as much as I want to see Mom.” - -It was just like his unselfish dad to say that, Steve thought. He felt -the same way about it. And he didn’t doubt that tender-hearted Sue was -of the same mind. - -Mr. Shannon started out of the room again. “I’m going to see what they -are going to do.” - -Steve and Sue went back to their game. But somehow it wasn’t as much fun -now. People were in trouble and trouble in space was often a frightening -thing. - -It seemed like a long time before their father came back. He walked in -so fast that his magnetic shoes sounded like tiny hammers. “Kids,” he -said, “the captain wants to see you.” - -“_Us?_” Steve asked. - -“That’s right. Come quickly.” - -They went out, leaving some sticks in mid-air and others drifting off. -The young Shannons walked shyly into the captain’s room where all the -officers stood. Steve felt out of place among the neatly uniformed -spacemen. - -Mr. Shannon was in charge of cargo which the freighter dropped off at -different ports in space, for he was an official of the American Space -Supply Company. But he had nothing to do with the running of the ship. - -“Young folks,” said the tall captain, who had a blond mustache, “we want -you to help us solve a problem.” - -“Sir?” Steve asked, puzzled. - -“Here it is,” went on the chief, in his booming voice. “If we go on past -Earth to Sierra to help the _Pole Star_, it’ll leave us with only a -fifty-fifty chance of having enough fuel to reach Earth. But the _Pole -Star_ is running short of supplies and their radio just went dead a -while ago. It’s too late to get help from Earth. The crew is divided on -what we should do, so I decided to call you two in to see what you -think.” - -A husky crewman spoke out boldly, “What do these kids know about space, -Captain? They’re not even old enough to be out here! I say stick to our -course and get this crew and ship back safely to Earth!” - -The remark angered Steve, but the spaceman looked too big to talk back -to. Sue wasn’t so timid. - -“You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” she exclaimed. “Thinking of -yourself when other people are in trouble!” - -Steve and his father were surprised at Sue’s outburst. Captain Furman -and the other crewmen smiled. - -“I think that solves our problem,” the captain spoke firmly. “If the -young lady has courage enough to overlook the risk, the rest of us -should have it, too. Thank you, Sue. We move at full rocket thrust to -aid the _Pole Star_.” - -As the Shannons went out into the corridor, Steve asked his sister, -“Wow, Sue, what made you talk back to that big fellow like that?” - -“He was so selfish!” Sue answered. “Besides, it made me mad to hear him -say we didn’t know anything about space! Why, we’ve been over almost all -of the Solar System, haven’t we, Dad?” - -Her father pressed her shoulder. “Of course, honey. I’m proud of you, -because I felt the same way.” - -It took a few days for the freighter to reach the asteroid. The space -ship, in going past the Earth, had come close enough for the Earth to be -seen as a misty, green light. It made the twins long for home as they -saw it. - -“Sierra is like a big meteor, isn’t it, Dad?” Steve asked, as the three -of them looked downward on the flat, egg-shaped rock. - -His father nodded. “It’s often called, ‘The Flying Mountain,’ because of -the low peaks on it. Sierra is only a mile long and less than that -wide.” - -“I remember from school that it wasn’t discovered until 1965,” Sue said. - -“That’s because it’s so small and isn’t very bright in the sky,” her -father spoke. “Most of the asteroids are much farther out, between Mars -and Jupiter, but a few come in close to Earth like Sierra, Hermes, Eros -and some others.” - -The freighter landed safely in a flat area about two hundred feet from -the _Pole Star_. The Shannons could see the damaged space ship jammed -against a cliff. Brilliant sunshine reflected upward from bare dark -rock, dazzling their eyes. It was over a hundred degrees on Sierra, for -there was no atmosphere to check the sun’s heat. - -“Boy, what a place for a sunburn!” Steve said. - -“It’s certainly summertime on Sierra!” Sue added. - -They watched crewmen in space suits come out of the freighter and begin -uncoiling a spool of rope that would stretch between the two ships. -Safety lines led from all the men back to the cargo ship. - -“There’s almost no gravity at all here,” Mr. Shannon told his son and -daughter, “because the asteroid is so small. If the people from the -_Pole Star_—providing there are any alive—didn’t have the rope to hang -on to, they might float right off Sierra.” - -The children asked to go outside. The three suited up and went out, -using safety lines, just in case. - -The glare was so strong that they had to lower their darkening glasses -over the face part of their helmets. The heat was such that they had to -switch on the cooling outfits in their suits. It was strange to see the -edge of the asteroid so close, just beyond a fringe of dagger-like -peaks. It was like being on a big space raft. - -The twins tried walking. They were less than feather-light and it was -quite a job for them even to keep upright. Sue decided this wouldn’t be -a very good place to spend a summer vacation. - -Sue’s cooling outfit made her sneeze. She was lifted right off the -ground and her father had to pull her down quickly. She and Steve -laughed but they had been scared. - -“See, it doesn’t take much to send you sky high!” Mr. Shannon joked, -speaking over the radio set which all three of them carried in their -space suits. - -At last the crewmen, who had been moving so carefully over the ground -toward the _Pole Star_, reached the ship and fastened the rope to it. -The outer door of the _Pole Star_ was then opened by someone inside. - -“Thank goodness somebody’s alive in there!” Mr. Shannon said thankfully. -“I guess the ship just coasted into the rock wall without too much -force.” - -The freighter crew began helping people out of the passenger rocket. If -things weren’t so serious, it would have been funny for Sue and Steve to -see them in their balloon-like space suits, bouncing one careful step at -a time and holding on for dear life to the rope. - -As the party neared the freighter, the twins suddenly saw their father -dash toward the ship. In his haste, Mr. Shannon seemed to have forgotten -where he was and went scooting upward like a high-jumper. - -“Dad!” Sue and Steve cried out together. - -Mr. Shannon had to put out his hands and feet at the last minute to keep -from crashing into the wall of the freighter. Then he pulled himself -down to the ground with his safety line. When they saw that their father -was unhurt, Sue and Steve began walking toward the ship with careful -steps. - -They heard their dad exclaim, “Mr. Ballinger!” as he walked over to one -of the men from the _Pole Star_. - -“John Shannon!” the man said. - -It turned out that Mr. Ballinger was the president of the American Space -Supply Company and was Mr. Shannon’s boss. Mr. Ballinger explained that -the _Pole Star_ was heading for Mars when there was an explosion in the -rocket tubes. By landing on Sierra the captain thought there was a -better chance of their being found than if they had just kept drifting -in space, because all ships knew the path of “The Flying Mountain.” No -one had been hurt in the landing and the _Pole Star_ had enough fuel to -get the freighter back to Earth. - -“I don’t know whether I should fire you people or not for risking my -good freighter just to save an old codger like me!” the friendly Mr. -Ballinger joked. - -“We almost didn’t,” Steve’s dad reminded him and explained how Sue’s -outburst had decided the problem. - -“You’ve certainly got some smart ones there, John,” Mr. Ballinger said, -smiling at Sue and Steve. “Your son has already proved himself a hero -before and now it’s Sue. Yes, sir, I sure wish I had a pair like them!” - -But the twins scarcely heard him. They were thinking that, in spite of -the great fun they had had on all their space adventures, how wonderful -it was going to be to see Mom again and set foot on the grandest planet -in all the Solar System—Earth! - - - - - _CASTAWAYS IN SPACE_ - - -The two of them had just shoved the supply case against the chute door -when the space ship gave an unexpected burst of rocket power, knocking -Skip Miller against the release lever. The escape door shot up and a big -square of black space opened before the boys’ eyes. - -Glen Hartzell was stunned to see his friend go spinning down the incline -and follow the supply case toward the open door. Automatically, Glen -stretched his lean body full length trying to grasp Skip’s space suit -before he escaped. But his momentum sent him skidding down the slope and -the next thing he knew he was out in space, too. - -A week ago Glen wouldn’t have cared whether he faced death or not. He -and Skip had just made the scorned fraternity of “Wockies,” washed-out -cadets. His failure had cut like a knife. He had wanted to pilot ships -through the depths of space more than anything else in the world. -Instead, he and Skip had been assigned to ground crews on Mars. That, at -least, had been their destination until Skip’s elbow unexpectedly made -them castaways in space. - -Glen’s first thought was directed to Skip, who looked like a toy balloon -as he drifted through the vacuum. “Skip!” he called over his space suit -radio. “Do you hear me, Skip?” - -“Yeah, Glen,” Skip’s reply was scarcely more than a squeak. - -Glen looked down and ahead where a massive rock some ten miles in -diameter hung in the starry emptiness. “If we can make Phobos, we may be -all right.” - -“We’re done for,” Skip groaned. - -“We’re not!” Glen’s wits were sharpened by the danger. “We’re lined up -pretty well with Phobos. She doesn’t have any gravity to speak of and we -may be able to land on her.” - -“We won’t make Phobos,” Skip argued. “We’ll either run into Mars’ -gravity field and crash on its surface or float through space until our -air runs out.” - -“Shut up, Skip!” Glen’s tone was sharp. “Listen to me. See if you can -pick up a little speed by kicking out behind with your feet and hands. -If you can catch up with the supply case, hang on.” - -Skip didn’t reply but Glen saw his arms and legs begin to move. Glen -worked his own. It was a grueling effort, but Glen found that he was -able to increase his speed much in the manner of a space ship’s thrust. -By the time Glen touched Skip’s suit, both of them were sucking freely -of their precious oxygen. - -“What’s the idea?” Skip asked as his gloved hand clutched the strap of -the supply case and Glen held onto him. - -“We’ll use the case as a buffer to break our fall,” Glen explained. -“Remember, it’s covered with foam rubber so that it won’t shatter when -it hits.” - -The two had been preparing to drop the emergency supply case on Mars at -the time of the accident. Glen was glad now that they’d donned space -suits. - -Glen saw that the space ship was now only a tiny needle against the red -disk of Mars. He and Skip had probably not even been missed by the crew. -When they did find out, they wouldn’t know where to look for the boys. - -Phobos was a jagged, frightening giant below, but Glen held nothing but -love for it. Their speed had increased slightly, but it did not look as -if they would hit the ground dangerously fast. - -Glen felt Skip’s muscles tense for the landing. - -“Steady, fellow!” Glen breathed. - -He felt a rough jar in the pit of his stomach. Glen bounced off Skip’s -back as though he were rubber. He spread out his arms to ease his fall, -then was surprised to find his body settling down to rest as lightly as -a leaf. - -Glen felt a prickly chill in his cheeks. “We’ve got practically no -weight at all!” he breathed. Skip had almost drifted off into space -again, but Glen grabbed his leg and pulled him back. - -“It’s a crazy world, isn’t it?” Skip searched the rocky landscape that -sloped down from them on both sides. It was weird to be on a globe so -tiny you were conscious of its roundness. - -Glenn nodded. “We’ve _really_ got to keep both feet on the ground!” - -“What if they don’t find us, Glen?” Skip asked. “What then?” - -“I don’t know, Skip,” Glen sighed. “Let’s see what’s in the supply -case.” - -Glen was able to crawl better than he could walk over to the supply -case. Skip followed. Glen pressed a button on the case and the top -sprang up. - -“Whew! There’s not much that isn’t included!” Skip said. “Spare oxygen -tanks, a bubble tent outfit, food capsules, water maker, first-aid, -flares, books, electronic stove-heater.” - -“Let’s put up the bubble tent,” Glen said. “It’ll help save our heat.” - -As he had learned in cadet training, he removed a cylinder from the -outfit and pulled a lever. It popped open and a plastic bubble began -growing out of it. The bubble, which was slightly oblong and -transparent, enlarged to about seven feet, then detached itself from the -cartridge airtight. After it had hardened for several minutes, Glen took -an electric saw from the kit and cut a small door in the side. They made -hinges from self-sealing plastic strips. - -They used the foam rubber from around the case for flooring, then put -the supplies inside the bubble. They turned on the heater and then -turned off the heat units in their suits. - -“How long do you figure our supplies can last, Glen?” Skip asked. - -“They’re supposed to last two people ten days,” Glen replied. “Don’t you -remember that question on our exam?” - -“Don’t remind me!” Skip said. “I’m tired of hearing about the cadet -corps.” - -“I know,” Glen said bitterly. - -“How could they flunk us on one question?” Skip asked. “It wasn’t fair.” - -“I agree with you,” Glen answered, “but the fact remains that we’ve got -to take it.” - -Skip chuckled grimly. “You talk as if we have a lifetime ahead of us. We -don’t know whether we’ve got _tomorrow_.” - -“Which reminds me, we’d better send off some flares to let somebody know -where we are.” Glen picked up some of the rocket flares and “drifted” -out of the bubble tent. He set up a flare on its tripod legs, pointed it -at Mars’ ruddy face and pulled on the release catch. But it wouldn’t -move. - -“It’s jammed!” Glen tried another rocket and got the same result. Then -another, and another. They were all useless, all the catches warped, -possibly from having been kept too near a heat source in the ship. - -“How are we going to signal Mars now?” Skip asked. - -“Anything we toss out will be drawn to the planet by its gravitation,” -Glen was thinking out loud. - -“How about throwing out some of the extra supplies we have?” Skip -proposed. “We can attach a note.” - -“It’s a million-to-one shot they’d be found. Don’t you realize that only -a fraction of Mars has colonists? No, I’m afraid we’d wait here until -doomsday if we had to count on that.” - -“But what else is there to do?” Skip’s eyes were round with dread. - -Glen fought down his own sudden despair. “It looks as though we’ll have -to get to Mars on our own, Skip.” - -“Now you’re crazy! We’d be smashed to pieces!” - -“Not the way I’m thinking.” A plan was forming in Glen’s mind, as he -scrambled into the bubble tent and came out with one of their -engineering books. Skip watched in amazement as Glen began working math -problems in the dirt with a piece of stone. - -After a while, Glen said, “I think it’ll work, Skip. Want to take a -chance?” - -“I’d like to know what it is first.” - -“We can use the chute from the supply case and attach it to the bubble,” -Glen explained. “Then we can ride in the bubble to Mars.” - -“It sounds fantastic!” - -“I’ve figured it every way I know,” Glen said. “At least, it’s better -than sitting here and hoping we’ll accidentally be found. Shall we try -it?” - -Skip shrugged. “If it’s our only chance. But I hope you’ve figured all -the angles!” - -“We’d better get started right away,” Glen advised. “We may need all our -air tanks if we have to do some walking when we land.” - -They set to work fastening the lines of the chute around and under the -plastic bubble. They used more of the plastic strips to secure the lines -tightly. The chute was still folded, since the vacuum on Phobos had -failed to trip the automatic release. The boys decided to carry only a -minimum of supplies to make their weight as light as possible. When they -were ready to go, they climbed into the bubble and Glen shoved them off -with one foot outside the door. Then he closed the door. - -“How long will it take us to get there?” Skip asked. - -“I’ve figured on about a hundred hours,” Glen answered. “That should put -us close to Mars City, figuring on Mars’ rotation. But if it doesn’t, we -should be able to reach some research settlement.” - -They moved slowly at first. Glen hoped for only enough speed to carry -them into Mars’ gravity pull. As they approached the red planet, their -speed would increase and that worried Glen. If they whacked into Mars’ -air blanket too fast, the chute might be ripped from the bubble. - -To while away the many hours, the boys dozed and took turns reading the -one novel they had brought along. Their legs soon became cramped and -sore, and they would have given a good deal to have been able to stretch -or walk about. - -On the third day, the boys could see the canals criss-crossing in a -tangled network on the ruddy globe of Mars. On the fourth day, just as -Glen had figured, the glassite domes of Mars City began to show through -the violet haze of atmosphere. Glen wondered how fast they were going. -There was no way to tell because their insulation kept them from feeling -the rush of air. - -“Cross your fingers, Skip,” Glen warned. “Our chute should open in the -next few minutes.” - -The seconds appeared to last hours as they waited, and Glen suffered a -torture of suspense. What if the chute did not open? In that case, they -would end up in fragments on Mars’ red earth. Or what if the force of -the air should jerk the chute off the bubble? - -Even as Glen worried, he felt a sharp drag and was tumbled over on Skip. - -“Look! The chute’s open!” Skip pointed overhead. - -Some minutes later, the red ground rushed up at them like an enfolding -blanket. Their final problem faced them now. If they landed safely, they -would have conquered space in a way no spaceman had ever done before. - -Glen’s muscles drew tight and his heart thumped rapidly as the last few -hundred feet melted away. He wanted to close his eyes during these final -seconds but he forced himself to watch the rising ground so that he -could brace himself at the moment of contact. He was glad they had the -foam rubber cushion beneath them. - -Glen counted off the last few feet. “A hundred—fifty—twenty—!” - -As they struck, Glen was thrown against the ceiling of the bubble. -Plastic clattered against plastic as the bubble rolled over on the -ground many times before stopping. Glen straightened himself out. He was -shaken up but he was unhurt. He looked across at Skip. - -“We made it,” Glen said, but his voice shook, as if he wasn’t yet able -to believe it. He tore off the door seals, shoved out the door. Then -they got out and stretched their legs. Looking at the domes of Mars City -in the distance, Glen asked, “Ready to start walking?” - -“After being cooped up like a chicken, I’m willing to walk all over -Mars. Let’s go.” Skip’s natural good humor had returned. - -Less than an hour later, an astonished captain at the Mars City -spaceport heard the boys’ strange story. - -“Your courage and ingenuity have been incredible!” the captain said when -they had finished. “I can’t believe that you two are Wockies. If you -weren’t flunked for reasons of scholarship, I’m sure you’ll be -reinstated.” - -“We weren’t flunked for that reason, sir,” Skip said. - -“For what reason then?” the captain asked. - -Glen smiled wryly as he replied, “We were flunked, sir, because we -failed the test to determine whether we could bear up in an emergency or -not!” - - - - - _THE BIG SPACE BALL GAME_ - - -It was an unusual setting for baseball. Instead of a blue sky, there was -the darkness of space and the brilliance of stars overhead. The light of -Earth flooded the scene, and surrounding the oversized diamond were the -walls of Copernicus crater, over fifty miles across. - -On the mound, Bill Cherry was pitching practice balls to his catcher, -Ollie Taylor. Only underhand throwing was allowed in baseball on the -Moon, for the ball was exceedingly fast in the light gravity and -airlessness. Bill, in snug-fitting space gear, was standing farther than -the regulation ninety feet from the plate. This was because of the -pitcher’s advantage over the batter in Lunar ball. - -Bill wound up and threw. The ball shot like a bullet into Ollie’s -double-padded mitt. - -“Thatta boy, Bill!” Ollie’s voice came over Bill’s space suit radio. “If -you’re this sharp when we meet the Comets this afternoon, we’re bound to -win our first championship!” - -“That’s enough practice, fellows!” Coach Lippert called, coming out of -the dugout. “No use giving our best before the game!” - -It was the _big_ game for the team from Plato, which was tied with the -league leaders in this last game of the season. Plato was the farthest -colony on the Moon and was named for the big crater in which it was -located. Copernicus colony, the baseball leader, had won the -championship every year since the school league had been formed. As a -prize, the champions were always given a free rocket trip to Earth. - -The Plato Rocketeers were homesick for their mother planet. One of them, -little Pete Irby, had never set foot there. He had been born on the -Moon. - -“It must be wonderful to go around without even a space suit on like -they do on Earth!” Pete said wistfully to Bill. - -“Don’t worry, Pete,” Bill said confidently. “I have a feeling that this -is our year and that we’re all going to Earth.” - -“I sure hope you’re right,” Pete replied, with great feeling. “I can’t -wait to see the great national parks and rivers and all the other -wonderful things there!” - - -At game time the grandstand was filled and some people were standing. It -was the largest crowd ever to see a ball game on the Moon. Much of the -crowd was made up of hopeful parents from the Plato colony who had come -seven hundred miles by rocket plane to see their boys play. - -The champion Copernicus Comets ran out onto the field in big bouncing -strides. For on the Moon a person was capable of jumping and running in -great leaps because of the low gravity, only one-sixth of Earth’s. - -The Plato Rocketeers were the visiting team would bat first. When the -outfielders had taken their positions, they were tiny forms far out in -the distance with nothing but gray wilderness behind them for a -backstop. There were eleven men in Moon baseball because of this greater -outfield range. Two extra fielders played behind the shortstop and -second baseman and were called “short fielders.” - -Bill noticed a wheel chair below the railing of the grandstand. His -mother and dad had brought his crippled younger brother Skippy to see -the game! Bill had known his parents were going to rocket over from -Plato in time for the game, but they had not said Skippy would come -along. Bill gave Skippy a wave and his little brother waved back. - -The lead-off batter for the Rocketeers walked to the plate swinging a -bat, padded to keep it from hitting the ball too hard and far. The -Comets’ ace pitcher, Carl Cadman, hurled three fast strikes over almost -before the batter had gotten a good foothold. Carl struck out the next -batter as well and then forced little Pete Irby to loft a high infield -fly for the third out. - -“Let’s get ’em, Bill!” Ollie said excitedly as the Rocketeers took the -field. - -“We’ll sure try,” Bill promised his catcher. - -Bill took the mound. With his space gloves he massaged rosin into the -baseball. After getting the signal from Ollie, Bill swung his arm down -and around. The batter swung sharply, driving the ball toward third. The -baseman made a dive for the ball, but he missed it. His body seemed to -glide in slow motion in the light gravity. - -Bill walked the next batter, making two on and none out. Jack Brenna, -the Comets’ heaviest hitter, was up. Bill got two strikes on him and -then Jack took a better toehold. As Bill saw bat and ball connect -solidly on the next pitch, his heart fell. - -The ball arched like a comet across the dark sky. The left fielder took -a dozen giant steps after the ball but then gave up. The ball seemed to -be going for miles. It was a home run. - -The Comets did not score anymore that inning, but the damage seemed to -be already done. The champions were leading 3-0. - -Bill was first up for the Rocketeers. As he went to the plate swinging a -bat, his eye caught Skippy’s wheel chair, and he saw his game little -brother waving encouragement. It made him want to try even harder to put -his team out in front. Bill knew he would have to do it with his -hitting, since he had failed as a pitcher. - -But Bill got no closer to a hit than a long foul into the stands. Then -he struck out. The two teammates following him also failed to get on -base. - -The game moved along with no more scoring for the next five innings. It -was still 3-0. - -In the last of the seventh inning the Plato Rocketeers had more trouble. -The first Comet batter topped the ball slowly to Pete at shortstop, who -tried too hard to make the play. The ball rolled between his legs and -the runner went all the way to second. - -Pete was so busy grumbling about his last error that he muffed the next -play too. He jumped ten feet into the air trying to reach the high, -bounding ball, but he misjudged it and it went on past. The runner on -second loped down to third in long strides. Bill called time in order to -give Pete a chance to settle down. - -“We’ll never win this game!” Pete groaned. “Why don’t you fellows say -I’m not any good—like you’re thinking!” - -“Stop talking like that!” Bill told him over his suit radio. “You’re -thinking too much about going to Earth, Pete. You’re trying _too_ hard!” - -“I’ll try to do better,” Pete promised. - -The next batter drove a high fly to center, sending the runner in from -third and making the score 4-0. Bill walked the player following, but -then he was lucky enough to strike out the hard-hitting Jack Brenna. - -The next Comet drove a hard liner to Pete. Pete scrambled for the ball, -but once again he muffed it and it went on into the outfield. The -shortfielder recovered it quickly but threw wide to third, sending the -runner into the plate with the Comets’ fifth run. - -When Bill looked at Pete, the little fellow had thrown his big fielder’s -glove into the air and was beginning to walk broken-heartedly off the -diamond. - -“Pete!” Bill heard Coach Lippert call sharply over his suit radio as he -ran onto the field. “Get back to your position, son! I don’t like a -quitter on my team.” - -Players and coach huddled in the infield. They looked like a gathering -of teddy bears in the space suits. Bill could see tears of bitterness -inside Pete’s plastic helmet. - -“Fellows,” the coach said, “what did we come seven hundred miles across -the Moon to do?” - -“To play ball,” someone answered, “—and win.” - -“All right, then. What do you say we start doing it? Pete, I’m going to -send you to left field where you used to play. Dan, in left field, will -take your place at shortstop.” - -The Rocketeers retired the side without further scoring. Then as though -to prove that the pep talk had helped, the team came up with three big -runs of their own! - -Pitching with all his skill, Bill was able to set down the Comets in -order. It was now the top half of the ninth inning, the last chance for -Plato to win the game. They were still behind 5-3, and the two-run lead -seemed as big as the Milky Way to Bill. - -Dan started it off by walloping a double down the right field line. Pete -followed with a single that bounced high over the right shortfielder’s -head. The fielder behind him took the ball and threw quickly to his -catcher to keep Dan from scoring off third. But then the Rocketeers’ -luck seemed to have run out as the next two players struck out. - -“It’s all up to you, Bill,” the coach told his pitcher as Bill selected -his favorite bat. - -“I’ll be swinging, coach,” Bill said determinedly. - -He looked toward the stands as he walked to the plate. Skippy was waving -encouragement again. - -“This one is for you, Skippy,” Bill murmured, stepping up to the plate. - -Carl tried to make him swing on two bad pitches. - -“Careful,” Bill warned himself. “There are two outs—only one more left -to us in the whole game!” - -The next ball was just the one Bill wanted. He swung with all his might. -He saw the ball rise and lose itself in the white dust of starlight -overhead. And then he was off! - -Loping past second, he saw the left fielder still bounding like a rabbit -after the ball. The coach slowed him up on third base. - -“Take it easy, Bill,” he said with a happy grin. “That ball is on the -dark side of the Moon by now!” - -Bill could see the Plato rooters waving their arms wildly in glee, and -his radio picked up their loud cheers. As he crossed the plate with the -leading run, he waved to Skippy who was almost out of his wheel chair in -his excitement over his big brother’s tingling homer. - -The score: Plato 6, Copernicus 5. The game was far from over, though. -The Comets still had their last turn at bat. - -Bill got the first player to raise a high infield pop-up. In the Moon’s -light gravity it seemed as if the ball would never come down. But it -finally did, and Dan took it for the first out. - -Bill walked the next Comet, to put one on and with one out. The -following batter forced the runner at second, making it two out and -giving Bill a much more confident feeling. - -But then up to the plate walked Jack Brenna! - -Bill swallowed hard and began to sweat inside his space suit. He failed -to get the ball over the plate on the first two pitches. Jack swung on -the next pitch and sent a hard foul ball behind third base. - -“Must be careful,” Bill thought. “A homer with the man on base will win -the game for the Comets.” - -Bill came though with a fast ball. Jack met it squarely and as the ball -towered high over the infield, Jack felt all quivery and weak. He turned -his head regretfully and saw the ball rising high and far against the -midnight black of space. He saw little Pete Irby galloping away from the -diamond as fast as he could go. - -“Get it, Pete!” Bill pleaded under his breath. “Please get it!” - -Everybody in the stands was on his feet. This was the play that would -decide the game—and the championship. - -Pete finally made a last second leap that brought him twenty feet off -the ground. Bill could hardly see ball and glove meet. But they did meet -and Pete had done the impossible! - -They had won! - -The Rocketeers whirled the coach and Bill easily up on their shoulders, -because of the light Lunar weight. Then they began parading happily -around the diamond to celebrate their very first championship. When Pete -had made the long trip in from the outfield, he too was carried around -on his teammates’ shoulders. - -“That was a swell catch, Pete!” Bill called out to the little fellow. -“You sure saved the day for us!” - -“You know what, Bill?” Pete said, grinning. “If I’d missed that ball I -would have kept on running—yep, right into space! I was determined to -make that trip to Earth one way or another!” - - - - - _PAPER TREASURE FOR MARS_ - - -Hugh Davone and Link Malloy sat at the wall desk of the space ship -compartment poring over their albums of interplanetary postage stamps. -The atom-powered _Princess of Mars_, cargo and passenger liner, was only -a few hours out on its Earth-to-Mars run. - -“It makes me nervous thinking of the thousands of dollars’ worth of -stamps we’re carrying in the wall safe,” Link said. “I don’t think I’m -going to enjoy this trip.” - -“Take it easy, Link,” Hugh replied, with a lighthearted grin. “There are -Space Guardsmen aboard ship to protect us.” - -The fellows were on their annual vacation from the Space Cadet Corps. -Since cadets in training could ride any space ship free, the two were -escorting a valuable shipment of Mr. Davone’s interplanetary stamps to -another dealer opening up shop in Mars City. - -“I’m worrying about that white-haired old character your dad said asked -suspicious questions at his shop the other day,” Link said. “Seems funny -that he is making the trip to Mars the same time we are.” - -“Probably only a coincidence,” Hugh answered. “There’s only one flight a -month to Mars, you know.” - -“There are unscrupulous dealers who would give anything to lay their -hands on our shipment,” Link went on. “This deal means an awful lot to -your dad’s stamp business, Hugh. If we should bungle the job, he -certainly would lose a lot.” - -“Sure he would,” Hugh agreed, then he added, “but we aren’t going to -bungle it.” - -This seemed to satisfy Link and a smile of confidence deepened the -corners of his broad, friendly mouth. - -Hugh picked up a stamp with his tongs. “I came across this duplicate -from the Venus pictorial issue. It’s the six-dollar blue of the Valley -of Mists. Have you got it?” - -Link leaned over. “No! What have you been doing, Hugh, holding out on -me? How about some of my 2027 Lunar commems in trade?” - -They worked out an exchange. The Lunar stamps were curious specimens, -imperforate and circular. They depicted the Lunar hemisphere which faces -Earth. The single-stamp issue had been distributed on the fiftieth -anniversary of man’s first landing on the moon and was much in demand. - -Suddenly there was a knock on the outer door of the compartment. - -Hugh got up and went to the door. As he walked, his magnetic-sole shoes -rasped against the metallic floor like a knife being honed. He opened -the door. - -A man with the face and build of a leprechaun looked at Hugh. His pale -but alert blue eyes peered steadily into Hugh’s. Hugh also began to -wonder why this customer at Davone’s Philatelic Shop should be making -the voyage to Mars with them. - -“Yes, sir?” Hugh asked. - -“May I come in?” the man asked. “My name is Oscar Benasco.” - -Hugh hesitated, thinking about the valuable cargo, then he replied -reluctantly, “Yes.” - -“Your father certainly has a fine shop, Hugh Davone,” the elderly man -said brightly as he entered. “However, I was disappointed to find out -that he had packed up some of his choicest space items and was selling -them to Mr. Elfs, a dealer on Mars.” - -“You know quite a lot, Mr. Benasco,” Link remarked coolly. - -“Yes, I pride myself on my shrewdness,” Mr. Benasco replied in a modest -manner. His roving eyes came to rest on the boys’ albums. “I see you two -have collections of your own.” - -“Nothing very valuable,” Hugh replied. “But we enjoy our stamps just the -same.” - -“Ah, yes,” Benasco said. His eyes brightened with eagerness and he -placed the tips of his outspread fingers together. “Speaking of valuable -items—those you are taking to Mars—no doubt you keep them in your -compartment safe. I wonder if you might show them to me?” - -“I’m sorry, Mr. Benasco,” Hugh said, “but I promised my dad I wouldn’t -take the stamps out to show anyone until they were safely in the hands -of Mr. Elfs on Mars.” - -Benasco looked completely crestfallen. His rounded shoulders slumped and -the most pained expression covered his face. “Surely just a look—” he -pleaded. - -“If you are going to Mars, as you must be,” Hugh went on, “you’ll be -able to see them all in Mr. Elfs’s shop, and you can talk to him about -any stamps you might want to buy.” - -“Then that’s your final answer?” Mr. Benasco asked, his disappointment -giving way to annoyance. - -“I’m afraid it must be,” Hugh told him. “I’m sorry.” - -“You’ve disappointed me sorely, young man,” Mr. Benasco retorted. “Good -day to you.” - -He turned briskly and clattered out the door. As he left, Hugh caught -sight of the handle of an old type miniature rocket pistol protruding -from his coat pocket. - -“Did you see that pistol?” Link asked, in surprise. “It’s a wonder he -didn’t hold us up for the stamps right here and now! But I guess he was -afraid to risk it.” - -“For a moment I almost felt sorry for him and was about to give in,” -Hugh admitted. “Now I’m glad I didn’t.” - -In the days that followed, Hugh and Link saw little of Mr. Benasco -except in the dining room. - -One morning, near the end of the flight, Hugh and Link were standing in -front of their compartment port looking out. The orange-red globe of -Mars was so dominant that it seemed to press back the surrounding stars -and nebulae to near obscurity. - -“Only a few more days and our shipment will be safely in the hands of -Mr. Elfs in Mars City,” Hugh said. “Then Mr. Benasco will be Mr. Elfs’s -worry.” - -“That will be just dandy as far as I’m concerned,” Link replied -earnestly. - -By this year of 2031, space mail service had increased to such -proportions that it had opened up a brand new field of stamp -specialization for the philatelist. It was for this reason that Mr. Elfs -was attempting a stamp hobby business in Mars City. Mr. Davone’s -portfolios of both low and high values was to provide him with the bulk -of his opening merchandise. - -Even the most remote colonies of the Solar System, including the -farthest on Triton, Neptune, had their own postage by now. The lone -Triton bi-color, picturing Valhalla Peak, tallest mountain yet -discovered in the System, was one of the most wanted by collectors. - -Suddenly the chimes for lunch were heard over the compartment intercom. - -Entering the dining room, Hugh and Link saw Benasco in his usual place -at the end of the table near the door. They took their seats and Link -smiled at his plate. “Cubed beef, Hugh.” - -Hugh grinned. “You can’t say they don’t aim to please on the _Princess -of Mars_.” - -But the fellows did not get to finish their cubed roast, nor did anyone -else at the table. - -A shock hit the ship like an unheralded thunderbolt. Hugh had the crazy -feeling of being in a nightmare. After the deafening report, he felt his -lap belt snap, and then he was hoisted out of his chair as though in the -vortex of a whirlwind. The table tore loose from the floor fittings. -Hugh bounced into a coffee urn and it nearly stunned him. Groans of -distress from those around him filled his ears. - -“What has happened?” Hugh thought dazedly. - -The ship’s disaster siren pealed along the corridors of the _Princess of -Mars_. Medical men with stretchers came running and officers snapped out -brisk orders. Hugh groped anxiously through the melee for Link. He -struggled over twisted chair tubing and found his friend helping those -who were hurt. - -“We’ve got work to do,” Link told him. - -Hugh rolled up his sleeves. He was still giddy. “I’m ready,” he said. - -It was reported later that there were no fatalities, but there were -enough injured persons to keep the infirmary staff busy for awhile. - -Hugh and Link, working side by side with the medical men, had not seen -anything of Benasco since the accident. The ship’s engineers revealed -that a meteorite had caused the disaster. It had struck fairly close to -the compartment occupied by Hugh and Link. Hugh shuddered to think what -it would have been like to have been tossed about in their room like a -pea in a whistle. Such would have been his and Link’s fate had the -strike occurred half an hour earlier. - -The cadets had not yet had the opportunity to check their quarters for -damage. When the physician in charge finally freed them with thanks for -their help, Hugh thought about the stamps for the first time since the -unnerving incident. - -“Link,” he said urgently, “we’ve got to get back and check on those -stamps! This has been a perfect set up for Benasco and his scheme!” - -“Right behind you,” Link said as they hurried from the infirmary. - -Along the way, the two found warped walls and doors that had been flung -open. Luckily all the occupants in the worst-hit area had been in the -dining room at the terrible moment, or there surely would have been -fatalities. - -Reaching their compartment, Hugh and Link found that the door had been -forced open by the explosion. - -Hugh hurried over to the wall safe. He felt a chill of dread race -through him. The vault door also was open and the chamber was empty. - -“They’re gone!” Hugh said hoarsely. “All of Dad’s stamps are gone!” - -Hugh slumped remorsefully on his cot, taut fingers combing through his -hair. “Dad wanted to have the stamps insured,” he said bitterly, “but I -was trying to save him money. The insurance fee was enormous, and on top -of that he would have had to pay the fare both to and from Mars for the -agents who would carry the shipment. How I wish they had done it now!” - -“If Benasco has the stamps, we may still be able to recover them,” Link -said. “Let’s go see him.” - -Hugh got up, his face set, his palm shaped into a fist. “If Benasco _is_ -the one, I’ll personally—oh, never mind! Come on!” - -They moved down corridor “E,” which was away from the center of the -damage. This was the hall where they knew Benasco’s room was located. -Scarcely anybody was in the section at present. Those who resided in the -nearby rooms were either helping out in the emergency, or they were idly -watching the beginning of repairs. The outside meteor bumper and the -inner buffer bulkheads had kept the destruction to a minimum. By -automatically sealing themselves off from the rest of the ship at the -moment of impact, the protective bulkheads had kept the ship from being -decompressed. - -Hugh and Link found their suspect’s door closed. Hugh walked up to it -and tried the knob. - -The door opened under Hugh’s push, but the compartment was vacant. - -“He’s gone,” Link said. - -“He must be somewhere close by,” Hugh returned impatiently. “We haven’t -passed him on the way, so he must be farther down the corridor.” - -“Maybe he’s looking for a place to hide the portfolios until we land,” -Link suggested. “He knows we’ll suspect him of taking them.” - -Hugh nodded. “Let’s go.” - -As the two moved ahead down the quiet passageway, Link spoke in a tense -voice, “Do you think we’re right trying to tackle that little guy alone? -We’re each bigger than he is, but he’s got a pistol and we haven’t.” - -“We’ll be careful,” Hugh promised. - -There were a number of storerooms lining the corridor. The cadets -checked one after another. The rooms were shrouded in tomblike silence -and full of dark hiding places. But the search revealed no sign of -Benasco or the missing portfolios. - -“He seems to have disappeared right into the air,” Link said -discouragingly. “Hugh, I hate to say it, but something tells me we -aren’t going to see either Benasco or those stamps again.” - -They were approaching the door of an outer-ship repair room. Hugh knew -that a ladder in this room led directly up to the outside hull of the -ship. - -“You’re probably thinking along the same lines that I am, Link,” Hugh -replied gravely. “It may be farfetched, but a person as shrewd as Mr. -Benasco makes out to be might have cooked up a pretty clever plan. He -may have had a portable transmitter hidden somewhere so that he could -contact another party outside the ship.” - -“I get it!” Link said. “He might have radioed this crony in a space taxi -to meet him on the outer skin. Then they could both take off with the -loot and either land on Mars or on one of the moons!” - -As Link spoke, Hugh was staring through the plastic window of the room. -A wall hid much of the interior from view. Suddenly he saw the very man -they were seeking cross the room and disappear beyond the corner of the -concealing wall. - -Link caught a glimpse of him too. “Hey!” he burst out. “Wasn’t that -_him_?” - -“It sure was,” Hugh replied, feeling better now. “He probably just -entered the room from another door along the next side corridor.” - -Hugh gently turned the knob and the door swung open soundlessly. “We’ll -slip in softly,” he whispered. “Then we can try to take him by surprise -around the corner up ahead. We’ll have to watch our step because he’s -probably desperate and will have his pistol ready for use.” - -“He deserves to get twenty years for a theft like this,” Link whispered -fiercely. “How did he ever expect to get away with it?” - -“He _won’t_ get away with it,” Hugh whispered confidently. “Right now -he’s probably getting into a space suit so he can pop through the outer -hatch and join his confederate outside.” - -They had reached the corner on tiptoe. Hugh, in the lead, peered -carefully around the corner. He gaped in surprise at what he saw: - -Benasco was seated on the floor like a child with a new scrapbook, and -he was chattering away ecstatically to himself! - -“My, oh, my, what a splendid group!” he was saying. “There’s a _tete -beche_ pair of old 1989 Space Stations I’ve always wanted! And look at -this one—a full sheet of Europa triangles! Oscar Benasco will have the -most splendid collection of space stamps in all the Solar System!” - -[Illustration: _Benasco was seated on the floor like a child with a new -scrapbook_] - -Hugh came out of hiding, followed by Link. “The jig’s up, Mr. Benasco,” -Hugh said. “How about returning our property?” - -The old man was so preoccupied that he did not notice Hugh and Link -immediately. “Dear, dear,” he purred, “what a beautiful set of Einstein -memorial surcharges! I wonder if young Davone will break up the set? I -have some of them.” - -“He’s just a queer old guy,” Link remarked as the two of them strode up -to him. - -“Oh, hello, boys,” Mr. Benasco greeted them casually. “I was hoping I’d -found a place where I wouldn’t be disturbed for awhile. I knew you’d -come by my room. I hope you don’t mind the liberty I’ve taken with your -stamps. But I did _ask_ to see them and you refused, you know?” - -Hugh took from him the portfolio he was holding. “How many stamps have -you removed from here?” he demanded. - -The man’s snowy brows went up in surprised indignation. “Removed?” he -shrilled, his face coloring. “I’ve never been accused of stealing in my -life, sir! I merely borrowed your collection to see if it has the items -I need. When the explosion blew open your safe, it was simply a -temptation I could not resist.” - -“Those rare items you need cost money,” Hugh reminded him. “Lots of it.” - -“Young man,” Mr. Benasco grunted, “you do not need to tell me of the -value of postage stamps. I’m well acquainted with Scott’s catalogue. I -have every intention of paying for my merchandise.” He pulled out such a -wad of bills that Link gasped. “You see, I _can_ pay.” - -“What about that rocket pistol you’re carrying in your pocket, Mr. -Benasco?” Link asked suspiciously. “Do you always go around armed?” - -“Oh, this?” the old man asked, taking out the rusted miniature model. -“This is nothing but an old relic of mine when I was a space hand myself -on a freighter. I carry it with me sometimes, because it gives me a -feeling of confidence.” - -Hugh chuckled as a vast feeling of relief came over him. “You certainly -had us fooled, Mr. Benasco. We thought surely you were a stamp thief out -to steal our valuable stamps.” - -“Perhaps my methods have puzzled you somewhat,” Mr. Benasco declared. -“But I had to see those rarities before you got rid of them. Somebody -might have bought them before I could. Perhaps Mr. Elfs would have held -them out for his own collection. You must sell them to me, young man! I -believe I should die if I could not get them! Stamps represent the only -pleasure that is left to me.” - -“All right, Mr. Benasco, since it means so much to you,” Hugh agreed, -smiling. “Being a hobbyist myself, I know what a hold stamps can have on -a person. We’ll take the portfolios back to our compartment and discuss -the stamps you want. But if my father or Mr. Elfs complains about this, -you’ll have to share the blame.” - -“Gladly, gladly,” was the willing reply. “Do you mind telling us why -you’re going to Mars, Mr. Benasco?” Link asked. - -“I’ve got a son there working on a canal project. He invited me and my -stamp collection to come and stay as long as I liked, since I had lived -with my other son so long in the States. I thought it was nice of him.” - -As Hugh and Link were leading the way out of the room, the portfolios -safely tucked under their arms, Hugh remarked in a whisper to his pal, -“Link, I’ll never prejudge another person as long as I live.” - -Link stole a look back at Mr. Benasco who was clicking along behind and -smiling rapturously. “That calls for a mutual pledge, Hugh,” Link -replied soberly, with a shake of his head. “Let’s shake on it.” - -And they did. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - ---Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public - domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and - dialect unchanged. - ---In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the - HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.) - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Readers Science Fiction Stories, by -Richard Mace Elam - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG READERS SCIENCE FICTION *** - -***** This file should be named 53456-0.txt or 53456-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/4/5/53456/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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