“I’m willing to try it,” said Tom. “How about you, Astro?”
“I’ve gone this far, and I’m not quitting now.”
They turned to face Roger.
“Well, how about it, Roger?” asked Tom. “No one will think you’re yellow if you take the jet boat and leave now.”
“Ah—talk again!” grumbled Roger. “We always have to talk. Let’s be original for a change and just do our jobs!”
“All right,” said Tom. “Take an emergency light and signal Captain Strong. Tell him what we’re going to do. Warn him to stay away—about two hundred miles off. He’ll know if we’re successful or not within a half hour!”
“Yeah,” said Roger, “then we’ll send him one big flash to mean we failed! Bon voyage!”
Fifteen minutes later, as the Lady Venus drifted in her silent but deadly orbit, Tom, Roger and Astro still worked feverishly as the Geiger counter ticked off the increasing radioactivity of the wildcatting reaction mass in number-three rocket tube.
“Reading on the counter still’s going up, Astro,” warned Roger. “Fifteen-O-five.”
“Hurry it up, Astro,” urged Tom.
“Hand me that wrench, Tom,” ordered Astro. The big cadet, stripped to the waist, his thick arms and chest splattered with grease and sweat, fitted the wrench to the nut and applied pressure. Tom and Roger watched the muscles ripple along his back, as the big Venusian pitted all of his great strength against the metal.
“Give it all you’ve got,” said Tom. “If we do manage to jettison that tube, we’ve got to keep this part of the power deck airtight!”
Astro pulled harder. The veins standing out on his neck. At last, easing off, he stood up and looked down at the nut.
“That’s as tight as I can get it,” he said, breathing heavily.
“Or anyone else,” said Tom.
“All the valve connections broken?” asked Astro.
“Yep,” replied Roger. “We’re sealed tight.”
“That’s it, then,” said Tom. “Let’s get to the control deck and start blasting!”
Astro turned to the power-deck control board and checked the gauges for the last time. From above his head, he heard Tom’s voice over the intercom.
“All your relays to the power deck working, Astro?”
“Ready, Tom,” answered Astro.
“Then stand by,” said Tom on the control deck. He had made a hasty check of the controls and found them to be similar enough to those on the Polaris so that he could handle the ship. He flipped the switch to the radar deck and spoke into the intercom.
“Do we have a clear trajectory fore and aft, Roger?”
“All clear,” replied Roger. “I sent Captain Strong the message.”
“What’d he say?”
“The rebellion wasn’t anything more than a bunch of badly scared old men. Al James just got hysterical, that’s all.”
“What did he have to say about this operation?”
“I can’t repeat it for your young ears,” said Roger.
“So bad, huh?”
“Yeah, but not because we’re trying to save the ship.”
“Then why?” asked Tom.
“He’s afraid of losing a good unit!”
Tom smiled and turned to the control board. “Energize the cooling pumps!” he bawled to Astro over the intercom.
The slow whine of the pumps began to build to a shrieking pitch.
“Pumps in operation, Tom,” said Astro.
“Cut in nose braking rockets,” ordered Tom.
A low muted roar pulsed through the ship.
“Rockets on—we’re moving backward, Tom,” reported Astro.
And then suddenly Astro let out a roar. “Tom, the Geiger counter is going wild!”
“Never mind that now,” answered Tom. “Sound off, Roger!” he yelled.
“Ship moving astern—one thousand feet a second—two thousand—four thousand—”
“I’m going to let her build to ten, Roger,” yelled Tom. “We’ve only got one chance and we might as well make it a good one!”
“Six thousand!” yelled Roger. “Seven thousand!”
“Astro,” bellowed Tom, “stand by to fire stern rockets!”
“Ready, Tom,” was Astro’s reply.
“Eight thousand,” warned Roger. “Spaceman’s luck, fellas!”
The silver ship moved through space away from the Polaris.
“Nine thousand,” reported Roger. “And, Astro, I really love ya!”
“Cut nose braking rockets!” ordered Tom.
There was a sudden hush that seemed to be as loud as the noise of the rockets. The huge passenger ship, Lady Venus, was traveling through space as silent as a ghost.
“Nine thousand five hundred feet a second,” yelled Roger.
“Stand by, Astro, Roger! Hang on tight, and spaceman’s luck!”
“Ten thousand feet a second!” Roger’s voice was a hoarse scream.
“Fire stern rockets!” bawled Tom.
XVI
Under the tremendous drive of the stern rockets, the silver ship suddenly hurtled forward as if shot out of a cannon. The dangerous tube slid out of the stern of the ship and was quickly left behind as the Lady Venus sped in the opposite direction.
“That’s it,” yelled Tom, “hold full space speed! We dumped the tube, but we’re still close enough for it to blow us from here to Pluto!”
“I tracked it on the radar, Tom,” yelled Roger. “I think we’re far enough away to miss—”
At that moment a tremendous flash of light filled the radar scanner as the mass exploded miles to the rear of the Lady Venus.
“There it goes!” shouted Roger.
“Great jumping Jupiter,” yelled Tom, “and we’re still in one piece! We did it!”
From the power deck, Astro’s bull-like roar could be heard through the whole ship.
“Gimme an open circuit, Tom,” said Astro. “I want to operate the air blowers down here and try to get rid of some of that radiation. I have to get into the control chamber and see what’s going on.”
Tom flipped a switch on the board and set the ship on automatic flight. Then, turning to the teleceiver, he switched the set on.
“Lady Venus to Polaris—” said Tom, “come in, Polaris—come in!”
“… Strong here on the Polaris!” the officer’s voice crackled over the speaker. “By the rings of Saturn, I should log you three space-brained idiots for everything in the book!” Strong’s face gradually focused on the teleceiver screen and he stared at Tom coldly. “That was the most foolish bit of heroics I’ve ever seen and if I had my way I’d—I’ll—well—” The captain’s glare melted into a smile. “I’ll spend the rest of my life being known as the skipper of
