  Rock Merrill looked interestedly at the man who had introduced himself as Tony Kalmus. He had told the young former cadet that he had come all the way from Earth to see him. “You flatter me,” Rock said. “There’s more to it than that,” the man assured him. He was still fairly young, although his blond hair was balding on top. He shifted his heavyweight frame, that filled the chair snugly, but with deliberate slowness dug through the inner pockets of his blue jacket and brought out a folded piece of paper. At that moment Shep Dubois came into the dormitory aboard the space service station that was 25,000 miles above Earth. Centrifugal force, provided by the rotation of the station, gave an artificial gravity so that its occupants could walk about normally. “What’s up, Rock?” Shep asked. “I don’t know,” Rock answered. “I just got a message over the wall speaker that this Mr. Kalmus had come to the station to see me.” Rock introduced the two formally. Then Kalmus gave Rock the piece of folded paper. Rock opened it up. It was a photostatic copy of a torn blank scrap of paper. Rock studied it for a moment, his heart gradually increasing its beat as he unconsciously felt that he was on the verge of a big discovery. The ragged edges of the photographed scraps looked strangely familiar. Then suddenly the answer came to him in a rush that sent his blood throbbing hard through his temples. “I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed. “It’s the missing scrap from the Sagittarius!” “You mean that after twenty years it’s turned up?” Shep said in amazement. “Now you may be able to find the Northern Cross, Rock!” “That’s the reason I’m here,” Kalmus said. “I’ll leave you the photostat to compare with your own scraps, Merrill, and then you’ll know I have the missing piece for certain.” “If you do have it, Mr. Kalmus, I’ll be indebted to you forever,” Rock said enthusiastically. “Ever since I first wanted to be a spaceman it’s been my ambition to look for my dad’s lost ship. But how did you know where to find me?” “I asked around. Your mother told me over the phone back on Earth that she was pretty sure you had the scraps with you and that you treasured them as if they were gold.” “I do,” Rock admitted, staring out one of the oblong ports of the dorm at the salt-and-pepper background of interstellar space. “They’re the last link I have with my father. I never saw him.” Kalmus got up. “When you’re convinced I’ve got what you want and you’re ready to listen to a proposition about locating your dad’s lost ship, just let me know. I’m in Room 38, Deck B, overhead.” When Kalmus had gone, Rock went to his dresser and began searching a drawer. “The box with the scraps is in one of these.” “I still find all this hard to believe!” Shep said. “And I don’t see how Kalmus could have gotten hold of the missing scraps. They were supposed to have been destroyed with the Sagittarius except for the ones they salvaged for you.” “I’m not worried about that now, Shep!” Rock told him. “The main thing is to fit the puzzle together and find the answer that I’ve wanted to know all my life—the location of the Northern Cross and its treasure ore.” Rock’s father, Victor Merrill, had been a space surgeon accompanying a research expedition to Venus before Rock was born. Mineralogy was Dr. Merrill’s hobby, and while on the planet he had come across a curious mineral in a cave. Returning to Earth, he’d had the sample analyzed. The mineral was alconite, a very scarce and valuable component of an alloy used in the construction of radioactivity shields. Told that a space-ship load of the light mineral could bring him a fortune, Dr. Merrill set out again for Venus with his own expedition, financed from his life savings, planning to build a satellite hospital with the proceeds of the venture. Dr. Merrill’s ship, the Northern Cross, had landed on Venus, and a load of the mineral was stocked aboard the ship. But then disaster overtook the party, the first of many tragic events that were to follow. A landslide sealed off the mine, burying most of Dr. Merrill’s crew. The four remaining, including Dr. Merrill himself, blasted off for Earth, but not having enough experienced men to adequately run the vessel, the ship was wrecked by an explosion. An SOS was radioed to a freighter bound for Venus, the Sagittarius. The radio operator made a note of the Northern Cross’s position, but shortly afterward, the Sagittarius itself, in a hurry to reach the stricken Northern Cross and with a faulty radar set, collided with an emergency fuel buoy floating in space. When later ships salvaged the wreck of the Sagittarius, scraps of the radio operator’s note were found, but not enough of it to establish the “fix” of the still missing Northern Cross. These scraps had later been turned over to Rock and held by him ever since. He had stubbornly clung to the fragments in the wild hope that some day he might obtain some other clue to the location of his father’s ship. The last message from the radio operator of the Northern Cross had reported that the ship had lost its power of navigation after falling into a perpetual orbit about Venus. Therefore Rock and his mother had known for years that Victor Merrill’s ghost ship had become a satellite of the planet Venus. “Here it is, Shep!” Rock exclaimed, pulling a flat tin box out of his dresser drawer. They eagerly took the box and the photostat over to a table. Rock unlocked the container and gently removed the scorched and yellowed fragment that had been pieced together with transparent tape. He fitted the section against the ragged edges of the full-size pattern. “It fits!” Rock said. Swiftly the coming events passed hopefully before his mind’s eye. He visualized a search for the Northern Cross, a search that might yet bring a fulfillment of Dr. Merrill’s unselfish dream. “I wonder what Mr. Kalmus wants out of this?” Rock mused. “A share of the treasure, I’d guess,” Shep replied. “Of course we can’t be absolutely sure of finding the Northern Cross, even with the exact ‘fix,’” Rock said. “If it changed its flight path after sending the SOS, there’s not much hope. But if it held its same orbit, as Dad’s radio operator reported, we should be able to locate it.” “What do you say we listen to Kalmus’ proposition?” Shep suggested. “The sooner the better!” Rock agreed. As they went down the corridor, they met Johnny Colfax. “One of these days I’m going to tell those guys what they can do with their old job, especially that little worm, Mugger!” Johnny complained. “I’m tired of all this backbreaking stuff and his fussing at us all the time!” “I think we’re all tired of it, Johnny,” Rock sympathized. Johnny was one of seven of them who had accepted work on the servicing station after their washout from school. Since they knew they could never go into space in the smart livery of the Space Command, this seemed to be the next best thing. But the boys had soon tired of the glamour of being out in the deeps and the hard work, and most of them were ready to go meekly back home to Earth. “Maybe before long,” Rock told his discouraged friend, “all of us will be able to tell the big boys where to head in.” “What do you mean?” Johnny asked. “Come along and see,” Shep invited. Johnny made a wry face. “I’m not in the mood to see anything now. It’s the sack for me and ten solid hours of sleep!” Rock and Shep looked for Kalmus’ room on Deck B. As they passed a long corridor port, they saw the busy outside activity of the servicing station. They saw big clumsy-looking astroliners and streamlined, needle-prowed “atmosphere” ships approaching and leaving the docks of the octagon satellite after repairs or refueling. Smaller ferry craft darted back and forth between the vessels like pilot fish in the company of great sharks. The boys located Kalmus’ room and found him waiting for them as though he had known they would be along. There was another man present. He looked like a walking skeleton, with thick black brows and hands like hairy tarantulas. Kalmus said his name was Jack Judas and that he was a close friend. “My scraps match your photostat, Mr. Kalmus,” Rock said. “What is your proposition?” “I’ll get right to the point. We go on an expedition to look for the Northern Cross and split the value of the cargo if we find it.” Rock nodded. “That’s reasonable enough.” “I can rent an old ship cheaply,” Kalmus went on. “Got a friend in the business over on Satellite 7, a space supply moon. He showed me just the thing for us, atomic drive and all, equipped to carry eleven men. I can dig up a crew too. How much money can you get to pay for your share?” “That will take some figuring,” Rock said, “and I’ll have to talk over the proposition with the other fellows.” “I told you I’d furnish the crew,” Kalmus said, with a trace of annoyance. “However, if you want to bring some of your buddies along, I guess that’s your business.” “We’ve been together all through Academy training,” Rock told him, “and that’s too long a time to split up now.” Rock was able to get all his six friends together to talk over the plan, even rousing a complaining Johnny Colfax out of his brief sleep. All were in favor of making the voyage. “I’ll split my share equally among us,” Rock said. “Nix on that, Rock,” tall, wiry Hugh Blankenship objected. “It’s your dad’s ship and we know about his dream to build a satellite hospital. Besides, you’re the one who’s been holding the clue to its location all these years.” All of them nodded. “We can talk that over later,” Rock answered. “Now we’ve got to decide how we’re going to split expenses with Kalmus.” The boys had accumulated tidy sums while working at the space station. Even Rock had a fair amount of savings despite the fact that he sent much of his monthly check home to his mother. Space pay was high, and the boys had had no place to spend their money. But of course it cost a lot of money to take a ship out into space. The boys figured that the best they could do would not be quite enough. Rock told them that he had an idea Kalmus would advance them some on their share. It was likely that he wouldn’t have come this far without being sure the trip could be financed. Rock next told them about Kalmus wanting to furnish most of the crew. “If all of us go,” said little Sparky Finn, with the bristly hair, “then Kalmus will have to limit the men he wants to take. It’s a simple matter of arithmetic—seven of us and four of them.” “I’ll tell him that,” Rock agreed. “We all go or none of us goes. I’ll insist on it.” “Do you reckon we can trust Kalmus?” Ed Somerton asked. “He looks all right to me,” Shep said, “although of course you can’t trust first impressions sometimes.” “He looks all right to me too,” Rock agreed. “But just the same, while we’re waiting to get the ship outfitted, I think I’ll check his references at central identification headquarters on Earth.” Just as they were going to break up, there came a sharp rap on the dormitory door. Before the visitor could be invited in, he flung the door open and strode inside. Rock flared at this invasion of their privacy, especially when the newcomer proved to be a person disliked by all of them. He was Carl Mugger, their immediate supervisor. Behind his back he was known as “Yap” because of his shrewish tongue. “What have we got here—a tea party?” he blurted. “No, a private discussion,” Rock answered evenly, trying to control his temper. “Three of you are supposed to be on duty,” Mugger went on. “You fellows think you’re on a vacation or something?” “We were only doing routine work in the solar mirror relay.” Hugh spoke for Ed, Leo Avery, and himself, who were the three Mugger had been talking about. “We’ve only been here a few minutes.” “What do you think would happen to the station if I took off any time I wanted to?” he demanded, drawing his short body up to its full height. Getting no reply, Mugger ranted on. “I’ve stood just about all I’m going to from you guys! The next time one of you goofs off I’m going to have you sent back so fast Earthward your heads will buzz!” He glared at each of them in turn. Shep stepped forward, a full half head taller than the little man, his face reddening from the fury mounting in him. “I don’t know about the others, Mr. Mugger, but I’m fed up with this station and you too!” Mugger’s jaw muscles twitched and his eyes flashed. “Do all of you feel this way?” he snapped. The others hesitated. It wouldn’t be the smartest thing to cut oneself off from his job 25,000 miles above Earth and with no other work in sight, but neither could a fellow let his buddy stand alone in something on which all of them were in sympathy. Rock made the first move. “I feel that way,” he said boldly, and the others backed him up. “You fellows are through!” Mugger said coldly. “You may as well get your things together and be ready to take the next ferry ship going Earthward!” He turned and went out. Shep’s natural color was beginning to return. A look of penitence came over his thoughtful face. “I’m sorry, fellows. I—I just couldn’t help it.” “It was bound to happen, Shep,” Rock consoled him. “But it does sort of throw us in with Kalmus in a hurry, and it means we can’t afford to talk up to him quite as strongly as we might have otherwise.” “He doesn’t have to know we’ve been fired,” Leo said. “Let’s hope he doesn’t,” Rock answered with some concern. “Otherwise he’ll set his own terms, and we’ll just have to take them. Remember, we don’t even have enough money to pay our share of the expenses, either.” Rock and Shep went to see Kalmus immediately. Jack Judas was present, as well as another man. He was squatty and sturdily built, with hair as black as the Coalsack. Kalmus introduced him as Ben Spooner. Rock outlined the terms he and his friends had drawn up. Kalmus listened to them thoughtfully and impassively. “I could bring some experienced men if you’d let me have my way,” Kalmus said when Rock was through. “You fellows are pretty young, and on top of that you are washouts.” “We didn’t wash out until the finals,” Ed told him. “We still learned a lot about piloting and navigation in our training.” “Yeah,” Leo agreed, “you don’t have to worry about us getting the ship there and back.” When Kalmus saw how determined all the fellows were to go, he shrugged. “I guess you know what you can do,” he said. “You’ll have to take care of most of the running of the ship. I’ll have with me Ben, Jack, and Mumbly. That will make a crew of eleven, the ship’s capacity.” “Then we’re agreed on that,” Rock said. “Judas knows a little about piloting and can help out if necessary,” Kalmus went on. “He’s got a brother who’s first mate on a space freighter and has flighted with him a few times. Pegg and Spooner and I were steward’s helpers on a few space flights some years back. When can you fellows be ready to go?” “The sooner the better,” Rock answered. “In a few hours?” Rock straightened in surprise. They could hardly make their plans in that short time. “I’m in a hurry to get started,” Kalmus said. “You fellows turn over to me all the money you can get together, and we can settle for the rest when we get back. I wouldn’t even hold you up for this but the dock fee and license have to be paid in cash before we leave.” “Hey, wait a minute!” Rock protested, with a laugh. “I think you’re underestimating the work we’ve got to do. We’ll have to make a trip back to Earth and get the ship and supplies lined up first. That alone will take much more than a few hours! It’s twenty-five million miles to Venus at the closest approach.” “I’ve checked on Venus with the chief astronomer on the observatory satellite,” Kalmus declared, “and we’re in the best position if we start as soon as possible. I’ve also taken care of everything else, and I’m still ready to leave in a few hours.” Rock shook his head as if he still could not believe this. “You realize there’s a chance we might not find the Northern Cross, don’t you?” Rock warned. Kalmus’ face grew taut. “I guess that’s the chance that all of us will have to take.” He headed for the door. “Come with me, please.” He led them down the long companionways to Hangar 7 on the outer rim of the station. Supplies were being loaded here through the station air lock into a globular nonatmospheric ship that was anchored by its magnetic grapples to the side of the station. Tony Kalmus waved his hand at the activity and smiled at the surprised faces of Rock and Shep. “There’s our ship,” he told them. “Meet the Dog Star, fellows. She’s all ready to go treasure hunting!” The little space ship Dog Star was on its way into deep space with its crew of eleven. The ex-cadets had sent messages home telling of their departure. But Kalmus had been in such a hurry to leave that they did not even have time to wait for replies. Nor had Rock had time to check on Kalmus’ references back on Earth. Rock could appreciate the need for haste, however. Unless they left when they did, Venus would have moved out of its most favorable position, and it would have required much more expenditure of fuel to overtake her later. It would be several weeks before the Dog Star approached the misty planet and—it was hoped—the twenty-year orbit of the ghost ship Northern Cross. “Well, we’re on our way, fellows,” Rock remarked to his young friends who were gathered with him in the navigation room looking out one of the ports. “I wonder what the stars have in store for us?” “Maybe we should have brought along an astrologer,” Hugh said with a chuckle. “I have more faith in our own abilities, Hugh,” Rock said. “The Cadet Board doesn’t think we’ve got what it takes to be spacemen. We can prove them either right or wrong. It’s strictly up to us.” Now that the detailed task of getting the ship underway was over, the time seemed ripe for the pooling of information that would give the travelers the exact location of the Northern Cross. Kalmus and his three companions joined Rock’s party in the navigation room, Kalmus having brought along his own precious scrap from the record of the Sagittarius. With the ship on autopilot, its course having been computed on the electronic brain, the eleven gathered around the navigator’s table on which were laid out sky charts and the important bits of paper. The men and youths were able to stand about in this manner because of magnetically charged shoes which clung to the floor. Without them, the travelers would have hung weightless in the zero-gravity. The atomic power rockets had already cut their thrust after reaching required velocity, and the ship was now in free flight. Rock fitted the torn fragments together on a white sheet of paper as Kalmus, breathing hard, leaned over his shoulder. Rock tore off some transparent tape and carefully stuck the whole together. The radio operator’s record listed certain numbers and letters that had their counterpart on the sky map. Rock traced the “fix” on a large detailed map of Venus and its environs, his finger finally stopping on one significant spot. “This is where the Sagittarius had last contact with the Northern Cross,” Rock said with suppressed excitement. “The radio man said the N.C. was already in free fall around Venus.” He traced an imaginary path around the planet with his finger. “This orbit is our destination.” “The ship will be somewhere along there, providing it didn’t slow down afterward and fall into Venus,” Shep pointed out. “True enough,” Rock agreed. “We’ll know the answer in a few weeks.” Kalmus told the boys how he had come into possession of his scrap with the priceless information. He said that his friend in the space salvage business who had rented them the Dog Star had had on hand some of the things from the destroyed Sagittarius. One day he had found the yellowed bits in with some bulkhead parts. He mentioned this to Kalmus, who looked up the old newspaper accounts of the double disaster and prevailed upon his friend to give him the valuable scraps. Then he had made his plans for recovering the Northern Cross. Rock was elected chief navigator and leader of his group. Kalmus, of course, was already head of his own group. The Dog Star’s direction known now, Rock sat at the keyboard of the electronic brain and “typed” out the corrected ship’s path. The complicated math problem was solved quickly, and the answer tape was then fed into the automatic pilot. Only minor corrections of the controls for direction would have to be made by hand until the ship reached its destination. In the space days that followed, the two groups kept pretty much to themselves. Even eating and sleeping were carried on in separate quarters. Since this was a voyage for mutual gain only, all preferred such an arrangement. Kalmus and his friends prepared their meals in the galley at a set time, and the boys took a later meal hour. One day when the boys were reading and playing quiet games in the lounge to pass the long hours, they heard a commotion from Kalmus’ part of the ship. Rock got up from the game of chess he was playing with Shep and went to the door. Kalmus was approaching briskly down the corridor, his big frame making his hard-soled shoes thump loudly against the floor. “What’s wrong?” Rock asked him. “A meteor tore through the ship just a few feet from Mumbly,” Kalmus replied. “Mumbly was so scared when he heard it that he nearly jumped out of his skin! He left the floor and floated clear up to the ceiling! We had to pull him down!” Rock and some of the other fellows went to investigate. The room pressure was still up, but Mumbly Pegg, the near-victim, was pale clear up to his disordered shock of red hair. Kalmus’ stoop-shouldered friend kept mumbling how close he had come to being killed, a mannerism that had gained him his nickname. He talked incessantly to himself, neither getting a reply from anyone nor expecting any. Rock found holes in opposite sides of the room where the meteorite had hurtled through. The holes were only about pea-sized and were scorched around the edges. The automatic sealing compound would keep the air in the ship from leaking out temporarily, but a permanent repair would have to be made. “The hull’s got to be soldered from the outside,” Rock told Kalmus. “Some of the boys and I will go outside and take care of it.” Shep and Johnny offered to go with Rock, and the three put on pressure suits. Then they took up their firing equipment and prepared to enter the air-lock tunnel leading outside. Before unscrewing the hatch, Rock took in hand one of the safety mooring lines that was fastened to the edge of the hatch. “These safety lines aren’t the best I’ve ever seen,” Rock commented, as he observed some worn places in the nylon. “Kalmus must have had these given to him.” “Maybe he wants to get rid of us,” Shep said, half-seriously. The boys hooked the safety lines to their suits, then climbed out the circular hatch into raw space itself. They still wore magnetic shoes to counteract their weightlessness and enable them to walk. The boys took one moment to feast their eyes on the brilliant fields of star dust that surrounded them like a great dome. Spellbound by all the vastness, Rock was comforted by the solid feel of the big round globe beneath their feet. He looked at the long narrow stem that jutted out the back of the sphere and held the smaller shielded ball of the screened-off atomic power plant. The engines were still idle; they would be until it was time to spin the ship around and blast away forward to slow the ship down a few weeks from now. “Look at Earth over there at ‘7 o’clock,’” Shep said. “It’s just like a fuzzy, unripe peach!” “Kind of makes you homesick, doesn’t it?” Rock said a little wistfully. They went over to one of the meteorite holes and knelt down. The bright fire leaped like a hot bar from Rock’s cutting torch, reddening the metal of the hull almost immediately. “How long is this going to take?” Johnny asked worriedly. “I want to get back inside. I don’t trust these dilapidated safety lines!” “I’m beginning to regret I brought you fellows along on this thing,” Rock said thoughtfully. “Kalmus got me so excited about the expedition that I guess I didn’t really consider the risk we were taking by venturing into space on our own. There are so many things that could go wrong.” “We didn’t have to come,” Shep encouraged him. “Frankly, I’d have gone anywhere just to get away from the station. I’ve been miserable ever since we flunked out. Just a few trick questions and—WHAM—there were three years gone to waste!” “Maybe they won’t be wasted if our reward is the finding of the Northern Cross,” Rock pointed out. He found that he could work better by taking his feet off the hull and “hanging” face down over it, with Shep holding on to his safety line to prevent the blast of the torch from driving him outward. Johnny was busy holding the flux in position. Suddenly the force of the blast caused Rock’s worn safety line to snap and sent him hurtling outward from the hull of the Dog Star! Rock heard his own name blasting into his ears as the anguished voice of Shep called to him. Then he saw his friend leap upward with clutching futile hands. Shep’s body jerked to the end of his own line, and then the reaction sent him slamming back onto the hull. As Rock, still numb with shock, sped farther outward, he heard the frantic calls of Shep and Johnny trail off as their radio power faded. Finally no sound reached his ears, and the oppressive silence of lonely space closed in on him. It had all happened with such suddenness that he could scarcely realize it had happened at all. Hopelessness had already begun to get a hold on him before he began to think of how he might save himself. Perhaps it was something he had learned in cadet training that made him calm himself and think reasonably. His stiff fingers still clutched the cutting torch that had rocketed him from the Dog Star. Why not use it the same way to get back? Although still streaking out laterally from the ship, he was under influence of the ship’s motion and was traveling just as fast beside it. Rock carefully judged his direction and blasted with the tool in the opposite direction. He felt the deceleration of his outbound speed as the firestream braked him. Presently the rocket reaction stopped him and he began going back toward the ship. Rock used the cutting torch for a brake to slow his return onto the skin of the hull. Shep and Johnny clattered over to him and pulled him in to safety. Rock could see relief spreading over their faces. “Thank goodness you’re safe, Rock!” Shep said. “You nearly gave us heart failure! You sure kept your head!” If he hadn’t, Rock told himself grimly, he would not be here this minute. A spaceman had to keep his head at all times. His cadet training had impressed that on him. The days and weeks that followed passed uneventfully, if not exactly excitingly. There was so little to do, such a monotony of scene. A few thousand miles from the Venus orbit, Rock fed directions for a gyroscope turn into the automatic pilot, and the rockets began spouting bursts of flame to check the Dog Star’s headlong rush. All aboard were forced to take to shock couches for the first time to lessen the pain on their bodies. Had time not been a factor, Rock could have decelerated slowly with no strain. This had been the manner of their acceleration from the station. But Rock had realized that Kalmus would become impatient later and so had figured the flight for rapid deceleration and consequently much saving of time. Kalmus and his men took the deceleration shock in different ways. Since all the couches were in the same room, Rock could study their reactions. Jack Judas and Kalmus made no outward signs of discomfort, but Spooner and Pegg groaned continually. Although not exactly enjoying himself either, Rock, like his young friends, had been taught to take this, and through a certain pride would give no outcries. The lessening speed constricted the blood vessels in his eyes, blurring his vision, but Rock kept studying the reflecting prism over his cot to take his mind off the strain. And his hand did not drift far from the emergency controls should something go wrong. The prism brought the outside view right into the ship. Venus dominated the scene, like a giant snowball glittering with a light of its own. Rock could see the impenetrable clouds, chiefly of carbon dioxide, swirling and crawling over the surface of the planet like a tide. The invisible lands below were a hothouse of wind-swept desert and barren stretches. There were only a few isolated research settlements down there where brave scientists probed the hot soil for strange new things. When the Dog Star slowed, the travelers were able to leave their couches. Rock consulted the charts and got a reading of their position from Ed, who was at the navigation instruments. “Here we are,” Rock said, indicating a spot on one of the maps. “At Point X we’ll match orbits with the Northern Cross, then we’ll accelerate a little so that we’re bound to overtake her eventually—that is, if she’s still in her original flight orbit.” “She’s got to be there!” Kalmus cried a little frantically. “I’ve poured a fortune into this thing.” “I’ve got as much interest in this as you have, Tony,” Rock told him evenly. “We’re no expert Spacemen, but I’m pretty sure we’re going right so far.” The travelers began watching the radarscope for first signs of the ghost ship. But no “blips” showed on the screen. Later, every crewman was assigned a watch at the ’scope. This was intended to keep a man continually on duty. When the ship moved in exposure to the sun, the ports had to be shielded with filter screens. An outside movable reflector blind, highly polished and operated automatically by a thermostat, reflected away much of the heat and light. Despite its dangerous aspects, the sun was a magnificent object. Its white-hot surface was eye-searing bright and showed dark islands of sunspot activity, any one of which could swallow Earth. Its edges threw out mountainous red tides that lapped outward many thousands of miles into the black deeps. It was a sight that brought a lump of awe into one’s throat. When he was on duty at the ’scope, Rock used the ship’s small refracting telescope to see the little yellow disc of Mercury, dwarfed like a pinhead beside a grapefruit, against the sun. It reminded Rock of a small dog taunting a larger one, daring it to attack, yet forever skipping nimbly out of the way with its agile speed. The hours of search drew into a full space day, then another, with no sign of the ghost ship. Even if the Dog Star had been off course a few hundred miles, a ship as large as the Northern Cross could not have slipped by unnoticed. Finally Rock had to make a gloomy announcement. “In another hour we’ll have made a complete revolution of Venus,” he told all ten of them who were gathered around. “If we don’t come across the Northern Cross by then, it means she’s not in her orbit. She’s either crashed on Venus or has gone out into space. We’ve been accelerating faster than an object in free fall around Venus. She couldn’t have outrun us.” Kalmus’ big palm slapped the table. “I won’t stand for being licked, Rock! I’ve built my hopes so high on this thing!” His pale eyes glared restlessly and there was a red suffusion over his face. Rock reminded him, “The matter isn’t in our hands. We’ve done all we can do.” Kalmus lapsed into nervous silence as the minutes ticked off. He haunted the radarscope most of the time and even tried to look for the ship with the refractor, a tedious job. He was in a constant fidget, alternately pacing and putting his eye to the instrument. Now only fifteen minutes remained. There was still no sign of the ghost ship. Rock also was beginning to feel a growing despondency. Up until now he had not considered the consequences of failure. Now it shocked him to do so. He and his friends would be indebted to Kalmus for years to come for their share in the venture. They would either have to slave at the space station again, and eat humble crow, or try to find other jobs back on Earth. But this wasn’t all of the story. A failure would close off for all time the hope that had lived in him ever since he had known of his father’s disappearance. He would have to resign himself to the thought that his father and his ship would speed along with its lifeless cargo to the ends of the universe seemingly, never to be recovered. And worse, Merrill Memorial Hospital would remain only a shattered dream that might have been. Then there was the reaction of the unpredictable Kalmus to be considered. Would he turn on them? Five minutes to go. No ship in sight. Nothing but star dust and more star dust and the smoldering light of Sol, like a mocking beacon. Finally Rock had to say bitterly, “Time’s up. I’m afraid we’re licked. There’s no sign of the Northern Cross.” “We’ve got to find that ship!” Kalmus cried. “I’ll search for it if it takes a hundred years!” “It won’t do any good to search without knowing where to look,” Rock reminded him. “It won’t hurt to try anyhow,” Kalmus proposed. “We might be lucky. I’ve sunk too much in this expedition to turn back now!” “We still intend to pay up our share of the costs, Tony,” Rock assured him. “You needn’t worry about that part of it.” “Finding the ship means as much to you as it does to me—or so you said, Rock,” Kalmus went on stubbornly. “Why are you giving up so easily?” “Of course it means a lot to me, but I’m not going against terrific odds. It would be crazy.” Suddenly Rock thought of something and turned to Sparky Finn. “Sparky, are you absolutely certain you figured out that navigational problem correctly? Yours was the trickiest of all.” “I went over it twice, Rock,” Sparky replied solemnly. “Better look at it again,” Rock proposed. “There’s a possibility we might have botched up our figures somehow. If your calculation is right, we’ll all recheck ours.” Sparky’s math proved to be correct. Then each of the boys went over his own figures again. Halfway through his, Hugh caught an error in his work. “Take me for a numbskull!” he burst out. “Look what I did! No wonder I flunked out in cadet school!” “We are too far out from Venus,” Rock told Kalmus. “We’ve got to go in closer to the planet.” The Dog Star swung into its new orbit. Kalmus became enthusiastic again, and Rock felt that they would meet with success this time, but if they didn’t, there was nothing more to do but admit defeat. It was Johnny Colfax who first spotted an interesting “blip” on the radarscope screen two space days later. Half the eleven-man crew was asleep, but Johnny’s shouts brought everyone running into the main control room. “Look, Rock, I think I’ve found it!” Rock set the telescope in synchronization with the radar set. Then he put his eye to the telescope eyepiece and turned the hairline focus adjustment. Yes, it was really a cigar-shaped craft, man-made, just about the general shape the Northern Cross was supposed to be. It was a streamlined ship built to slide through the atmosphere of Venus. Rock judged it to be a few hundred miles away. “It seems to be the Northern Cross,” he announced. “Let me see that thing!” Kalmus blurted and pushed up to the telescope. “There’s our dream ship!” he purred, like a miser over his gold sacks. “I can almost see a dollar sign on that baby!” A few gentle manual corrections later brought the Dog Star alongside the ghost ship. The smaller ship’s crew clustered at the broad port. Only a few thousand yards away, the ship was a giant thing, gray and meteor-scarred from the years that it had wheeled about in space, alternately feeling the torrid heat of the naked sun and the bitter cold when the sun was eclipsed behind the big planet. As Rock stared, his heart beat faster. Here was the graveyard of his valiant father and his crew who had battled nature for a share of her wealth and had lost. Rock felt a mixture of feelings—of repulsion and of being drawn to the scene. He was attracted by thoughts of the treasure ore that might fulfill his father’s dream of a satellite hospital, but he was repelled by thoughts of what he might find in that space tomb. Although circling the planet Venus at high velocity, both ships were as if stationary in space and in relation to each other. Rock, Shep, Hugh, Kalmus, and Judas suited up in preparation to going outside and across to the other ship. With an extended safety line securing himself to the exit door of the Dog Star, Rock was the first to launch himself into the gulf between the ships. He carried a length of electrical cable which he would attach by magnetic force to the side of the Northern Cross. Then his companions could hook onto the cable with their own safety lines and cross the gulf without risk of drifting off. They had done some repair work on the unsafe lines that had given them trouble before. They felt more secure with them now. After the cable was set up, Shep pushed off from the doorstep of the Dog Star, and his momentum carried him through the vacuum toward Rock on the other side, his safety line slipping along the cable for security. Behind Shep, the others followed. Shep had brought two cutting torches for opening the door seams of the Northern Cross. He handed one to Rock and they both set to work, the brilliant flare of their tools lighting the blackness like twin novae. The sun was on the other side of the space ship, leaving this shadow side in absolute darkness. Finally the door was cut all around. All that it appeared to need now was a good strong push. Rock and Shep tried it together, a little gingerly perhaps as they realized their weightlessness, and hence, helplessness. The door hung stubbornly in place. When Kalmus saw their ineffective efforts, he lifted his big booted feet and boldly slammed them hard against the door. The door section caved inward, but the reaction sent Kalmus scooting backward. Kalmus gave a terrified yell as he went drifting all the way back to the other ship. Not knowing how to navigate in weightlessness, he barged into the wall of the Dog Star with such force that it caused him to bounce back across the gulf again. His safety line kept him from being in any danger of caroming off into space. Hugh, holding on to the ship, caught Kalmus’ body as it came back to them. The big fellow was moaning from fright, and the boys got secret enjoyment out of Kalmus’ comical and harmless experience. Then Rock sobered quickly as he faced the grim task that was to follow. He sighed heavily and stepped through the opening into the air-lock tunnel of the ghost ship, followed by the others. His shoes clung to the floor, indicating that the magnetic floor current was still going after twenty years. Leaving the air lock, Rock and his companions found themselves in a lounge. Everything was in neat order, just as if it had been set to rights only today. “It’s in excellent preservation!” Rock marveled. “The reflector blinds must have kept the temperature in here pretty even through all the years.” They found other parts of the ship also in neat order. Rock had been told by his mother that his father had been a very orderly man. As yet there was no sign of what had made the vessel a ghost ship. Rock dreaded every new room they entered. Which one would reveal to him the skeletons of the ghost crew—one of them his father’s, a father he had never seen? The searchers carried Geiger counters as a check on stray radioactivity from the atomic engines. But so far the only clicks the meters gave off were apparently from the ever-present cosmic rays out in space. Since no bodies had yet been found, it was supposed that the four crewmen were together in one place. The searchers had entered the Northern Cross near the rear and had been working their way forward. Rock guessed that the bodies must be in the main control room. In the galley, remains of a meal were still inside sealed plates. The bits were rock hard. An examination of wall pressure gauges showed that the entire ship was open to the vacuum of space. “Where is the ore?” Kalmus growled. “I don’t like the looks of this!” The search party moved down ghostly corridors that hadn’t felt the thump of space boots for two decades. Just before reaching the main control room, Rock came to a door-marked, “Stores.” “This may be it!” he said hopefully and opened the door. No one needed to tell anyone else that this was the goal they had been looking for. It was a vast, oblong cell, its metal bins piled nearly to the ceiling with gray lumps of rock. The rest of the room was crowded with mining equipment. However, the bigger stuff had evidently been left on Venus. Kalmus gave a shout and flung himself into one of the bins. He fondled the stones, bathing himself in the wealth. “I’m rich! I’m rich!” he kept saying. Rock turned away disgustedly, his young friends following. For some reason he almost wished their mission had been a failure. Sharing this treasure that his father had died to accumulate for unselfish motives made Rock feel sick for a moment. “Want to go into the pilot’s room, Rock,” Shep asked in gentle consideration, “or shall we just pass it up?” “No, Shep, I’ve got to see if Dad is in there,” Rock answered. Leaving Kalmus and Judas to play in their wealth, the three youths left the room and moved farther down the corridor to the main control room, the door to which bulged outward. It took considerable ramming to force it open. The disorder of the compartment was in shocking contrast to the neatness of the rest of the Northern Cross. Plastic seats were warped, and it looked as if a giant with a padded sledge hammer had gone about recklessly putting dents in the lightweight metal of the walls. An emergency air lock stood wide open, revealing the stars, its door hanging by one hinge. It was on the side away from the Dog Star. The huge console that housed the instruments and gauges also showed great depressions, and nearly all the glass dial covers were shattered. “What do you think happened in here, Rock?” Shep asked. “It looks like a high-pressure build-up of gas,” Rock answered. “Probably in the ventilating system. When the pressure got too high, either the air lock was the first to give way or somebody opened it in desperation. I imagine all the men were trapped in here and couldn’t get the door open.” There were no bodies in the room. All four had evidently been swept through the air lock by the rapidly escaping gas. Rock’s companions could read the truth as easily as he had done himself, and they were considerate enough to remain silent. Rock stared about him for several moments. This was so unexpected, not finding his father. He didn’t quite know how to take it. The boys went out to join the others. Kalmus and Judas were chattering over their success, already making plans for the future. Kalmus was not concerned whether Rock had found his father or not. “Let’s hurry up and get this stuff loaded on the Dog Star,” was the first thing he said. “Sure,” Rock said absently. As they went aft again, Rock’s mind was full of what they had seen. He was rather disappointed in the way he felt. He had thought he would be jumping in elation when they found the alconite ore. Instead, he was almost sorry. It seemed like a violation of his father’s honor to share his property with these men of greed. The shock of not finding his father’s body continued to disturb him. He had hoped to take it back and give it a decent burial. Yet, as he thought further, perhaps this was the way his dad would have wanted it, because he was first and last a spaceman. Also, his widow would not have to relive the pain of his loss again. Yes, it probably was best this way. The five of them crossed over on the cable again and made preparations for transferring the ore to the Dog Star. They would carry it over in regular space transfer crates secured to the cable. An empty crate would be shoved across the gulf, filled up in the Northern Cross, and then sent back over to be emptied of its contents. The crew was split into two parties, five remaining aboard the Dog Star to unload and the other six going over to the Northern Cross to load the treasure aboard the crates. The work began and moved along smoothly, but it was going to be a drawn-out operation, if not a rigorous one. Carrying the containers of ore down the corridors of the Northern Cross was a simple matter since they were perfectly weightless and so had only to be guided along by the touch of a hand. The hours dragged along slowly as load after load was drifted down the corridors of the ghost ship and pushed across the vacuum to the Dog Star. The storage bins of the smaller ship bulged higher and higher with the valuable mineral. As the transference neared completion, Rock took Shep aside, near one of the ports of the Northern Cross. Then he began speaking very softly so that none of Kalmus’ men working in the ship could pick up the conversation by helmet radio. “We’re nearly through, Shep,” he whispered, “and you know what that means for Kalmus.” “It means he’s got what he came for and that he should be satisfied,” Shep finished. “To me it’s more than that,” Rock continued. “It means that he doesn’t need any ex-cadets anymore. You heard him say that Judas could run the ship.” Rock could barely see the frown on Shep’s face through the filtered facepiece of his helmet. “What are you getting at, Rock?” “The fewer men who return to port with the treasure ore, the fewer there will be to share the profits,” Rock said, his radio-altered voice carrying a sinister inflection. “You mean you think that Kalmus is going to ditch us?” Shep asked in a fierce whisper. “Right out here in the middle of space?” “I’m not saying I believe that definitely,” Rock corrected, “but I do think we should start being on our guard for any funny moves Kalmus might make. You’ve seen yourself how greedy he is.” “What, exactly, do you think we should do?” Shep asked. “I think that you, Johnny, Hugh, and myself should go on over to the Dog Star right now and tell Kalmus that we believe the ship has got as much ore as she should carry. That will prevent his stranding us over here. If he wants to, let him come over and get the rest of the ore himself.” “Since we’re making wild guesses,” Shep said, “maybe Kalmus has other plans for dealing with us, such as making us prisoners on the Dog Star as we head back.” “That’s possible too,” Rock agreed, “but he would need weapons for that, since we outnumber them. I took a quick look through their things before we left port to make sure he and his men had no weapons, and I don’t think they brought any along.” “Maybe we’re being unfair with the guy, suspecting him at all,” Shep said. As the words left his lips, he happened to glance out the port and saw Ben Spooner, who had been working on the Northern Cross, thrust out across the gulf empty-handed. “Hey, look!” Shep cried. “Ben’s in a big hurry and he’s not carrying a crate across!” He seized Rock’s space suit. “Now there goes Judas right behind him and he’s empty-handed too!” Rock felt his heart take a dive. “Shep, they must be going to do exactly what I feared!” He sprang into action. “Come on, we’ve got to get Hugh and Johnny!” “They can’t maroon us in space!” Shep said, furious, as he tagged along behind Rock down the corridor. “It’s the same as murder!” “They’re not even waiting to carry the rest of the ore across!” Rock said. “As soon as we find the fellows, we’ll get over to the Dog Star right away!” Sparky, Ed, and Leo were already in the other ship. Rock and Shep quickly rounded up Johnny and Hugh and the four of them hustled toward the air lock, bumping into crates in their hurry. As they reached it, Johnny pointed out the open doorway. “Look, Sparky’s coming over!” he said. “Maybe he’s found out what’s going on,” Hugh spoke. They gave Sparky a hand into the ship. “What’s up, Sparky?” Rock asked. “Jack Judas told me you wanted help in finishing up over here and for me to come over,” Sparky replied. “We didn’t send for you,” Rock told Sparky. “It must be a trick to get the most of us over here. Come on, you guys! We’ll go over and have a show-down with Kalmus right away!” But before they could launch themselves, Kalmus had already begun his act of treachery. “Look what those crooks are doing!” Shep exclaimed. The boys could hardly believe what they saw. It was more like a bad dream. The cable had jerked away from the side of the Northern Cross as its magnetic attraction was broken. Then the five saw Kalmus lean out and pull it into the Dog Star. “We’re too late!” Rock groaned. The ex-cadets shouted in frustration and anger at the cold-blooded act. Over their suit radios, they warned their former partners of the consequences of abandoning men in space. But even as they yelled themselves hoarse, Rock knew it wasn’t going to do any good. Kalmus had simply gotten the jump on them, something that had probably been planned at the very beginning of the voyage. The outer door of the Dog Star closed. A feeling of utter desperation took possession of Rock. Here they were, five of them, marooned on a ghost ship in space, without any foreseeable chance of returning alive to Earth. An hour had passed since the five ex-cadets had been cut off from the mother ship. The Dog Star had blasted off and was now out of sight. Rock guessed that Kalmus and his rebel crew had compelled Leo and Ed to assist Jack Judas in running the ship. During this time, the castaways had been taking stock of their situation. Any hopes of sending an SOS were virtually gone. The radio antenna had been badly damaged at its base when loosened by the bulging wall. The radio’s present range could not be over a few thousand miles. However, things did not look nearly so dark now as they had earlier. The boys found air tanks that would sustain them for quite a while, if not indefinitely. Upon refilling their suits with the aged gas, they found it breathable but carrying a metallic odor. There was a fair abundance of irradiated food such as all space craft carried. By receiving special treatment in an electronic oven, such food could be preserved for years. Although hard and rather tasteless, the present supply would at least keep them alive. The water-making machine was still in good order, and a drink from it was as fresh as if just drawn from a spring. However satisfactory these three main essentials were, though, they would all run out some day. That meant that the Northern Cross would have to move out of her stagnant orbit if there was any chance for survival. Rock was hopefully expectant that the ship would run again. Save for temperature changes, there had been no weather erosion to damage the craft and its fittings. Since the ship’s electrical power came from sunlight and the big solar mirror had continued to gather light over all these years, the electric system worked, and the batteries were still charged. A long-range inspection of the atomic-engine unit showed no radiation leakage. The unit had been shut down ever since the accident to the Northern Cross; the boys found the hafnium safety rods plunged well home into the atomic pile to prevent chain reaction. The automatic oil and grease feeds in the ship’s motors had given out by now, and many bearings were squeaky dry, so they replenished these. The boys were now in the pilot’s room ready to try out the ship under its own power. The console had pretty well resisted the crush of air pressure that had caused the explosion, for the gauges were working. But of course working gauges did not necessarily mean working jets. The boys had made minor repairs in the main control room. They had reconciled themselves to living inside space suits for the rest of the way home since the Northern Cross was open to the vacuum of space, and the air lock was too badly damaged to close again. When everything was in readiness for a test blast, Rock sat at the console with the others crowding around him to keep their eyes on the many dials. The electronic brain and autopilot were in satisfactory order and would be called upon later if the ship were able to move under its own thrust. Rock pressed colored buttons and shoved knife switches and floor levers. “Jet chamber pressures are up!” Johnny said happily. “The fuel flow gauge is right!” Sparky called. “The coolant is circulating!” Hugh reported. The boys felt a vibration and heard a muted hum. Then they felt a slight tug. They had already been traveling at substantial speed under orbital velocity, but the slight increase was unmistakable. A check of the dynamometer, that recorded thrust, indicated that the jets were operating properly. Rock cut off so that they could make plans. “We could reduce speed and try for landing on Venus,” Rock proposed, looking out the port at the big planet that was buried within its dense veil, “but we’d have to be awfully lucky to land within radio range of any of the research settlements. Besides our radio being weak, there’s a lot of static on Venus from sunspots.” “I’m in favor of trying to get back home,” Shep declared. “Even if we get off course we may be close enough to radio Luna or some of the space stations for help.” “As a matter of fact, Luna will be right in our path on the way back,” Rock said. Shep’s suggestion seemed to be the best idea and was voted for unanimously. After all had helped in figuring out the mathematics of their course, Rock fed the tape into the autopilot. Next everyone took to shock couches. The Northern Cross was in the fortunate position of being headed Earthward, meaning that its orbital speed could be added to their required velocity. In a manner of speaking, it was as if Venus were a slingshot hurling the pebble of the Northern Cross into space. Under the crushing pressure of their mounting acceleration, Rock watched the rising space speed in his overhead prism with concern. Would the engines of the ship, inactive for so long, respond at maximum efficiency? If they did, would the old vessel hold together under the strain? The jets responded, at any rate. Rock’s body seemed to be squeezed flat, his eyeballs pressed deeply into their sockets, his vision blurred. Then the ship began leveling off, and the pressure lifted from Rock’s body. Before long it was gone entirely, and he knew they could unstrap. The first thing the boys did when they were up was to check the dials on the console. Everything appeared to be satisfactory enough; the Northern Cross should be able to carry them all the way. The radio was set on automatic SOS. Although extremely remote, there was the distant possibility that some ship might be within range. Later the same day, when Rock had a moment of relaxation, he located his father’s private cabin. Being among his father’s things was almost like being in his presence and seeing him for the first time. There were the few neat clothes still hanging in the closet and the polished black boots in an orderly row. On a wall desk he saw a picture of his mother and a fountain pen lying with the cap off. On the floor he found a sheet of radiogram paper on which his father had evidently been writing before the disaster. Rock read the letter that his father had intended to radio to his wife on Earth. The boy’s eyes grew misty and there was a thickening in his throat. The twenty-year-old message carried a tone of foreboding. It was as though Dr. Merrill felt that the four remaining less-experienced men of his original crew of nineteen could not successfully bring the ship back to port. “So close to my dream of a satellite hospital and yet so far,” were his unhappy words. “And yet we shall try with all our might, my dear, to come home. This treasure of ours must not go to waste. There is so much good that it can do.” The letter ended abruptly as Dr. Merrill wrote, “Fox has just called me forward. I think they may be having trouble. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.” But of course neither Dr. Merrill nor anyone else ever told what had happened. Rock tenderly folded the brittle paper and tucked it away safely. His mother would cherish this last word from her husband. Rock knew now why his mother had scrimped and saved, working at the algae canning plant, to make him eligible for cadet school. But he didn’t know how hurt she must have been when he washed out. She hadn’t told him that. The days dragged by slowly. With only a backdrop of star smudges to look at and unpalatable meals of hard, ancient food to eat, it was not exactly an enjoyable trip. Added to this of course were the youths’ additional worries about the welfare of their two buddies and whether the Northern Cross would hold together until the beloved sphere of Earth swam into view. When the ship moved into the environs of Luna, the weary five knew that Earth could not be far off. Ninety-nine per cent of their journey was already over. Rock studied the enlarging globe of Earth’s satellite. Its wrinkled, gray face shone dazzlingly bright under the full glare of the sun. The filtering glass was lowered over the forward port to cut down the brilliance. It was on the space day following that there occurred an incident that filled the boys with exuberant hope. They were almost at their closest approach to Luna. The gray desolate lands were right “below.” A crackling was heard over the automatically set radio. “Somebody must have picked up our signal and is trying to make contact!” Shep cried out. Rock moved to the console to begin cutting speed. Then all gathered around the radio. Hugh was the radio expert. He scooped up the mike and slid into the chair in front of the bank of knobs. “SS Northern Cross,” he said eagerly. “SS Northern Cross. Come in, whoever you are! Please come in!” The crackling continued. Then there was a fragment of voice that was quickly lost in a babble of sound. Hugh kept talking into the mike. “It’s that faulty antenna!” Rock groaned. The crackling continued. Just as Hugh was about to give up, a voice came in weakly again. It was a voice the boys had to strain to hear, but they caught the vital message: “Hugh—Rock!” it said. “We picked up your SOS. We’ve had to make an emergency landing on Luna.” “Leo!” Shep said. “It’s Leo!” “Ask him quickly if Ed is all right and what their position is,” Rock said to Hugh. “Yeah, we’re both all right,” came Leo’s reply. “Our position—” A rattle of static cut him off. The boys groaned. It would be impossible to search the moon for a space ship. They had to get the exact location from Leo. They listened hopefully. Hugh kept talking, saying that they weren’t getting clear reception. Then Leo’s distorted voice came through again briefly. This time he got out the latitude and longitude of the Dog Star. Rock eagerly wrote it down. “Here comes Kalmus!” they heard Leo say next in a frenzied voice. That was the last they heard. There followed a garbled sound and then complete silence. “Kalmus must have destroyed the set,” Rock said gravely. “We know where to find them now, though,” Shep said with satisfaction. Rock went to the chart files and dug through the celestial maps for one of Luna. He checked the position as given them by Leo. “The place is near Archimedes in Mare Nubium,” Rock pointed out. “Get out your pencils and take a seat at the calculators, boys; we’ve got some navigation figuring to do!” The velocity and orbital figures were worked out. Then the directions were computed in the mechanical brain and fed into the autopilot. The chemical braking rockets were switched in after the ship had turned about-face. No terrestrial landing was ever made with atomic rockets because of radioactive contamination of the ground. The boys strapped down and braced for the agony of deceleration. It was a cumbersome job, clad as they were in space gear. As the ship decelerated, Rock focused his hurting eyes on the prism overhead. The filter cut out the over-all glare of reflected sunlight from Luna’s boiling-hot surface, but the harsh blacks of dead shadow and the whites of naked sunlight were still painfully vivid. He watched the shimmering heat vapors, the miles and miles of gray pumice, heaped in waves in some places so that it resembled a gigantic sea whose motion has been suddenly stilled. Finally the great curving mouth of Archimedes began to enlarge and grow in prominence. The crater’s high, rugged walls filled the square of Rock’s prism. Later he felt that easy, reassuring bump of the tripod fins that told him they had landed safely. “Everybody O.K.?” Rock asked, looking around. Johnny was pale and the others were a little groggy (they’d had to hit a deceleration of 7 G’s in order to stop the ship in time), but all attested to being alive, if shaky. Rock went over to the port to study their surroundings. “We didn’t get off course very much,” he announced. “I can make out the Dog Star about a quarter of a mile away.” In their elevated position, the boys had an extensive view of the landscape. For miles around, the ground was dead black. Only in the distance did the razor-sharp line of sunlight begin. The Northern Cross was in the broad shadow of Archimedes and the distant Dog Star was also. Between the ships lay irregular rock shapes and uneven ground. A rift sliced across the area, appearing to make contact between the ships impossible. “I wonder if Kalmus knows we’ve landed?” Shep said. “Even if they don’t know we’re here,” Johnny put in, “they are protected by that big ditch. Not to mention being safely inside the ship.” “I’ll admit we’ve got our job cut out for us,” Rock said, “but I don’t think we should try going back to Earth for help and count on the Dog Star remaining here to be captured. We might never see Ed and Leo again.” “Rock is right,” Hugh said. “We’ll have to figure out how to get over to the Dog Star and free the boys from those crooks as soon as possible.” Rock got out the pair of binoculars he had found among the things belonging to the ill-fated crewmen before them. Then he looked through them at the distant globe of the Dog Star. The ship had barely missed a high wall of dark-colored lunabase rock. The wall was jagged and spongy, like most formations on Luna, which had so little atmospheric erosion to wear them down. As he examined the wall, a sudden idea came to him. “Why don’t a couple of us try to get over to that rock wall next to the Dog Star?” he proposed. “We can climb it and look through some of the ports. That way we may be able to see what the others are up to and make our plans accordingly.” “Why just two?” Sparky wanted to know. “Less chance of being seen by Kalmus,” Rock answered. “Also, if the two get caught, that still leaves three to think of something to do.” “We haven’t yet figured how to cross that big ditch,” Hugh pointed out. “I’ve thought of that too,” Rock said. “We can carry along a bunk ladder out of one of the dorms. From here it looks as if the ladder will span the ditch.” “It sounds risky,” Johnny remarked. “We’ve got to do something,” Shep countered. “I agree with Rock. How about you and me trying it, Rock?” The matter was settled. But before anyone could go outside, the area had to be given time to clear of residual radioactivity around the atomic rocket nozzles. After waiting an hour, Rock and Shep got the ladder and carried it downstairs several flights to the air lock. The ladder was tossed through the air lock to the ground. It floated feather-light. The former cadets descended by way of the ship’s ladder. They carried a Geiger counter for checking contamination. Besides the portable ladder, they had with them binoculars, a safety rope, and a walkie-talkie radio for communicating with the Northern Cross. The area was free of contamination. The boys found walking quite awkward at first and laughed at their own clumsy efforts as they fairly danced along through the volcanic and meteoric dust. There was quite a difference between being absolutely weightless in magnetic-soled shoes and being of one-sixth Earth weight without such shoes. They finally got the hang of it and found they could take gliding steps of about five feet at a time. They kept behind rocks and ground rises to minimize the chance of their being seen. They still could not be certain Kalmus had not seen the Northern Cross come down. The rocks and ground were covered with a down of hoarfrost. This was due to Luna’s scant moisture content condensing in the exceedingly rare atmosphere which was made up principally of carbon dioxide. As they moved along, Rock saw that Shep was beginning to grow a whitish fuzz of dry ice on his suit. It was hard for Rock to realize that the temperature around them was several hundred degrees below zero, while only a scant mile or two farther out it was hotter than boiling water under the full rays of the sun. This was only one of Luna’s many strange features that fascinated him. He wished this had been a trip of exploration and fun instead of the grim battle that it was. As they approached the great rift in the ground, Rock began to get a queasy feeling. “Wide, isn’t it?” he asked Shep over his suit radio. “And deep,” Shep replied, after a look over the brink that had showed no bottom. They brought the ladder over to the edge and carefully spanned the gulf with it. “It just does make it!” Rock gasped. “There’s only about a foot to spare on each end.” They found a wedge of rock like a dinosaur’s tooth deeply embedded in the ground not far from the crack. Around this they tied one end of their safety rope. Then Rock tied the other end around his waist. “Hold on to the ladder to make sure it doesn’t slip,” Rock told his friend, and slowly he started out over the plunging abyss. Rock looked down through the rungs at the black emptiness below. Although he wore the safety line, a fall could be dangerous. He looked ahead as he kept moving forward. The other end of the ladder was wobbling back and forth. When he reached the opposite side of the brink and climbed onto firm ground, he was aware only of the perspiration trickling down his face. It made him turn down his suit heat a couple of degrees. He untied the safety line and threw it back to Shep. Then his friend started over the perilous bridge, with Rock holding his side of the ladder as firm as he was able. Shep made it safely too, so they were both vastly relieved. “We’ll just leave the ladder in place,” Rock suggested, then added gravely, “That’s in case we have to cross it in a hurry.” Without the ladder to hamper them they could be more furtive in their movements. They dodged lithely around towering chunks of light-colored lunarite and darker lunabase. The rock formations looked like petrified sponges jutting up out of a dried-up sea bottom. When the two had to go out in the open, they sprinted toward the next place of cover. Since hoarfrost continued to gather on their suits, they constantly brushed it off. A moving white figure even in the deep shadows might be noticed by anyone in the Dog Star. Now only a few hundred feet separated Rock and Shep from the space ship. They began swinging inward nearer the glacis or outer slope of the crater, heading toward the wall of lunabase. “If they’ve seen us, they haven’t given any sign,” Rock said with some measure of satisfaction when they had reached the foot of the wall and were watching the dumbbell shape of the Dog Star just a short distance away. Standing on its tripod base, it looked like a huge kettle. Rock and Shep started up the rugged slope. Although precipitous and craggy, it did not look to be too difficult to climb since there were natural footholds at almost every step. Nevertheless a slip would be perilous, if not fatal. The boys had been well drilled in the dire effects of having one’s space suit ripped open. In such case the suit collapsed like a burst balloon, admitting the killing cold or heat, whichever it might be, causing death. When Rock and Shep were at a height level with the ports of the Dog Star, they began crawling laterally toward the ship. Rime covered the corallike edges, making them slippery as the comparative warmth of their space suits melted the ice particles. They were about fifty feet from the ship at this point. Rock checked the counter. There was no gamma-ray contamination from the Dog Star. It was safe to approach closer. They got as close as they dared to the port that looked in on the main control room. They could see Leo and Ed working intently on an opened gear-box beside the instrument console. Across the room sat Jack Judas, a grim look on his beetle-browed face. And in his hand the boys could see a blaster. “They did smuggle weapons aboard, Rock!” Shep said. “They must have hidden them carefully.” “That proves they planned the scheme from the very beginning,” Rock said. “And it’s going to make it harder for us, because we’re unarmed,” Shep remarked. “I believe the boys are stalling them,” Rock said. “They probably doctored the controls and brought the ship down just to give us time to catch up with them.” “I wish there were some way to let them know we’ve landed,” Shep said. “That is, if Kalmus hasn’t found out already.” Shep started to move into a better position to see when suddenly his foothold gave away beneath him. His cry blasted loudly over Rock’s receiver. Rock made an instinctive grab for his friend. He barely caught hold of an anchor ring on the other’s space belt in time to keep him from tumbling all the way to the ground. Rock steadied him as Shep thrust about with his feet for a new foothold. “I thought I was a goner!” Shep said tremulously. During the boys’ struggles they had evidently released loose material, for they saw a quantity of the porous stone cascade down the wall and strike the side of the ship. “We’ve got to scram!” Rock said urgently. “They’re bound to have heard that inside! Now they’ll know we’re on Luna!” They scrambled downward as fast as possible, without being reckless. It seemed as if the lunabase were more slippery than ever. Twice the boys’ feet slipped, and only timely bracing by the other prevented disaster. When they were about halfway down, Shep’s foot wedged into a crevice. “Look what I had to do with my big feet!” Shep groaned. “Don’t worry,” Rock said. “It’ll take them a few minutes to get space suits on if they have decided to come out and investigate.” Rock gently but firmly began working on his friend’s imprisoned foot. He moved it back and forth, tugging and pushing. But it held fast. Even after several minutes, Shep was still a prisoner. Then suddenly the thing that the boys had feared happened. The air lock of the Dog Star opened and a ladder was thrust out until it reached the ground. Kalmus and two of his companions began descending. They all carried blasters. “Now we’re done—” Shep blurted, only to be shushed abruptly by his friend. Shep had forgotten that all the suit radios were on the same wave length. “I think we’re barking up the wrong tree!” the boys heard Ben Spooner say when they were on the ground. “That wasn’t anything but some loose rock that fell off that hill up there.” “Rocks don’t just fall on Luna!” Kalmus retorted. “Something has to move them! I still believe those guys have traced us here! Leo must have been able to contact them by radio before I could break up the set!” “I don’t see anybody around,” Mumbly Pegg remarked. “’Course you don’t see ’em!” Kalmus growled. “You dead brain! You don’t think they’re standing around waiting to be caught, do you? Start climbing up that hill, both of you!” Rock eased down as flat as he could get and motioned Shep to do the same. Through his helmet, Rock could see the grimace of pain on Shep’s face as his movement put pressure on the trapped foot. Rock cautioned him not to groan or speak a word. Over his radio Rock heard Spooner and Pegg breathing hard as they began scrambling up the formation, followed by Kalmus. Rock kept perfectly still, hoping with all his might that the men would not discover them. “I still think we’re barking up the wrong tree!” stocky Ben Spooner repeated as his breathing grew harder at every upward step. “Shut up and keep climbing!” came Kalmus’ voice. “They’re bound to be up there!” Shep was trying manfully to be silent, but every now and then an involuntary sob of pain escaped his lips. They could hear Mumbly Pegg murmuring to himself, in his own peculiar incessant manner. Now Spooner was getting closer. He was only about fifteen feet away, and, as if following some telepathic message, he continued approaching the youths. “We’re done for,” Rock thought, with despair. “There’s nothing to keep him from finding us.” Rock lowered himself still flatter, until the sharp edges of lunar stone pressed dangerously into his inflated suit. Spooner still climbed. Another couple of feet and he would be looking right down on them. They heard the sucking of his tired breath and choking wheezes as if he couldn’t take another step. “Tony!” Rock heard him call weakly. “I can’t go any higher! Besides, I can see the top and nobody’s up here! I’ve got to come down!” “Come on down then, you weakling!” Kalmus grated. “What a bunch of saps I brought along with me!” “I can see the top too,” came Pegg’s voice from another part of the formation. “There’s nobody up here, Tony.” “I guess you guys were right after all,” Kalmus finally conceded. It seemed a terribly long time before the men got to the ground and disappeared into the ship. Rock gave them time to remove their space gear before daring to speak over his radio. “Boy, that’s the closest call we’ll ever have!” Shep said. “We’re still not out of the woods,” Rock reminded him. “We’ve got to get you free.” He went after the trapped foot with a more determined vengeance. Shep howled, but Rock finally jerked it free of the stubborn crevice. When they reached the bottom, Shep was limping and said his ankle hurt. Rock supported him and they headed back toward the Northern Cross. They continued with caution, keeping out of the open as much as possible. “I don’t see that we accomplished much,” Shep said wearily. “It’s given me another plan, at least,” Rock replied, brushing at a new growth of ice crystals. “Oh, oh, here we go again!” Shep sighed, then winced as his ankle hurt him again. “All of us,” Rock began, “except you—if you’re not up to it—will come back over here. We’ve already proved that the trip can be made without their seeing us. We’ll station ourselves around the air lock, except for one who will climb the formation and kick rocks down again on the ship. This time Kalmus will be sure it’s us, and they’ll come out to investigate again. When they come out, our bunch will slip inside. If Judas has been left to watch Leo and Ed, he shouldn’t give us much trouble by himself if we slip up on him and catch him unawares. Once we’ve locked out the other three they’ll give in willingly just to get back inside.” “That’s pretty daring,” Shep said doubtfully, “but I guess we’ve got to be daring if we’re going to save the boys.” As they walked, Rock radioed the Northern Cross with the walkie-talkie he’d been carrying on his back, telling the boys of their close call. When the two reached the ladder bridge across the rift, Shep had difficulty crossing with his injured foot. He went first, and as Rock steadied the frail bridge, he held his breath tensely for fear Shep would slip. They had used the safety rope again, but, if one of them should fall, he could easily rip open his suit as he thudded against the jagged side of the chasm. Once more, however, they got across without mishap and were soon back at the ship. The boys helped them in eagerly. “Are you fellows ready to go back with me?” Rock asked them. They looked at him in amazement. He explained his new plan to them. All considered it taking a big chance, but, not being able to think of anything better, they agreed that they might as well try it. “Kalmus is getting mean and nasty,” Shep told them. “This thing seems to be getting on his nerves. There’s no telling what he’ll do to the boys before this is all over. He and his men have blasters, and they mean business.” The boys prepared a snack for themselves, then began to dress, trying to choose the best of the antiquated suits. Shep did not suit up. He said that he wouldn’t be able to help any because of his ankle, which was noticeably swollen now. He wouldn’t let any of the others stay behind with him, however. When all were dressed and ready to go, they said good-by to their crippled buddy. “What’ll I do if you don’t come back?” Shep asked Rock. “I guess you’ll just have to come over and join us,” Rock replied, half-jokingly. “Two could possibly get the ship back to port in a pinch but not one man alone.” “I think I’ll prefer your coming back,” Shep said, with a broad grin. “Good luck, you guys.” The four of them started out. Rock showed his friends the route he and Shep had taken before, one that appeared safe from possible inquiring eyes aboard the Dog Star. It took them some time to cross the chasm, since each fellow had to tie on the safety rope as he went over. “I’ll climb the lunabase formation,” Rock told them, “because I was up there before and know the way. The rest of you keep away from the ports and sneak up to the air lock over there. When I see that you’re ready, I’ll kick some stone down onto the ship. That should bring them outside in a few minutes. We’ve already made our plans from then on.” Rock watched Hugh, Sparky, and Johnny slip agilely into the open and bound like gazelles over to the air lock. Then he started to climb the wall as he and Shep had done before. It was then that the shocking collapse of Rock’s bold plan came about. Kalmus and all three of his men darted swiftly from behind the ship, two on each side. They leveled their blasters at the boys, warning them to stay in their tracks. “Keep them covered, Ben,” Kalmus ordered. “Come on, Jack and Mumbly. There’s another one around here somewhere. I saw four of them.” The shocking suddenness of the countermove had left Rock numb and immobile for a few seconds. But he quickly regained his composure and sprang into action. He leaped to the ground and scrambled madly to safety behind the lunabase formation. He had barely ducked behind a monolith before two helmeted heads loomed some twenty feet away. A glance in the other direction showed him the third. He had to get out of there quickly. He dashed into the open and with great leaps tried to put as much distance between himself and his pursuers as he could. He got a good start on them before they caught sight of him and gave chase. “Stop!” Kalmus roared. “We’ll shoot if you don’t!” Rock kept running, heading for the chasm. If the three were shooting at him, he had no way of telling in the near airlessness of the planet. He wouldn’t know unless he felt the hot stab of a heat ray and the explosive loss of air from his suit. Reaching the rift, he cast a hurried glance behind and saw the three still following. Not having time to tie on the safety rope, Rock started across the chasm. Over his radio he continued to hear Kalmus’ threats. The voice grew louder as the pursuers drew close. Being able to move ten feet or so at a jump, it wouldn’t take them many seconds to reach the chasm. Rock clutched at the far bank and hauled himself onto safe ground. As he exhaustedly pulled the ladder across out of reach of the others, he looked up to see them almost at the edge. But without the ladder, they were helpless to advance any farther. Fearing a well-placed shot, Rock scrambled for cover behind a protective clump of boulders not far off. Only then did he feel that he could dare take a deep breath since the terrible ordeal had begun. Kalmus and his two companions seemed reluctant to attempt a jump of the chasm and headed back to the Dog Star. Almost exhausted, he pulled the ladder across and out of their reach. Rock continued on to the Northern Cross. When Shep admitted him into the ship, Rock related the unhappy story with bitter tears in his eyes. “You guys should have set me adrift long ago!” Rock burst out. “I’ve been giving orders ever since we started, and every plan has backfired! Now there are only the two of us left!” “We had to have a leader,” Shep said more calmly. “We chose you because we thought you were the best. We still do. Now quit feeling sorry for yourself!” “I don’t know what could have happened!” Rock sighed, shaking his head. “I know,” Shep said. “Kalmus just happened to see you fellows coming, that’s all.” Rock sat down wearily. “You take over from here, Shep. I’m licked.” Shep could see that his friend was genuinely distressed. He concealed the harrowing pain he felt in his ankle and tried to think of their next move. Minutes passed without Rock speaking. He merely stared out the port at the star-jeweled sky and the shimmering ball of Earth that could look so close to a person in space and yet be so far away. “You said that two could run this ship in a pinch,” Shep spoke to break the silence. “We’ll just have to take the Northern Cross back to port ourselves and get help from the Space Guard. The boys will probably try to stall longer and keep the Dog Star on the ground.” “I guess that is the only way,” Rock admitted, then added dismally, “If the ship isn’t here when the Guard comes back, we probably won’t see the fellows anymore, that’s all.” “What you need is a good rest, Rock,” Shep told him. “None of us has had one since we came here. Let’s get a few hours of sleep, one at a time, and then get back to the problem when we’re more refreshed. I’ll stand first watch to see if the Dog Star takes off.” “I am pretty tired,” Rock said. “This time we’ll do what you say, Shep,” he smiled feebly. “You be sure to wake me to relieve you.” Rock stretched out in a chair and fell asleep almost immediately. The next thing he remembered was his friend shaking him. Rock stirred sleepily. “I guess I’ll be shot for going to sleep on guard duty,” Shep confessed. “I just couldn’t help it, though.” Rock had no reason to doubt that the Dog Star would not still be in its same spot, but some impulse prompted him to look out the port just the same. His heart suddenly seemed to go dead inside of him. “The ship is gone, Shep!” “Oh, no!” The glasses revealed indisputably that the ship had blasted off. There was only a blackened ring and a depression where the Dog Star had been before. “They’ve gotten the jump on us again!” Rock said brokenly. “Kalmus must have threatened the boys, or else Judas got the ship off,” Shep said. “Whatever it was, they’re gone now,” Rock said hopelessly. “They can be heading for almost any place in the solar system.” “What do you think we should do now?” Shep asked. “Go ahead with our same plan to notify the Guard, I guess,” Rock replied tonelessly. “They’ll probably send out some cruisers to look for the Dog Star.” Rock stared solemnly out the port. “It’s my fault all this has happened. My fault that we ever started out on this crazy treasure hunt and my fault that the boys are in the hands of these space pirates!” “Don’t blame yourself, Rock. The fellows knew very well what they were getting into. It’s not your fault that things haven’t worked out.” Rock tried to shake off the pall of despair that had dogged him for the past few hours and got busily to work. “Well, no use just sitting here on Luna talking about it,” he murmured. “Let’s get that ankle of yours bandaged and then we’ll start up the engines.” It was going to be a tricky undertaking to manage all the complicated controls between the two of them. Shep was further hindered by his ankle that had stiffened while he had slept. Rock had remembered seeing a first-aid kit and he went for it. He wrapped the ankle tightly so that Shep would be able to get about with a minimum of pain. They had to cut the sides of Shep’s magnetic-soled shoe so that there would be as little discomfort as possible. Shep could have done without magnetic shoes altogether, being content to float about weightlessly in the ship when they were beyond Luna’s gravity pull, but this would have interfered with running the ship, which required a certain amount of body leverage. The two got their individual duties synchronized so that there would be no hitch, Rock taking the bulk of the work. They calculated their figures and prepared the tape for the autopilot. Then they strapped down in the couch room for the take-off. Rock still did not trust the Northern Cross too far, and at this moment he was concerned lest the old ship might not respond to the lift of her jets. The next few moments would tell the story. Rock felt the vibration of the ship as the fuel pumps went to work. The overhead prism showed the flow meter registering properly, but the big question was still whether the ship would be able to lift itself into the heights. Then a sudden movement seemed to cut Rock’s breath off in his throat. His body pressed deeply into his couch, aching, but Rock was glad. The ship was rising from the soil of Luna. They pushed the Northern Cross along at the top speed they believed was reasonably safe. The ship creaked and groaned under the burden of maximum thrust. As yet she had given no indication of suffering worse than this, but it was clear that the space vessel had seen her best days. When the Northern Cross was about two-thirds of the way home, a suspicious dot was seen on the radarscope, moving too slowly for a meteor. “Shep!” Rock called. “Take a look at this, will you?” Shep limped over as Rock got out his binoculars. “I can’t believe it!” Rock blurted. “It’s the Dog Star!” “What!” Shep cried, and grabbed the binoculars from Rock. “It is the Dog Star!” “Kalmus has got more nerve than I thought he had!” Rock said. “I didn’t think he’d risk heading straight for Earth!” “Whatever the reason, we’ve got him in our sights,” Shep said. “What’ll we do?” “Follow him in, I guess,” Rock answered. “Whatever station he heads for, we’ll put the Guard right on him and his cronies.” “I’d advise our keeping our distance so we won’t scare him off,” Shep suggested. Rock nodded. “When we get closer in, we may be able to radio a warning to the stations to be on the lookout for him.” They followed the Dog Star for an entire space day, keeping the same distance between the ships. The craft was undoubtedly still heading for Earth and its company of artificial satellites. If her occupants had spotted the other ship, they did not seem alarmed. Kalmus appeared to be walking right into capture at a time when victory seemed to be completely his. It didn’t make sense. Hours later, Rock was interrupted from study of a sky chart when Shep cried out in an anguished voice. Rock dashed over to the port where his friend was looking out. “There’s been an explosion aboard the Dog Star!” Shep blurted. “A big burst of flame poured out of it!” “We’ve got to get to her right away!” Rock said hoarsely. It took some time to change course and swing around in pursuit of the Dog Star’s new glide path. Rock fretted impatiently. He had nightmare visions of what might have happened or might now be happening to his buddies aboard the stricken vessel. As soon as the Northern Cross had matched flight paths with the other craft, Rock reduced their velocity so they could creep up on the Dog Star “overhead.” The maneuver was accomplished as quickly as possible. The Northern Cross now lay “above” the Dog Star, with a space of about a hundred feet between. Rock set the controls on hold positions as Shep procured a long towline. The boys dressed hurriedly in space gear, then opened the air lock closest to the ragged topside hole they had seen in the other ship. They secured the safety line to an outside anchor ring, then Rock fastened the line to his own suit. “Maybe you’d better stay out of this with that bad ankle of yours,” Rock told Shep. “And let you go across on your own?” Shep retorted. “No, I’m sticking with you this time.” Rock shoved off briskly from the ship’s hull and floated across the gulf of vacuum toward the Dog Star. He landed on the hull not far from the explosion hole that was amidships near a rocket-tube cluster. Shep pulled in the line and then launched himself across the emptiness. Rock steadied him as he landed. The two scrambled immediately down through the gaping cavity, careful not to snag their suits on the sharp edges. The boys climbed down along the bulkheads of the corridor where smoke swirled like fog. Reaching the floor, they were met by four running figures in space suits. The boys recognized Kalmus and his three companions in a desperate hurry. Rock lashed out boldly at Kalmus who was rushing at him. He heard the big fellow groan over his suit radio as the blow landed. But then Rock was charged by Jack Judas. He was lifted off the floor and, because of his helplessness when not in contact with it, was sent crashing heavily against the wall of the corridor. Rock scrambled down off the wall to resume the battle. Shep was courageously taking on all four of their attackers. Rock leaped into the middle of it all, swinging fiercely. Another blow sent him careening into the wall. Shep was flat on the floor now. Expecting no mercy from the victors, Rock was amazed to see the four withdraw from the fight and run off down the corridor in the direction they had been heading in before. Rock and Shep tiredly climbed to their feet. “They weren’t after us!” Shep gasped. “They were just trying to get away!” “They’re heading for the lifeboat rockets, I guess,” Rock panted. “They looked scared to death!” “Let’s get to the fellows!” Shep said. They hurried along to the main control room. It was empty, so they moved farther along to the navigation room. The door was locked and from inside there came the sound of beating fists. With their heavy space boots Rock and Shep began kicking the light metal door with passionate vigor. Finally they tore the lock loose and the twisted door swung inward. Sparky, Ed, and Johnny were sagging against the far wall, their eyelids half-closed. Leo was giggling strangely and chattering as if enjoying himself. Sparky kept crying out, “I can’t hear!” Only Hugh appeared normal. It was he who had been beating on the door. His face was red with fright and shiny with sweat. “The air pressure is down!” Hugh gasped to Rock and Shep. “Give us air!” Rock and Shep slammed the door to save as much remaining air as possible and hurried to the supply room. They gathered up all the oxygen bottles that they could carry and rushed back with them. They opened the petcocks on all, and the life-giving precious gas began flooding the room. But the gauge on the wall still showed a subnormal air pressure. Shep and Rock found space suits in the supply room and began helping their companions into them. The victims could help a little, but, except for Hugh, they were still in such a state of anoxia that their rescuers had to do most of the work. Finally the five were safely encased in suits, with clean pressurized air filling their lungs. When the others felt like it, they began to talk. “Kalmus had us locked up in the navigation room while they went to eat,” Hugh explained. “Then when the explosion came, Kalmus and his men must have been in such a hurry that they forgot all about us.” “You might know that the only thing that would have made Kalmus abandon the treasure would be the saving of his own neck,” Rock said contemptuously. “You fellows had better get a physical as soon as we get to port.” Shep asked the fellows what had happened since their capture. “Kalmus made us blast off soon after he caught us,” Hugh was the first to reply. “Whatever made Kalmus head for Earth?” Rock asked. “We thought that would be the last place he’d want to carry all of you since you’d be able to incriminate him.” “Kalmus didn’t intend to land at a space station!” Ed cut in. “He was going straight for Earth and touch down in the Arizona desert where he could unload the ore without being noticed. Then he and the others were going to sell it a little at a time over a long period.” “Carry the Dog Star directly to Earth!” Shep exclaimed. “This ship isn’t made for atmospheric travel! It would have been turned into a meteor by skin friction!” “That’s what we tried to tell that crazy man!” Sparky said. “But he thought we were trying to fool him and get him to dock at one of the space stations. Judas knew the danger too, but Kalmus wouldn’t listen to him either.” “How did you keep the Dog Star at such slow velocity?” Rock asked. “We shorted out the circuit to a couple of jets,” Johnny replied. “Told Kalmus it was an accident. We had Judas fooled too. We were trying to stall reaching Earth as long as possible.” “We hoped we’d get a chance to jump the fellows,” Hugh put in. “We even had an outside hope that you might catch up with us.” Rock went back to the earlier capture of Leo and Ed. Kalmus wanted only two of the boys to run the ship, Leo explained, so that they could be easily watched by the four. That was why they had sent Sparky back over after the transfer of the ore. Ed said that he and Leo had made such an unsatisfactory job (intentionally) of running the ship that Kalmus had made Judas take over. But Judas was so rusty with his piloting that he botched up the controls, making a forced landing on Luna necessary. The boys then got the idea of trying to contact the Northern Cross by radio, which they had done in one of Kalmus’ unguarded moments. Kalmus had been so infuriated to discover this that he had destroyed the radio. He mistakenly thought he had done it before a message had been sent. “Let’s hope we’ve seen the last of that Kalmus bunch,” Shep declared. “If everything turns out all right for us, I don’t care whether they are ever caught or not.” “Do you suppose they got off in the lifeboats?” Hugh suddenly asked. During their discussion of past events, they had almost forgotten about the present whereabouts of Kalmus and his men. They went to check the escape hatches and found one of four lifeboat rockets gone. “I don’t see how they expect to reach any of the space stations with their limited knowledge of navigation,” Sparky said. “Even Judas can find his way home from here,” Rock told him. “We’re only a few thousand miles from the outer radio relay satellite. The lifeboats have simple instructions printed on the walls that practically anybody can follow.” Shep changed the subject. “Anybody know what caused the explosion?” “Probably a valve lock somewhere in the chemical fuel system,” Hugh answered. “That’s what all of us think, judging from the sound of the blast. Our tinkering with the jets might have caused it.” “The thing to do now,” Rock said, “is to get these ships back to port, that is, if the Dog Star has still got its power. I suggest we split into two groups, four on the Northern Cross and three on the Dog Star.” It was discovered that the damage from the explosion would prevent the Dog Star from traveling at its best speed because one entire rocket section was out of order. But it would run. They drew lots to see who would ride in which vessel. Rock, Hugh, Ed, and Shep drew the Northern Cross and Leo, Sparky, and Johnny the Dog Star. Rock and his three companions who would return to the Northern Cross went back to the ship by way of the towline. The ghost ship still hovered overhead in the same position it had occupied before, even though the two craft were traveling at a good pace through the deeps. The space ships were brought back into their original Earthward paths, and in a few hours’ time the braking rockets were ready to cut in. Several futile attempts had been made to contact a space station by radio, and it wasn’t until this point that the Northern Cross was able to establish its first contact over the crippled set. This was by way of a continuous signal beamed out through space by a rotating antenna atop the outermost artificial satellite, the radio relay station, 50,000 miles from Earth. Hugh signaled for an operator and when he came in, Hugh gave the name of the ship and its position. “Who did you say you were?” Rock heard the operator ask in amazement. “The Northern Cross,” Hugh answered, “serial number A45-J, World Spacecraft, manufacturer.” There was silence on the other end for several moments. Hugh winked at Rock. “We’ll have some fun with them,” he said. “When did the ship go out?” the operator asked. “Twenty years ago,” Hugh replied. “Is this a joke?” the other retorted. “Not at all,” Hugh assured him. The radioman chose not to argue any further. “I’ll give you approach instructions,” he said. “There are two ships,” Hugh told him. “We’re together.” The operator sputtered again when Hugh told him that the Dog Star’s radio was completely out. “How do you expect me to bring a ship in without a radio?” he complained. “If you give us both instructions,” Hugh answered, “we’ll relay those for the other ship to them by suit radio. We’re close enough for that.” “I guess you know this is highly irregular,” the operator replied. “I still think you’re pulling my leg!” As the approach instructions were given, Rock relayed them to the Dog Star. The connection was rather feeble because of the low power of Rock’s suit radio transmitter, but by hooking up his own suit radio to the ship’s antenna, damaged though it was, Leo, acting as radioman, could hear well enough. As the ships moved in parallel to the spinning station, a final adjustment by the forward jets synchronized the ships’ motion with that of the rotating station. “Pretty good approach,” the operator admitted grudgingly. “You two will come into adjoining Docks 5 and 6. Stand by.” Presently two sets of long, flexible metal arms reached out from the space station like the arms of an octopus and attached themselves magnetically to the sides of the ships. Then slowly the Northern Cross and Dog Star were pulled into their docks. Word of arrival of the derelict space ship had been spreading all over the station apparently, for Rock and his friends found the entire high brass there to meet them as they crossed through the coupling tubes into the satellite. The boys were conducted to the official quarters of the commanding officer where he was gathered with the other members of his staff. There Rock related the entire story of their trip. At first mention of Kalmus’ name, Colonel George had spoken to one of his officers and sent him out. When Rock was through with his story, Colonel George shook his balding gray head, although it was a gesture not without humor. “It sounds like a fiction piece, Merrill,” the officer said, his eyes glowing with an excitement that suggested he might have enjoyed sharing such an adventure himself. “Not that I disbelieve you! I don’t mean that. It’s just so incredible what a group of young fellows have done!” He looked at his spellbound officers and they nodded approvingly. “I’ve sent one of my men to see if Kalmus had docked here,” Colonel George went on. “He’s probably a scoundrel with a bad record. That must have been why he was in such a hurry to get started from the servicing station, before his references could be checked at central identification on Earth. You mentioned, Merrill, that he appeared very generous in extending credit to you. I suppose you realize now that he must have planned to take over the ship from the very beginning and therefore his original so-called credit would be only a fraction of the wealth he expected to bring back.” “Yes, we finally guessed that, sir,” Rock said. There was a wait until the officer returned with the facts on Kalmus. He handed a yellow sheet to the commanding officer who read it with a show of regret. “Kalmus and his men docked here about two hours ago,” Colonel George said. “As soon as they docked, they immediately jumped on a ferry going Earthward. The ferry landed some time ago and they can be anywhere on Earth. I’m afraid Kalmus and party have given us the slip. We’ve already notified the authorities to initiate a search for them. Too bad you men were unable to get in touch with us by radio so that we could have been ready for them.” “He may have escaped, sir,” Rock reminded him, “but not with the ore treasure, not even his own half.” Colonel George chuckled. “That’s right. And if he should turn up to claim it, we’ll charge him with a crime that is quite serious.” “If he and his men are ever captured, sir,” Rock said, “we’ll make a settlement with him then. He may need the money for some good lawyers.” The colonel smiled. “I see you fellows want to do the right thing even if he hasn’t. Let me say here that I consider what you men have done, bringing into port two crippled ships, the most remarkable space performance I have ever heard about in my career. I’d have given anything to be thirty years younger and one of you!” He sighed regretfully. “In view of all this, I believe it would be embarrassing to the Space Academy not to reconsider you seven for cadet school. I’ll personally make a strong recommendation for you.” The boys, except for their leader, were profuse in their thanks. Rock was quietly grateful and filled with a heart-warming satisfaction. For all these long weeks since their blast-off, he had suffered remorse for having brought his friends into such perils as they faced. Now it had all worked out for a purpose. Where they might never have come back, now they had not only returned without harm, but they would reclaim the opportunity for a space career that had appeared to end for them with their washout from the Space Academy. As Rock happily thought over these things, an officer wearing the insigne of a metallurgist came into the room. “I’ve made an assay of the ore cargo on the Northern Cross, Colonel,” the man said. “It’s good alconite ore and is worth a fortune, and of course the ship is quite valuable too. It’ll tell us a lot about long-period effects of space conditions.” “Now my success is complete,” Rock thought. “Dad did not lose his life for nothing. The satellite hospital will be a living memorial to his unselfish ambition. Even with all the things that happened to us, I’m glad we took the chance.” He was sure his friends felt the same way. |
|
