  That night, on their way to dinner in the galley, the boys were overtaken by the long-striding Mr. Klecker. “I heard you’re leaving us, gentlemen,” he said to them. “Yes, that’s right, Mr. Klecker,” Garry replied. “Too bad. I was hoping I would have the opportunity to talk to you about the old circus days. Yes, it’s too bad.” Gino, too, showed how much he liked the boys. He baked them special pies and told them that they were his going-away presents to them. After supper, Patch said to Garry, as they were leaving the galley, “Gee, they’re not making our leaving very easy, are they?” “No, Patch, they’re not making it very easy at all,” Garry agreed. “We’re not making what very easy?” asked a voice behind them. They turned and saw the smiling face of Ben. Garry explained to him what they were talking about. “Then I guess you don’t want me to say I’m sorry to see you go either, do you?” Ben said. “Of course we really do care,” Garry admitted. “But it makes us sad when everybody tells us.” “Then, I won’t tell you good-by, fellows,” Ben said. “I’ll just say ‘so long’ for awhile. Before you know it, you’ll come back into space and find us still cruising through the deeps in the Carefree. Yes, we’ll all be here.” “It does sound better that way, Ben,” Garry replied. “But until then, we’ll still miss all of you terribly.” “We’ll miss you too,” Ben said quietly, “but we’ll never forget you.” The boys went to bed with a feeling of melancholy that night, for this was their last sleep aboard Captain Eaton’s wonderland space ship. The thought of leaving these good friends, possibly forever, brought a pang to Garry’s heart. But no matter how sorrowful he felt, he was determined to be brave about it. Garry fell asleep thinking of all the fun he and Patch had had in the brief happy hours of their stay aboard the Carefree. Since the time passes quickly during slumber, the boy expected he would be awake before he knew it on another quiet morning, and that very soon thereafter he would be bidding good-by to his friends as he and Patch made preparations for the voyage back to earth and the orphanage. But Garry woke far sooner than he expected. It was not morning, nor was it quiet; the air was charged with confusion and alarm. Garry was aware of bustling footsteps and urgent voices in the dormitory. His eyes popped open in the bright glare of the lights that had been turned on fully. He had a feeling that it was the middle of the night and not morning, although he was not to find this out until a little later. Garry sat bolt upright in his bunk. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Gino, hastily pulling on his shirt, paused at Garry’s bunk. His eyes showed the anxiety he felt. “Hurry and get dressed, Garry!” he said. “You and Patch. We’re in great danger. We’ve got to get ready for the captain’s orders.” Garry leaped out of bed, his heart thumping swiftly. The cold floor on the soles of his feet shocked him fully awake. He seized his peacefully sleeping buddy and yanked him without mercy. “Patch, get up! There’s trouble—I don’t know just what kind yet!” Patch’s eyes were still drugged with sleep, but he struggled to a sitting position. “Trouble? Wh—what trouble?” Patched muttered. “I told you I don’t know, but Gino warned us to get ready for the captain’s orders. Hurry! Everyone else is already dressed and out of the dorm!” Patch needed no more urging and popped out of bed. He and Garry quickly dressed and hurried out into the corridor to see what was going on. There was no one in sight. The boys went farther along. Then, at the foot of the stairs leading into the center tube, they heard excited voices. “Whatever it is, it seems to be up in the tunnel,” Garry said. “Let’s go.” They hurried up the stairs. Reaching the top, Garry, who was in the lead, looked down the tunnel from which most of the sounds were coming. He saw Ben, Captain Eaton, Mr. Klecker, and Gino on or near the platform outside the flight deck, the door of which was closed. Garry and Patch pulled their weightless bodies along the webbing of the tube. As they approached the men, they heard Ben saying: “This is terrible! Poor Mac! And what’s going to happen to the rest of us?” “What is going to happen?” Garry asked, as he and Patch came upon the scene. Captain Eaton turned to them with a distraught look. “I’m sorry, boys. If I had hastened to get you back to the space station promptly, you would have survived this—this disaster.” “Disaster?” Garry echoed, with a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Yes,” Captain Eaton answered, his voice shaking. “Mac is already done for, and we shall soon follow after him.” “What happened?” Patch asked Mr. Klecker. The boys could see pain on the men’s faces. “The Carefree collided with an Explorer satellite,” the butler replied. “It destroyed the flight deck while Mac was on duty. It looks as if he had managed to close the door before he was swept off into space. The collision knocked us off course, and we’re plunging into space—toward where, no one knows. We can’t so much as lift a finger to bring her under control, and our antenna disk has been damaged so that we can’t even send an SOS.” “Oh, no!” was all Garry could say, sickened at the sudden fateful turn of events. Actually, he was thinking more of poor Mac than he was of their own grim outlook. He remembered how much the likable Scotsman wanted to return to the heather of his own land after his stint in space. Now he would never see Scotland again. Garry absently watched Ben squirting a thick liquid around the cracks of the flight-deck door, probably as a safeguard against air escaping from the ship. “Ben has been outside in a pressure suit to look over the damage,” Captain Eaton said. Patch turned away from the others, hanging his head in grief and despair. Captain Eaton put an arm around Garry’s shoulder, but there was a helpless look on his face that seemed to show the uselessness of saying anything. Gino had lost his usual cheery smile and could only stare numbly at the closed door of the flight deck, where their friend had been the victim of such a cruel act of fate. Garry looked around at the ship’s company. Everyone was accounted for except Isaac. “Where’s Mr. Newton?” he asked. “Poor Isaac is completely crushed,” Captain Eaton replied. “He had just changed shifts with Mac at the pilot’s chair only a few moments before the accident. He’s blaming himself for the whole thing. It seems he overlooked the position of the satellite that hit us. He missed it on his last check, and Mac did not see it in time. Isaac’s gone off somewhere.” It was indeed a dark moment aboard the once-happy vessel. Things had happened so swiftly that everyone appeared to be still in shock. No one spoke again for several minutes. Everyone just stood around idly, as if not knowing what to do next and not really caring. Ben was the first to try to rally everyone’s deadened spirits. He had just finished sealing the cracks in the door. “It’ll be some time before we can tell which way the ship is heading. The collision changed our course completely. Even when we do find out, there’s nothing we can do to control the Carefree. She’s just a runaway. But I still think there’s hope for us.” All eyes turned upon Ben questioningly. “That flier you two arrived in, Garry,” Ben continued. “I’ve only had a quick look inside it, and the console seemed in pretty bad shape from your and Patch’s efforts to start the engines. However, if I’m lucky and we have time before the Carefree hits another satellite or something, I may be able to fix it up so that we can escape in it.” “It’s our only hope,” Captain Eaton replied. “I suggest you get right on the job, Ben, and call on anyone you need to help you. Meanwhile, we’ll sweat out the flight, although I must say I feel like a duck in a shooting gallery because of all the flying objects whirling out there all around us.” “If we are able to escape in the flier,” Mr. Klecker said, “we can use its radio to send for help.” Ben shook his head. “The radio was removed for some reason. There’s only the empty compartment it came out of.” With faint hope of survival, some measure of good spirits was restored to the astronauts. Ben called upon Mr. Klecker to help him work on the space taxi, and Captain Eaton said he would go to the observatory to take a “fix” and try to determine the course the Carefree had taken. “I’ll have to change clothes,” Mr. Klecker said. “I don’t want to get my uniform soiled.” “Guess I’ll go and whip up some breakfast,” Gino said. “That’s about all I can do, although maybe nobody will be hungry.” Captain Eaton turned to Garry and Patch before he left. “I know it’s going to be hard for you,” he said, “but try to feel hopeful about this situation. A terrible misfortune has come our way, but try to believe that things will work out for us. Chins up, eh, fellows?” He forced a smile. The boys gave him a brave smile in return, although they did not feel it any more than he had. “May we go with you to the observatory, Captain?” Patch asked. “Maybe we can help.” “Yes, if you like. I know how hard it will be to remain idle at a time like this. Let’s go.” In the observatory, Garry and Patch watched the captain at his telescope and other instruments. He worked for a little while, then turned away from his work with a brooding, disturbed look on his face. He stroked his neat beard. Then he worked again for several more minutes. He stopped once more, but then resumed his watching. He kept this up for some time, and, as the minutes passed, his face grew more and more serious. Garry was afraid to ask, but he felt that he had to know. “Captain, is—is it bad?” he said softly. Captain Eaton shook his head grimly, the look of despair in his eyes. “You may as well know,” he replied. “I’ve been hoping I was wrong, but now I know I’m not. We’re moving into the gravity field of the moon. My guess is that we’re only a few hours away from collision.” |
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