  Garry had read about the rough effects of blast-off, but the real thing was even worse than he had imagined. He felt like one of those characters in movie cartoons who gets flattened to the thickness of paper when run over. His lungs felt as though they had collapsed, and he could suck in only the barest trace of breath. But the discomfort did not last long. His body seemed to fill out like an inflated balloon, although he still felt the ache of having been nearly squashed. His stomach felt as though it had been stirred up with an egg beater, and his head swam. But no sooner had he recovered from the first violent thrust than it came again as the rocket’s second stage began firing. Then the crushing pressure eased once more, only to return once again as the third stage, the occupied section of the Orion, began firing away. When this force let up, Garry knew it was the last. The ship did not appear to be moving, but Garry knew it must be traveling many thousands of miles an hour. Garry’s shaky hands groped for the belts of the harness that snugly fitted his body. He worked the buckles loose from his upper body and sat up on his G-couch. He did not release his legs, because he was already feeling the dizzying effects of weightlessness. He looked across at Patch on the next couch. Patch was still lying flat, and his face was pasty white. His eyes were closed, and this alarmed Garry. “Patch!” Garry called, repeating the name over and over. Patch had blacked out, but after a few minutes he came back to consciousness. “Wh—what happened?” Patch asked in a weak voice. “We’re in space, Patch,” Garry replied. “They’ll probably think we’re stowaways and send us to jail. Maybe Officer Mulroy will get in trouble too.” But this was the least of Patch’s worries right now. He put his hand to his head, complaining, “Gee, I feel terrible. Everything’s going around! And I had the worst nightmare all night long!” Garry had to grin at this. “We haven’t been here all night, just a few minutes. It just seems like a long time.” Patch fumbled loose his upper straps and struggled to a sitting position, but fell back down onto his contour seat. “Wow, I can’t make it!” he said thickly. “There’s no use trying to get up,” Garry said. “We’re weightless and would never be able to get about. It’s funny how I wanted so terribly to go into space, but now that I’m out here I’m not enjoying it. I guess it’s because I’m afraid of what’s coming.” Garry wondered what they should do. Should they turn themselves in and take their chances on being believed that their being aboard the Orion was due to an accident? But if they did this, then Mr. Mulroy might be held responsible for not seeing that the boys had left the ship. And yet, Garry realized, he and Patch could not stay in hiding indefinitely. Sooner or later they must be found out. If they did not turn themselves in, and they were discovered, they would surely be regarded as stowaways. Then a new fear came to Garry. What if his and Patch’s combined weight was over the ship’s allowable limit? What if their being aboard would keep them from reaching the space station and, instead, cause the earth’s gravity to pull the Orion back down? In that case the two of them could possibly cost the space-ship line a new rocket worth millions, not to mention the lives of all the persons aboard in case a safe landing could not be made! Garry was occupied with these grave thoughts until he heard the public-address system saying: “We are now in braking orbit.” Garry knew this meant that the ship had reached the vicinity of the space station and was beginning to circle the station while the braking rockets were cut in. This procedure would slow down the Orion so that she would be moving at the same orbital speed as the space station. Then it would be easy for her to slip into dock. Garry and Patch felt the tug of the ship’s gradually diminishing speed, but this was not nearly as rough as the blast-off had been. As the Orion moved into dock, the boys felt their weight returning. This was due to the station’s rotation and artificial gravity. “Well, it looks like the ship has made it all right,” Patch said, relieved. “They must not have had a full load.” The boys heard the technical language of the docking procedure. Garry listened closely, even though he could not understand much of it. But this was all part of the spaceman’s education, and he was eager to learn it, even at such a crucial moment as this. Yet as he listened, he had another unpleasant thought. Now that he and Patch had the blot of “stowaway” against them, would this misconduct prevent them from realizing their dream of being future spacemen? Finally, the ship’s motion stopped altogether. The Orion had nestled into her dock on the big Von Braun Space Station, named after the great space scientist of the past century. “Now where do we go from here?” Patch asked, as the two removed their harness straps and got to their feet. “Garry, I’m scared, plenty scared! Wow, I’m a little wobbly too!” “Let’s stay put until we hear further announcements over the speaker,” Garry suggested. “It’ll give us time to think this through a little longer.” “We’re just stalling, that’s what we’re doing, aren’t we, Garry? We don’t want to turn ourselves in because we’re afraid of what will happen to us,” Patch said. Garry hung his head. “I guess that’s what it does amount to, Patch. I keep thinking what this will do to our hopes of being spacemen. I’m afraid we’ll never make it now.” They stayed in hiding for another half hour. Then Garry said: “We’ve got to have something to live on until we make up our minds what we’re going to do, Patch. I think space ships have emergency-ration compartments located along the corridors. I’m in favor of looking for one.” “That’s better than just waiting here and doing nothing,” Patch agreed. “I’ll look out and see if the coast is clear,” Garry said. He looked around outside and then motioned to Patch. They started off quietly down the corridor, but after a moment they heard footsteps approaching from around the corner behind them. “Garry, we’ve got to hide!” Patch whispered urgently. “Somebody’s coming!” Garry saw a door up ahead. “That leads into an air lock, Patch. We may be safe in there.” Garry turned a wheel on the door, and it swung open. They found themselves in a short tunnel, at the other end of which was another door. The air lock was used for entering and leaving the ship while it was in space. The spaceman would enter the chamber and wait for the air pressure to equalize before he left the air lock. Garry quickly turned another wheel on the inside of the door, closing it. “We can’t stay in here very long without air,” Garry said. “The other end of this air lock probably leads directly into the space station. Shall we try it?” “This running and hiding has got to end somewhere,” Patch replied with discouragement. “Lead on.” Garry checked the pressure gauge on the far door and saw that there was normal pressure on the other side. He turned the wheel on the door, and it swung open. The boys went through, and Garry wheeled the door shut behind them. They were in a huge enclosed dock of the space station. Lined up ahead were several space taxis, or fliers, which were used for trips outside the station and also doubled as lifeboats in time of emergency. “Gee, it’s cold in here!” Patch said. “The main thing, though, is that there’s no one around,” Garry said. “It’ll give us time to collect our thoughts.” “That’s what you think,” Patch whispered, tugging at Garry’s arm. “There come a couple of men down that corridor across the way!” Garry moved quickly and quietly, pulling Patch along. As the men entered the dock, the boys ducked out of sight behind one of the space fliers. The men approached the flier next to the outer door of the dock and pressed a button on the taxi’s surface. Its door sprang open, and the men entered the flier. They were in there for fully five minutes. During that time, Garry began to shiver, but it was not from fright so much as it was the coldness of the dock. Garry felt Patch shaking beside him and knew his friend was just as uncomfortable as he. But they had to stay put. There was no other place they could go at this moment. Finally, the men came out of the space taxi, closed the door, and, to the relief of Garry and Patch, disappeared up the corridor. Garry stood up and hugged himself. “Garry, I—I’m freezing to death,” Patch chattered. “So am I. We sure can’t stay here like this,” Garry replied. “Why don’t we try getting into one of these ships?” Patch suggested. “Maybe they’ve got heaters inside.” Garry pressed the button of the ship which they had been hiding behind, but the door did not open. “The power is off or something,” Garry groaned. “Maybe the first one will open,” Patch said. “It worked for those men.” Garry went over to the first craft and pressed the door button. Instantly, the door sprang open. A tiny air-lock chamber faced them. “Thank goodness,” Patch murmured. “Let’s go in.” “What if the men come back?” Garry cautioned. “They may be preparing for a trip.” “There are windows facing the corridor,” Patch said. “We can keep an eye out for them and duck for cover again if they return. Gee, let’s try it anyhow, Garry! I feel like a penguin that’s lost all its feathers!” Garry agreed and entered the flier, Patch climbing in behind. A second door led from the air lock chamber into the flier proper. Besides the pilot’s seat, there were six other seats, three on a side. It was warmer in here than outside, and Garry felt heat gently blowing. This made him suspect that the men had just turned it on and that they were going to return for a trip in the craft. “I’m afraid we won’t have long to stay in here,” Garry told his friend and mentioned his suspicion to him. “I guess you’re right,” Patch agreed. “Where will we go from here? Garry, I’m tired of running. And I’m getting more scared by the minute because of what we’re doing. Why don’t we just turn ourselves in and face the music, whatever it is?” Through a window of the taxi, Garry was watching the corridor for signs of the returning men. “I guess you’re right, Patch,” he said. “We’ll give ourselves up when those men return.” “I don’t think we should wait until then,” Patch objected. “It will go a lot easier for us if we give ourselves up voluntarily instead of looking as if we had been caught.” Once again Garry agreed, but, as he was reaching for the button to open the door, he heard a click. “What was that?” Patch asked in alarm. “What did you do?” “Nothing,” Garry said. “Something was operating all by itself.” A soft purring sound began to be heard inside the craft, and Garry felt the little ship vibrating ever so softly. “Patch,” Garry said tensely, “I don’t like this.” He tried the door button, but it would not work. “What’s happening?” Patch asked, and there was fright in his voice. A movement outside in the dock caught the boys’ eyes. Through the wide front port of the ship, they watched a big door slide open, revealing a dark air-lock tunnel—a tunnel large enough to hold the craft which they were occupying! “Garry,” Patch repeated, “what’s happening!” Garry slumped into one of the seats, fear numbing his heart. “Now I know what kind of ship this is, Patch,” he murmured. “It’s remote controlled, guided by an operator inside the space station. We’re heading straight out into space, Patch!” |
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