  Captain Eaton’s announcement that Garry and Patch were about to meet Isaac Newton, the great scientist, filled the boys with astonishment. “We’re going back to the central tube,” the skipper said, “and from there to the navigation room.” They climbed a steep staircase, as they had done earlier. Garry felt the comfortable feel of artificial gravity leaving him as they went higher. The light-headed, floating sensation of zero gravity was returning. The captain shoved a lever so that the central tunnel would start revolving. When a doorway appeared in the tube, the three climbed through. Then the rotation of the tunnel was stopped. The captain then led the boys along the stationary axle of the Carefree, in the direction opposite from where they had first entered the ship. The three pulled themselves along the webbing as their legs swung free, weightlessly. They reached a platform outside a door at the nose of the ship. Holding onto the platform rail, Captain Eaton fished into a cabinet built into the platform and came out with two pairs of slippers. “You can attach these magnetic-soled slippers to your shoes, fellows,” their host said. “Because of the zero gravity in the navigation room, we have to use gravity plates. The rest of us wear these attached to our boots all the time because we are always going back and forth up here, and they are light and comfortable.” After the boys had donned the slippers, Captain Eaton pressed a button, the door slid open, and the three of them walked through. Garry and Patch found themselves in a domed room, which had a wide front port that looked out into space. Below the port extended a long instrument panel, or console, with two seats in front of it, one of which was occupied. “This is the flight deck!” Garry said. “It’s the part that looked like a big eye on the front of the ship.” The pilot turned around in his swivel seat. He was a huge, muscular man with rugged features that suggested he might once have been a vigorous athlete. “Boys, meet Isaac Newton,” Captain Eaton said. Garry could not help but laugh, because this Isaac Newton looked nothing whatsoever like pictures of the great scientist. But then Garry remembered that he was being impolite, and he apologized. “That’s all right,” Isaac Newton said good naturedly. “Everybody who ever heard of that scientist laughs. I’ve been defending my name ever since I was a kid. That’s how I got to be a professional fighter, which I was until I got tired of bashing people and the good captain took me on as his chauffeur. I stayed on with him, and he said I could come into space with him if I wanted to. I’ve picked up navigation since I’ve been out here.” “How did you get a name like Isaac Newton?” Patch asked. “Well, naturally my father was named Newton,” Isaac explained, “and he was also a science teacher. He wanted me to be a scientist too, and thought he was helping me by giving me the name of one of the greatest scientists of all time. But, as I said, I got into so many fights because of being teased about my name that I had more practice as a fighter.” He laughed, showing a two-tooth vacancy in the front of his mouth. “Funny thing is that I might’ve been a scientist if I hadn’t been given the name of one!” With that, Isaac Newton turned back to check on how the ship was running. The captain went over to converse with him, and this gave the boys an opportunity to look around the navigation room. Of particular interest was a huge chart on the back wall near the entrance. On the map were countless globes of various sizes, and running through the globes were long curving lines. “What’s that, do you suppose?” Patch asked his friend. Garry looked closely at the printed names beside the round symbols. “Hermes—Vanguard II—Adonis—Derelict Space Ship Oberon,” he read. “These seem to be objects floating about in space,” he said, “and the lines through them must be their orbits.” “You’re very observant, Garry.” Garry looked back and saw that Captain Eaton had come over. “That’s exactly what they are, and we have to know exactly where each one of them is at all times,” the captain said. “If we missed keeping up with one, we might run into a collision orbit with it, and then it would be quickly over for all of us. Some of the objects are asteroids, some man-made satellites, some large meteor fragments whose orbits we have already plotted. And a few are derelicts, or empty shells of what were once proud space liners. Any one of them could destroy the Carefree if it should hit us. In fact, a meteor as large as an orange could wreck us because of the terrific velocity at which it would strike.” “Gee,” Patch said, “you must be anxious all the time about being hit by something.” “No. It’s a risk, of course, but space is so very, very huge that actually there is little chance of being hit by anything any larger than a grain of sand. But of course there is always the chance that someday the big, unexpected one will come. Still, we don’t worry about it because it would keep us from enjoying our life in space.” Captain Eaton showed the boys some of the other things in the room. He explained the purpose of the various dials and switches on the console—facts that the boys would have given anything to know when they were so desperately trying to steer the space taxi. The skipper of the Carefree told them that usually there was only one pilot on duty but that, in case of tricky navigation or on other special occasions, both Mac and Isaac or Ben would be on together. The captain added that he was quite a pilot himself and liked to take over the controls now and then. Suddenly chimes were heard over a loud-speaker. “That’s the signal for us to get ready for lunch,” Captain Eaton said. “Let’s go, fellows, and wash up.” “Tell Mac to shake a leg and get up here to relieve me, will you, Captain?” Isaac asked. “I’m starved. It’s been a long shift.” “I will, Isaac,” the captain promised, and pushed the button which opened the door. A few minutes later, Garry and Patch sat down to the best meal they had had in a long time. Not even Thanksgiving at the orphanage could beat this, Garry told his friend. The boys had their first taste of pizza pie, and they were hoping it would not be their last, especially if Gino was the one who prepared it. They were sure he was the best chef in all the solar system. After lunch the patient Captain Eaton spent most of the afternoon showing the boys more of the ship. They saw the gym and swimming pool and the library filled with many recording tapes and films. There were also books for those who preferred reading instead of reclining in a soft contour chair and listening to tapes over earphones. As they passed from one section to another, Garry noticed that the indirect daylight effect, that filled every part of the Carefree, was fading steadily but slowly. He asked the captain about this. “It’s an automatic control that helps put us in the mood for night,” the skipper said. “Remember my telling you about how much better man works in a properly spaced twenty-four-hour day? Soon now, the main lights will be very low, with only an occasional lamp making things bright. It is just like the coming of night back at home. You will see.” The space travelers had only a light snack for dinner because of the big meal earlier in the day. Soon afterward, the boys began to yawn and get sleepy as they watched the artificial daylight continue to fade. They were looking forward to sleeping lying down for a change. “Your minds are telling you it’s time for bed, eh?” Captain Eaton said with a laugh. “Well, so is mine. I still haven’t shown you the observatory, which is my favorite spot aboard ship. But that can wait until tomorrow. Let’s go to the dorm and get you two settled before the fellows in there are ready to turn out the lights.” The boys found all the people they had met today getting ready for bed. That is, all but two of them. “Mac is on pilot duty, isn’t he, Captain?” Garry asked. “But where is Ben?” Captain Eaton was pulling off his shiny boots. He may have been the boss of the Carefree, with all the say-so, but he was not too proud to share the same sleeping quarters with those whom he called his “friends.” “There are always two on duty at night, Garry,” Captain Eaton replied to Garry’s question. “One acts as pilot, while the other makes the rounds several times a night to be sure that the automatic controls are functioning properly. We all take turns sharing these duties.” When everyone had climbed into his bunk and pulled the covers up, Captain Eaton called out from his own bunk, “Check?” There came answering “checks” from all the fellows, and the next moment Garry found the room plunged in darkness. Within only a few minutes’ time, Garry began hearing the quiet breathing of those around him already in deep sleep. But he was too excited to drop off just yet. As he lay there staring into the darkness, he wondered if such a thrilling adventure as this could really be happening to him and Patch. Why, only a few hours ago they were in despair for their very lives. Now a whole new experience had been opened to them. It was almost as if the Carefree had been sent by Providence to him and Patch alone. As Garry’s thoughts roved, his eyelids began to feel heavy and the clutch of sleep was groping for him. He finally drifted off into slumber, only to wake—he didn’t know how many hours later—with a parching thirst. He sat upright in his bunk and threw back the covers that cloaked him like a sweat-box. He found that he was breathing heavily and then suddenly remembered the end of a nightmare he had been having. As he sat in the quietness and darkness, he began to relax, and his heartbeats slowed to normal. But he was still very thirsty. He remembered that there was a water fountain in the hallway outside the dormitory. Slowly and carefully, so as to make no noise to disturb the others, Garry left his third-level bunk and made his way down the metal ladder to the floor. A dim night light, kept burning all the time, showed the way to the door. Garry pressed the button, and the door slid open silently. Garry went out into the faintly lighted hallway. He shivered as he made his way along the corridor. It was not that he was cold but that it was so creepy and lonesome with everything so quiet. The fountain was like a white ghost crouching against the wall a couple of dozen feet away. Garry made his way toward it. He leaned over it, pressed the lever, and felt the icy stream against his dry lips. “Boy, that’s good,” he said to himself, and he drank and drank as though he hadn’t had water in all his lifetime. When he finally got his fill, he rubbed his sleeve across his mouth and turned to start back toward the dormitory. Then it seemed that all the blood flowed out of his head in one wild rush. His heart began to thump rapidly, and his legs went weak. It was due to a startling sight that faced him. |
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