Stand by for Mars! Carey Rockwell

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."Just get that juice down to this torch and make it fast!"Tom turned to see Roger crawling back into the tube and adjusting acutting torch."Glad to have you aboard, Roger," said Tom with a smile that Roger couldnot see in the darkness of the tube.The two boys went to work.Suddenly the torches came to life.And immediately Tom and Rogerbegan to cut away at the cleats that held the tube lining to the skin of the ship.Steadily, the cadets worked their way up toward the center of the ship, cuttinganything that looked as though it might hold the giant tube to the ship."Boy," said Tom, "it's getting hot in here!"From inside the ship, Astro's reassuring voice came back in answer."You're getting close to the reactant-mass chamber.The last cleat is up byone of the exhaust gratings.Think you can last it?""Well, if he can't," snarled Roger, "he's sure to get that medal anyway!"He inched up a little."Move over, Corbett, I'm skinnier than you are, and I canreach that cleat easier than you can."Roger slipped past Tom and inched his way toward the last cleat.Hepulled his torch up alongside and pulled the trigger.The flame shot out andbegan eating the steel.In a moment the last cleat was cut and the two boysstarted their long haul down the tube to the outside of the ship.As they walked across the steel surface, back to the air lock, Tom stuckout his hand."I'm glad you came back, Roger.""Save it for the boys that fall for that stuff, Corbett," said Rogersarcastically."I came back because I didn't want you and that Venusian hickto think you're the only ones with guts around here!""No one has ever accused you of not having guts, Roger.""Ah-go blast your jets," snarled Roger.They went directly to the power deck where Astro was waiting for them,the Geiger counter in his hand."All set to get rid of the rotten apple?" he asked with a smile."All set, Astro," said Tom."What's the count?""She seems to have steadied around fourteen hundred ninety-and believeme, the ten points to the official danger mark of fifteen hundred is so smallthat we could find out where the angels live any moment now!""Then what're we waiting for," said Tom."Let's dump that thing!""How?" snarled Roger.Tom and Astro looked at him bewilderedly."What do you mean 'how'?"asked Astro."I mean how are you going to get the tube out of the ship?""Why," started Tom, "there's nothing holding that tube assembly to theship now.We cut all the cleats, remember? We can jettison the whole unit!""It seems to me," drawled Roger lazily, "that the two great heroes in theirmad rush for the Solar Medal have forgotten an unwritten law of space.There's no gravity out here-no natural force to pull or push the tube.The onlyway it could be moved is by the power of thrust, either forward or backward!""O.K.Then let's push it out, just that way," said Astro."How?" asked Roger cynically."Simple, Roger," said Tom, "Newton's Laws of motion.Everything inmotion tends to keep going at the same speed unless influenced by anoutside force.So if we blasted our nose rockets and started going backward,everything on the ship would go backward too, then if we reversed-"Astro cut in, "Yeah-if we blasted the stern rockets, the ship would goforward, but the tube, being loose, would keep going the other way!""There's only one thing wrong," said Roger."That mass is so hot now, ifany booster energy hit it, it would be like a trigger on a bomb.It'd blow us fromhere to the next galaxy!""I'm willing to try it," said Tom."How about you, Astro?""I've gone this far, and I'm not quitting now."They turned to face Roger."Well, how about it, Roger?" asked Tom."No one will think you're yellow ifyou take the jet boat and leave now.""Ah-talk again!" grumbled Roger."We always have to talk.Let's beoriginal for a change and just do our jobs!""All right," said Tom."Take an emergency light and signal Captain Strong.Tell him what we're going to do.Warn him to stay away-about two hundredmiles off.He'll know if we're successful or not within a half hour!""Yeah," said Roger, "then well send him one big flash to mean we failed!Bon voyage!"Fifteen minutes later, as the Lady Venus drifted in her silent but deadlyorbit, Tom, Roger and Astro still worked feverishly as the Geiger counterticked off the increasing radioactivity of the wildcatting reaction mass innumber-three rocket tube."Reading on the counter still's going up, Astro," warned Roger."Fifteen-O-five.""Hurry it up, Astro," urged Tom."Hand me that wrench, Tom," ordered Astro.The big cadet, stripped tothe waist, his thick arms and chest splattered with grease and sweat, fitted thewrench to the nut and applied pressure.Tom and Roger watched the musclesripple along his back, as the big Venusian pitted all of his great strengthagainst the metal."Give it all you've got," said Tom."If we do manage to jettison that tube,we've got to keep this part of the power deck airtight!"Astro pulled harder.The veins standing out on his neck.At last, easingoff, he stood up and looked down at the nut."That's as tight as I can get it," he said, breathing heavily."Or anyone else," said Tom."All the valve connections broken?" asked Astro."Yep," replied Roger."We're sealed tight.""That's it, then," said Tom."Let's get to the control deck and startblasting!"Astro turned to the power-deck control board and checked the gauges forthe last time.From above his head, he heard Tom's voice over the intercom."All your relays to the power deck working, Astro?""Ready, Tom," answered Astro."Then stand by," said Tom on the control deck.He had made a hastycheck of the controls and found them to be similar enough to those on thePolaris so that he could handle the ship.He flipped the switch to the radardeck and spoke into the intercom."Do we have a clear trajectory fore and aft, Roger?""All clear," replied Roger."I sent Captain Strong the message.""What'd he say?""The rebellion wasn't anything more than a bunch of badly scared oldmen.Al James just got hysterical, that's all."A low muted roar pulsed through the ship."What did he have to say about this operation?""I can't repeat it for your young ears," said Roger."So bad, huh?""Yeah, but not because we're trying to save the ship.""Then why?" asked Tom [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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