by Mabel Maney
"Aye, aye, Captain," Joe grinned with a snappy salute to his brother. Just then the rocket began to rumble.
"Joe, what did you do?" Frank cried.
"Nothing," Joe gulped. "Honest." The boys tried to stop the engine, but it was too late, for inside the ship, things had begun to happen. Lights flashed; a data recorder clicked on; radarscopes beamed strange images on their screens. Frank looked out the window and saw a brilliant flash of light as the roof of the cavern appeared to open. There was nothing but blue sky above! "Do you know where we are, Joe?" he yelped. "The launch pad must be under Treasure Island!"
Joe grabbed the handle of the escape hatch and pulled it, but to no avail. "It won't open-we're stuck!" he cried.
"Lift-off minus two minutes. Lift-off minus one minute and fifty-nine seconds-" a mechanical voice announced, starting the countdown.
The boys broke out in a sweat. "This can't really be happening," Frank cried over the roar of the engines. But he knew it was; for he could feel the rocket rumble and lurch. It was really taking off!
Were the Hardlys going to be the first boys in space?
* * *
CHAPTER 47
* * *
Frank Sees the Light
"Joe-strap yourself in!" Frank directed. The boys flattened themselves on the horizontal takeoff seats and buckled the safety straps. "Sure you're in tight?" Frank asked Joe tensely. Joe nodded.
Terrible thoughts were racing through Frank's mind. Their youthful bodies could be torn asunder during the high acceleration it would take to shoot this rocket past the Earth's atmosphere. Without safety suits, they could be burned to a cinder from the sun's intensive rays. Why, they could end up as a fiery shooting star! The Hardly boys were ill-equipped for space travel, and Frank knew it!
Frank and Joe shared a solemn look. "Joe-" Frank started, then stopped. He knew he didn't need words-not with Joe! He put out his hand. There was a long, firm handclasp as silent hopes were conveyed from the eyes of each.
"Lift-off minus two seconds. Lift-off minus one second. Blastoff!"
"What thrust!" Frank found himself thinking in admiration, despite their precarious predicament. As the engines roared and rumbled beneath them, thrusting the rocket ship up, up into the sky, Frank was flooded with emotion.
"Father will never know how much I really love him," he realized with a sob. "Oh, why did I have to come to this realization now, when it's too late to tell him? I hope nobody tells Father what a knucklehead I was!" he thought worriedly.
The G-force grew stronger, flattening the boys' clean-cut features until they were no longer recognizable as America's best-loved boy detectives. The pressure proved too great for the lads. They fell into deep faints. When Frank came around, he realized the force-field had abated. He unstrapped himself and walked over to the window. Darkness punctuated by the twinkling of stars greeted his eyes.
"Joe-we're here. We're really here!" Frank cried excitedly. "We're the first boys in space!"
Joe awoke, stretched and let himself loose. "How long do you figure we've been out?" he wondered.
"Hours, probably," Frank guessed. "Look-we're high above the Earth."
Joe peeked out the window and gasped when he saw the small revolving planet they called home. He gazed through his binoculars. "What a sight!" he whistled. "Why, the continents look just like they do on our globe at home. Africa is all pink, while Europe is yellow."
"Joe, don't be silly," Frank scoffed. "That's just the effect of gamma rays on the visible spectrum."
Frank checked the levels on the control panel. "We've got three tanks of rocket fuel left, just enough to circle the moon, fling ourselves back into the Earth's orbit and make a splashdown in some nice soft body of water like Lake Merrimen," he schemed. "Lucky for us, we don't seem to feel the effects of the sun's intensive rays. The aluminum body of this rocket must be triple thick, which is sure a relief." Frank knew that if the ship were to be pierced by a meteorite, their blood would boil like water in a tea kettle.
"Happily, NASA's solved the additional problem of weightlessness in space," Frank noticed, relievedly.
He began poking around the panel, which resembled the flight panel on the Hardly speedy two-seater airplane, the Sky Princess. He took hold of the throttle in an attempt to guide the craft's course, but found it wobbling out of control!
"Look, Frank," Joe gasped as he looked out the window and saw they were hurling toward a rocky orb pockmarked with craters. "We're going to crash-land on the moon!"
"Look out, Joe," Frank cried as he grasped his brother to him, hoping to break Joe's fall. The craft came to a sudden standstill, and the boys were thrown against the panel. Suddenly the hatch popped and two men strode inside, each grabbing a Hardly boy and yanking him to his feet.
Frank gasped when he recognized the man whose hands had him by the collar. It was the handsome fellow Joe had beaned with a brick, only now he was wearing a navy blue suit with a three-buttoned jacket with wide, sloping shoulders. A crisp white shirt and a simple carmine-colored tie completed his ensemble.
"Nice suit you've got on, Frank," the man quipped sarcastically, giving Frank the once-over. "Your father said you were a snappy dresser," he added in a low tone, giving Frank a little wink. A million butterflies started flitting around in Frank's stomach. He had a million questions. How did this man speak English with no trace of an accent? And what occasion had provided context for such a casual conversation with his father?
But before Frank could say anything, the boys were forced out of the rocket at gun point. As Frank was descending the rungs, he could plainly see that what he and Joe had experienced had been a clever simulation of a rocket launch. "Now that I've taken another look, I can see this rocket's not full-size. And there's a globe and a projector," he whispered to Joe. "And giant springs underneath caused us to feel motion-"
"No talking!" the handsome man ordered. "Don't-saya-word!"
Joe and Frank exchanged fearful glances. Was this fellow friend or foe?
* * *
CHAPTER 48
* * *
Prisoners!
Midge read aloud the three signs. "Left is the Moonscape Simulation Hall, to the right is the Rocket-Propulsion Chamber, and straight ahead is the Cafeteria." They were standing on an observation deck overlooking a vast underground scientific laboratory, pleased that they had had the foresight to don disguises, as they blended right in. Why, except for the pocketbook dangling from the crook of Velma's elbow, they looked just like any of the industrious men below.
"This is just like Endless Caverns in Arizona, isn't it, Velma?" Midge exclaimed. "We went there a few years ago on our vacation," she told Jackie. "It's a huge underground cavern with a lake, a ballroom and a cafeteria. It looks like this, except for all these rockets and guys in white coats running around. That was a fun vacation, huh, babe?"
"It was a memorable trip," Velma noted, "especially the part where we were kicked out of the caverns for unseemly behavior."
"We were caught in a limestone crevice," Midge grinned. "The tour guide shone his light on us at a most inopportune time."
"A woman in our party fainted," Velma giggled, adding, "Midge and I have been thrown out of all the best places!"
Jackie smiled. She hoped some day she and Cherry would have memories like that! She swallowed hard. Better to stay focused on the task at hand and not let her mind wander to a certain dark-haired nurse with the sweetest lips and a curvy figure who was at this minute locked away with a devious titian-haired detective. "See? This can't be a Russian operation. Look-all the signs are in English."
Midge jumped in. "Look over there! It's Joe and Frank and they're being led away at gun point by two men."
Velma took Nancy's opera glasses from her purse and tried to make out what the men were saying. "The guy in the blue suit is going to take the boys away for interrogation. And they're speaking English."
"And?" Jackie said excitedly.
"Now they're talking a
bout lunch," Velma groaned. "The other man just mentioned some cheese-"
Midge's stomach grumbled.
"Wait," Velma cried. "I was mistaken. Not some cheesethe big cheese!"
"The big boss?" Jackie guessed.
Velma nodded. "Only I can't make out his name. Oh, no, don't put that stick of chewing gum in your mouth! Drat! Now I can't make out a word he's saying! Oh, darn, they just turned a corner. Sorry."
"You did just swell, Velma," Jackie said in admiration.
"You see why I never leave the house without her?" Midge bragged to Jackie.
Still, Velma was keenly disappointed, but there was no time for pouting. They had to follow the Hardly boys and set them free! They shimmied down a fire escape, dropped to the floor and blended unobtrusively with all the other white-coated men. They turned down the corridor where Frank and Joe had disappeared when Velma suddenly gave a little cry. Her left shoe was stuck to the floor!
Velma slid her foot out of her sling-back pump. "Gum!" she grimaced as she scraped the sticky wad from her shoe. "Further proof that this place is run by Americans. Besides, look at these life-size photographic portraits lining this hallway. Aren't these the Mercury 7 astronauts?"
"I thought I recognized these fellows," Midge admitted.
"But what does Fennel Hardly's kidnapping have to do with this place?" Jackie wondered. "After all, isn't he working for these guys? Why would they kidnap him?"
"And why would Judge Meeks try to make him out to be a spy?" Midge wondered.
"Maybe he discovered something he shouldn't have," Velma guessed.
"And you know how dangerous that can be," came a deep threatening voice from behind. Midge whirled around to find a darkly handsome man in a snappy suit and hornrimmed glasses. And he was holding a gun.
"Don't say a thing," the man growled as he cocked his revolver. "Just walk!"
They did as they were told.
"Security, this is Agent Anderson," the man spoke curtly into his walkie-talkie. "I've captured three intruders in quadrant seven. I'm taking them to the interrogation chamber with the others."
"Okey-dokey," came a cheerful male voice over the crackling wires.
Midge and Jackie exchanged grins. That sounded just like Joe! Midge cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said. "I think you should know-"
"No talking!" the man said curtly. Midge was miffed but she kept her mouth shut. If Velma hadn't been there, why, she would have taken a swing at the rude fellow!
"Now do as I say or the little fellow gets hurt," the man snarled. Midge gulped. He meant Velma! She shot her girlfriend an anxious look. "You are never coming along on another adventure again, no matter how much you pout!" that look said.
"Get in that room!" the man said, pointing to a steel-plated door. They were ushered inside a chemical laboratory where the Hardly family sat lashed to bare metal chairs.
Midge suddenly leapt into action. She shoved Velma aside, then turned and socked the guy with the gun right on his square jaw. The man lurched backward against a table, and flasks, condensers and test tubes went flying in all directions onto the concrete floor, shattering to bits.
Jackie grabbed his wrist and squeezed until he shrieked in pain and dropped his gun. The strong girl then grabbed him by his lapels and shook him. "Who are you and-" But before she could continue, the Hardly family jumped up, their restraints falling away. They hadn't been tied up after all, only made to look that way!
Frank hurled his body between Jackie and the man. "Don't hurt him!" Frank cried. He took a clean hankie from his pocket and held it to the man's split lip. "Oh, Agent Andy, are you all right?"
"This is Secret Agent Dwight 'Andy' Anderson," Mr. Hardly rushed over to explain.
"He's one of us!" Joe crowed. The boys then tumbled all over themselves trying to fill the girls in on everything they had learned.
"This place-" Joe started.
"-is a secret rocket ship and moon walk operation-" Frank cut in.
-our own government-"
"-never any Russians-"
"-the clues were fake-"
"-they've run amok with the public's trust-"
"-spending millions developing rockets that won't even take off-"
"Wait a minute-I'm getting dizzy, fellows," Agent Anderson protested. He was still a little weak from the sock on the jaw he had just taken.
"Lean on me, Agent Andy," Frank urged. The goodlooking secret agent guy looped an arm over Frank's shoulder and rested heavily on him. "Thanks, Frank," he said. "Say, this is much better. I ought to take you with me everywhere I go."
Frank beamed. The thought of entering government service was becoming more and more attractive as time went on.
While Agent Anderson caught his breath, Mr. Hardly outlined the strange case. "It's a complicated tangle of secret agents, double agents, faulty rocket ships, kidnapped poodles and hidden explosive devices," he said in a calm tone that let them know he would soon have the situation under control. Mrs. Hardly clutched her husband's arm. While he gave her a comforting hug, Agent Anderson began talking. The girls plopped themselves on chairs and listened to the man's incredible tale.
"I'm with a secret government organization. I can't tell you which one. This all started when I got a call from Fennel. We'd worked together on a case a few years back-"
"So this place is a United States government laboratory," Jackie said.
"That's right," Agent Anderson said. "It's been here since the war. For years, it's functioned without a hitch, first as a weapons research laboratory and then, in the last few years, as a space rocket laboratory." He gratefully accepted a cigarette from Midge. After a few puffs, he continued his tale.
"Fennel sends me a coded message. Something's queer here. He'd been following the dognappings and found the link to NASA. Then I get a call from my boss. Can't say who he is. He wants me to come here and investigate a local detective-"
"He means our dad," Joe interjected.
"-who was rumored to have gone over to the other side-"
"Become a spy for the Russians!" Joe translated.
"I took on the case so I could protect Fennel and Mrs. Hardly, but I got here too late. Someone had already taken it upon himself to pull in the Hardlys, and they had done a pretty rough job of it, too," Agent Anderson continued. "I'm not sure who we can trust," he finished.
"Certainly not Judge Milton Meeks," Jackie announced. "He's issued a warrant for Fennel's arrest on charges of espionage. What's more, he had someone plant false clues linking Fennel to the Russians.
"But what's this blast that's scheduled for tomorrow?"
Fennel P. Hardly spoke up. "Girls, our government is planning to launch a faulty rocket ship manned by dogs, then blow it up over Lake Merrimen and blame it on the Russians!"
"We've got to save those dogs!" Midge cried.
"But that doesn't make any sense," Jackie exclaimed. "Why would we want to blow up our own rocket?"
"For the publicity?" Velma guessed cynically. "If we don't launch something soon, people might become wary of the space program. Funding would be cut. Instead it will look like we were ready, only our foes caused us to fail. Everyone will worry even more about losing the Space Race, and NASA's future will be safe."
Midge said nothing, but leaned over and kissed Velma on the top of her head.
"I never thought our government could devise something that devious, and that a court official would falsify evidence to help carry it out, but that's exactly what's going on," Frank sadly shook his head.
"Only they're going to blame it on you, too, Father," Joe cried. "We've got to stop the blast, find evidence that will expose Judge Meeks for what he is and clear your good name."
"Our good name," Frank said, giving his father a manful one-armed hug.
"But how do we get you out of here without alerting anyone?" Agent Anderson mused. "Meeks has to have cohorts down here working this end of his evil plan. I don't know who they might be. We've got to be very careful
."
"You've kept us safe this far," Frank pointed out with adoration.
"How did you know to intercept us, anyway?" Jackie wondered.
"We contacted Willy on Andy's communications device, and he told us you were headed down here," Frank said. "It was sheer luck that Andy found you before one of Meeks' men did."
"When I saw Midge in that white coat I was afraid for a second that Frank had snuck out to do some investigating on his own," Agent Anderson admitted with a smile.
"Although Frank and I could be brothers, I'm just a friend of the family," Midge grinned.
"I am, too, now that I've gotten to know all of them," the man exclaimed, sneaking a significant look Frank's way.
Midge lit another cigarette and grinned. She gave her girlfriend a happy squeeze. They weren't the only ones in that room who were in love!
"Let's be speedy about this," Jackie pleaded. "We've got two chums working undercover at the River Depths Sanitarium and they've got to get out before nightfall," she told the man.
Agent Anderson's face grew rigid with concern. "They sure do," he cried, "for that place is unsafe!" He explained. "I've been investigating Dr. Fraud for months, and was going to move in on him after I cleaned up this operation. He's got a government contract to test space drugs, but I've uncovered evidence that he's really developing dangerous mind-control substances. See, I suspect-"
"Give us the details later," Jackie urged. "The girl of my dreams is in that sanitarium!" She was about to race out the door when Midge grabbed ahold of her. "If we get captured, who's going to rescue Cherry and Nancy?" Midge warned her.
"Is there any way to contact them? To tell them to get out?" Agent Anderson asked.
"No, but they are carrying a tracking device that could lead us to them," Frank announced. "My watch has a built-in receiver."
"I'm getting you all out of here right now," Agent Anderson decided. "But how to move seven people through the laboratory without raising any suspicion?" he mused.