“It’ll reach a point where the reaction comes so fast it’ll explode!”
“Let’s pile out of here!” said Roger.
The three boys made a dash for their space suits and the jet boat. Inside the air lock, they adjusted their oxygen valves and waited for pressure to equalize so they could blast off.
“Blast it,” said Astro, “there must be some way to get to that rocket tube and dump that stuff!”
“Impossible, Astro,” said Roger. “The release controls are in the control box, and with all that radiation loose, you wouldn’t last half a minute!”
Tom walked over to the valve that would open the outside hatch.
“Wonder how Captain Strong is making out with those tough babies on the Polaris?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know,” replied Roger, “but anything would be better than sitting around waiting for this thing to blow up!”
“Ah—stop griping,” said Astro, “or I’ll shove you up a rocket tube and blast you from here all the way back to Atom City!”
“Hey, wait a minute!” shouted Tom. “Astro, remember the time we were on the ground crew as extra duty and we had to overhaul the Polaris?”
“Yeah, why?”
“There was one place you couldn’t go. You were too big, so I went in, remember?”
“Yeah, the space between the rocket tubes and the hull of the ship. It was when we were putting in the new tube. So what?”
“So this!” said Tom. “When they converted this tub, they had standard exhausts, so it must have the same layout as the Polaris. Suppose I climb in the main exhaust, between the tube and the outer hull, and cut away the cleats that hold the tube to the ship?”
“Why, then everything would come out in one piece!” Astro’s face lit up. “Reactant mass, tube, control box—the works!”
“Say, what are you two guys talking about?” asked Roger.
“Saving a ship, Roger,” said Tom. “Dumping the whole assembly of the number-three rocket!”
“Ah—you’re space happy!”
“Maybe,” said Tom, “but I think it’s worth trying. How about it, Astro?”
“O.K. by me, Tom,” replied Astro.
“Good. You get the cutting torches rigged, Astro. Roger, you give him a hand and keep your eye on the counter. Then feed the torches to me when I get inside the tube. I’m going outside to get rid of a bad rocket and save a five-million-credit spaceship!”
Before Astro or Roger could protest, Tom opened the hatch and began to climb out on the steel hull toward the rocket tubes, main exhaust.
His magnetic-soled shoes gripping the smooth steel hull, the cadet made his way aft to the stern of the ship and began the climb down around the huge firing tubes and into the tubes themselves.
“Hey, Astro,” he yelled into the spacephone, “I’m inside the tubes. How about those torches?” The cadets had adjusted the wave length so that all could hear what was said.
“Take it easy, spaceboy,” said Roger, “I’m leaving the hatch now. You and your fatheaded friend from Venus are so hopped up for getting a Solar Medal—”
“Knock it off, Manning!” said Astro from inside the ship. “And for your information, I don’t want a medal. I don’t want anything except for you to stop griping!”
Roger reached the end of the ship and began to climb down inside the tube where Tom was waiting for him.
“O.K., spaceboy,” said Roger, “here’re your cutting torches.” He started moving back. “I’ll see you around. I don’t mind being a little hero for saving people and all that stuff. But not for any ship. And the odds against a big hero staying alive are too big!”
“Roger, wait,” shouted Tom. “I’ll need.…” And then the curly-headed cadet clamped his teeth together and turned back to the task at hand.
He made adjustments on the nozzle of the cutting torch, and then, focusing his chest light, called to Astro.
“O.K., Astro,” he said, “shoot me the juice!”
“Coming up, Tom!” answered Astro. “And wait till I get my hands on that Manning! I’m going to smear that yellow space crawler from one corner of the universe to another!”
“Never mind the talk,” snarled Roger, who at the moment was re-entering the tube. “Just get that juice down to this torch and make it fast!”
Tom turned to see Roger crawling back into the tube and adjusting a cutting torch.
“Glad to have you aboard, Roger,” said Tom with a smile that Roger could not see in the darkness of the tube. The two boys went to work.
Suddenly the torches came to life. And immediately Tom and Roger began 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, cutting anything 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 by one 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 can reach that cleat easier than you can.”
Roger slipped past Tom and inched his way toward the last cleat. He pulled his torch up alongside and pulled the trigger. The flame shot out and began eating the steel. In a moment the last cleat was cut and the two boys started 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 stuck out his hand.
“I’m glad you came back, Roger.”
“Save it for the boys that fall for that stuff, Corbett,” said Roger sarcastically. “I came back because I didn’t want you and that Venusian hick to 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 believe me, the ten points to the official danger mark of fifteen hundred is so small that 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 the ship 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 their mad 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 only way 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 in motion tends to keep going at the same speed unless influenced by an outside 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 go forward, 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, if any booster energy hit it, it would be like a trigger on a bomb. It’d blow us from here to the next galaxy!”<
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“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 if you take the jet boat and leave now.”
“Ah—talk again!” grumbled Roger. “We always have to talk. Let’s be original 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 hundred miles off. He’ll know if we’re successful or not within a half hour!”
“Yeah,” said Roger, “then we’ll send him one big flash to mean we failed! Bon voyage!”
Fifteen minutes later, as the Lady Venus drifted in her silent but deadly orbit, Tom, Roger and Astro still worked feverishly as the Geiger counter ticked off the increasing radioactivity of the wildcatting reaction mass in number-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 to the waist, his thick arms and chest splattered with grease and sweat, fitted the wrench to the nut and applied pressure. Tom and Roger watched the muscles ripple along his back, as the big Venusian pitted all of his great strength against 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, easing off, 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 start blasting!”
Astro turned to the power-deck control board and checked the gauges for the 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 hasty check of the controls and found them to be similar enough to those on the Polaris so that he could handle the ship. He flipped the switch to the radar deck 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 old men. 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.
“He’s afraid of losing a good unit!”
Tom smiled and turned to the control board. “Energize the cooling pumps!” he bawled to Astro over the intercom.
The slow whine of the pumps began to build to a shrieking pitch.
“Pumps in operation, Tom,” said Astro.
“Cut in nose braking rockets,” ordered Tom.
A low muted roar pulsed through the ship.
“Rockets on—we’re moving backward, Tom,” reported Astro.
And then suddenly Astro let out a roar. “Tom, the Geiger counter is going wild!”
“Never mind that now,” answered Tom. “Sound off, Roger!” he yelled.
“Ship moving astern—one thousand feet a second—two thousand—four thousand—”
“I’m going to let her build to ten, Roger,” yelled Tom. “We’ve only got one chance and we might as well make it a good one!”
“Six thousand!” yelled Roger. “Seven thousand!”
“Astro,” bellowed Tom, “stand by to fire stern rockets!”
“Ready, Tom,” was Astro’s reply.
“Eight thousand,” warned Roger. “Spaceman’s luck, fellas!”
The silver ship moved through space away from the Polaris.
“Nine thousand,” reported Roger. “And, Astro, I really love ya!”
“Cut nose braking rockets!” ordered Tom.
There was a sudden hush that seemed to be as loud as the noise of the rockets. The huge passenger ship, Lady Venus, was traveling through space as silent as a ghost.
“Nine thousand five hundred feet a second,” yelled Roger.
“Stand by, Astro, Roger! Hang on tight, and spaceman’s luck!”
“Ten thousand feet a second!” Roger’s voice was a hoarse scream.
“Fire stern rockets!” bawled Tom.
CHAPTER 16
Under the tremendous drive of the stern rockets, the silver ship suddenly hurtled forward as if shot out of a cannon. The dangerous tube slid out of the stern of the ship and was quickly left behind as the Lady Venus sped in the opposite direction.
“That’s it,” yelled Tom, “hold full space speed! We dumped the tube, but we’re still close enough for it to blow us from here to Pluto!”
“I tracked it on the radar, Tom,” yelled Roger. “I think we’re far enough away to miss—”
At that moment a tremendous flash of light filled the radar scanner as the mass exploded miles to the rear of the Lady Venus.
“There it goes!” shouted Roger.
“Great jumping Jupiter,” yelled Tom, “and we’re still in one piece! We did it!”
From the power deck, Astro’s bull-like roar could be heard through the whole ship.
“Gimme an open circuit, Tom,” said Astro. “I want to operate the air blowers down here and try to get rid of some of that radiation. I have to get into the control chamber and see what’s going on.”
Tom flipped a switch on the board and set the ship on automatic flight. Then, turning to the teleceiver, he switched the set on.
“Lady Venus to Polaris—” said Tom, “come in, Polaris—come in!”
“…Strong here on the Polaris!” the officer’s voice crackled over the speaker. “By the rings of Saturn, I should log you three space-brained idiots for everything in the book!” Strong’s face gradually focused on the teleceiver screen and he stared at Tom coldly. “That was the most foolish bit of heroics I’ve ever seen and if I had my way I’d—I’ll—well—” The captain’s glare melted into a smile. “I’ll spend the rest of my life being known as the skipper of the three heroes! Well done, Corbett, it was foolish and dangerous, but well done!”
Tom, his face changing visibly with each change in Strong’s attitude, finally broke out into a grin.
“Thank you, sir,” said Tom, “but Astro and Roger did as much as I did.”
“I’m sure they did,” replied Strong. “Tell them I think it was one of the—the—” he thought a moment and then added, “darndest, most foolish things—most—”
“Yes, sir,” said Tom, trying hard to control his face. He knew the moment for disciplining had passed, and that Captain Strong was just overwhelmed with concern for their safety.
“Stand by the air locks, Corbett, we’re coming aboard again. We’re pretty cramped for space here on the Polaris.”
Just then Astro yelled up from the power deck.
“Hey, Tom!” he called. “If Captain Strong is thinking about putting those passengers back aboard, I think you’d better tell him about the radiation. I haven’t been able to flush it all out yet. And since we only have three lead-lined suits.…” He left the statement unfinished.
“I get you, Astro,” replied Tom. He turned back to the teleceiver and faced Stro
ng. “Astro says the ship is still hot from radiation, sir. And that he hasn’t been able to flush it out with the blowers.”
“Ummmmh,” mused Strong thoughtfully. “Well, in that case, stand by, Corbett. I’ll get in touch with Commander Walters right away.”
“Very well, sir,” replied Tom. He turned from the teleceiver and climbed up to the radar deck.
“Well, hot-shot,” said Roger, “looks like you’ve made yourself a hero this trip.”
“What do you mean by that, Roger?”
“First, you run off with top honors on the space maneuvers, and now you save the ship and have Strong eating out of your hand!”
“That’s not very funny, Roger,” said Tom.
“I think it is,” drawled Roger.
Tom studied the blond cadet for a moment.
“What’s eating you, Roger? Since the day you came into the Academy, you’ve acted like you hated every minute of it. And yet, on the other hand, I’ve seen you act like it was the most important thing in your life. Why?”
“I told you once, Corbett,” said Roger with the sneering air which Tom knew he used when he was on the defensive, “that I had my own special reasons for being here. I’m not a hero, Corbett! Never was and never will be. You’re strictly the hero type. Tried and true, a thousand just like you all through the Academy and the Solar Guard. Strong is a hero type!”
“Then what about Al James?” asked Tom. “What about that time in Atom City when you defended the Academy?”
“Uh-uh,” grunted Roger, “I wasn’t defending the Academy. I was just avoiding a fight.” He paused and eyed Tom between half-closed lids. “You’ll never do anything I can’t, or won’t do, just as well, Tom. The difference between us is simple. I’m in the Academy for a reason, a special reason. You’re here, like most of the other cadets, because you believe in it. That’s the difference between you, me and Astro. You believe in it. I don’t—I don’t believe in anything but Roger Manning!”
Tom faced him squarely. “I’m not going to buy that, Roger! I don’t think that’s true. And the reasons I don’t believe it are many. You have a chip on your shoulder, yes. But I don’t think you’re selfish or that you only believe in Manning. If you did, you wouldn’t be here on the Lady Venus. You had your chance to escape back in the rocket tube, but you came back, Roger, and you made a liar out of yourself!”
The Tom Corbett Space Cadet Megapack: 10 Classic Young Adult Sci-Fi Novels Page 14