CHAPTER 18
Dawn broke over the tangled jungles of Tara, followed by the bright sunof Alpha Centauri rising out of the eastern sea and slowly climbinghigher and higher. In the dense unexplored wilderness, living things,terrible things, opened their eyes and resumed their never-ending questfor food. Once again Alpha Centauri had summoned one hemisphere of itssatellite planet to life.
Meanwhile, high in the heavens above Tara, six Earthmen blasted into theflaming brilliance of the sun star. Using delicate instruments insteadof claws, and their intelligence instead of blind hunger, they preparedto do battle with the sun star and force it to release the preciouscopper satellite from its deadly, consuming grasp.
The crew of the _Polaris_ assembled on the control deck of the greatspaceship, and facing their commanding officer, waited patiently for theword that would send them hurtling out to their target.
"The jet boats are all ready, sir," reported Tom. "We're dead ship inorbit around Junior at an altitude of about three hundred miles."
"Does that mean we're falling into the sun too?" gasped Shinny.
"It sure does, Mr. Shinny," said Alfie, "at more than twenty miles persecond."
"The jet boats have enough power to get back from Junior to the_Polaris_, Mr. Shinny," reassured Tom. "And then the _Polaris_ can blastoff from here. The jet boats wouldn't go much higher off Junior thisclose to the sun."
"But if we go beyond the two-hour limit, the _Polaris_ can't blast offeither," commented Roger dryly.
"All right. Is everything set?" asked Connel. "Astro, is the reactantloaded?"
"No, sir," said Astro, "but it's all ready to go in."
"Good!" said Connel. "Now we all know how important--and howdangerous--this operation is. I don't have to tell you again. You stayhere on the control deck, Tom, and keep in touch with us on Junior atall times. You know what to do?"
"Yes, sir," replied Tom. "I'm to stand by and give you aminute-by-minute warning check until final blast-off time."
"Right," said Connel. "And remember, we're counting on you to tell uswhen to blast off. We'll be too busy down there to pay any attention."
"I understand, sir," replied Tom. His face was passive. He was wellaware of the responsibility.
"Very well," said Connel finally, "the rest of you board your jet boats!This is going to be the hottest ride we'll ever take, and I don't wantit to get any hotter!"
Silently, their faces grim masks, the five spacemen filed out of thecontrol room, leaving Tom alone. Presently he heard the cough of therockets in the jet boats as one by one the small space craft blasted outof the _Polaris_. Suddenly Tom began to shake as he realized theimportance of his task--the responsibility of counting time for fivemen, time that could cost them their lives. If he made a single mistake,miscounted by a minute, the expedition to Junior would end not only infailure, but in tragedy.
As quickly as the thought came, Tom pushed it aside and turned to thecontrol board. No time now for fear. Now, more than any other time inhis life, he had to keep himself alert and ready for every emergency. Asa child he had often dreamed of the day when, as a spaceman, he would befaced with an emergency only he could handle. And in the dreams he hadcome through with flying colors. But now that it was a reality, Tom feltnothing but cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
He turned his whole attention to the great solar clock overhead. Timehad already begun slipping away. Ten minutes of the two hours had sweptpast. They must be on Junior by now, he thought, and flipped on theteleceiver. He focused on the satellite's surface. There in front of himwere the three jet boats. Major Connel, Roger, Astro, Alfie, and Mr.Shinny were so close that Tom felt as though he could touch them. Theywere unloading the first reactor unit, with Astro and Shinny digging thehole. Tom glanced at the clock, turned to the microphone, and announcedclearly:
"Attention! Attention! Corbett to Connel. One hour and forty-eightminutes until blast-off time--one hour and forty-eight minutes toblast-off."
He flipped the switch and watched the screen with rising excitement. Thecrew on the satellite had completed the installation of the firstreactor unit. He saw them blasting off in their jet boats for the secondspot. He adjusted the teleceiver and tried to follow them, but theydisappeared. He glanced at the clock.
"Attention! Attention! Corbett to Connel. One hour and forty-sevenminutes to blast-off--one hour and forty-seven minutes to blast-off."
On the satellite, in the deep shadow of a protecting cliff, each of thefive Earthmen paused involuntarily when they heard Tom's warning.
"Forget about the time!" snapped Connel. "By the blessed rings ofSaturn, we'll finish this job if it's the last thing we do!"
Connel went to each of the working figures and adjusted the valve,regulating the air-cooling humidity control on their space suits."Getting pretty hot, eh, boys?" he joked, as he stopped one and then theother to make the delicate adjustment counteracting the heat that wasincreasing each second they remained on the satellite.
"How hot do you think it is, sir?" asked Roger.
"Never mind the heat," said Connel. "These suits were designed towithstand the temperature of the light side of Mercury! It gets boilingthere, so I guess we can stand it here for a while."
One by one, Alfie, Shinny, Roger, and Astro completed their assignedroles, digging the holes, placing the reactors inside, setting the fuse,covering it up, then quickly gathering the equipment, piling back intothe three jet boats, and heading for the next point. Landing, they wouldtumble out of the small space craft almost before the rocket had stoppedfiring and begin their frantic digging in the hard surface.
_Landing, they would tumble out of the jet boat and begintheir frantic digging_]
Over and over, they heard Tom's crisp clear count of time. Five minutespassed, then ten, and before they knew it, a full half-hour of theprecious time had vanished. They completed the installation of thesecond unit and climbed back into the jet boats. The first two unitshad been buried at points protected from the sun by cliffs, and they hadbeen sheltered from the burning rays.
But, approaching the position for the third reactor unit, Connelsearched in vain for some shade. He wasted five precious minutes,scouting an area of several miles, but he could find nothing to protectthem on the flat plain.
"Better put in the ultraviolet glass shields in our helmets, boys," hecalled into the jet-boat communicator. "It's going to be mighty hot, anddangerous."
"Aye, aye, sir," came the replies from the other two jet boats soaringclose by.
Roger began refitting their space helmets with the dark glass that wouldshield them from the strong rays of the enlarging sun.
"Ever been outside in the direct path of the sun with no protection,Roger?" asked Astro.
"No," replied Roger. "Have you?"
"Once," said Astro softly. "On the second moon of Mars, Phobos. I wasbucking rockets on the old chemical burners. I was on a freighter calledthe _Happy Spaceman_. A tube blew on us. Luckily we were close enough toPhobos to make a touchdown, or the leak would have reached the main fueltanks and blown us clean out to another galaxy."
"What happened?" asked Roger.
"I had to go outside," said Astro. "I was junior rocketman in the crew,so naturally I had to do all the dirty work."
Tom's warning call from the _Polaris_ control deck, tuned to the opencommunicators of all the jet boats, broke through the loud-speaker.
"Attention! Attention! Corbett to Connel. One hour and twenty minutes toblast-off time. One hour and twenty minutes to blast-off time."
The two cadets looked at each other as they heard Tom's voice, butneither spoke. Finally Roger asked, "What happened on Phobos?"
"No one bothered to tell me," continued Astro, "that I had to protectmyself from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, since Phobos didn't have anatmosphere. It was one of my first hops into space and I didn't know toomuch. I went outside and began working on the tube. I did the job allright, but for three weeks after, my face was swollen and I could
n'topen my eyes. I almost went blind."
Roger grunted and continued to line the clear plastic fish-bowl helmetswith the darker protective shields.
Connel's voice rang through the cabin over the communicator: "I guesswe'd better go down and get it over with. I don't see anything that willgive us any protection down there. Be sure your humidity control isturned up all the way. As soon as you step outside the jet boat, you'regoing to be hit by a temperature of four hundred degrees!"
"Aye, aye, sir," came Shinny's reply over the intercom. Roger flippedthe communicator on and acknowledged the order.
Astro and Shinny followed Connel's jet boat in a long sweeping dive tothe surface of the satellite. Stepping out of the air-cooled jet boatonto the torrid unprotected surface of the flat plain was like steppinginto a furnace. Even with space suits as protection, the five Earthmenwere forced to work in relays in the digging of the hole for the reactorunit.
"Attention! Attention! Corbett to Connel. One hour exactly to blast-offtime! One hour--sixty minutes--to blast-off time."
Tom flicked the teleceiver microphone off, and on the teleceiver screen,watched his spacemates work under the broiling sun. They were ahead oftime. One hour to complete two more units. Tom allowed himself a sigh ofhope and relief. They could still snatch the copper satellite from thepowerful pull of the sun.
Suddenly Tom heard a sound behind him and whirled around. His eyesbulged in horror.
"Loring!" he gasped.
"Take your hand off that microphone, Corbett," snarled Loring, "or I'llfreeze you!"
"How--how did you get out?" Tom stammered.
"Your buddy, Manning," sneered Loring with a short laugh, "decided hewanted to paste my ears back. So I let him. He was so anxious to make melose a few teeth that he didn't notice the spoon I kept!"
"Spoon?" asked Tom incredulously.
"Yeah," said Mason, stepping through the door, a paralo-ray gun leveledat Tom. "A few teeth for a spoon. A good trade. We waited for your palsto leave the ship, and then I short-circuited the electronic lock on thebrig."
Tom stared at the two men unbelievingly.
"All right, Corbett, get over there to that control board," growledLoring, waving the paralo-ray gun at Tom. "We're going back to Tara."
"Tara?" exclaimed Tom. "But Major Connel and theothers--they're--they're down on the satellite. If I don't pick them up,they'll fall into the sun!"
"Well, ain't that too bad," sneered Loring. "Listen to that, Mason. Ifwe don't hang around and pick them up, they'll fall into the sun!"
Mason laughed harshly and advanced toward Tom. "I only got one regret,Corbett. That I can't stay around to see Connel and the Manning punkfry! Now get this wagon outta here, and get it out quick!"