CHAPTER 17
"_Stand by to raise ship!_"
Connel's bull-throated roar blasted through the intercom of the gleamingprojectile ship from the power deck where Dave Barret was stationed, upto the radar bridge where Professor Hemmingwell waited anxiously.
On the main deck, seated at the controls, Connel spoke rapidly into theaudioceiver microphone. "Projectile vessel to spaceport trafficcontrol," he called. "Request blast-off clearance!"
"Spaceport traffic control to Connel," came a voice in reply over theaudioceiver. "You are cleared. Your time is two minutes to zero!"
Connel began snapping the many levers and switches on the control panelin proper sequence, keeping a wary eye on the astral chronometer overhis head as one of its red hands ticked off the seconds to blast-off.
The teleceiver screen to his right showed a view of the stern of thevessel and Connel could see some of the ground crew slowly rolling awaythe boarding equipment. Flipping on the switch that opened a circuit toan outside loud-speaker, he bellowed an order for the area to becleared. The crew scurried back behind the blast deflectors and watchedthe ship through the thick crystal viewports.
"Power deck," Connel called into the intercom, "check in!"
"Power deck, aye!" reported Barret.
"Radar deck, check in!"
"Radar deck, aye!" Professor Hemmingwell acknowledged in a thin voice.
"Feed reactant!" Connel ordered.
"Reactant feeding at D-9 rate," said Barret after a split-second pause.
"Energize cooling pumps!"
"Cooling pumps, aye!"
"Cut in take-off gyros!"
"Gyros on," repeated Barret.
"All clear forward and up!" replied the elderly man.
"Right!" bawled Major Connel. "Stand by!"
Tensely he watched the red hand crawl up the face of the chronometer andhe gripped the intercom microphone tightly. "Blast off," he began,"minus five, four, three, two, one, _zero_!"
Connel slammed home the master control switch and in an instant thesilver ship trembled under a tremendous surge of power. Flame and smokepoured out of its exhaust and slowly it began to reach for sky,straining as if to break invisible bonds holding it to Earth. Her jetsshrieking torturously, the ship picked up speed and then suddenly,as though shot from a cannon, it blasted up through theatmosphere--spacebound.
A moment later, on the control deck of the ship, Major Connel swungforward in his chair, shook off the effects of the tremendousacceleration, and called into the intercom, "Switch on the gravitygenerators!"
As soon as the artificial gravity was in effect, the officer put theship on standard cruising speed, changed course slightly to put them ona direct heading to Mars, and then ordered Barret and Hemmingwell to thecontrol deck.
"Well, Professor," he said as he gave the old man a hearty handshake,"so far so good. She handles like a baby carriage. If the projectileswork half as well, you'll really have yourself something!"
Professor Hemmingwell smiled appreciatively and turned to Barret, whowas just climbing through the hatch from the power deck. "You've done asmuch as anyone to help this ship get into space, Dave," he said. "Thankyou!"
"Think nothing of it, Professor," replied Barret airily.
"Well, shall we begin the first series of tests?" asked Connel.
"By all means!" said the professor enthusiastically. "If you and Davewill check the firing stations, I'll take care of the paper work!"
"Right," replied Connel. "Let's go, Barret!"
"I'll work outside, Major," said Barret, turning toward the air lock."You see that all the firing chambers are properly loaded."
"Anything you say, Barret."
The two men turned away from the smiling professor and left the controldeck. They separated in the companionway, Connel hurrying to thestarboard firing chambers and Barret going to the midships air lockwhere he put on a space suit for his task out on the hull.
In two minutes the young scientist was out on the odd-looking blistersthat marked the exterior of the firing chambers ringing the hull.
At each blister Barret examined the hollow firing tube carefully. Inseveral he made delicate adjustments to a small metallic ring extendingfrom the opening of the tube. The ring was one of the most importantparts of the firing unit, emitting the long-range electronic beamcontrolling the flight of the projectile.
Meanwhile, inside the ship, Connel checked the loading of each of thechambers, making certain that each of the ten-foot-long torpedolikeprojectiles was properly secured in its blasting cradle. After fifteenminutes and a complete trip around the ship, the major was satisfiedthat all was in readiness. He returned to the control deck, meetingBarret on the way, and they found Professor Hemmingwell just completinghis calculations for the initial test. He turned to them, waving a paperin front of their eyes.
"Gentlemen," he said proudly, "we are almost ready. If you will adjustcourse fifteen degrees to port, we'll be in proper position for thetest!"
"Right," nodded Connel. "Stand by below, Barret."
"On my way," replied Barret, disappearing through the hatch.
"Well, Professor," said Connel, walking to the controls, "this is thebig moment!"
"Yes," nodded Hemmingwell. "If these rocket projectiles prove workablenow, there's nothing to stop us from carrying on with our test of theground receivers on Mars immediately."
"Power deck to control deck, check in!" Barret's voice suddenly crackledover the intercom.
"Control deck, aye," replied Connel. "Ready to blast?"
"All set!"
"Give me a ten-second burst on the starboard steering rockets," orderedConnel, gripping the steering vane control tightly.
"Coming up!"
There was a sudden, jolting blast from the stern and Connel andHemmingwell hung on grimly as the mighty ship turned in space. Watchingthe control panel instruments carefully, Connel slammed home the switchthat opened the powerful nose braking rockets and brought the ship to adead stop in space.
"On course, Professor, ready to fire!" Connel announced triumphantly,and Hemmingwell took his station before the giant projectile controlboard.
"Stand by to fire one!" said the professor, making a minute adjustmenton the panel. Behind him, Connel unconsciously crossed his fingers.
"Fire one!" shouted Hemmingwell.
Connel pressed a red button on the panel and waited, holding his breath.There was a distinct hissing and then the great ship lurched slightly.On the teleceiver overhead a white flash appeared, streaked across thescreen, and then disappeared in the darkness of space.
"Fire two!"
Again there was a hissing sound and another white burst of light fadedinto the millions of other pinpoints of lights in the black void.
Over and over again, at one-minute intervals, the projectiles werefired, until all twelve of the firing chambers had discharged theirfire-tailed missiles.
The professor sat back and smiled weakly at Connel. The gruff majorwinked encouragingly and they both turned to watch the teleceiver screenanxiously. The gyros on each projectile had been preset for a circularflight of fifteen minutes' duration. Soon they would be returning andthe delicate job of bringing them safely aboard would begin.
"Here comes number one," shouted Connel, as a small pinpoint of lightappeared on the screen.
"I'm ready!" said the professor. He watched the teleceiver screencarefully, made a minute adjustment of the dial controlling thedirectional beam emitted by the ring in the number-one firing chamber,and at the last possible moment, snapped the remote-control switch thatcut the power in the approaching test projectile. It hung dead in space,immediately over the chamber. Gently the professor increased the powerof the electro-magnetic ring and pulled the projectile back into thechamber as easily as slipping a hand in a glove.
"Success!" Connel shouted. "Professor, you've done it!"
"Congratulations, sir," Dave Barret called over the intercom from thepower deck.
"Here
comes number two," said Professor Hemmingwell excitedly, and beganto repeat the process to draw the approaching projectiles back into theship.
One after another, five projectiles were taken aboard successfully.Then, as he worked on the sixth, the professor began to frown. Herechecked his instruments and then shook his head, obviously disturbed.
"What's the trouble?" growled Connel, noticing Hemmingwell's growingnervousness.
"The homing ring on number six tube isn't working properly," repliedHemmingwell. "I can't control the projectile."
"Any idea what's wrong?" the Solar Guard officer asked.
"The settings on the ring must be wrong." The professor picked up theintercom mike. "Dave," he called, "check in!"
"Yes, sir?" replied Barret immediately.
"Did you check the settings on all the rings in the firing chambers?"
"Yes, sir," reported Barret. "They looked O.K. to me. Why don't youcheck with Connel? He supervised their installation."
"That's true," said the major. "I'll go outside and look them over."
Connel turned on his heel and hurried to the air-lock chamber. Movingwith amazing speed for a big man, he donned the space suit in thechamber while the pressure was being equalized. As soon as the air-lockportal opened, he scrambled out on the hull and made his way forward tothe bulging firing chambers. Stooping over the empty tube of number six,he examined the ring carefully and began to frown. Moving on to numberseven, his frown deepened. By the time he checked the rings of eight andnine, his face was a grim mask of anger.
"Professor," he called into his helmet microphone, "check in."
"Yes, Major," replied Hemmingwell from the control deck. "Have you foundthe trouble?"
"I sure have," Connel growled. "It's sabotage! And now I think I knowwho--"
Connel never finished. There was a sudden burst of power from the greatship and the officer was hurled into space.
"Major!" cried Hemmingwell. "Barret! What have you done? Connel isoutside!"
"I couldn't help it, Professor," replied Barret from the power deck. "Myhand slipped and--"
"Don't talk!" shouted Hemmingwell. "Stop the ship!"
"I can't! The control is jammed!"
As the ship surged through space and the professor and Barret yelled ateach other over the intercom, three Space Cadets rose from their hidingplace in the hold of the ship.
Tom Corbett nudged Roger and Astro. "You hear that?" he said grimly.
"Yeah!" replied Roger.
"Let's go!" growled Astro.
Without another word, they opened the hatch and made their way quicklythrough the rocketing ship, each going to their separate stations,according to the prearranged plan. Roger climbed up to the radar bridge,Tom entered the control deck, and Astro burst into the power deck.
"You!" Barret cried out, his eyes wide with sudden fear as the hugeVenusian advanced on him menacingly.
"Get away from those controls," growled the big cadet. "If you don't, sohelp me, I'll break you in two!"
Barret backed away, his face white, hands pawing the air frantically asif he were trying to push the big cadet back.
"Get over there," said Astro. "Sit down and keep your mouth shut!"
On the control deck, Tom was strapping himself into the pilot's chairand calling frantically into the intercom, "Give me a course, Roger!"
"One-seventy-degree turn to starboard," replied Roger, "and full ahead!I've got the major on my scanner."
"Pour on the power, Astro!" shouted Tom, gripping the controls firmly.
As the mighty ship blasted in a long, sweeping arc, ProfessorHemmingwell sat numbly in his chair, aware only that the three cadetswere taking the vessel back into the area where the remainingprojectiles, completely out of control, were buzzing around in spacelike maddened hornets.