"What's our position, Roger?" Captain Strong called into the intercom.
"Space quadrant B, section twenty-three, sir," replied Roger from the
radar bridge. "But I can't see a thing on the radar. That static flash
Tom sent out is scrambling everything."
"But you're sure this is our position?"
"Yes, sir. I checked it three times."
"All right, then," said Strong grimly. "There's only one thing to do.
We're too near the asteroid belt to use the _Polaris_ without radar, so
we'll search in jet boats. Astro! We're parking right here! Give me full
braking rockets and secure the power deck. Then prepare the jet boats
for flight."
"Aye, aye, sir," came the reply from the Venusian.
The ship bucked under the tremendous power of the braking rockets and
came to a dead stop in space. Strong dashed up the ladder to the radar
bridge where Roger was still hunched before the radar scanner.
"Any chance of switching the scanner to another frequency and offsetting
the effects of the static, Roger?" asked the Solar Guard captain.
Roger shook his head. "I don't think so, sir. The interference would
have to be eliminated at its source."
"Well," sighed Strong, "to go looking for Tom without the help of radar
would be like looking for an air bubble in the ammonia clouds of
Jupiter. And we don't even know if he's still aboard the _Avenger_ or
not!"
"You know, sir," said Roger speculatively, "I've been thinking. I might
be able to get a fix on this interference."
"A fix? How?"
"By blanking out the radar range, so that it would only work at one
point of the compass at one time, then testing each heading separately
until the flash appears. When it does, we'd at least know in which
direction to blast off and trail Coxine.
"If you can do that, Roger," exclaimed Strong, "it would take us right
into Coxine's lap! Do you think you can work it?"
"I can try, sir."
"All right, then," decided Strong. "Astro and I will take the jet boats
and go looking around. Meantime, you stay aboard and try to pin point
the heading on that flash."
"Very well, sir," replied Roger, and turned to the radar to begin the
complicated task of rewiring the instrument.
Strong went directly to the jet-boat deck where Astro was busily
preparing the jet boats for flight. He looked up when Strong entered the
hatch.
"All ready, sir," he said.
"Very well," said Strong. "I'll take number one, you take number two.
We're in section twenty-three of quadrant B. You take section twenty-two
and I'll take twenty-four."
"Yes, sir," replied Astro. "Do you think there's any chance of finding
Tom?"
"I don't even know if he's out here, Astro. But we can't be sure he
isn't. So we'll search and hope for the best."
"Very well, sir."
"Keep your jet-boat audioceiver open all the time and maintain contact
with me."
"Why not contact Roger here on the _Polaris_, sir?" asked Astro.
"He's busy trying to find out where the flashing static on the radar is
coming from," explained Strong. "We'll make wide circles, starting
outside and working in. Blast in a continuous circle inward, like a
spiral. If there's anything around here, we'll find it that way."
"Yes, sir," said Astro. "I sure hope Tom is O.K."
"Best answer I can give you. Astro, is to blast off and find out."
The two spacemen climbed into the small craft, and while Strong opened
the outer lock, exposing them to the emptiness of space, Astro started
the jets in his boat. With a wave of his hand to Strong, he roared away
from the sleek rocket cruiser. Strong followed right on his tail. They
circled the _Polaris_ twice, establishing their positions, and then
roared away from each other to begin their search.
Astro turned his midget space vessel toward the asteroid belt, ahead and
below him. Choosing a large asteroid that he estimated to be on the
outer edge of section twenty-two, he roared full power toward it. The
tiny space bodies that made up the dangerous path around the sun,
between Mars and Jupiter, loomed ahead ominously. Moving toward them
under full rocket thrust, the Venusian cadet remembered fleetingly
stories of survivors of space wrecks, reaching the airless little
planetoids, only to die when help failed to arrive. He shuddered at the
thought of Tom, a helpless castaway on one of the asteroids, waiting to
be saved. Astro clenched his teeth and concentrated on the search,
determined to investigate every stone large enough to support an
Earthman.
Miles away, no longer visible to Astro and out of sight of the giant
rocket cruiser, Captain Strong felt the same helplessness as he
approached the asteroid belt from a different angle. He realized any
number of things could have happened on the pirate-ship. Tom could have
been captured, or if not yet discovered, unable to escape from the ship.
Strong's throat choked up with fierce pride over the gallant effort Tom
had made to warn the Solar Guard of the _Avenger's_ position.
As he neared the outer edges of the belt, he concentrated on guiding his
small ship in and around the drifting asteroids, his eyes constantly
sweeping the area around him for some sign of a drifting space-suited
figure. What Strong really hoped for was the sight of a jet boat, since
in a jet boat, Tom would have a better chance of survival.
The young captain reached the outer edge of his search perimeter, turned
the small ship into a long-sweeping curve, and flipped on the
audioceiver.
"Attention! Attention! Jet boat one to jet boat two! Come in, Astro!"
Across the wide abyss of space that separated the two men, Astro heard
his skipper's voice crackle in his headphones.
"Astro here, sir," he replied.
"I'm beginning my sweep, Astro. Any luck?"
"Not a thing, sir."
"All right. Let's go, and keep a sharp eye out."
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Astro. He could not keep the worry out of his
voice, and Strong, many miles away, nodded in silent agreement with
Astro's feelings.
* * * * *
The _Avenger_ had long since disappeared and Tom was left alone in space
in the tiny jet boat. To conserve his oxygen supply, the curly-haired
cadet had set the controls of his boat on a steady orbit around one of
the larger asteroids and lay down quietly on the deck. One of the first
lessons he had learned at Space Academy was, during an emergency in
space when oxygen was low, to lie down and breath as slowly as possible.
And, if possible, to go to sleep. Sleep, under such conditions, served
two purposes. While relaxed in sleep, the body used less oxygen and
should help fail to arrive, the victim would slip into a suffocating
unconsciousness, not knowing if and when death took the place of life.
Tom lay on the deck of the small vessel and stared at the distant stars
through the clear crystal roof of his jet boat. He breathed as lightly
as he could, taking short, slight breaths, holding them as long as he
could and then exhaling only when his lungs felt as if they would burst.
He could see Regulus overhead, and Sirius, the two great stars shining
brilliantly in the absolute blackness of space. He raised himself slowly
on one elbow and looked at the oxygen indicator. He saw that the needle
had dropped past the empty mark. He knew it wouldn't be long now. And he
knew what he had to do. He took a last long look at the two giant stars,
and then closed his eyes.
Tom no longer tried to control his breathing, but took deep satisfying
lungfuls of oxygen and in a few moments slipped into a sound sleep.
The jet boat roared on, carrying its sleeping occupant in an endless
spiral around the nameless asteroid.
Not too many miles away, alone on the radar bridge of the giant rocket
cruiser, Roger Manning, sweat popping out on his forehead, was trying
the radar scanner on the three-hundred-and-tenth point on the compass.
He connected the wires, glanced at the scanner, and shook his head
disgustedly. The scanner screen was still dark. Having adjusted the
delicate mechanism to eliminate the white flashes of static, he couldn't
find them again. He sat back in his chair for a moment, mopping his brow
and watching the white hairline in its continuous swing around the face
of the scope. As the line swept to the top of the screen, he saw the
blip outline of a jet boat and recognized it as one belonging to the
_Polaris_. Then, slowly, the line swept down and Roger suddenly saw the
blip outline of a second craft. With the experienced eye of a radar
veteran, Roger was able not only to distinguish the jet boats from the
asteroids, but from each other. He gripped the edge of the instrument
and shouted at the top of his voice. The second boat was a different
model!
He reached for the audioceiver and switched it on.
"Attention! Attention! Captain Strong! Astro! Come in! This is Manning
aboard the _Polaris_! Come in!"
Strong and Astro replied almost together.
"Strong here!"
"Astro here!"
"I've spotted a jet boat!" Roger shouted. "You think it might be--"
"Where?" bawled Astro before Roger could finish. "Where is it, you
rockethead?"
"As close as I can figure it, he's circling an asteroid, a big one, at
the intersection of sections twenty-one and twenty-two!"
"Twenty-one and twenty-two! Got it!" yelled Astro.
"I'll meet you there, Astro!" said Strong.
Astro and Strong turned their small ships in the direction of the
intersecting space sections. Astro was the first to spot the asteroid,
but for a moment he couldn't see the jet boat on the opposite side of
the small celestial body. Meanwhile, Strong, coming from the other
direction, saw the boat and relayed the position to Astro. In a few
moments the two space craft had regulated their speeds to that of Tom's
ship and were hastily donning space suits. A quick look inside had shown
them Tom's sleeping body. As Astro started to open the crystal hatch of
his ship to cross over to the other, Strong yelled over the audioceiver.
"Astro, wait!"
Astro looked across at the captain's ship questioningly.
"Tom isn't in a space suit. If we open the hatch it would kill him.
We've got to tow him back to the _Polaris_ and get his boat inside the
air lock before we can open the hatch!"
Without a word, Astro nodded, ducked inside his ship, and climbed out
again with a length of rope. Working quickly, he tied one end securely
to the bow of Tom's jet boat and made the other end fast to the stern of
his. Then returning to his cockpit, he sent the jet boat hurtling back
toward the _Polaris_.
But he was still faced with the problem of getting Tom's jet boat inside
the air lock. It was still under acceleration and there was no way to
get inside to stop its jet motors. Astro called to Strong and explained
the situation to him.
"Looks like the only thing we can do, sir, is keep going until it runs
out of fuel."
"That might take too long, Astro," replied Strong. "No telling how much
oxygen Tom has left."
"There's nothing else we can do, sir," replied Astro. "We can't brake
her to land inside the _Polaris_ and we can't open the hatch to turn off
the motor. We'll have to take a chance on Tom lasting until it runs out
of fuel!"
Inside the roaring craft, Tom suddenly opened his eyes. He began to
cough. There was a roaring in his ears. The stars overhead swam dizzily.
And then, as though through a billowing mist, he saw the jet boat ahead
of him and the rope tied to his ship. He realized he had been rescued.
He tried to signal them. He had to let them know he needed oxygen. He
tried to reach the communicator near the control panel but could not
lift his arm. He fell back to the deck gasping for air; his lungs
screaming for oxygen. Something, thought Tom through the haze that
fogged his brain, something to signal them. Then, with the last of his
strength, he raised up on one elbow and reached for the acceleration
lever. His fingers trembled a few inches away from their goal. His face
began to turn violent red. He strained a little more. The lever was an
inch away. Finally, with the very last ounce of his strength, he touched
the lever and pulled it back by the weight of his falling body.
Even before the black cloud swept over him, Tom could hear the jets
become silent. He had signaled them. He had stopped the jet boat. They
would know, now, how to save him.