The boys watched intently as the object neared them. Although it was
still pretty far off, they knew that it was not a true celestial object,
because they could determine already that it was shaped like nothing
usually found in space. In fact, it looked remarkably like a tin can! It
was an odd shape for a space ship, but the boys were sure that was what
it was.
“That’s not like anything I’ve ever seen!” Garry said. “And I’ve seen
all kinds of pictures of space ships in magazines and books.”
“It must be a special kind of ship,” Patch suggested. “But just so it
really is a space ship with living people in it, it can be shaped like a
barbecue pit for all I care!”
“Patch!” Garry said in a stricken voice. “What if it’s from another
planet and carries strange people? Maybe even _unfriendly_ passengers!”
Patch’s eyes shone like bright marbles. “Gee, you don’t really think so,
do you? I—I mean, how could it be possible? We’ve already explored Mars
and Venus, and those planets aren’t inhabited. How could anything
possibly live on those big cold planets farther out?”
“Maybe they are from another star,” Garry said in a solemn tone.
They would know pretty soon where the flying object was from, because it
was still heading in their direction, and its passengers could not
possibly miss seeing them.
Garry and Patch were silent as the object drew steadily closer, each of
them engrossed in his own thoughts.
“It really does look like a tin can,” Patch said. “A tin can with a big
eye in front! But what a big tin can! It’s big as one of those ancient
dirigibles.”
“Patch, I can begin to make out some writing over the eye. See it?”
“Yes. Just a moment. It’s coming into focus. It says ‘CAREFREE!’ I don’t
know what it means, but it _sounds_ friendly.”
“That must be the name of it,” Garry suggested. “No ship with a name
like that could be carrying unfriendly passengers.”
“It also means that there must be earthmen aboard, because it’s an earth
word.”
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about, Patch,” Garry said
confidently.
“Now they’re turning around,” Patch said. “They—they’re pulling even
with us. I guess they’ll anchor to us with magnetic grapples.”
Carefully, the _Carefree_ edged closer so that it could latch on. The
big circular space ship dwarfed the tiny taxi so greatly that it seemed
like David and Goliath.
Garry and Patch heard a soft bump as the _Carefree_ coupled onto the
side of their craft on which the door was located. Garry knew now that
the ships were joined as one.
Garry looked at Patch, and Patch looked at Garry. They knew all they had
to do now was open the air locks between the ships. But they hesitated
as if there were still some doubt in their minds as to the friendliness
of those in the other space ship.
There came a rap on their air-lock door. Once again Garry looked at
Patch, and Patch looked at Garry. Then, after another few moments of
hesitation, Garry shrugged and clicked over to the door.
“We may as well open up,” he said. “Whether or not they’re friendly,
they’ve certainly got the upper hand.”
Garry pressed the button that controlled the outer door of the air lock.
Then he pressed another that opened the inner door.
Garry and Patch looked through the double air locks into the face of a
man who wore a small, neat white beard. He appeared to be in his early
sixties, and he was clinging to a webbing of ropes that completely
covered the walls of a giant tube or tunnel.
“Hello,” the man said, with a smile.
“Hello,” Garry and Patch replied together. And they smiled too, because
they were very glad that it was an earthman who faced them.
“I must say I didn’t expect to find a couple of boys alone in here,” the
man went on. “What’s happened to the adults with you? You didn’t heave
them out the waste hatch, did you?” The elderly man laughed.
“Uh, no, Sir,” Garry replied with hesitation. “We’ve been by ourselves
ever since this flier left the Von Braun Space Station. It’s a pretty
long story, Sir.”
“The name is Captain Eaton, boys.” The man winked at them, showing his
white teeth in another smile. “Oh, I’m not really a space captain. I
wouldn’t deceive you. The _Carefree_ is a private ship, and the men call
me ‘Captain’ because I’m the owner.”
Captain Eaton’s dark, alert eyes flickered over the interior of the
flier.
“I thought whoever was in this ship must be in some sort of trouble,” he
said, “because of your erratic flight. That’s why we latched onto you,
to see if we could be of some help.”
“We _do_ need help, Captain,” Patch said earnestly. “We don’t know the
first thing about running this thing. We had just about given ourselves
up for lost.”
“How in the world did you get into such a spot as this?” Captain Eaton
asked.
“Well, Sir,” Garry explained, lowering his eyes, “you see, we’re
stowaways, although we’ve been able to escape being caught all this
time. We didn’t _mean_ to be stowaways, Captain. We were helping an
officer aboard the _Orion_ with his gear, and the rocket blasted off
before we could get out.”
“Say, I’ll bet your parents are worried to death about you,” Captain
Eaton said.
“No, Sir,” Patch answered. “You see, we’re orphans, and we lived in an
orphanage back in the United States.”
“I see,” the elderly man replied, stroking his short, snowy beard. Then
suddenly he grinned broadly. “Well, fellows, how would you like to be
rescued?”
“We’re all for it!” Garry answered, and Patch nodded his head
vigorously.
“Come aboard then. The _Carefree_ welcomes you!”
“What about the flier?” Garry asked. “We don’t want to be charged with
stealing a space craft.”
“I’ll have Ben Dawes come aboard and set her adrift toward the satellite
so that she can be picked up easily,” the captain said.
“I think we blew something out when we tried to start her,” Patch said.
“Ben’s a genius,” Captain Eaton replied. “He’ll get her to running, no
matter what’s wrong with her.”
With this taken care of, the boys were anxious to board the _Carefree_
and see if her interior were as strange and unusual looking as her outer
hull. They removed their bulky magnetic shoes and entered the air lock
of the _Carefree_.
Captain Eaton first explained the purpose of the webbing that lined the
walls of the tube.
“As you boys saw us move in, you probably know that this is the rear of
the ship, and this tunnel is in the center. It goes the full length of
our ‘tin can’ and comes out front into the flight deck. We have to leave
and enter the ship through the rear end of this tube. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir,” the boys answered together.
“The outer round surface of our ‘tin can’ revolves around this center
tube as though it were a wheel around an axis,” the captain went on. “By
so doing, an artificial gravity is induced along the inside rim of the
‘can.’” Captain Eaton frowned. “Am I getting too deep for you?”
“I don’t think so, Sir,” Garry replied. “The gravity you are talking
about is the result of centrifugal action—the same action that makes a
ball swing out on the end of a string when a person swings it around his
head. It’s the same kind of artificial gravity they use on the manned
space stations.”
“You’re pretty sharp, son. I like a boy who doesn’t think that facts
belong only in a schoolroom.”
“I’ve always been very interested in space, Sir,” Garry said. “I’ll bet
I’d surprise you with all I know about it.”
“I’m sure you would,” Captain Eaton admitted. “Say, I don’t even know
your names. I’ve told you mine. Now let’s have yours.”
“I’m Garry Coleman,” Garry answered, “and this is my best friend, Patch
Foster.”
Since the center tube of the _Carefree_ was not affected by the
centrifugal force of the rotating “tin can,” its gravity was zero. For
that reason the webbing was used to pull oneself along with and not
really for the purposes of climbing and descending.
Captain Eaton turned around on the webbing so that he could lead the way
along the tunnel into the living quarters of the _Carefree_. His slim,
agile legs swung free in the zero gravity as he made the turn. Glossy
black space boots covered his feet.
The captain showed Garry where to pull a lever which closed a series of
air-lock doors between the _Carefree_ and the taxi.
The ship’s master and the boys pulled themselves along the tunnel. Then
Captain Eaton stopped and said, “Hold on tightly, fellows. We’re going
round and round for a few turns.”
He pushed a lever beneath the webbing, and Garry felt the tube begin to
revolve slowly.
“Hey, what’s happening?” Patch called out.
“I had to set the tunnel in rotation so that it could catch up with the
rest of the ship, which is always turning. As soon as you’ve become used
to the spinning, we’ll go into the ship.”
When the boys said they thought they could navigate, the captain pointed
to an open hatch that had appeared in the wall near them.
“We’ll turn around and back down these stairs,” the skipper said. “As we
descend, the gravity will become stronger, so that by the time we’re at
the bottom we’ll be nearly at our earth weights.”
Garry and Patch followed their new friend down the stairs, moving
carefully and holding onto the railing, for they still felt giddy from
the rotation of the central tube. By the time they were at the bottom,
their heads had begun to clear.
That is, they _thought_ their heads had begun to clear. But no sooner
had they gotten this impression than they became giddy all over again at
the sight that met their eyes. For it was just as if they had entered a
tropical paradise! There were real flowers in bloom all about, and
aquariums full of live fishes were set into the surrounding walls.
The boys were too surprised to say anything. All they could do was just
stare and stare in disbelief.