ground are almost miraculous in the speed with which they work in the
soil. They can literally do the job overnight.”
Jill and Ted went to bed tired and untroubled that night. But not Randy.
Before Ted dropped off, he heard Randy tossing restlessly in the bunk
below. Ted caught some of the words muttered by the boy: “Father ...
miss you ... ever come back to me?”
They had been kept so busy during those first days in their new home
that Ted had almost forgotten that Randy wasn’t his brother. Randy
seemed to have taken to the family very well, Ted thought, but he
realized no foster parents could take the place of his real father. As
Ted fell asleep, he was thinking what an unhappy day it was going to be
for all of them when Randy found out that his father was never going to
return.
CHAPTER TWELVE
_Illness Strikes_
The young folks planted seeds the next afternoon when they came home
from school. Then in the next few days, they could scarcely wait to see
the first seedlings break through the soil. The little green crooks
popped up the morning that Dr. Kenton was to leave on his expedition.
The scientist said that the plants would grow rapidly and produce edible
food within the next ten days. He gave the children instructions for
tending the crops, and they memorized his directions.
He had showed Jill, Ted, and Randy how to attend to the mechanical
functions of the home and also how to run the boat. The three helped him
to load his gear into the boat, and then stood by as Dr. Kenton bade
farewell to his wife. There were tears in Mrs. Kenton’s eyes as she
waved good-by from inside the house.
Yank watched the strange goings-on from in front of his own dwelling. He
seemed to understand that Dr. Kenton was leaving, but he still had not
made friends with him.
When they were all in the boat, Jill dropped a fuel pill into the tank,
and Ted took the steering wheel. He skillfully guided the boat along the
winding watercourse to Main Canal and along its length to the science
building. They all helped unload the gear on the dock, and Dr. Kenton
said that this was where they must part.
“You three will have to run things while I’m away,” the scientist told
them. “You shouldn’t have any trouble, but if anything does happen, call
headquarters for help. There’s one thing I want you to be sure to attend
to. Bring the empty spare air cartridges in the closet down here and
have them filled. You never know when you’ll need them.”
“We’ll bring them tomorrow on our way to school,” Ted promised.
Jill hugged her father hard and long. Like her mother, she was tearful
at his leaving. Ted, himself, felt a tug of dread. He wondered if the
trip into the Martian wilds would be a successful one or whether, as in
the case of Randy’s father, it would end in disaster.
The children went on to school. Ted was glad to be going because it
would take his and Jill’s minds off the melancholy of their father’s
departure.
Ted found the opening lesson particularly interesting. In it he learned
facts about the extinct native Martians. Mr. Garland showed slides on
some diggings that had unearthed bones of these early people. The bones
had been organized to the best of Earth scientists’ ability, but many
were missing, and the reconstructed figures were largely guesswork. Ted
wondered if his father’s expedition would uncover more information on
these mysterious ancient people.
As the young Kentons and Randy started for home in the boat that
afternoon, Jill complained of having a headache. Ted told her it was
probably due to eyestrain from looking at the slides, and this seemed to
satisfy her. But when Ted docked the boat at the house, Jill said she
felt worse.
Yank came running out to greet them, but the boys were so concerned over
Jill that they paid little attention to him. He stood off sulking and
watched Ted help his sister out of the boat and through the air lock of
their house.
“Mother, Jill is sick!” Ted called when they were inside.
Mrs. Kenton had been spraying the hose on the plastic floor and
furniture. She turned it off and allowed the spring on the hose to pull
it back into the wall opening. The water swirled through the drain in
the center of the floor and disappeared in a matter of seconds.
“What’s wrong with her?” Mrs. Kenton asked in alarm.
Ted helped Jill off with her helmet. He was shocked to see that her face
was feverish and her eyes strangely bright. She wandered away from the
others and slumped tiredly on the divan.
“Don’t lie on that rubber cushion, dear!” Mrs. Kenton cried. “It’s still
wet. What on earth has she got?” Mrs. Kenton asked the boys.
“It looks to me like she’s got bog fever,” Randy offered.
“How could she catch fever?” Mrs. Kenton asked.
“There’s a virus that comes from the sand bogs and sometimes gets
through the air valve of space suits,” Randy said.
“I’d better call a doctor at headquarters right away!” Mrs. Kenton
declared.
She went to the radiophone and put through the call. She was told that
all the doctors were out on calls and that it might be an hour before
one could come. However, when a nurse on duty in the Medical Center
learned about Jill’s symptoms, she gave instructions for caring for the
girl until the doctor could come.
As Mrs. Kenton switched off the phone, she said, “The nurse said that
Jill should be put to bed and kept warm. Come on, Honey,” she added,
helping Jill to her feet and leading her toward the guest room.
“Is the disease serious?” Ted asked Randy worriedly.
“It can be,” Randy answered soberly. “We’ll probably have to be
quarantined,” he added.
“How long does bog fever last?” Ted asked.
“The crisis comes pretty quickly after the first attack,” Randy
answered. “I remember, because a friend of mine had it. If they pass the
crisis, they’re usually well in a few days.”
Ted was reluctant to ask the next question, but he felt he must know.
“Did your friend recover, Randy?”
Randy shook his head, and Ted felt a cold chill of dread run down his
spine. He didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to Jill. She
_had_ to get well.
About twenty minutes later, Mrs. Kenton came back to the living room.
Her face was drawn and worried.
“She’s sleeping fitfully and her head is burning up!” she told the boys.
“Oh, why doesn’t that doctor come?”
With nothing else to do, the boys stared through the clear plastic of
the side wall at the deepening afternoon. The purple sky was growing
darker, and the stars were gleaming steadily brighter. On the horizon,
where the miniature sun was setting, the sky was painted in gorgeous
shades of red. Ted thought he had never seen a more beautiful sunset,
but he could not appreciate it at this time.
Suddenly Ted spotted a strange yellow mass gliding close to the ground
and apparently coming in the direction of the settlement.
“What’s that, Randy?” Ted asked. “Do you know?”
“We’re in for trouble!” Randy answered.
“What do you mean?” Ted asked, alarmed.
“It’s a dust storm blowing this way,” Randy said.
“I’m glad the house is well anchored to the ground,” Ted muttered. He
had already learned in school that such storms were often fierce.
“It may be an awful blow,” Randy said. “It may keep the doctor from
getting through to us.”
[Illustration: _The whole landscape was blotted out._]
Once more Ted had that sinking feeling. He wished desperately that there
were something he could do. But, against the powers of nature, he knew
he was absolutely helpless. All he and Randy could do was wait and hope.
A few minutes later the dust storm struck with howling fury. The boys
watched the sand spatter noisily against the house. The whole landscape
was blotted out in a blinding, yellowish-red haze. Mrs. Kenton came
running into the room, looking terrified. She had not been prepared for
this latest trouble.
“How long will this terrible storm last?” she asked, when Randy
explained what it was.
“Sometimes as long as an hour,” Randy replied.
Mrs. Kenton’s hands twisted in frenzy. “We can’t wait that long. We must
have that doctor. Poor Jill is twisting and turning so much, I can’t
even keep damp cloths on her forehead.”
“Why don’t we call headquarters again,” Ted suggested, “and see if the
doctor will be able to come out in the storm.”
As Mrs. Kenton went into the hall to radiophone again, the boys heard
the storm striking with renewed power. Fine, cutting sand whipped
against the plastic walls with the sound of sleet, accompanied by an
eerie roar.
Mrs. Kenton came back quickly. “There’s no sound at all over the phone!”
she cried.
Ted instantly thought of the aerial on top of the house. He went to the
center room and looked through the clear ceiling. His heart sank. The
aerial was swinging loose by the single center pole.
“The storm has blown the antenna loose!” Ted told his mother. “We can’t
even phone headquarters now, and they can’t reach us either.”
Mrs. Kenton left the room, moaning. They heard her go down the hall to
Jill’s room. The only sound was the furious clatter of sand against the
house and the groaning of the terrible wind. Ted’s eyes strained to
detect some kind of break in that awful cloud of yellow dust that
surrounded the house, hoping that the storm was nearing its end.
Suddenly Ted heard a weak sound outside, above the roar of the wind.
“Yank!” he cried. “We forgot all about Yank! We’ve got to let him in!”
They ran to the front-door air lock. There they found the color bear
clawing at the outer door. The dust covered him so thickly that he
nearly blended completely with the yellowish background.
Ted flipped a switch opening the outer door. Yank scrambled quickly
inside. Then, when the air pressure in the little outer compartment was
equal to that in the house, Ted opened the inner door. Yank tumbled in
in a flurry of scattering sand.
Ted thought the Martian animal was the most forlorn sight he had ever
seen. His fur was dirty and matted, his eyes were bloodshot, and every
step he took brought a cascade of sand down around his feet.
“He looks like he needs another shower,” Randy said.
“There’s nothing else we can do now,” Ted agreed. Besides, he figured
the activity would take his mind off their troubles.
Mrs. Kenton was still with Jill. The boys marched Yank down the hallway
to the bathroom. When Yank saw what was in store for him, he eagerly
jumped into the shower basin. Ted turned on the water, and streams of
dark-red liquid poured down Yank into the drain.
“He must have half the sand of Mars on him,” Ted commented.
Suddenly his mother came up to the door and looked in. “Jill’s getting
worse!” she said. “Ted, you and Randy must go out after the doctor.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
_News for Randy_
Ted was not keen to venture out into the dust storm, but thoughts of his
sister lying desperately ill quickly drove all hesitation from his mind.
He and Randy climbed into their space suits, and as they approached the
front-door air lock, Ted was relieved to find that he could begin to see
through the thinning dust.
“It’ll be over in a few minutes now,” Randy said.
But if Ted expected any easy time of it outdoors, he was mistaken. The
storm still had a lot of fight left in it. The wind struck them
relentlessly, turning them around and blinding their gaze with whirling
dust. They could not even thrust through it to the boat. Ted signaled to
Randy that they would have to stand close to the house until the storm
had subsided even more.
At last the wind died to gusts. The air was clearer now, and the stars
were once again visible overhead.
“I think we can make it now,” Ted said.
They ran over to the boat and climbed in. As Ted dropped a pellet into
the tank, Randy said, “Look at these scratches on the boat! That sand
must cut like a file!”
They jetted off down the waterway, Ted pressing the accelerator pedal
down to shove the boat along as fast as it could safely go. They whirled
into the Main Canal and sped toward the science building where the
doctors had their offices. Along the way, the boys could see that theirs
wasn’t the only aerial that had been blown down. They could see
space-suited figures on the individual houses working on the webs of
wires and poles.
Some whee birds appeared out of nowhere and flew down to perch on the
boat and serenade Ted and Randy with their strange chants. However, the
boys were in no mood for them now, and presently the friendly birds
flapped off as though they realized they were not wanted.
Before reaching the building, the boys saw a boat speeding right at
them.
“Look out!” Randy warned. “He’s coming straight at us.”
But the boat pulled up just beside the craft occupied by Ted and Randy.
“Are you the Kenton family?” the single occupant asked over his radio.
“Yes, sir!” Ted answered quickly. “Are you the doctor?”
“Yes,” the man answered. “The storm has held me up. How’s your sister,
Son?”
“She’s bad off, sir,” Ted answered. “That’s why I had to come for you.”
“Turn your boat around and don’t spare the horses, as they used to say,”
the doctor said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Ted made the fastest trip yet along the waterway back home. True to his
word, the doctor arrived right at his heels. The doctor jumped out of
his boat at the house, grabbed up a large case, and hurried toward the
air lock. The boys went ahead and opened the door for him.
When the doctor had met Mrs. Kenton inside, he asked to see the sick
girl alone. The boys and Mrs. Kenton paced restlessly in the front room
as they waited for the doctor to come out of Jill’s room. Finally, when
Ted thought he could not stand the waiting any longer, the doctor came
out. He was briskly shaking down a thermometer, and his face was bland.
“She’ll be a sick girl for a few days,” he said, “but she’ll be all
right. I gave her a shot of some special serum we developed to combat
bog fever. It was none too soon, either.”
There were tears of joy on Mrs. Kenton’s face, and Ted felt as though he
could turn handsprings. Randy, too, looked vastly relieved. Although he
was not a true member of the family, it seemed as though Ted and Jill
were brother and sister to him, especially since he had no brother or
sister of his own.
“I’m afraid all of you will have to be quarantined for a week,” the
doctor went on.
“What’ll we ever find to do with ourselves staying in the house for a
whole week?” Ted thought. Then he remembered the garden that had to be
tended, that antenna that had to be repaired, and other mechanical
duties that had to do with the running of the house. If they kept busy,
the time would pass swiftly, he reasoned. The boys went up on the roof
to try to repair the antenna, but there was such a tangle of wires they
did not know where to start. The doctor said he would leave word at
headquarters for a repairman to come out.
“It may be a day or so before he can get out here, though,” the doctor
warned. “It looks as though half the aerials in the settlement were
blown down.”
It was actually two days before a repairman came. By that time, Jill had
passed her worst time, and she was able to sit up a little and see the
boys.
Ted and Randy were amazed at the rapid growth of the plants in the
garden. Already they were eighteen inches high. Ted thought he could
almost see them growing before his eyes.
As soon as the radiomen had repaired the antenna, the boys sat down to
watch the television program in progress. It was a newscast that showed
in color the events going on all the way back on Earth and within the
settlement as well. The huge five-by-four-foot screen was sharp and
clear.
Suddenly the regular telecast was interrupted. A local announcer was
switched in. He held a paper in his hand, and by the expression on his
face, Ted knew he had something very important to say.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, “we have just received word
that several members of the long-lost expedition to Syrtis Major have
been spotted and contacted by a routine surveying plane. That is all the
information we can give you now, but stand by and we’ll keep you posted
on developments.”
Randy had sprung to his feet, and Ted could see his body was tense as a
coil of wire.
“Pops!” Randy burst out.
“Your father’s expedition!” Ted exclaimed at the same moment. Then
before his hopes got too high, he recalled that the announcer had said
that only some of the men had been found.
But Randy did not appear to be bothered by this. His face glowed with
happiness. He was convinced his father was one of those who had been
located.
An hour later, another bulletin was given: “It has been established that
only six of the original thirty-five members of the ill-fated expedition
are alive. Identity of the men has not yet been given us. Stand by for
further news.”
Randy bit his lip in disappointment as the message was cut off. He and
Ted remained by the set for another hour without moving, hoping any
moment that more news would be given out. At last it came:
“Our remote TV facilities will carry you to the spot where the lost men
were found,” the announcer said. There was a gray screen for several
moments, and then the scene switched to the interior of a rocket plane.
“It’ll be just like our going along with them to the place!” Randy
exclaimed happily.
Ted kept his fingers crossed for Randy. It would be a terrible shock to
him if his father were not one of the survivors. The unhappy moment he
had dreaded for so long might now be at hand. Their screen showed the
swift trip from Lowell Harbor over red sands and lichen forests. At last
the plane came in for landing in a wild, rocky region.
The man who met the TV men in the plane was the pilot who had first
sighted the missing engineers. “Come with me,” the pilot said, “and I’ll
show you who the survivors are and we’ll hear their story.”
Ted saw Randy get up and move close to the screen. He saw Randy’s toe
beat a nervous tattoo against the floor as he waited. Mrs. Kenton had
come into the room in the meantime, when she found what was going on.
Even Jill could hardly be restrained from leaving her bed to come in and
take part in the great discovery that meant so much to young Randy
Matthews.
“The men survived by holing up in an underground cave, and they signaled
the scouting plane,” the pilot explained, as he led the TV men over the
rocky ground. “It was a landslide that broke up the expedition,
destroying all means of transportation and communication. The six who
lived through it gathered up all the spare oxygen tanks and food
supplies. They had plenty along because the expedition was to have
lasted three months. They carried the tanks underground where a hot
spring kept them warm.”
When the entrance to the cave was reached, the pilot called inside, and
six space-suited figures walked tiredly out. They were not recognizable
in their space dress, for even their helmets were too dark to show their
faces.
“Gentlemen,” the TV announcer said to the survivors, “I’m sure every
television set, at the colony and on faraway Earth too, is tuned to this
spot. Of course, the big question in all the people’s minds is which of
the men who were lost are among you alive. Will each of you pass before
our camera and give your name?”
Ted felt his nerves tighten as the men, one by one, faced the screen.
Two, three, then four bearded men passed and gave their names. Randy’s
father was not one of them. Two more to go. Just then the worst possible
thing happened. The screen suddenly went gray.
[Illustration: _The picture flashed on._]
Ted heard Randy groan. The seconds ticked by. Still no picture. Finally,
after five minutes, the announcer said that picture service would be
restored in a few more minutes. Ted could see the perspiration gleaming
on Randy’s face, and his fingers were clenching and unclenching
continuously.
“What a frightful thing for him to be going through!” Mrs. Kenton
whispered to Ted. “I certainly hope and pray his father is one of those
remaining two.”
The picture flashed on. The announcer spent a moment or two explaining
the difficulty that had thrown the picture off; then he called the two
remaining men. The fifth showed himself. In the close-up his smiling,
grimy face was visible through his helmet.
“Is—that him?” Ted asked tremulously.
Randy’s head wagged slowly in the negative. Finally the last man walked
up, and Randy gave a scream of joy and sprang over to the screen.
“My name is Robert Matthews,” spoke the bearded man. He smiled and waved
into the screen. “Are you listening, Randy boy?”
Ted looked at Randy. His shoulders were hunched over and were shaking
with quiet sobs. Ted could see tears of joy in his mother’s eyes. Then
he realized there was a lump in his own throat.
Randy’s father was alive. To Ted, it was almost as though it were his
own father who had been found.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
_Peril in the Night_
Randy would have liked nothing better than to have been at Lowell Harbor
to welcome his father, but the quarantine made that impossible. However,
Randy left word for his father to phone him on arrival.
Hours after the sensational telecast, the radiophone finally buzzed.
Randy ran to it, flipped a switch, and listened on the two-way
microphone.
“Pops!” Randy exclaimed. “Yes, it’s me! How are you?” On and on the
excited conversation went.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Mom?” Ted said to his mother.
“It certainly is!” she answered. “Your dad and I really believed Randy
would never see his father alive again.”
Yank had been allowed into the house. He seemed to realize that this was
a moment of good times, for he capered about like an animated ball of
fur. He even tried to make noises into the mike himself, but Randy
playfully pushed him off.
Feeling pretty good himself now, Ted thought that if Yank wanted action
he’d give it to him. He cuffed the little animal gently along his head.
Yank tore after him, catching him near the air lock. Down went the boy
and color bear together. Yank growled menacingly but did not impress Ted
with his mock ferocity. Yank got on top of Ted, and Ted called for help.
Just then Randy’s long conversation with his father ended, and he came
over to join the fun. Then the three of them were scrambling and yelling
together. Ted halted his play for a moment to look up and see Jill
standing in the doorway, her face beaming as though she would like to
join the fun. Mrs. Kenton looked around, and her face darkened.
“You’d better get back in that bed, young lady!” her mother threatened.
Jill squealed and ran off to bed. Ted saw that his mother was not really
angry. She was smiling, and Ted knew she was glad to find that Jill was
feeling so much better.
The rest of the day passed on the same high note of joy. Where several
days ago, everything had been fear and gloom, now everything was rosy.
The next day, after Randy had talked with his father again, he was
impatient to get out and meet him. Ted, too, was beginning to feel the
pinch of the quarantine.
The boys went out to take a look at the garden. The stems were high and
full of broad leaves. It looked like a miniature jungle here. And in
such a short time! Ted checked the atmosphere gauge that showed the
percentage of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the greenhouse. The gas from
the carbon dioxide tank had to be just so, or the plants would suffocate
from an overabundance of oxygen.
When the boys returned to the living room, Mrs. Kenton said to them, “I
have a surprise for you two. Turn your heads.”
They did so, and when she told them to look around they saw a fully
dressed Jill standing there, her cheeks pink and healthy again. Ted
hugged his sister as though she had been away a long time and was just
getting back.
At last, the day that, it had seemed, would never arrive finally did
come. Randy was up especially early that morning, saying that he wanted
to visit his father before he went to school.
The children were in the living room awaiting breakfast.
“I’m sure they’ll let you off from school one more day to be with your
father, Randy,” Mrs. Kenton called from the kitchen.
“Even if they do, I don’t want to lose any time seeing him,” Randy said.
Suddenly Jill pointed a shaky finger toward the front door. “L-look,
there’s a man at the door?”
Ted turned around, startled. “I wonder who...” he began.
But Randy was not puzzled. He ran across the room and flipped the switch
that controlled the air lock. A few minutes later a robust man in a
space suit entered and pulled off his helmet. He had a rugged, kindly
face which showed the effects of the terrible strain he had been under
so long. But he was smiling.
“Pops!” Randy cried and threw his arms around him.