"Tom--Roger!" shouted Astro. "I think I've got it!"
Astro, on his knees, pulled a long file blade away from the hatch and
jumped to his feet.
"Did you cut all the way through?" asked Tom.
"I don't know--at least I'm not sure," Astro replied, looking down at
the hole he had made in the hatch. "But let's give it a try!"
"Think we can force it back enough to get a good hold on it?" asked
Roger.
"We'll know in a minute, Roger," said Astro. "Get that steel bar over
there and I'll try to slip it in between the hatch and the bulkhead."
Roger rummaged around in the jumble of broken parts and tools on the
opposite side of the power deck and found the steel bar Astro wanted.
After several attempts to force the hatch open had proven futile, Tom
suggested that they try to file the hinges off the hatch, and then
attempt to slide it sideways. After much effort, and working in shifts,
they had filed through the three hinges, and now were ready to make a
last desperate attempt to escape. Astro took the steel bar from Roger
and jammed it between the bulkhead wall and the hatch.
"No telling what we'll find on the other side," said Astro. "If the
sand has covered up the ship all the way down to here, then we'll never
get out!"
"Couldn't we tunnel through it to the top, if it has filled the ship
down as far as here?" asked Roger.
"Not through this stuff," said Tom. "It's just like powder."
"Tom's right," said Astro. "As soon as you dig into it, it'll fall right
back in on you." He paused and looked at the hatch thoughtfully. "No.
The only way we can get out of here is if the sand was only blown into
the deck outside and hasn't filled the rest of the ship."
"Only one way to find out," said Tom.
"Yeah," agreed Roger. "Let's get that hatch shoved aside and take a
look."
Astro jammed the heavy steel bar farther into the space between the
hatch and the bulkhead, and then turned back to his unit-mates.
"Get that piece of pipe over there," he said. "We'll slip it over the
end of the bar and that'll give us more leverage."
Tom and Roger scrambled after the length of pipe, slipped it over the
end of the bar, and then, holding it at either end, began to apply even
pressure against the hatch.
Gradually, a half inch at a time, the heavy steel hatch began to move
sideways, sliding out and behind the bulkhead. And as the opening grew
larger the fine powderlike sand began to fall into the power deck.
"Let's move it back about a foot and a half," said Tom. "That'll give us
plenty of room to get through and see what's on the other side."
Astro and Roger nodded in agreement.
Once more the three boys exerted their strength against the pipe and
applied pressure to the hatch. Slowly, grudgingly it moved back, until
there was an eighteen-inch opening, exposing a solid wall of the desert
sand. Suddenly, as if released by a hidden switch, the sand began to
pour into the power deck.
"Watch out!" shouted Tom. The three boys jumped back and looked on in
dismay as the sand came rushing through the opening. Gradually it slowed
to a stop and the pile in front of the opening rose as high as the hatch
itself.
"That does it," said Tom. "Now we've got to dig through and find out how
deep that stuff is. And spacemen, between you and me, I hope it doesn't
prove too deep!"
"I've been thinking, Tom," said Roger, "suppose it's as high as the
upper decks outside? All we have to do is keep digging it out and
spreading it around the power deck here until we can get through."
"Only one thing wrong with that idea, Roger," said Tom. "If the whole
upper part of the ship is flooded with that stuff, we won't have enough
room to spread it around."
"We could always open the reaction chamber and fill that," suggested
Astro, indicating the hatch in the floor of the power deck that lead to
the reactant chamber.
"I'd just as soon take my chances with sand," said Roger, "as risk
opening that hatch. The chamber is still hot from the wildcatting
reaction mass we had to dump back in space."
"Well, then, let's start digging," said Tom. He picked up an empty
grease bucket and began filling it with sand.
"You two get busy loading them, and I'll dump," said Astro.
"O.K.," replied Tom and continued digging into the sand with his hands.
"Here, use this, Tom," said Roger, offering an empty Martian water
container.
Slowly, the three cadets worked their way through the pile on the deck
in front of the hatch opening and then started on the main pile in the
opening itself. But as soon as they made a little progress on the main
pile, the sand would fall right in again from the open hatch, and after
two hours of steady work, the sand in front of the hatch still filled
the entire opening. Their work had been all for nothing. They sat down
for a rest.
"Let's try it a little higher up, Tom," suggested Roger. "Maybe this
stuff isn't as deep as we think."
Tom nodded and stepped up, feeling around the top of the opening. He
began clawing at the sand overhead. The sand still came pouring through
the opening.
"See anything?" asked Astro.
"I--don't--know--" spluttered Tom as the sand slid down burying him to
his waist.
"Better back up, Tom," warned Roger. "Might be a cave-in and you'll get
buried."
"Wait a minute!" shouted Tom. "I think I see something!"
"A light?" asked Astro eagerly.
"Careful, Tom," warned Roger again.
Tom clawed at the top of the pile, ignoring the sand that was heaped
around him.
"I've got it," shouted Tom, struggling back into the power deck just in
time to avoid being buried under a sudden avalanche. "There's another
hatch up there, just behind the ladder that leads into the passenger
lounge. That's the side facing the storm! And as soon as we dig a
little, the sand falls from that pile. But the opposite side, leading to
the jet-boat deck, is free and clear!"
"Then all we have to do is force our way through to the top," said
Astro.
"That's all," said Tom. "We'd be here until doomsday digging our way
clear."
"I get it!" said Roger. "The storm filled up the side of the ship facing
that way, and that is where the passenger lounge is. I remember now. I
left the hatch open when we came down here to the power deck, so the
sand just kept pouring in." He smiled sheepishly. "I guess it's all my
fault."
"Never mind that now!" said Tom. "Take this hose and stick it in your
mouth, Astro. Breath through your mouth and plug up your nose so you
won't get it all stopped up with sand while you pull your way through."
"I'll take this rope with me too," said Astro. "That way I can help pull
you guys up after me."
"Good idea," said Roger.
"As soon as you get outside the hatch here," said Tom, "turn back this
way. Keep your face up against the bulkhead until you get to the top.
Right above you is the ladder. You can grab it to pull yourself up."
[Illustration]
"O.K.," said Astro and took the length of hose and put it in his mouth.
Then, taking a piece of waste cotton, he stopped up his nose and tested
the hose.
"Can you breathe O.K.?" asked Tom.
Astro signaled that he could and stepped through the hatch. He turned,
and facing backward, began clawing his way upward.
"Keep that hose clear, Roger!" ordered Tom. "There's about five feet of
sand that he has to dig through and if any of it gets into the
hose--well--"
"Don't worry, Tom," interrupted Roger. "I've got the end of the hose
right next to the oxygen bottle. He's getting pure stuff!"
Soon the big cadet was lost to view. Only the slow movement of the hose
and rope indicated that Astro was all right. Finally the hose and rope
stopped moving.
Tom and Roger looked at each other, worried.
"You think something might be wrong?" asked Tom.
"I don't know--" Roger caught himself. "Say, look--the rope! It's
jerking--Astro's signaling!"
[Illustration]
"He made it!" cried Tom.
"I wonder if--" Roger suddenly picked up the end of the hose and spoke
into it. "Astro? Hey, Astro, can you hear me?"
"Sure I can." Astro's voice came back through the hose. "Don't shout so
loud! I'm not on Earth, you know. I'm just ten feet above you!"
Roger and Tom clapped each other on the shoulders in glee.
"All set down there?" called Astro, through the hose.
"O.K." replied Tom.
"Listen," said Astro, "when you get outside the hatch, you'll find a
pipe running along the bulkhead right over your head. Grab that and pull
yourself up. Tie the rope around your shoulder, but leave enough of it
so the next guy can come up. We don't have any way of getting it back
down there!" he warned. "Who's coming up first?"
Tom looked at Roger.
"You're stronger, Tom," said Roger. "You go up now and then you can give
Astro a hand pulling me through."
"All right," agreed Tom. He began pulling the hose back through the
sand. He took the end, cleared it out with a few blasts from the oxygen
bottle and put it in his mouth. Then, after Roger had helped him tie the
rope around his shoulders, he stuffed his nose with the waste cotton. He
stepped to the opening. Roger gave three quick jerks on the rope and
Astro started hauling in.
With Astro's help, Tom was soon free and clear, standing beside Astro on
the jet-boat deck.
"Phoooeeeey!" said Tom, spitting out the sand that had filtered into his
mouth. "I never want to do that again!" He dusted himself off and
flashed his emergency light around the deck. "Look at that!" he said in
amazement. "If we'd kept on digging, we'd have been trapped down there
for--" he paused and looked at Astro who was grinning--"a long, long
time!" He held the light on the sand that was flowing out of the open
hatch of the passenger lounge.
"Come on," urged Astro. "Let's get Roger out of there!"
They called to Roger through the hose and told him to bring two more
emergency lights and the remainder of the Martian water. Three minutes
later the _Polaris_ unit was together again.
Standing on the deck beside his two unit-mates, Roger brushed himself
off and smiled. "Well," he said, "looks like we made it!"
"Yeah," said Tom, "but take a look at this!" He walked across the
jet-boat deck to the nearest window port. What should have been a clear
view of the desert was a mass of solidly packed sand.
"Oh, no!" cried Roger. "Don't tell me we have to go through that again?"
"I don't think it'll be so bad this time," said Astro.
"Why not?" asked Tom.
"The sand is banked the heaviest on the port side of the ship. And the
window ports on the starboard side of the control deck were pretty high
off the ground."
"Well, let's not just stand here and talk about it," said Roger. "Let's
take a look!" He turned and walked through the jet-boat deck.
Tom and Astro followed the blond cadet through the darkened passages of
the dead ship, and after digging a small pile of sand away from the
control-deck hatch, found themselves once more amid the jumble of the
wrecked instruments.
For the first time in three days, the boys saw sunlight streaking
through the crystal port.
"I told you," cried Astro triumphantly.
"But there still isn't any way out of this place!" said Roger. "We can't
break that port. It's six inches thick!"
"Find me a wrench," said Astro. "I can take the whole window port apart
from inside. How do you think they replace these things when they get
cracked?"
Hurriedly searching through the rubble, Tom finally produced a wrench
and handed it to Astro. In a half hour Astro had taken the whole section
down and had pushed the crystal outward. The air of the desert rushed
into the control room in a hot blast.
"Whew!" cried Roger. "It must be at least a hundred and twenty-five
degrees out there!"
"Come on. Let's take a look," said Tom. "And keep your fingers crossed!"
"Why?" asked Roger.
"That we can dig enough of the sand away from the ship to make it
recognizable from the air."
Following Tom's lead, Roger and Astro climbed through the open port and
out onto the sand.
"Well, blast my jets!" said Astro. "You can't even tell there was a
storm."
"You can't if you don't look at the ship," said Tom bitterly. "That was
the only thing around here of any size that would offer resistance to
the sand and make it pile up. And, spaceman, look at that pile!"
Astro and Roger turned to look at the spaceship. Instead of seeing the
ship, they saw a small mountain of sand, well over a hundred feet high.
They walked around it and soon discovered that the window port in the
control deck had been the only possible way out.
"Call it what you want," said Roger, "but I think it's just plain dumb
luck that we were able to get out!" He eyed the mound of sand. Unless
one knew there was a spaceship beneath it, it would have been impossible
to distinguish it from the rest of the desert.
"We're not in the clear yet!" commented Astro grimly. "It would take a
hundred men at least a week to clear away enough of that sand so search
parties could recognize it." He glanced toward the horizon. "There isn't
anything but sand here, fellows, sand that stretches for a thousand
miles in every direction."
"And we've got to walk it," said Tom.
"Either that or sit here and die of thirst," said Roger.
"Any canals around here, Tom?" asked Astro softly.
"There better be," replied Tom thoughtfully. He turned to Roger. "If you
can estimate our position, Roger, I'll go back inside and see if I can
find a chart to plot it on. That way, we might get a direction to start
on at least."
Astro glanced up at the pale-blue sky. "It's going to be a hot day," he
said softly, looking out over the flat plain of the desert, "an awful
hot day!"
[Illustration]