Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Young Stowaways in Space by Elam Richard M Richard Mace McCann Gerald Illustrator
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page
Ebook has 1035 lines and 39703 words, and 21 pages
Suddenly, a voice came over a speaker in the room: "Blast-off in ten minutes. All nonpassengers are requested to leave the ship."
"That's us," Garry said unhappily.
How he envied Officer Mulroy on his coming trip into the deeps of space! He wanted to go so badly that his heart ached. But he realized that not for many years could his fondest dream come true.
Officer Mulroy noticed Garry's reluctance to leave, and placed a friendly arm around his shoulder. "Don't take it so hard, Garry," he said. "Be the very best student you can. The years will go by fast, and then one day you will wake up to find that you are eligible to be a spaceman."
"Thanks," Garry said, trying to smile convincingly, although he did not feel happy. The idea of the future did not interest him now, but only the present, because the queen of the spaceways was about to blast off, and he wanted so desperately to remain aboard her.
"Let's go, Garry," Patch said. "We don't want to get Officer Mulroy into trouble by us being caught aboard at blast-off."
"That's right," Officer Mulroy said with a smile. "Being a stowaway on a rocket is really a serious matter. You see, for every pound of pay load on a rocket, there must be many more pounds of fuel, so if an extra person remained aboard, the ship might not be able to reach its destination."
"Thank you for letting us come aboard with you, Mr. Mulroy," Garry said. "And I'll remember what you told me."
The space officer insisted on tipping the boys, and it was a generous tip at that. As the two left the room he called to them, "Good-by, fellows. I'll send you a post card from Mars. That's a promise."
Garry and Patch said good-by and followed the directions that Officer Mulroy had given them for leaving the ship.
Garry pressed the button of the elevator in which they had ridden earlier. As the doors parted and he and Patch went in, he said to his friend, "Gee, I hate to leave. I don't know what's the matter with me, Patch. Maybe I'm just tired of having to do the same thing every day, over and over."
"I feel kind of the same way, Garry," Patch admitted, "but I guess we'll just have to sweat out the old grind for a few more years."
They had no sooner started to descend than the light in the elevator went off, and then the elevator itself stopped.
"Hey, what's going on!" Garry exclaimed.
"The power's off!" Patch said.
Presently, the light came on again, and the boys felt a lot better.
"Whew, for a minute I was scared!" Patch said.
"Me too. Hey, we're still not moving, though!" Garry pressed harder on the button, but the elevator refused to move.
"We're stuck here, Garry!" Patch burst out.
The din was very loud in the cramped compartment, as both boys hammered on the wall.
No one came to their rescue, but then a voice spoke over the public-address speaker in the ceiling of the elevator: "Don't be alarmed, folks. A short circuit in the fuel-pump relay caused us to lose electric power momentarily. But everything has been restored to normalcy. Warning: Three minutes to blast-off."
The boys pounded on the metal walls until their knuckles hurt.
In a final desperate action, Garry slammed his closed fist against the stubborn power button. Instantly, he felt the elevator throb underfoot and begin to descend once more.
"Thank goodness!" Garry breathed prayerfully. "But we've still got to hurry in order to get off in time! No telling how long we've been stuck in this thing!"
When the elevator stopped, the doors slid open and the boys ran out. But they found themselves in a strange corridor.
"We're not out of the ship yet!" Garry exclaimed. "We've only gone down a deck or two. The elevator must still be fouled up."
"What'll we do now?" Patch asked in desperation.
"Go back into the elevator and try to get to the ground. We'll have to hurry! The elevator is part of the gantry crane, and it'll be rolled away any moment!"
They rushed back to the closed doors of the elevator. But a sign in red lights on the door read: "DO NOT ENTER. ELEVATOR REMOVED."
"They've already taken it away!" Patch said in dismay.
"We've got to find a place to strap down, or every bone in our bodies will be broken on the blast-off!" Garry said.
A speaker along the corridor next gave out with the dread words: "Blast-off in ninety seconds, ladies and gentlemen. Secure your seat harness and listen to the instructions of the stewards. Failure to obey directions could cost you your lives. In the first few moments of acceleration in a rocket ship, there is a crushing blow to the human body. This jolt will occur twice more as the second and third stages blast off. For that reason, it is absolutely necessary that everyone be strapped down securely to his G-couch."
Patch grabbed his friends arm in a fierce grip. "Garry, we're going to die! We're going to die!" he cried.
Garry shook off Patch and desperately began throwing open doors along the corridor, looking into one room after another. "There must be some G-couches along here," he said. "I read somewhere that space law says there must be emergency couches on all decks of a rocket ship."
Patch tagged along after Garry, complaining. Garry could not afford to be sympathetic now. Both their lives depended on what he did within the next minute.
Then Garry found it. Printed on the door was the heartening word: "G-COUCHES."
He flung open the door and saw a row of six S-shaped reclining seats.
Garry grabbed the arm of his quaking friend in a tight grip and told him, "Listen to me, Patch, and do what I tell you. Jump on a couch just as fast as you can and don't waste a second getting those buckles fastened across your chest, body, and legs. Now get going!"
Garry helped him along with a shove, then dove for one of the couches close by.
As he hastily fastened his own straps in place, Garry cast worried glances at his friend, who was fumbling as best he could in his nervous state.
A speaker warned of the passing moments: "Zero minus twenty seconds, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen...."
A few seconds more, and Garry's straps were securely fastened. He twisted his head to see how Patch was doing. Patch had almost all his straps in place, but he could not seem to get the chest buckle tightened.
"Hurry, Patch, please hurry!" Garry cried.
"I--I'm doing the best I can," Patch said, and Garry could see the streams of sweat trickling down his round face.
Then, with a final lucky tug, Patch had it. Turning his weakly smiling face to Garry, he murmured, "Garry, I guess I just barely did...."
Garry had read about the rough effects of blast-off, but the real thing was even worse than he had imagined. He felt like one of those characters in movie cartoons who gets flattened to the thickness of paper when run over. His lungs felt as though they had collapsed, and he could suck in only the barest trace of breath.
But the discomfort did not last long. His body seemed to fill out like an inflated balloon, although he still felt the ache of having been nearly squashed. His stomach felt as though it had been stirred up with an egg beater, and his head swam.
The ship did not appear to be moving, but Garry knew it must be traveling many thousands of miles an hour.
Garry's shaky hands groped for the belts of the harness that snugly fitted his body. He worked the buckles loose from his upper body and sat up on his G-couch. He did not release his legs, because he was already feeling the dizzying effects of weightlessness. He looked across at Patch on the next couch.
Patch was still lying flat, and his face was pasty white. His eyes were closed, and this alarmed Garry.
"Patch!" Garry called, repeating the name over and over.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page