Part 29 (1/2)

”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 flas.h.i.+ng 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 s.p.a.cemen climbed into the small craft, and while Strong opened the outer lock, exposing them to the emptiness of s.p.a.ce, 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, establis.h.i.+ng their positions, and then roared away from each other to begin their search.

Astro turned his midget s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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-s.h.i.+p. Tom could have been captured, or if not yet discovered, unable to escape from the s.h.i.+p.

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 s.h.i.+p in and around the drifting asteroids, his eyes constantly sweeping the area around him for some sign of a drifting s.p.a.ce-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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce Academy was, during an emergency in s.p.a.ce when oxygen was low, to lie down and breath as slowly as possible.