Part 7 (1/2)

Arv shrugged. ”Oh, he's taking the training program. Spends time in every department. He'd like to be a big shot, but I doubt if he'll make the grade.”

”How come?”

”Too much of a talker. Smart enough but lets everybody know it.”

Two days later, after making preparations for the trip to the s.p.a.ce outpost, Tom, Bud, Ted, and Mr. Swift flew to Fearing Island for the takeoff. The other pa.s.sengers for the trip included Sandy, Phyl, Chow Winkler, and Doc Simpson.

Fearing Island, the Swifts' rocket research base, was a thumb-shaped stretch of sand dunes and scrubgra.s.s. It lay not far off the Atlantic coast and was guarded by drone planes and radar.

From the island airfield, the travelers drove to the special launching area for the Challenger. Here the great silver s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, already checked and loaded for flight, stood glistening in the morning suns.h.i.+ne.

”Just think,” murmured Phyl, gazing in awe at 66 .

the powerful craft, ”the Challenger has actually been to the moon!”

Bud added proudly, ”She may not look very streamlined, but this baby can travel like a comet!”

The huge boxlike cabin, poised on four hydraulic landing struts, was encircled by a framework of slender rails for the swiveling radiator antennas which beamed out the repelatron force rays.

Although the s.h.i.+p had auxiliary rockets for emergency maneuvering, its main motive power was the repelatron drive. This drive system could be used to propel the s.h.i.+p in any direction by exerting a repulsion force against the earth, moon, or any heavenly object.

”All aboard!” Tom called, after a last-minute check with the mechanics and ground crew.

One by one, pa.s.sengers and crew trooped up the accommodation ladder to the landing platform which projected from the front of the cabin. The landing platform was used for small auxiliary craft which could be berthed in the s.h.i.+p's hangar compartment.

Entering through an air lock, the s.p.a.ce voyagers zoomed upward by elevator to the flight deck. Here a pair of bucket seats for the pilot and copilot stood in front of twin quartz-gla.s.s view windows. There were also seats for pa.s.sengers and observers.

”Jeepers!” Sandy gasped. ”Just looking at all those dials and control levers gives me a thrill.

s.p.a.cE OUTPOST 67.

Tom, do you think I can learn to fly this s.h.i.+p?”

”Sure you can, Sis.” Torn grinned. ”No work at all. Actually, the real work of flight control is done by electronic brains in the computer room.”

”I'm glad we don't have to be strapped down on acceleration cots,” Phyl remarked. ”That's what scares me about rocket s.h.i.+ps-the awful shock at blast- off.”

”On this s.h.i.+p you can relax in perfect ease,” Tom a.s.sured her. ”The repelatron force rays apply a smooth flow of power so we can accelerate gradually, instead of in a few terrific bursts.”

A warning buzzer sounded, and everyone took his seat. The voice of George Billing, radio chief at Fearing, crackled over the speaker: ”All clear, skipper. Have a good trip!”

”Thanks, George,” Tom replied. ”Hold down the island!”

Outside, through the quartz-gla.s.s window, the ground crew chief gave the signal for take-off. Tom switched on the repelatron circuits, and a number of colored lights flashed on the element selector panel above the view panes.

”Watch those lights, Sis,” Tom told Sandy. ”They indicate the chemical make- up of the object we have to repel-in this case, the ground just below us. The repelatron circuits must respond to the exact radiation frequency of each element present.”

As he spoke, Tom's hands flew busily over the controls. ”What I'm doing now,” he added, ”is a sort of fine-tuning job to make sure we're adjusted 68 .

not only for the right elements, but the right isotope of each element.”

With the proper controls adjusted, Tom swiv-eled the radiator antennas into position for ground thrust and fed power to the repelatrons. Like a silver asteroid, the Challenger soared upward into the blue!

”This is known as a bouncing-ball take-off,” Bud wisecracked to the girls.

”Seriously, that's just about what happens,” Tom added. ”The repelatron force rays push us away from the earth-or whatever object we aim at-just like a ball on the rebound.”

As the earth fell away below them, the pa.s.sengers crowded to the view windows. Fearing Island was a mere speck on the blue-green waters of the ocean. Through the low-lying blankets of mist, every detail of the Atlantic coast line was revealed.

”Tom, it's amazing to think how far science has progressed,” said Mr. Swift gravely. ”Not so long ago, people laughed at the possibility of s.p.a.ce flight, and who knows what marvels lie ahead!”

Soon the roundness of the earth began to show in the curvature of the horizon. Off to the east, the travelers could make out the sh.o.r.e lines of Europe.

”An angel's-eye view!” murmured Phyl.

With the earth left well behind, Tom set a steady course for the s.p.a.ce station, then lounged back in his pilot's seat. ”Look! No hands!” He chuckled.

s.p.a.cE OUTPOST 69.

”Why, it's flying itself!” Sandy exclaimed. ”Tom, this s.h.i.+p's a dream!”

”Shucks, you ain't seen nothin'!” Chow bragged. ”Jest wait'll you see how I scoot around up here in my li'l ole jet-propelled s.p.a.ce suit!”

”Why bother with a s.p.a.ce suit!” Bud needled him. ”We've been expecting you to take off in that s.h.i.+rt you're wearing!”

Chow preened himself proudly as the others stifled their amus.e.m.e.nt. His latest cowboy s.h.i.+rt was patterned with a wild galaxy of stars and planets. ”I designed this here number myself, buckaroo. You couldn't buy another one like it fer love or money!”

”That I can believe,” Bud muttered.

As they cruised silently upward beyond the earth's atmosphere, Tom checked out Sandy and Ted on the Challenger's controls.

”What's this on your left?” asked Ted, pointing to a large fluorescent screen.

”Our s.p.a.ce position finder,” Tom explained. He flicked a switch. As the screen lighted up, a large curved reddish area appeared with a small white dot close by. ”The red area represents the earth, and the white dot is the s.p.a.ce station. Farther out in s.p.a.ce, the scope would pick up other objects in the solar system.”

Tom also showed them a large control board which projected out on the right-hand side of the flight compartment. Its various dials were labeled for earth, moon, sun, Mars, Venus, and other heavenly bodies.

70 .

”The dials are fed by tapes from our electronic computers,” Tom explained.

”They tell us the distance and angle of each body from our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, and how much force we need to repel them for any desired acceleration.”

”Skipper, if I needed anything to prove you're a young genius, this is it,” Ted said, wide-eyed with amazement.

”Take a bow, pal!” Bud grinned at Tom.