On the Trail of the Space Pirates_ A Tom Corbett Space Cadet Adventure - Carey Rockwell [60]
"You know," said Tom quietly, "I've been thinking. As far back as the twentieth century, Earthmen have wanted to get to Mars. And finally they did. And what have they found? Nothing but a planet full of dry sand, a few canals and dwarf mountains."
"That's exactly what I've been saying!" said Roger. "The only man who ever got anything out of all this was the first man to make it to Mars and return. He got the name, the glory, and a paragraph in a history book! And after that, nothing!" He got up and climbed the ladder to the radar deck, leaving Astro and Tom alone.
Suddenly the ship lurched to one side.
"What's that?" cried Tom.
A bell began to ring. Then another—and then three more. Finally the entire ship was vibrating with the clanging of emergency bells.
Astro made a diving leap for the ladder leading down to the power deck, with Tom lunging for the control board.
Quickly Tom glanced about the huge board with its many different gauges and dials, searching for the one that would indicate the trouble. His eye spotted a huge gauge. A small light beside it flashed off and on. "By the moons of Jupiter, we've run out of reactant fuel!"
"Tom!—Tom!" shouted Astro from the power deck. "We're smack out of reactant feed!"
"Isn't there any left at all?" asked Tom. "Not even enough to get us into Marsopolis?"
"We haven't enough left to keep the generator going!" said Astro. "Everything, including the lights and the teleceiver, will go any minute!"
"Then we can't change course!"
"Right," drawled Roger. "And if we can't change course, the one we're on now will take us straight into Mars's gravity and we crash!"
"Send out an emergency call right away, Roger," said Tom.
"Can't, spaceboy," replied Roger in his lazy drawl. "Not enough juice to call for help. Or haven't you noticed you're standing in the dark?"
"But how—how could this happen?" asked Tom, puzzled. "We were only going at half speed and using just three rockets!"
"When we got rid of that hot tube back in space," explained Astro grimly, "we dumped the main reactant mass. There isn't a thing we can do!"
"We've got one choice," said Tom hollowly. "We can either pile out now, in space suits and use the jet boat, and hope for someone to pick us up before the oxygen gives out, or we can ride this space wagon right on in. Make up your minds quick, we're already inside Mars's gravity pull!"
There was a pause, then Astro's voice filled the control deck. "I'll ride this baby right to the bottom. If I'm going to splash in, I'll take it on solid ground, even if it is Mars and not Venus. I don't want to wash out in space!"
"That goes for me, too," said Roger.
"O.K.," said Tom. "Here we go. Just keep your fingers crossed that we hit the desert instead of the mountains, or we'll be smeared across those rocks like applesauce. Spaceman's luck, fellas!"
"Spaceman's luck, both of you," said Astro.
"Just plain ordinary luck," commented Roger, "and plenty of it!"
The three boys quickly strapped themselves into acceleration seats, with Tom hooking up an emergency relay switch that he could hold in his hand. He hoped he would remain conscious long enough to throw the switch and start the water sprinkler in case the ship caught fire.
The Lady Venus flashed into the thin atmosphere from the void of space and the three cadets imagined that they could hear the shriek of the ship as it cut through the thin air. Tom figured his speed rapidly, and counting on the thinness of the atmosphere, he estimated that it would take eleven seconds for the ship to crash. He began to count.
"… One—two—three—four—five—" he thought briefly of his family and how nice they had been to him "… six—seven—eight—nine—ten—"
The ship crashed.
CHAPTER 17
"Astro! Roger!" yelled Tom. He opened his eyes and then felt the weight on his chest. A section of the control board had fallen across him pinning his left arm to his side. He reached for the railing around