On the control
deck, Tom stayed at his station, sounding the warning.
"Emergency! Emergency! All personnel prepare for crash! All personnel
prepare for crash!"
[Illustration]
CHAPTER 8
"There--there!" shouted Captain Stefens into the mike aboard the jet
boat circling around the station. "I think I see something bearing about
seventy degrees to my left and up about twenty on the ecliptic! Do you
see it, Scotty?"
Tom, in the bucket seat of the jet boat, strained his eyes but was
unable to see over the control board.
Terry Scott, in a second jet boat ten miles away, answered quickly,
"Yes, I think I see it, sir."
"Good!" shouted Stefens. "Maybe we've found something."
He spoke to Tom over his shoulder, keeping his eye on the floating
objects in the black void of space. "Come to the starboard about
one-quarter full turn, Corbett, and hold it. Then up, about twenty-five
degrees."
"Aye, aye, sir," said Tom. He began to maneuver the small gnat-sized
space craft to the proper position.
"That's good!" shouted Stefens. "Now hold that. Let me see. I think
we've hit pay dirt."
From the right, Tom could see the red flash of the rockets of Terry
Scott's jet boat, which Astro had volunteered to pilot, coming into
view.
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