Immediately an image of Earth and its Moon, and much farther away the
sun, was visible. Connel stepped to the screen and pointed to Moon.
"The Moon is a captive satellite of Earth, revolving around Earth the
same way Earth revolves around the sun. It's the same situation we have
here. This satellite is a captive of Tara, and Tara is a captive of
Alpha Centauri. The difference is that the satellite is a peanut
compared in size to the Moon, being only about fifteen miles in
diameter. I'm not sure, but I think I can get enough reactant energy out
of the _Space Devil's_ fuel supply to blast the satellite out of Tara's
grip and send it back to our solar system in one piece!"
"You mean, sir," asked Tom, perplexed, "you'll tear the satellite out of
Tara's gravitational pull?"
"That's right, Tom," replied Connel, "using the same principle to clear
gravity that we use on the _Polaris_ or any spaceship. Enough power from
the rockets will blast the _Polaris_ off Tara. Well, if you can get
enough power, you can blast this satellite out of Tara's grip also,
since the only thing holding it here is the gravity of Tara--the same
thing that holds the Moon in orbit around Earth!"
Astro's eyes bulged.
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