"
"Have you tried making an adjustment for the overall pull of both
components?" asked Connel. "That of Tara and of Alpha Centauri on
Junior?" He picked up the paper Tom had been working on and glanced over
the figures.
"Yes, sir," replied Tom, "but I still can't seem to make it come out
right!"
"You'll get it, Tom," said Connel. "Go over it again. But remember.
Time's running out. Just one day and about twenty hours left." Connel's
voice was friendly--more friendly than at any time Tom could remember.
He smiled, and taking a fresh sheet of paper, he began the complicated
calculations of escape time all over again.
Connel slipped out of the control room and went below to the power deck,
where Astro and Mr. Shinny had been working without sleep for over fifty
hours. When Connel slipped into the room he found the two men puzzling
over a drawing board.
"What seems to be the trouble, Astro?" asked Connel.
Astro turned, startled. "We've tried building that lead baffle for the
reactant units five times now, sir," said Astro. "We're having a hard
time getting the correct amount of reactant power we need in a unit this
small.
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