Richard M. Elam

“ Garry said, “but the ships that remain in space look like a bunch of globes and girders, because they never meet the friction of any planet’s atmosphere and they don’t need the sturdiness and rocket power.”
Patch laughed. “You sound like one of our schoolbooks, Garry,” he said.
As the Ped-A-Ride neared the spaceport, the brilliant lights of the busy area merged into a hazy glare that brightened the night until it was almost as light as day. The slim prow of the Orion reached higher into the sky than any other object on the vast field, even loftier than the giant control tower. ”

“ But she was afraid. And so was Steve. And her father, too. Everyone in the room was afraid because no one could say whether the tornado could be destroyed before it hit the city or not.
“Eight—seven—six—” droned the unhurried voice of the operator.
The Shannons hardly dared breathe for fear of disturbing the man at the machine. Steve felt Sue’s body quivering next to him. It seemed as if the seconds were dragging on endlessly.
“Three—two—one—FIRE!”
Steve felt nothing but he knew the tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second Earthward. ”

“ He watched a gauge, and when it showed normal pressure and temperature again, he opened the outside hatch, closing it behind him. Had Marsh permitted the vacuum of space to contact the interior of the ship’s quarters, delicate instruments would have been ruined by the sudden decompression and loss of heat. Marsh fastened his safety line to the ship so that there was no chance of his becoming separated from it.
Then he looked “downward,” to experience the thrill of his life. Like a gigantic relief map, the panorama of Earth stretched across his vision. ”

“ The room darkened, and a regular three-dimensional color movie flashed on the screen. It was a picture about the wonders of the Earth. Ted felt a lump rise in his throat as he watched. What he was looking at was the Natural Bridge in Virginia, not far from their old home. Ted looked at Jill. A stray pencil of light from the camera showed tears glistening in her eyes. Ted was feeling a wave of homesickness himself. The wonders of Mars were exciting, but there was no substitute in all the universe for their own little plot of ground on Earth where they had been born. ”

“ The prism brought the outside view right into the ship. Venus dominated the scene, like a giant snowball glittering with a light of its own. Rock could see the impenetrable clouds, chiefly of carbon dioxide, swirling and crawling over the surface of the planet like a tide. The invisible lands below were a hothouse of wind-swept desert and barren stretches. There were only a few isolated research settlements down there where brave scientists probed the hot soil for strange new things. ”

“ Even then, it took quite some doing for him to work his way across to Patch, who looked like a pennant floating in the breeze as he hung crossways in the air, one hand tightly clutching a seat handle.
“Garry, I don’t feel so good,” Patch complained. “Everything in me feels like its pushing upward. Even my brain seems to be floating.”
“It’s lack of gravity doing that,” Garry said. “You are used to gravity always pulling down on you. When that pull is gone, it makes you feel as if your body is moving up. ”

“ As the ship moved strongly into Mercury’s gravitation field, Bart lined the automatic pilot up with the tiny speck on the rocky world below that was the Dennis Meteor. Then he and Steve strapped down on their protective couches for the grueling landing.
Steve felt as though his chest were crushed under the rapid deceleration. It was the effect of a swiftly dropping elevator multiplied hundreds of times as the Comet’s forward jets thrust against Mercury’s crust to brake the hurtling speed. Steve finally blacked out; he always did. ”

“ Steve and Sue came down the outside “gangway” of the cargo ship and stepped onto the frozen ground of the distant world. The twins wore space suits, of course, for the air outside was extremely cold and it was poisonous as well with raw methane and ammonia.
Steve saw beautiful Saturn, with its colored rings, filling much of the blue sky. Titan was a world of close mountains, worn smooth by lots of windy weather. A film of glistening ice covered the peaks like caps of glass.
“Look up there, Sue!” Steve said. “Over our heads! That’s the famous skyport of Titan!” ”

“ It was interesting to Garry to hear that the captain was a millionaire. That probably explained how he could afford to take such a leisurely cruise through space in something akin to a flying palace.
“While Klecker and Ben are changing the water in this aquarium,” Captain Eaton said, “how would you like to meet the rest of my friends?”
“We would, Sir,” Garry replied, “but are you sure you don’t have things to do?” It was hard for Garry to believe that as important a person as a millionaire would be willing to devote so much time to a couple of orphans who were lost in space. ”

“ As they waited, they stood before the big window looking out on the rugged globe of Luna. Dr. Kenton pressed a button on the sill that slid a darkening filter over the window. In this way, the blinding glare of the full moon was cut down considerably.
“Those big craters look just like eyes!” Ted exclaimed.
“It’s all so terribly rough-looking down there, I don’t see where we can land!” Mrs. Kenton said.
The scientist pointed. “See that large gray plain down there?” he said. “It’s the Sea of Serenity, and the Moon colony is located on one edge of it. We’re too far away yet to see it.” ”

“ EXPEDITION PLUTO
“The lieutenant doesn’t think you’ve got your mind on navigation, Rob,” Duff Ford was saying, as he and Rob Allison stood before a port of the rocket ship Rigel looking out over the sea of space.
“Does it show that much?” the lean young spaceman answered.
“We’ll find him, Rob,” the redhead answered. “Stop eating your heart out.”
“You never knew Jim Hawley, did you, Duff?” Rob asked.
“No, but from what I’ve heard of him, he’s quite a guy. Always smiling and bursting with friendliness.” ”

“ They too were overjoyed at receiving messages from home. The jeep rolled on from there to a huge plain which was being prepared for a future spaceport. Capt. Welsh and his helper dropped off another mail sack and then were on their way again. Some hours later, all but two deliveries had been made.
“Next stop is the astronomy observatory,” Capt. Welsh told Jerry.
They crawled over sandy hills that taxed the gripping power of their spiked wheels, wound in and out of towering buttresses of black basalt, and bored through natural tunnels like a pair of human moles. ”

“ Ted wanted to know.
“That’s frost,” Randy answered. “The sun never melts it completely. It never even gets up to zero in this latitude.”
Dr. Kenton, whose interest was beyond Mars at the moment, said, “Look, kids, there’s our comet again!”
He pointed it out to them in the heavens. It was a long streak across the sky. The nucleus burned brightly, like a heavenly torch.
“Now it really looks like a comet!” Ted declared.
“It’s beautiful!” Jill murmured.
“We’ll be able to see it from Mars for several days,” Dr. Kenton told them. “Then it’ll gradually disappear from view.” ”