Part 5

“Say, this is nice and warm!” Garry said. “And we’ve got it all to ourselves!”

A little way back from the pool’s edge, Mac and Isaac were lifting weights. This exercise was to help them keep in good physical trim.

Garry and Patch swam and splashed to their hearts’ content. It was the most fun they had had in a long time. They knew no one would ever believe their story of swimming in a pool in deep space! It was almost too difficult for them to believe themselves. But they did not care if they were never believed.

They frolicked in the water for about an hour and then climbed up on the pool’s edge to catch their breath for a few minutes.

“Boy, I could spend twenty-four hours a day in there,” Patch said, flicking water from his face.

“I could too, almost,” Garry agreed. “But I would be satisfied if I could spend twenty-four hours a day aboard the _Carefree_ doing anything. Gee, it’s going to be hard leaving here to go back to the orphanage.”

“Yeah,” Patch said sourly. “Gee whiz, Garry, why can’t they let a couple of guys live the way they want to?”

“We can someday, when we are old enough,” Garry said. “But the only way we could get around having to go back now would be for Captain Eaton to adopt us.”

“Say, that’s the answer!” Patch replied excitedly. “Why don’t we ask him?”

“I don’t think it’s as easy as that, Patch. In the first place, I don’t think _we_ should ask _him_. He knows how much we like the _Carefree_, and he may have thought of adoption. But he should be the one who suggests it.”

“Maybe we could drop a hint or something,” Patch said.

“I don’t think they’d let him adopt us, Patch. Don’t forget, when they find out where we are, they’ll think we stowed away aboard the _Orion_, and that would ruin any chances we might have had.”

“But we didn’t deliberately stow away!” Patch protested.

“I know that, but how can we get them to believe us? I don’t think they’d even consider adoption at this time, and I think Captain Eaton must feel that way too.”

Patch sighed. “Maybe later, then. Maybe someday Captain Eaton will want us back. Gosh, I hate to leave here, though.”

“Life won’t be the same any more,” Garry said. “Nothing can ever be as exciting as the adventure we’ve had.”

They heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Captain Eaton coming their way. Missing now was his usual sunny smile. He carried a piece of paper in his hand.

“Well, fellows, the answer has come,” Captain Eaton said, and his voice was laden with dejection. “I radioed that you two had been picked up, and they’ve already replied.”

Garry hated to ask, “Wh—what did they say?”

“Just as I suspected. We must return to the Von Braun Space Station.”

“I was hoping we had a _few_ more days at least,” Patch groaned.

“I think that the sooner we straighten this matter out, the better it will be for everyone,” Captain Eaton replied. “And another thing, you boys are still A.W.O.L. from the orphanage, you know. However, it will take a couple of days for us to work out a navigation plan and get a clearance approach to the station. Sorry, fellows. I wish you could have stayed on with us indefinitely, but....”

As the captain’s voice trailed off, Garry had a flicker of hope. The captain was looking at them as if debating something in his mind. Would he bring up the subject of adoption?

But, saying nothing further, the captain turned and began walking toward the outer door of the gym.

Then he seemed to think of something else and came back. The boys held their breath hopefully. Would he mention adoption now?

“There’s something else they told me that I thought you’d want to know,” the captain said. “I told them the story of your being stowaways accidentally, just as you told me. They checked back and found that the elevator attached to the _Orion_ was defective, as you said, and they are convinced of the truth of your story. As a result, Officer Mulroy has been cleared of any negligence.”

“I’m glad to know that, Sir,” Garry said.

Once more the captain left them, but this time for good.

“Well, that’s that,” Patch commented unhappily. “No adoption. When he came back I thought he....”

“I was hoping too,” Garry replied, “but we’ve got to go back, and that’s all there is to it.”

Mac and Isaac came over, still breathing hard from their exercises.

“We couldn’t help but overhear the bad news,” Mac said. “We’re going to hate to see you fellows go.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Isaac added.

“Thanks,” Garry replied. “We were getting to like this old ship.”

“In a way I’d almost like to go with you,” Mac said, with a faraway look in his eyes.

Garry guessed that the Scotsman was a little homesick. His hunch proved correct, because Mac began to reminisce about his homeland. He described the heather on the hillsides, the flowing streams, and the green vales. And yet, Mac admitted finally that space was still a good second home to him, and he enjoyed his life in the deeps.

Isaac had no home he would rather live in than the _Carefree_. As he talked about his good friends aboard ship and the kindly captain, Garry noticed the softness of the big man’s eyes.

Garry had heard that Isaac was really quite a sentimental fellow. Whenever he learned of a tragedy over the TV, it would depress him. Later, the boys were to learn that Isaac had a secret liking for good poetry.

Both Mac and Isaac seemed genuinely sorry that the boys were having to leave. It made Garry and Patch feel good that they were so popular, but it made them a little sad, too.

The next morning Garry and Patch woke earlier than the others and were heading toward the washroom.

Suddenly Garry stopped and caught Patch by the arm. “Patch, do you hear that? There’s noise coming from the laundry room up ahead!”

Patch listened and heard the sound of splashing and a machine laboring hard.

“Yeah,” Patch said. “Let’s see what’s going on!”

Running, Garry led the way into the laundry room. But then he wished he had not been coming so fast. His feet skidded on the floor, that was covered with thick soapsuds, and he skated several feet forward on his bottom. Patch, coming right behind, could not help laughing at his friend’s misfortune. But then he too went down and skidded alongside Garry.

“Hey, what goes on here!” Garry gasped, trying to get to his feet. The entire floor was a miniature sea of soapsuds.

In his efforts to get up, Garry’s feet slid apart, and he hit the floor again. Patch had no better luck than Garry. When this happened, both boys broke into laughter.

They struggled several times to their feet, half playing all the while, but did not succeed in keeping their feet until the fourth attempt. Then they held onto one another to steady themselves. Only now did they see what was causing the strange disorder.

They looked over at the big washing machine against the wall and saw Katrinka standing over the open tank, pitching clothes right and left out of the machine and into the air! It was as if she were having the time of her life.

“Look, Patch—Katrinka!” Garry burst out laughing once more. “She’s gone crazy! Something must have flipped in her mechanism again.”

The machine was still making mountains of suds, and they were flooding out of the top like a flow of white lava. Katrinka’s metal wrists clanged against the edge of the machine as she went up and down with her flinging motion, making a rhythmic clatter.

“Hey, can’t we give her some words to make her stop this?” Patch spoke loudly to be heard over all the noise. “She’ll wreck the place!”

“I remember one of the commands,” Garry said. Then loudly he called out: “Atten-tion! Atten-tion!”

“She’s not paying any mind!” Patch said.

“She must be short-circuited again,” Garry said. “Let’s go for Captain Eaton!”

“I hate to wake him up after the hard day he had yesterday,” Patch said, as he returned along the corridor with Garry, “but this is an emergency.”

It turned out that they did not have to wake the captain. He met them, clad in his robe, at the door of the dorm, having already been aroused by the commotion going on down the corridor.

Captain Eaton yawned. “It’s Katrinka, isn’t it? Ben set her for laundry duty this morning, but I guess her wires got crossed again.”

The boys cautioned Captain Eaton to be careful about going into the slippery room. The captain promised he would be careful and promptly fell down as soon as he walked through the door. Garry and Patch tried to help the captain to his feet, but only succeeded in falling again themselves. They scrambled around, slipping and sliding. Then slowly learning how to become expert at moving about in soapsuds, they finally managed to stand up and stay up.

Carefully, the three made their way toward the washing machine where Katrinka was still merrily flipping clothes through the air. But by now she was out of ammunition and was merely flailing her metal arms. The captain used the command, “Atten-tion!” several times, trying to stop Katrinka’s wild actions, but he had no better luck with this than Garry had had.

Captain Eaton moved forward over the slippery floor and groped for the control knob on the robot’s back. But then, losing his footing, he hung on to the robot to keep from falling again. This brought Katrinka crashing down onto the floor along with the captain himself.

Garry and Patch each offered the captain a hand and presently managed to get him upright again. Garry had a hard time keeping a straight face. Captain Eaton’s face was red, and his beard was straggly and sudsy. His soggy bathrobe stuck to his thin legs, giving him the appearance of a saddened, snow-covered elf.

In the meanwhile, Katrinka was still having her fun, swinging her arms gaily against the floor as she lay on her back.

“We’ve got to turn her over,” Captain Eaton said, crawling nearer the robot. “Be careful of her arms. She can knock you over with them.”

Garry thought he saw how the job could be done.

“Let’s both grab her right leg, Patch,” he said. “Then we’ll give a good heave-ho and flip her over on her stomach. Careful you don’t slip.”

They did as Garry had suggested, yanking fiercely on the robot’s leg and flipping the metal creature over, face down. But the motion also brought Garry and Patch down in the soap again, this time getting the suds all over their faces, causing them to make wry grimaces and blow away the froth from their lips even as they laughed.

But what was funniest of all to Garry was when he saw Captain Eaton suddenly see an opening and scramble furiously, on all fours, over to the flailing robot. He threw himself upon her back, fighting her as a cowboy would wrestle a steer. He finally subdued her with a turn of the switch on her back, which he was at last able to grab and twist.

Worn out by his exertions, the captain simply flopped back on his hands in the soapy billows, sighing heavily. Then the good-natured man caught Garry’s eye and smiled. The smile turned into laughter, and presently all three of them joined in.

The captain later determined what had happened. He found out that Katrinka, in doing her washing chores, had gotten water into her electronic parts, and this had caused trouble in her mechanism. Captain Eaton made the repair easily, and the robot maid was once more in proper working order.

The boys were with the captain while he was making the repairs on Katrinka in the workshop. When the captain had put away his tools, he sent the robot on her way. Then he looked at Garry, as he washed his hands at the sink, and said in a sad voice, “Fellows, I’ve received a docking date at the Von Braun Space Station. We’ll dock at 2100 tomorrow night. That isn’t much time left, is it?”

“No, Sir, it isn’t,” Garry replied unhappily.

The captain did not look up again.

Garry half expected him to say something else, but, instead, he remained silent. Garry tugged at Patch’s sleeve, motioning for them to go.

The boys made their way slowly toward the door of the workshop. As Garry pressed the button to open the sliding door, Captain Eaton spoke again.

“Wait—just a minute.”

The boys turned. Garry gulped. He could see the sadness in the elderly man’s eyes.

“Boys, I haven’t told you how much I’ve enjoyed having you with us for this short time,” the captain said, holding his dripping hands over the sink, not bothering to dry them.

Garry had a lump in his throat. “We’ve enjoyed it too, haven’t we, Patch?”

“Sure thing,” Patch murmured.

Captain Eaton continued: “You two have been a great big lift in our lives. It’s been so long since we’ve seen young fellows, and you’ve made us feel younger ourselves once more. I think you know how we feel about your leaving us. But I don’t want to get sentimental about it and make you feel worse. So this won’t be good-by. We’ll see each other again—I know we shall.”

Garry cleared his throat, trying to dissolve that lump. “You’d better dry your hands, Sir.”

Captain Eaton smiled, reaching for a towel. “Oh, of course,” he said.

“We’ll miss all of you very much, Sir,” Garry said, before starting through the door. “The _Carefree_ has been like a home to us.”

The boys were silent as they went on to the dormitory. They were overcome by sadness at having to leave the ship and her friendly people.

As the boys were getting together the clothing and toilet articles they had been given, Patch remarked to Garry, “Maybe the captain doesn’t like us enough for adoption. He may not care for the idea of being saddled with us permanently.”

“I hope it’s not that,” Garry answered, “but I still can’t think of any other reason, now that the stowaway business is straightened out.”

Patch didn’t answer. He had no explanation either.

11. A FRIEND IS LOST

That night, on their way to dinner in the galley, the boys were overtaken by the long-striding Mr. Klecker.

“I heard you’re leaving us, gentlemen,” he said to them.

“Yes, that’s right, Mr. Klecker,” Garry replied.

“Too bad. I was hoping I would have the opportunity to talk to you about the old circus days. Yes, it’s too bad.”

Gino, too, showed how much he liked the boys. He baked them special pies and told them that they were his going-away presents to them.

After supper, Patch said to Garry, as they were leaving the galley, “Gee, they’re not making our leaving very easy, are they?”

“No, Patch, they’re not making it very easy at all,” Garry agreed.

“We’re not making what very easy?” asked a voice behind them.

They turned and saw the smiling face of Ben. Garry explained to him what they were talking about.

“Then I guess you don’t want me to say I’m sorry to see you go either, do you?” Ben said.

“Of course we really _do_ care,” Garry admitted. “But it makes us sad when everybody tells us.”

“Then, I won’t tell you good-by, fellows,” Ben said. “I’ll just say ‘so long’ for awhile. Before you know it, you’ll come back into space and find us still cruising through the deeps in the _Carefree_. Yes, we’ll all be here.”

“It does sound better that way, Ben,” Garry replied. “But until then, we’ll still miss all of you terribly.”

“We’ll miss you too,” Ben said quietly, “but we’ll never forget you.”

The boys went to bed with a feeling of melancholy that night, for this was their last sleep aboard Captain Eaton’s wonderland space ship. The thought of leaving these good friends, possibly forever, brought a pang to Garry’s heart. But no matter how sorrowful he felt, he was determined to be brave about it.

Garry fell asleep thinking of all the fun he and Patch had had in the brief happy hours of their stay aboard the _Carefree_. Since the time passes quickly during slumber, the boy expected he would be awake before he knew it on another quiet morning, and that very soon thereafter he would be bidding good-by to his friends as he and Patch made preparations for the voyage back to earth and the orphanage.

But Garry woke far sooner than he expected. It was not morning, nor was it quiet; the air was charged with confusion and alarm.

Garry was aware of bustling footsteps and urgent voices in the dormitory. His eyes popped open in the bright glare of the lights that had been turned on fully. He had a feeling that it was the middle of the night and not morning, although he was not to find this out until a little later.

Garry sat bolt upright in his bunk. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Gino, hastily pulling on his shirt, paused at Garry’s bunk. His eyes showed the anxiety he felt.

“Hurry and get dressed, Garry!” he said. “You and Patch. We’re in great danger. We’ve got to get ready for the captain’s orders.”

Garry leaped out of bed, his heart thumping swiftly. The cold floor on the soles of his feet shocked him fully awake. He seized his peacefully sleeping buddy and yanked him without mercy.

“Patch, get up! There’s trouble—I don’t know just what kind yet!”

Patch’s eyes were still drugged with sleep, but he struggled to a sitting position.

“Trouble? Wh—what trouble?” Patched muttered.

“I told you I don’t know, but Gino warned us to get ready for the captain’s orders. Hurry! Everyone else is already dressed and out of the dorm!”

Patch needed no more urging and popped out of bed. He and Garry quickly dressed and hurried out into the corridor to see what was going on.

There was no one in sight. The boys went farther along. Then, at the foot of the stairs leading into the center tube, they heard excited voices.

“Whatever it is, it seems to be up in the tunnel,” Garry said. “Let’s go.”

They hurried up the stairs. Reaching the top, Garry, who was in the lead, looked down the tunnel from which most of the sounds were coming. He saw Ben, Captain Eaton, Mr. Klecker, and Gino on or near the platform outside the flight deck, the door of which was closed.

Garry and Patch pulled their weightless bodies along the webbing of the tube. As they approached the men, they heard Ben saying:

“This is terrible! Poor Mac! And what’s going to happen to the rest of us?”

“What is going to happen?” Garry asked, as he and Patch came upon the scene.

Captain Eaton turned to them with a distraught look. “I’m sorry, boys. If I had hastened to get you back to the space station promptly, you would have survived this—this disaster.”

“Disaster?” Garry echoed, with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Yes,” Captain Eaton answered, his voice shaking. “Mac is already done for, and we shall soon follow after him.”

“What happened?” Patch asked Mr. Klecker.

The boys could see pain on the men’s faces.

“The _Carefree_ collided with an _Explorer_ satellite,” the butler replied. “It destroyed the flight deck while Mac was on duty. It looks as if he had managed to close the door before he was swept off into space. The collision knocked us off course, and we’re plunging into space—toward where, no one knows. We can’t so much as lift a finger to bring her under control, and our antenna disk has been damaged so that we can’t even send an SOS.”

“Oh, no!” was all Garry could say, sickened at the sudden fateful turn of events.

Actually, he was thinking more of poor Mac than he was of their own grim outlook. He remembered how much the likable Scotsman wanted to return to the heather of his own land after his stint in space. Now he would never see Scotland again. Garry absently watched Ben squirting a thick liquid around the cracks of the flight-deck door, probably as a safeguard against air escaping from the ship.

“Ben has been outside in a pressure suit to look over the damage,” Captain Eaton said.

Patch turned away from the others, hanging his head in grief and despair. Captain Eaton put an arm around Garry’s shoulder, but there was a helpless look on his face that seemed to show the uselessness of saying anything. Gino had lost his usual cheery smile and could only stare numbly at the closed door of the flight deck, where their friend had been the victim of such a cruel act of fate.

Garry looked around at the ship’s company. Everyone was accounted for except Isaac.

“Where’s Mr. Newton?” he asked.

“Poor Isaac is completely crushed,” Captain Eaton replied. “He had just changed shifts with Mac at the pilot’s chair only a few moments before the accident. He’s blaming himself for the whole thing. It seems he overlooked the position of the satellite that hit us. He missed it on his last check, and Mac did not see it in time. Isaac’s gone off somewhere.”

It was indeed a dark moment aboard the once-happy vessel. Things had happened so swiftly that everyone appeared to be still in shock. No one spoke again for several minutes. Everyone just stood around idly, as if not knowing what to do next and not really caring.

Ben was the first to try to rally everyone’s deadened spirits. He had just finished sealing the cracks in the door.

“It’ll be some time before we can tell which way the ship is heading. The collision changed our course completely. Even when we do find out, there’s nothing we can do to control the _Carefree_. She’s just a runaway. But I still think there’s hope for us.”

All eyes turned upon Ben questioningly.

“That flier you two arrived in, Garry,” Ben continued. “I’ve only had a quick look inside it, and the console seemed in pretty bad shape from your and Patch’s efforts to start the engines. However, if I’m lucky and we have time before the _Carefree_ hits another satellite or something, I may be able to fix it up so that we can escape in it.”

“It’s our only hope,” Captain Eaton replied. “I suggest you get right on the job, Ben, and call on anyone you need to help you. Meanwhile, we’ll sweat out the flight, although I must say I feel like a duck in a shooting gallery because of all the flying objects whirling out there all around us.”

“If we are able to escape in the flier,” Mr. Klecker said, “we can use its radio to send for help.”

Ben shook his head. “The radio was removed for some reason. There’s only the empty compartment it came out of.”

With faint hope of survival, some measure of good spirits was restored to the astronauts. Ben called upon Mr. Klecker to help him work on the space taxi, and Captain Eaton said he would go to the observatory to take a “fix” and try to determine the course the _Carefree_ had taken.

“I’ll have to change clothes,” Mr. Klecker said. “I don’t want to get my uniform soiled.”

“Guess I’ll go and whip up some breakfast,” Gino said. “That’s about all _I_ can do, although maybe nobody will be hungry.”

Captain Eaton turned to Garry and Patch before he left. “I know it’s going to be hard for you,” he said, “but try to feel hopeful about this situation. A terrible misfortune has come our way, but try to believe that things will work out for us. Chins up, eh, fellows?”

He forced a smile. The boys gave him a brave smile in return, although they did not feel it any more than he had.

“May we go with you to the observatory, Captain?” Patch asked. “Maybe we can help.”

“Yes, if you like. I know how hard it will be to remain idle at a time like this. Let’s go.”

In the observatory, Garry and Patch watched the captain at his telescope and other instruments. He worked for a little while, then turned away from his work with a brooding, disturbed look on his face. He stroked his neat beard. Then he worked again for several more minutes.

He stopped once more, but then resumed his watching. He kept this up for some time, and, as the minutes passed, his face grew more and more serious.

Garry was afraid to ask, but he felt that he had to know. “Captain, is—is it bad?” he said softly.

Captain Eaton shook his head grimly, the look of despair in his eyes.

“You may as well know,” he replied. “I’ve been hoping I was wrong, but now I know I’m not. We’re moving into the gravity field of the moon. My guess is that we’re only a few hours away from collision.”

12. A STARTLING DISCOVERY

This latest bad news filled Garry with a new dread. But he refused to give up hope. He remembered that Ben was working in the flier, trying to put it in shape.