Part 7

“The transmitter is a very light and simple one,” Mac went on. “All it can do is send out an SOS signal from time to time; it can’t transmit words. Yet whoever picks it up can easily trace it. I hope our signal will carry as far as the mining settlement and that there’s no interference between to block our radio waves. Those mountains could block the waves.”

“How long do you think we can hold out, just in case our rescue is slow in coming?” Garry asked Mac.

“If we carefully ration food, water, and air, I’d say we could last about five days, earth time,” Mac replied. “I’m pretty sure the captain will start rationing right away, just to make sure, but I can’t see any reason why we won’t see a rescue flier heading this way pretty soon, certainly by tomorrow.”

Captain Eaton presently came back inside and began taking off his space suit.

“If we get out of this alive, we’ll owe it all to Ben,” Isaac remarked.

Garry noticed the sudden sadness on the faces of the others at the mention of Ben’s name. Presently, everyone in turn began saying something good about their friend; that is, everyone except Captain Eaton, whom Garry knew had been closer to Ben than any of the others.

The captain was still plainly too broken up to say anything about Ben at this time. He just quietly finished removing his pressure-suit gear, and Garry could see the tragedy in his eyes. Garry was glad when Captain Eaton changed the subject, because he himself had grown very fond of the brilliant young spaceman.

“We should take inventory of our stock,” the captain was saying, “and then start a rationing schedule. We can’t be sure how long we’ll have to wait before help comes. I don’t want to alarm everybody, but there’s always the possibility of radioactivity or mineral deposits in the hills beyond the crater which would keep our SOS from going through. The moon is full of those things.”

Mac’s prediction as to how long the food and water would last turned out to be fairly close, although it turned out to be four days instead of five. No one expected the fourth day to roll around with their still being trapped in the flier, but Captain Eaton was playing safe, as Mac had said he probably would do.

Those who had invented the equipment making up the escape flier’s emergency kit had seemingly thought of everything to ease the plight of those trapped on strange planets. They had not overlooked the boredom of those awaiting rescue. There was a special cabinet containing tiny games, and there were also miniature books.

When the inventory was completed and everything was done that could be done, Captain Eaton distributed the games and books, and everyone settled down in the flight chairs.

“This isn’t so bad,” Isaac said, sighing and stretching out comfortably with one of the little books. “I’ve always wanted to read this book on great poetry, but up to now I just haven’t had the time because it’s so long. It looks like I’ve finally gotten my chance to read it.”

“There aren’t any books about the circus,” Mr. Klecker said disappointedly. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for what’s left.”

The butler straightened his bow tie. He had changed back into his full dress after Isaac had taken over as Ben’s helper.

Garry and Patch started a game of chess, and the rest of the _Carefree_’s passengers took whatever game or book interested them. Except for the sadness of Ben’s not being with them, Garry noticed that there was an air of contentment and optimism on the part of everyone.

Later, he was to be glad that he did not have the talent of seeing into the future, for if those who were so relaxed now in their cozy hideaway on the dark moon had only known what was in store for them, they would not have been in the mood for enjoying _anything_ at this moment.

15. A DARK OUTLOOK

The idea of stretching out comfortably with a good book and plenty of spare time did not seem so satisfying after several hours. After this period, everyone began to get restless, with a desire to get up and stretch his legs, as they could have done if they were back on the _Carefree_.

“I know how you feel, fellows,” Captain Eaton said sympathetically, as he noticed how tired everyone had become of just sitting around. “I’d like to take a romp myself outside in a space suit, but without knowing how soon we’ll be rescued and having no surplus of supplies, I don’t think we should use up our oxygen that fast. Everyone agree?”

Everyone did.

Then to while away the hours that were beginning to drag slowly along, the captain suggested that they talk among themselves and exchange stories. This activity occupied the group for some time. Garry was glad that poor Ben was not mentioned again to further depress everyone.

Finally, all became “talked out,” just as they had become “read out” before that. And by this time some were ready for a nap and began dozing in their seats.

Garry watched the captain settle back in his seat, sighing tiredly.

“I suppose I should be grateful for being alive,” he said, “but I feel almost as if I had died myself. Yes, this is a sad day for an old man who has lost at the same time the dearest things to his heart—one of his best friends and a funny-looking space ship that had come to be even homier than his earthly home.”

Garry noticed how much the conversation kept returning to Ben. He guessed that the unselfish spaceman would be on their minds for a long time to come.

“I wonder where they went down, Captain?” Mac asked. “I didn’t even see the _Carefree_, once Ben cut us free.”

“None of us saw her,” the captain replied, “and I’m glad. I hope they never find her remains on the moon, because I would feel compelled to go to the site of the crash and I would not want to do that. No, it’s better this way.”

Before long, someone mentioned food. There was some mild enthusiasm from the others, but not much. Everyone knew that all there was to eat were capsules that would provide nourishment but little enjoyment.

Gino made a face when the capsule bottle was passed to him and he shook two of the pellets out into his hand.

“To think that I would ever have to make a meal of these things,” he said sadly, “I, who at one time or another, have served up the grandest dishes ever put together.”

All ate silently. Since the additional talk about Ben, it was as if cold water had been poured over their spirits.

After the brief meal the captain suggested that the lights be turned down and everyone try to get a “night” of sleep.

“I think all of us are brain fagged and bored after all that has happened,” he said. “Maybe there’ll be someone knocking on our air-lock door before we wake up.”

No one objected to the idea, as it seemed to be the only thing left for them to do.

When everyone was settled down for the “night,” Captain Eaton cut off all lights within the flier. It was still not very dark in the flier because outdoors it was brighter than the brightest moonlight night on earth, owing to the brilliant glow of earthshine.

“If our rescuers do not show up some time tomorrow,” Captain Eaton said, “we had better start cutting back on our battery power. That will mean no lights inside, except use of the flashlight in the cabinet, and less warmth. I have a feeling that our batteries will play out before any of our other supplies do.”

When Garry woke the next “morning,” he heard some of the others stirring about. Patch was standing over him with two tablets and Garry’s personal water bottle which squeezed the liquid into one’s mouth.

“What’s this?” Garry mumbled. “Time for my medicine?”

“Medicine nothing,” Patch replied. “This, son, is breakfast. Or would you prefer nice crisp bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs?”

“Aw, Patch, cut it out,” Garry pleaded. “You don’t have to make this any tougher than it is!”

Garry took the food pills, chewing them slowly to get what little flavor there was in them. Then he finished off with the water, which was little more than enough to wet his throat.

“Gee, the captain has really rationed the water, hasn’t he?” Garry whispered.

“He cut it back even further this morning,” Patch replied. “Know why? Because nobody came knocking on our air lock as he had hoped maybe they would. On top of that, I heard him say he was going to run another close inventory on all our life-supporting items to see how much is left.”

“Gosh, do you think he’s afraid _no_ one will be knocking any time soon?”

“I don’t know,” Patch replied, “but he has been frowning quite a bit this morning.”

The captain presently made it clear to all why he had been doing so much frowning.

“Frankly,” he said, “I thought those people at the mining settlement would have had plenty of time while we slept to pay us a visit. If our SOS reached them soon after we began sending, as it should have, they should have had a flier over here within a few hours’ time. Our chief essentials for staying alive are our food, water, air, and power supply which is necessary to keep us warm. It’s several hundred degrees below zero outside, in case you haven’t thought about it.”

They took another inventory, and the results were not very heartening.

“We’re using up much too much of our battery power,” Captain Eaton said. “That’s the weakest link in our chain of existence. I didn’t realize that yesterday when we had the lights on for reading. From now on until someone comes, we’ll have to do without light altogether except when necessary. That means we’ll have to do our reading by earthshine and our one flashlight. We may have some strained eyes, but that’s the best we can do. We’ll also have to reduce our heat a little to save on power that way too.”

“Captain, do you think we should check the condition of the battery in the outside transmitter?” Isaac asked.

“It’s supposed to have a useful life of seventy-two hours, operating automatically for a few minutes every half hour,” the captain said, “but the battery may have lost a lot of its power in storage. I think it would be a good idea to check it. It has a test meter on it, Isaac.”

“I’ll go out and check it, Captain,” Isaac said.

When he had pulled on one of the space suits, Isaac checked the air and pressure and went outside.

Garry and Patch watched him move in a light-footed gliding motion toward the spot where the antenna had been set up. He spent several minutes with the rig and then came back into the flier.

As he lifted his helmet off, he said with a shake of his head, “It’s quit sending, Captain. You were right. The battery must have been in bad shape to start with.”

“Not sending,” Captain Eaton muttered to himself, a dark worried frown on his face. “That means that if our SOS was not picked up earlier, it never will be, and no one will know where we are.”

Garry’s heart chilled at hearing this. What the captain really meant, but did not say, was that they were doomed to a slow death as their heat and air were depleted and they froze in the moon’s incredible cold. That would happen long before their food and water gave out.

Captain Eaton placed a fatherly arm around each of the boys and said, “Fellows, I wish there were something I could do. Believe me, if I could give my life to save you two, as Ben did, I would gladly do it. Do you believe that?”

“Yes, Sir, I do believe it,” Garry answered sincerely. “But can’t we really do something—anything at all? It—it’s better than waiting, isn’t it?”

“You’re trembling, both of you,” the captain said, “and I can’t blame you. If it’s any comfort to you, I think you’re the bravest two boys I ever knew. I would have been proud to have had a couple of sons like you.”

The captain pressed their arms affectionately. Garry knew how he felt about his helplessness to do anything.

“You ask if there’s anything we could do,” Captain Eaton said. “Of course we’re not giving up hope completely at this early stage, but things do look bad. We could ration ourselves severely and maybe prolong our existence a few days, but after that....”

Garry finished the gloomy sentence in his own mind.

16. A SAD PARTING

They _did_ wait—all the long day to follow.

And in all that time, no one came.

They did the same things that they had done the day before—reading by the light of the earth, which they feared they would never see again; reading until their eyes blurred and the battery had gone dead in their only flashlight.

Garry and Patch did not read much. Instead, they spent most of their time looking out over the cold gray dust, and up into the black sky, looking hopefully for some moving object against the bleak wilderness and wanting to be the first to spot it should it appear. But it never appeared, and bed-time came, but no one was in the spirit for sleep. And yet, since there was little else to do, everyone prepared for bed.

Garry and Patch lay awake in their adjoining seats, talking in low voices to each other.

“Garry, we’ve been through a lot of close calls since we left the orphanage,” Patch was saying, “but this looks like _it_, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know, Patch. I just don’t know,” his friend replied with a troubled sigh. “It sure doesn’t look good. I won’t ever really give up hope, though. There’s still a chance that a rescue ship will come—maybe during the night.”

“But what if it doesn’t?” Patch asked. “What if it doesn’t come tonight or tomorrow—or the next night? How will we feel when we finally _know_ that we won’t be saved?”

“You shouldn’t think like that, Patch. It’ll make you miserable. You’ve got to keep hoping, even when it doesn’t make sense,” Garry said.

“It’s funny about Ben,” Patch went on. “I mean about what he did. He meant to save us, but it’s turned out that he’s made it worse for us. It would have been better if we had crashed along with the _Carefree_, because then it would have been over quickly.”

“You know the saying, Patch: ‘Where there’s life there’s hope.’ And I believe that.”

Patch said no more, and before long Garry heard him snoring softly. This made Garry feel better, and presently he too fell asleep.

Garry and Patch woke the next morning to the sound of subdued voices around them. For a brief moment Garry wondered if help had come during the night. He searched the faces he saw, and quickly his hopes were dashed. Instead of happy faces, they were haggard ones that showed the lack of sleep, and there were no new faces among them.

“No one came last night, did they?” Patch asked Captain Eaton.

The skipper shook his head and tugged at his beard that, by now, had become scraggly and untidy looking. The others moved in close, and Garry noticed all at once that he and Patch were the center of attention. He had a feeling then that something important was about to be said.

“Garry, Patch,” Captain Eaton said slowly, “you respect my judgment and my experience, don’t you?”

“Sure,” the boys answered together, puzzled looks on their faces.

“Well then, you do believe I would do the best I knew for all of us, don’t you?”

Garry and Patch nodded again.

“I’ve got something to say to the two of you,” the captain continued, “and it’s very important to me that you abide by my decision. Will you promise to do so if I tell you it will be to your best interests?”

The boys thought a moment, then nodded together, trusting the man they had come to admire and respect.

Just then Garry noticed the pair of space suits lying on the floor nearby, and they looked as if work had been done on them. They seemed to have been made smaller by the adjustable straps with which all such space suits were equipped.

“As you can see, fellows,” the captain said, “the rest of us didn’t sleep much, but we were grateful that the two of you could, because it gave us time to come to our decision.”

Garry and Patch watched the captain’s face intently, the suspense building up in them moment by moment. Garry had a hunch that he and Patch would not like what they were going to hear.

The captain took a deep breath and said, “I’ll come right out with it. The rest of us are forced to face the sad fact that rescue isn’t coming. But there’s no reason for everyone to perish. Garry, we decided that you and Patch....”

As his voice trailed off, Garry saw the picture. “You want us to take the space suits and—and go out there.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision to reach, Garry,” Mac spoke. “We may be sending the two of you to a worse fate than would happen to you here. But in that way there lies a _chance_ for you. Here the chances would be very little. We are all agreed on that.”

“But why us?” Garry protested. “Why not two of the rest of you? We thought we had become one of you by now. We should all have drawn lots to see who would go. It’s not democratic this way.”

“It’s because we’re kids, isn’t it?” Patch asked. “You’re packing us off like children to bed! We won’t leave you here!”

“Remember your promise, fellows,” Captain Eaton said. “This is the way we want it. Believe us, we really do—unanimously.”

“There’s even a chance you might make heroes of yourselves,” Isaac added. “You may find someone who can come and rescue us before it’s too late.”

“We realize it won’t be easy for you to leave us behind, and it won’t be easy to set out across unknown country for an unknown destination. It’ll take courage, gentlemen, plenty of courage, more courage than it will require for us to stay on here,” Mr. Klecker said.

Garry could find no further argument. The others were too much against him and Patch. They simply would not have it any other way. In the end the boys gave in, but they felt guilty for accepting what was seemingly the only way to survival.

Some time later the boys were ready to start out. The space suits still were a little large, but they would serve. Garry wore the luminous green suit, Patch the luminous orange one. The boots were so large that Garry and Patch had to wear them over their shoes. The helmets were big and bulky, but in the moon’s light gravity they were not too heavy.

When the boys were sealed in the suits completely, Captain Eaton ran a careful check on them—the air pressure and temperature, and the “walkie-talkie” radios that would enable the boys to talk to each other. Finally, the fellows were loaded down with all the supplies they could be expected to need. This included spare oxygen tanks, water bottles, and liquid food in tubes. These tubes could be squeezed through an opening in the helmet so that one in a space suit could take nourishment without opening his helmet.

Garry argued against taking nearly all of the spare supplies and leaving their friends with very little.

“You must take them,” Captain Eaton insisted. “If you do not have enough to get you to the settlement, there is no purpose in starting out at all. Now, no more arguments.”

There finally came the moment of parting, which everyone dreaded. Garry’s heart was heavy at the thought of leaving these people he had grown so fond of in such a short time. Very likely he and Patch would never see any of them again.

Garry could see that the men’s eyes were troubled and sorrowful. They didn’t seem to know just how to say farewell. Isaac and Gino gave a little nervous wave of their hands. Mr. Klecker shook hands formally. Mac gave them a warm pat on the back.

Captain Eaton walked slowly over to the air lock with the boys—slowly, as if he did not want to let them go. Garry and Patch had removed their helmets and held them in their hands. The captain had his arms around their shoulders, embracing them like a father.

“Well, don’t let’s be sissies about this,” the captain said with forced lightheartedness. “Let’s just pretend that you boys are going on a short trip and that you’ll be back in a little while. No sad words, no tears, eh?”

“That’s how we want it, Captain Eaton,” Garry answered, but his throat was so tight he could hardly speak.

“Whatever you do, don’t give up,” their older friend advised. “Take care of yourselves and don’t lose your heads if you meet a crisis. And don’t come back, whatever happens. It won’t help.”

The captain took a piece of paper from Mac and gave it to Garry. “Mac and I have plotted your course as nearly as we can from what we remember of this territory. We both had a course in lunar study at one time. Follow these landmarks closely. You will be heading straight for the mining settlement, and if, by chance, a search flier should be coming from that direction, try to catch their attention by waving. They will probably be looking for you, and your bright-colored suits will make you stand out pretty strong against the gray ground.”

Garry was studying the penciled map. “What is this gray part that you’ve shown here, Captain?”

“It’s an area of rugged rock formations,” the captain explained. “You’ve got to go through it, as there is no way around. You must proceed with extreme caution, because we haven’t any flashlights left to give you. And, owing to the fact that there is just a trace of air on Luna, the earthshine can’t penetrate into the shadows. You will literally have to inch yourselves along until you’re in the open again.”

The captain explained more of the dangers in this area and showed Garry and Patch other points on the map and what they stood for.

Finally, the boys had their last look at the man who had been the best friend to them that they had ever known. Garry studied the captain’s brave, forced smile, and he could see the elderly man’s efforts to keep himself under control.

Captain Eaton wiped his moist palm on his trousers and then pushed the button that swung open the inner door of the air lock.

“There’s something I must tell both of you before you go,” he said. “I made application for adoption of you two as my sons just before we had the accident. I have a friend in a high position back on earth who, I felt, could put through the papers quickly if they were approved. I never told you this, though, because I did not want to raise your hopes falsely in case the adoption was not approved. But I couldn’t let you go not knowing what I had tried to do.”

“We would have liked you for a father,” Patch said.

Garry was too choked up to say anything except, “Let’s go, Patch, before we change our minds and never go at all.”

“Yes, that is better,” the captain said. “Good-by, boys, and may God go with you.”

The boys pulled on their helmets, and Captain Eaton helped fit them tightly. Then he made a little farewell wave with his hand and motioned the boys into the air lock. A moment later the door swished shut. The outer door opened, and the bleak face of Luna beckoned to them. They stepped out into the gray dust, and the “snowshoe” plates added to the bottom of their boots kept them from sinking too deeply into the moon dust.

They were now on their own.

17. DARK PERIL

Because of the light moon gravity, the boys found that they could move easily in spite of the deep dust and of the equipment strapped to their backs. The equipment took up as much room as it would have on earth, but here it weighed only one sixth of its earth weight and so was not much of a burden.

In a short while they were out of sight of the flier. They had mounted a low-lying hill and crossed down the other side. It would still be a long time before they got out of the giant crater in which the flier had landed, but by the time they did get out they would be well along toward their destination.

“We seem to be making good time, Patch,” Garry said over his helmet radio.

“Yeah,” Patch replied. “It’s so much easier walking on the moon than it is on the earth, once you get the hang of it.”

“Just think, Patch. Captain Eaton really was going to try to adopt us,” Garry said. “And all the time we thought he didn’t care enough.”

“He’s one in a million, Garry. He would have been the grandest father a guy could ever have.”

“What do you mean he _would_ have?” Garry protested. “He _will_ be our father. We’re going to _save_ him, Patch. We’re going to save all of them.”