The Forgotten Star - Joseph Greene, ebook, Temp
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The Forgotten Star
By Joseph Greene
Version 1.0
Illustrated by Myron Strauss
GOLDEN PRESS • NEW YORK
To Ellen, Robert, Paul and Stormy, without whose constant help this book would have
been written sooner
©
COPYRIGHT 1959 BY GOLDEN PRESS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY ARTISTS AND WRITERS PRESS, INC. PRINTED IN
THE U. S. A. BY WESTERN PRINTING AND LITHOGRAPHING COMPANY. PUBLISHED
BV GOLDEN PRESS, INC., ROCKEFELLER CENTEB, NEW YORK 20, N. Y.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1. Spaceward Bound
2. The Last Message
3. The Mysterious Prowler
4. Message from Mars
5. The Graveyard of Space
6. Dig Allen's Secret
7. The Ghost Ship
8. Meeting in Space
9. Spaceman's Roost
10. The Blind Spaceman
11. The Mysterious Asteroid.
12. The Secret of the Asteroid
13. The Hidden World
14. Mystery of the Red Hair
15. The Threat of Otaro
16. Otaro's Treachery
17. The Bottomless Pit
18. The Man with the Scar
19. The Strange Emergency Call
20. The Space Guard's Command
21. Captain Boyd Allen
22. The Forgotten Star
23. The Space Explorers
1 Spaceward Bound
Fiery jets streaming from her rocketubes, the
S. S.
Pioneer
raced through black space,
ten thousand miles above Earth's atmosphere. Twice the great spaceship had circled
around the planet. Each time, the space pilot checked the course for the Moon.
Then, as the silvery nose turned slowly toward outer space, the alarm went off,
shattering the silence of the ship. Through numerous passageways below, grim-faced crew
members leaped to emergency stations.
In the main cabin, the passengers had been crowding at the viewport, watching the
round globe that was Earth floating in the darkness of space. Now, their faces suddenly
 pale, they looked about in fear.
Of the passengers, Jim Barry was the first to realize that danger threatened. He
grabbed his brother's arm.
"Into your seat, Ken!" he cried. "Strap in!"
And then, abruptly, the howling siren stopped. In the unexpected silence, the
passengers scrambled awkwardly toward their foam-pad seats. Some of them, not used to
the light gravity of the ship, stumbled and lost their footing. Frightened and helpless, they
drifted through the air until helped down to their seats by fellow passengers.
"What happened?"
"The emergency alarm-" someone muttered. "It went off!"
"We know that!" shouted an impatient voice. "But why?"
Suddenly the loudspeaker came to life and the voice of the pilot filled the room.
"Attention, please!" he called. "The alarm was triggered from Earth Spaceport. Our
orders are to orbit around .the Earth. A Space Guard patrol cruiser will come alongside. A
stowaway has been reported on board. That is all!"
An excited murmur ran through the passenger cabin.
Jim Barry turned to his brother with a sigh of relief.
"A stowaway! And I thought we were going to be space-wrecked!"
Ken smiled weakly. "So did everyone else-including me."
"We're not out of danger yet!" a stout, grey-haired man said with a solemn shake of his
head.
"What kind of danger are we in, sir?" Jim asked.
"Well, son," the stout man replied pompously, "stowaways usually crawl aboard through
the rocketubes and hide too close to the atomic engines. If they get a dose of radiation, they
are usually dead by the time we reach the Moon."
"I'm sorry for the stowaway," Jim said.
"Yes," the man continued. "But suppose he leaves his hiding place and mixes with the
passengers? He'd be as hot as an atomic pile and spread radiation sickness among us!"
"Dear me!" moaned a timid man. "Radiation sickness!"
A slow vibration shook the ship. The nose rockets were blasting quick stabs of flame,
turning the ship into an orbit around the Earth.
"We're in orbit now," announced the stout man. "I'm going to watch the Space Cruiser
come alongside."
Within minutes the passengers were once again crowding at the viewport, trying to
catch a glimpse of the approaching patrol ship.
Jim nudged his brother. "What do you say we have a look, too?"
"All we'll see is the backs of their heads," Ken replied with a glance at the crowded
viewport.
"There must be other viewports on the ship. Come on."
The brothers slipped out of their seats and made their way to the rear of the cabin. An
oval-shaped door opened into a narrow passageway. The magnetoes on their spaceboots
clicked loudly on the steel deck as they walked.
Jim was a year older than his brother and taller by several inches. He had a thin,
handsome face and a pair of mischievous eyes. His brown hair lay in an unruly mass on his
head.
Ken, the more serious-minded of the two, was stocky-with powerful shoulders and a
square, rugged face. His blond hair, cropped short, stood up like the spiky bristles of a
brush.
"I wonder if passengers are allowed in this part of the ship," Ken said cautiously.
"Oh, come on," Jim replied impetuously. "If we're not supposed to be here, someone
will tell us soon enough."
The passage ended at a door and Jim opened it without hesitation. The boys found
themselves in a small cabin with a viewport.
 "We're in luck!" Jim laughed. "We've got the place to ourselves."
Through the glassteel crystal of the viewport they saw the Earth, huge and round,
hanging in the black immensity of space.
"Strange, isn't it?" Jim sighed. "The
Pioneer
is going close to thirty thousand miles an
hour, and yet we seem to be standing still while the Earth spins around."
Fascinated by the view the boys stared in silence. Finally, Jim turned to his brother.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Our new home on the Moon. And about Earth."
There was a suggestion of sadness in the boy's voice.
"Homesick, Ken?"
"A little."
"Well, Dad's job is on the Moon and Mother is with him," Jim said. "So I guess we
belong up there, too."
Ken nodded in silent agreement. He was watching a moving light on the dark side of the
Earth.
"I wonder if that's the Space Cruiser," he said.
"It's coming up fast," Jim replied. "Looks like the jet-stream of a rocket."
The light grew larger, glowing bright against the night half of the Earth. Soon the boys
could make out the dim outline of the cigar-shaped spaceship. The forward rockets were
blasting, braking the ship's speed.
Ten minutes later, the Space Guard cruiser was floating quietly alongside the
Pioneer.
A hatch opened near the blunt nose of the ship and a figure crawled out. He was dressed in
the bright orange-colored uniform of the Space Guard.
As the hatch closed behind him, the spaceman hurled himself head first toward the
Pioneer.
For a few minutes, the body floated weirdly through space. Then, as he neared the
Pioneer,
the man suddenly threw his head backward. The movement carried his feet
forward in a half-circle somersault, and ahnost immediately the spaceman's boots struck the
hull of the ship.
The magnetos on his spaceboots held. The man swayed for a moment, then turned and
walked up the hull of the
Pioneer.
As he passed the viewport, the Space Guard flashed a look at Jim and Ken. An instant
later, he had shuffled over the curve of the ship's side and was gone.
Jim and Ken caught a glimpse of the man's face. It was thin and dark, with a large,
hooked nose and a pair of black glittering eyes.
The Space Guard cruiser was now dropping back to Earth. The rocketubes of the
Pioneer
began to blast, sending shudders through the ship.
Jim and Ken were so absorbed with the scene that they failed to hear the door open
behind them. The sudden click of its closing startled them.
A boy their own age stepped through the doorway. Surprised at finding the cabin
occupied, the newcomer stopped and stared at the brothers suspiciously.
He was short and slim, with bright red hair and a nose that was snubby and peppered
with freckles. He wore the light-blue clothes of a spaceman, with long trousers tucked into
the tops of his spaceboots and a close-fitting shirt open at the collar.
"Come on in," Ken greeted him cheerfully.
Slowly the red-headed boy approached them. He moved in a strange gliding motion, his
knees slightly bent as his feet slid along the metal deck.
"I'm Jim Barry and this is my brother Ken."
"I'm Digby Allen," the boy replied. "My friends call me Dig."
"We're on our way to join our parents on the Moon," Jim said, smiling at the stranger.
"We've been finishing school back on Earth."
"Dad's director of the Space Research Department," Ken added. "We're going to live
on the Moon."
Dig Allen smiled. "I thought the name was familiar," he said. "I know your father. I was
 there when they were building the Labs. That's over Copernicus Way."
"Copernicus Way?" asked Ken. "What's that?"
"A crater on the Moon," Dig told them. "The Labs are in the center of the crater and the
staff living quarters are dug out of the side."
"Must be more comfortable than living in one of the space-huts, I guess," Jim said.
"Are you a member of the crew?" Ken asked. "You're not a passenger."
"You've got to be eighteen to be an apprentice spaceman," Dig replied.
The startled expression that flashed across the faces of the brothers did not escape Dig
Allen's quick eyes.
"Yes," he said quietly. "I'm the stowaway."
"How .... how did you get aboard?"
"Crawled through the rocketubes before the
Pioneer
blasted off."
"Isn't that kind of dangerous?"
"Radiation?" Dig Allen smiled. "I've lived most of my life on spaceships. I didn't hide
near the atomic pile. There's no danger of radiation from me."
"What will they do to you if they catch you?" Jim asked.
"Court-martial. And they'd send me back to Earth," Dig replied with a shrug. "But they
won't catch me ... if you don't tell the Guardsman."
"We wouldn't do that!"
"Thanks," Dig said sincerely. "I'm going to hide inside the emergency spacesuit locker."
He opened a small door in the wall opposite the viewport. Inside, a row of spacesuits
hung from a metal rack. The room itself was small, no more than four feet deep and about
six feet long.
"I'll be in here."
Jim glanced inside. The walls were of solid steel. There was no other door.
"You'll be trapped inside," Jim said.
"No, I won't," Dig replied confidently. "I better get in. The Guardsman will be coming
along any minute."
Before he went into the room, Dig turned to the boys.
"I'm not a spacecrazy kid," he said. "But I've
got
to get to the Moon and this is the only
way."
"Even if it means taking a chance on a court-martial?" Ken asked.
"Even if I have to take a chance on my life!"
With that, Dig Allen stepped into the locker and pulled the door shut behind him.
"Even if he has to take a chance on his life?" Ken muttered. "I wonder what could
possibly ...."
"Hey!" Jim grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him quickly toward the viewport. The
boys were intently studying the last traces of the disappearing Space Guard Cruiser when
the door to the cabin opened and a tall, powerfully built man stepped into the room.
At a glance, the boys recognized him as the man whose face they had glimpsed through
the viewport.
"Your names?" he asked in a quiet, but commanding, voice.
"James Barry-and this is my brother, Ken."
"Glad to meet you boys. I know your father very well," the Guardsman said. "I'm
Sergeant Brool. I guess you know why I'm here."
"Yes, sir," Ken replied. "The stowaway. Is he dangerous?"
The Guardsman shook his head. "No, he isn't. In fact, he's a good friend of mine."
"I... I don't understand." Ken hesitated. "Then why are you hunting him?"
"Digby Allen was ordered to stay on Earth. He disobeyed. My orders are to find him and
bring him back to Earth."
As he spoke, the Guardsman watched the boys closely. Several times he noticed their
eyes shift toward the spacesuit locker.
Suddenly the Guardsman stepped to the locker door. With a quick snap of his hand, he
 threw it open.
Jim and Ken groaned as the Guardsman stepped into the small room. They waited for
the angry explosion, but none came. The Guardsman stepped back and let the door swing
shut.
"I'll see you boys later," he said and shuffled out of the cabin.
In utter amazement, Jim and Ken stared at each other. Then Jim leaped for the door
and, with a fierce wrench, opened it.
"Dig!" he cried. "Dig! Didn't the sergeant ..."
His words turned into a gasp!
"Dig's not in here!" Jim whispered.
"You're spacegoofy, Jim! There's only this one door! The walls are solid!"
"See for yourself, Ken." Jim stepped back.
The spacesuits were still hanging on the rack, but otherwise the tiny room was empty.
There was no sign of Dig Allen!
2 The Last Message
No wonder Sergeant Brool didn't find Dig!" Ken exclaimed. "He isn't here!"
"But we saw Dig go in," Jim insisted, shaking his head in amazement. "And we didn't
see him come out!"
"This is serious, Jim. I think we better call Sergeant Brool!"
"Don't do that!"
The voice seemed to come from the empty air. The boys moved back warily. One of the
spacesuits, twisting and turning, suddenly came to life.
From the side of the spacesuit a hand appeared. It was followed, a moment later, by a
shoulder and then Dig Allen's head. There was a big grin on his freckled face.
"Dig! What a scare you gave us!" Ken said.
The red-haired boy grasped the rack from which the space-suits were hanging and
pulled himself up.
"Sorry," Dig said. He pulled his feet out of the spacesuit, then let himself float down to
the deck. "I'm safe for a while. The Sarge will be searching the rest of the ship."
"You're sure taking a lot of chances to get to the Moon," Ken said thoughtfully.
Dig Allen's face became grave. He turned away from his new friends and stared out of
the viewport. The stars, bright and sharp, punctured the hard blackness of space. It was
several moments before he turned again to his companions.
"Have you ever heard of Captain Boyd Allen of the Space Explorers Corps?" Dig asked
softly.
"I think I heard something on the videonews," Ken said. "A Space Explorer who was
lost....." Suddenly he stopped and stared at Dig. "Allen!"
"Yes, my father!" Dig nodded, an angry glint in his eyes. "An item to fill up thirty seconds
of time on the news program ... but he was my father!"
"I'm sorry," Ken began.
"My father lost in space! Lost in the cold, awful darkness of space! Lost! And no one
cares about it!"
"You can't mean that, Dig!" Jim touched his friend's arm gently. "The Space Guards will
find him."
"The Space Guards gave up the search a month ago!" Dig retorted. "I raised a fuss! I
wouldn't let them give up-that's why they sent me down to Earth!"
"How will stowing away on this ship help?" Ken asked.
"I'm going on to find my father!"
"Where? Have you a clue?"
Dig pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his belt pouch. He handed it to Jim who
Â
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]