CHAPTER XVI
The Board Shows Green
Even through the rocket's walls the sound of motors and the creak ofmetal could be heard, and Rick knew that any slight noise he could makewould never be noticed.
Frantic, he ran to the thick port and looked out. Surely there must besome way he could attract attention! The flashlight in his hand remindedhim. He aimed it through the port and flashed a rapid SOS, SOS, SOS.Someone would see it! Someone must!
Frantically he flashed his SOS through the port, then ran to the otherport and began flashing there. Why didn't someone respond? Everyonecarried a flashlight. Why didn't someone think of signaling him that hehad been seen?
He knew the answer. He hadn't been seen.
The flashlight picked out his wrist watch. It was now zero minus five!He stood at the port and kept flashing, his mind racing. Apparentlywhoever had closed the door hadn't known he was inside. His light hadn'tbeen on at that moment. But it didn't make any difference now, becausehe was locked in from the outside. There was no way of opening thehatchway from inside.
Four minutes.
He had to think of something! Everyone was so occupied with last-minutedetails that probably no one was even looking at the rocket. Besides, itwas light outdoors. His flashlight would be only a dim glow in therising sunlight.
There had to be another way. He forced himself to calmness. Approach itlogically, he told himself sternly. The way to do it is to signal theblockhouse.
He studied Prince Machiavelli, looking for a clue in the spacemonk'sdraping of instruments. He could tap on the bell of the stethoscope. Butthen he realized the display would not yet be rolling.
He had a quick vision of Dick Earle and Gee-Gee watching the masterboard, checking the circuit lights as they flicked from red to green.The board must be nearly all green now, he thought--and in the sameinstant he knew how he could attract attention.
Rick jumped to the center of the tiny room and crouched over the dronecontrol. He removed the cover. There was one circuit that served only asa feed to the board, to show that the control was operative. Break thatand the board would show red.
His flashlight probed the maze of wiring and he located the signal wire.Fishing into the spaghetti with his fingers, he got thumb and forefingeron it and tried to break it. The wire held.
He fumbled in his belt kit and found a pair of side-cutting pliers. Theywould do. He reached in and snipped the circuit wire, then he slumpeddown on the deck and mopped rivulets of water from his face.
Close! He glanced at his watch.
Zero minus two.
He grinned foolishly. This would be something to tell his grandchildren.Once, because of a silly mistake he came within two minutes of being thefirst spaceman!
Prince Machiavelli was looking down at him, the furry little faceserious, like that of a very wise old owl. In the irregular lightthrough the ports the tufted ears made the spacemonk look even moreowl-like.
"At least I got you a little reprieve by saving my own skin," Rick saidaloud. "Poor little guy."
The marmoset chirruped happily, glad of the human companionship.
Zero minus one minute.
Rick wasn't worried about the passage of time. Not until the dronecircuit was thrown into operation in another thirty seconds wouldGee-Gee and Dick realize that it wasn't functioning. A yell would stopDr. Bernais, and the gantry would be wheeled back into place. Gee-Geeand Dick would probably come personally to check the circuit and findout why the board had shown red instead of switching to green.
Rick chuckled. What a surprise they'd get!
Fortunately, it would only take a few minutes to repair the signal wireand clear out. Pegasus would be a little late--perhaps fifteen minutes.
Again his thoughts turned to the awful moment when the hatchway closed.Now that he could think more calmly, he decided that whoever had closedthe hatch hadn't known he was inside. The interior was gloomy, and hehad switched his light off to keep it from shining in the marmoset'seyes.
He still couldn't be sure why the hatchway had been open, but in allprobability Frank or Dr. Bond had simply gone down the gantry withoutclosing it, not realizing until they were down that the team responsiblefor installing the spacemonk was also responsible for buttoning up.
There was no evidence of sabotage that he could see, so the openhatchway was nothing but the kind of mistake people make when workingunder extreme pressure.
Again he wondered about the identity of the Earthman. It was curiousthat no evidence of sabotage had been found in Orion, even though thetheft of servomotors had taken place. Maybe, as Dr. Hiller had guessed,the picture left by the Earthman had been burned. Anyway, Pegasus wasproof the Earthman wasn't infallible. This was one project he hadn'tbeen able to sabotage.
His eye caught the glimmer of white on the bulkhead behind thespacemonk. He didn't remember that. He got up and walked over to it,peering to see in the dimness. Then he remembered his flashlight andfocused the beam on the paper.
The blood drained from his head and he gasped. It was a sketch of aknight in armor, lance upraised, thrust through a winged rocket!
Rick let out a hoarse yell.
In the same instant he heard a whine, a rapidly accelerating whine. Thepumps! The fuel pumps! The starting sequence had begun!
He looked at his watch, and saw that zero time was many seconds past.But surely his watch was wrong. The board was red! Wasn't anyonewatching? He ran to the port and looked out at the deserted desert. Hewas alone in the great rocket, and the fuel pumps were going. He couldalmost picture the stream of boron hydride blending with the oxidizerand flowing in an ever-increasing stream toward the combustion chamber.He heard the scrape as the instrument cable dropped away outside.
Pegasus roared!
And Rick knew. He knew that somehow he had failed, that the board showedgreen!
The Scarlet Lake Mystery: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story Page 16
