Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint

by Jay Williams

  “The barn is just the other side of this hill,” Danny whispered. “We’ll have to crawl a little way.”

  He got down on his hands and knees and entered the culvert. Joe came right behind him.

  The floor of the culvert was wet and slimy, and here and there water trickled from the roof and plopped on their heads or necks. They crawled along for what seemed like hours, although it was actually only a few minutes, and then they came into a gray patch of light. They were directly under the floor of the barn. Danny stopped. Above him was a grating. Behind him he could hear Joe mumbling faintly, “Trouble, trouble,” and he grinned.

  He reached up and pushed the grating aside. Cautiously he poked his head up. There, just a few paces away, was the great sphere of the ship, looking larger than it actually was. In the side facing Danny a round, open hatchway gaped.

  As he watched, with his eyes on the level of the floor, Professor Bullfinch and Dr. Grimes walked briskly around the curve of the ship’s side.

  Danny heard the Professor saying, “—want to show you the final arrangements for exterior viewing—”

  They stepped through the hatchway and vanished inside the ship. But not before Danny had seen a familiar sheaf of yellow paper in the Professor’s hand.

  “Come on, Joe,” he whispered. “They’ve gone into the ship. And he’s got my sentences with him. I don’t want to get caught now and put outside. We’ll have to sprint for it.”

  A quick look around showed that the coast was clear. They scrambled up through the drain hole. A quick, short rush, and they tumbled through the hatchway and into the ship.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  An Unexpected View

  They found themselves in a circular chamber with curving walls. A ladder led up through the middle of it. The ceiling was low, and the whole space was as snug and compact as a submarine control room.

  On one wall were two neat bunks, one above the other. Next to them was a combination stove-and-refrigerator, with cupboards above and on either side of it. All these things were curved to fit the walls. On the far side was a thick window, at present shielded by steel plates. Beneath this was a control panel with several switches, colored buttons and dials, and a long red handle.

  Joe tiptoed over to it.

  “This must be where they’ll run the ship from,” he whispered. “What’s this long handle? To steer it with?”

  “No,” Danny said. “You can’t steer a spaceship that way.” He had been inside the ship only once before, but he couldn’t resist showing Joe how much he knew about it.

  “I think,” he said, taking hold of the lever, “this opens and closes the hatch.”

  He pulled it a little way to the left, and glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, the hatch is closed now. See?”

  “I see,” said Joe with a shiver. “And I don’t like. Let it alone,” he added, as Danny reached for the lever again. “You might break something. Let’s find Professor B. and get those sentences back.”

  “All right,” said Danny. He went to the ladder. “The Professor and Dr. Grimes must be up on the next deck. Come on.”

  He climbed the ladder like a monkey. Joe went after him, muttering, “All I ever seem to do is follow you around.”

  The next deck had an even lower ceiling, just barely high enough for a man to stand up under. A steel wall closed off part of it; the other, larger part in which they stood consisted of long rows of tanks. They were crowded with green plants on racks, their roots deep in a solution of chemicals. Long ultraviolet tubes hung above them.

  As the boys stopped to stare at this curious garden, a door in the wall opened and Dr. Grimes stepped through.

  “Aha! What’s this?” he cried.

  Professor Bullfinch pushed past him through the small doorway. “Danny!” he said. “I’m surprised at you.”

  “Never mind him,” said Dr. Grimes angrily. “Look at this. A snooper!”

  He took two long steps and seized Joe by the collar.

  “Who are you?” he barked. “What are you doing here? Don’t try to lie to me!”

  With each phrase he shook poor Joe so that his teeth clicked together, and he couldn’t have answered if he had wanted to.

  “Let him go,” said the Professor. “He’s only a boy.”

  “No matter,” Grimes said. “This was supposed to be a top-secret project!”

  “He’s my friend,” Danny protested.

  Grimes glared. “I knew Willoughby was right.”

  “Just a minute, Grimes,” Professor Bullfinch put in quietly. “Let go of the boy. I know Joe, and I’m sure there’s some explanation.”

  Reluctantly, Dr. Grimes released his hold. Joe held his head with both hands.

  “Oooh,” he said, “you’ve shaken my brains into a malted milk.”

  “Well, Danny?” said the Professor patiently. “I am certain you didn’t break your promise. How does it happen that Joe is here with you?”

  Quickly Danny explained everything. “So you see,” he finished, “I just had to get my sentences back, and since Joe already knew about the ship, we thought we’d watch the take-off too.”

  The Professor nodded. “I can’t say that I blame you,” he said. “It is most unfortunate. Are these your sentences?” He pulled the sheaf of paper from his pocket. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid the backs of them are covered with equations and sketches now.”

  Danny took the papers mournfully. “I’ll have to do them again after all.”

  Professor Bullfinch sighed. “Well, as long as you’re here, you may as well stay and watch the take-off.”

  Dr. Grimes was scowling. “Sentences!” he said scornfully, and from the way he looked at Joe it was clear he didn’t altogether believe the story.

  “Didn’t you ever have to write out sentences when you were in school?” the Professor asked with a chuckle. “You must have been a model pupil. I had to write a hundred times, ‘I will not contradict the teacher.’ I had said that I thought it was possible to develop a speed faster than sound.”

  “Well, certainly I had to,” Dr. Grimes said. “I was always in difficulties because of my rocket experiments. Once, in fact, I nearly blew up the high-school physics laboratory. But that doesn’t excuse this sort of behavior.”

  In his heart Danny knew that Grimes was right, and it made him uncomfortable. So, to change the subject, he asked, “Can’t you tell Joe a little about the ship, Professor? What’s in there, through that door you just came out of?”

  “Chiefly fuel for the rocket motors that will steer the ship. There’s a ladder that leads to a small deck above in which are the heating-and-cooling plant, air-circulation motors, and so on. There are also additional supplies.

  “This first flight,” the Professor went on, “will only be to a height of two hundred miles. Colonel Beach and Major Baum will wear high-pressure suits in case of accident. They’ll take the ship up and bring her down again. If nothing goes wrong, we’ll have two or three more such trials, and then, eventually, they will try for the Moon.”

  “The Moon!” Joe exclaimed.

  “Yes. The ship is fully supplied right now because we want to test the effect on food and plants as well as on the men. They are very brave men, believe me.”

  “Yes—and lucky too,” Danny said enviously.

  “Now let’s go down to the main deck,” said the Professor, “and I’ll explain the living arrangements and the control panel to you. You know, Joe, Colonel Beach is named Joseph too. So one of the first human beings to see outer space will be a Joe.”

  “He can have it,” Joe said fervently. “Not me. Not for a million dollars. I’m glad this Joe is staying right on the ground where, if you fall down, you can get up in one piece.”

  The Professor laughed and motioned to the boys to descend the ladder. When they were down, he and Dr. Grimes followed more slow
ly.

  “This deck,” he said, “as you can see, will be living quarters and ship control. Although there is a large window, most of the viewing will be done by television. There is a mobile TV camera with a speaker and microphone mounted on the outside of the hull, and a speaker, microphone, and screen in here. This is the two-way radio next to the control panel. With it they’ll keep contact with the earth.”

  The Professor stopped abruptly and bent over the control panel. When he stood up again, he had an odd expression on his face.

  “What’s the trouble?” asked Dr. Grimes.

  The Professor pointed to the hatchway. “Who shut that?” he asked.

  The boys glanced at each other.

  Danny said, “I was just showing Joe—”

  The Professor bit his lip. Then, without another word, he punched a button on the control panel.

  Slowly the steel shutters over the window slid back into grooves in the hull.

  From the other three burst simultaneous exclamations of astonishment and horror. For outside the thick glass window were not the familiar walls of the barn but a few glittering stars in a vast dark-blue sky.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A Premature Party

  “We are one hundred and twenty miles up!” said Professor Bullfinch in a solemn voice, pointing to a dial on the control panel.

  The others stood frozen, unable to take their eyes from the window.

  Then Danny burst out, “We’re in space!”

  “Not quite,” said the Professor. “But we are one hundred miles higher than man has ever been before.”

  At that moment, Dr. Grimes cried hoarsely, “Shut it off. For heaven’s sake, Bullfinch, stop the ship!” His voice cracked.

  Professor Bullfinch swung toward him. The Professor’s round face was pale behind his glasses, but he had lost none of his cheerful calm.

  “Why?” he asked.

  Dr. Grimes clenched his fists. “Why? Why? You fool, we’ll be killed!” he shouted.

  “Come to your senses, Grimes.” The Professor’s voice was coldly level, and it brought Dr. Grimes to a halt. “We haven’t been killed yet. Perhaps we won’t be. On this first flight the ship was to go to two hundred miles. According to the altimeter, we’ve got eighty miles more. I say let’s go on!”

  His eyes were sparkling, and his courage and enthusiasm spread to Danny and Joe.

  “Let’s not be frightened of our shadows,” he went on. “It was unfortunate that our take-off was an accident. But what is done is done.”

  He clasped his hands behind his back and turned to the window. The color of the sky was deepening, and more stars became visible every moment.

  “I had no intention of being the pilot of this ship,” said the Professor in a soft voice. “But now that I am, I can understand many things. I can understand why all our efforts have been bent toward getting out into space. Look at that—all the suns of the universe, and we are nearer to them than any man has ever been before.”

  At these words Dr. Grimes straightened his shoulders. His expression changed from fear to his usual sour frown. He moved to stand beside the Professor, and in a low tone he said, “You are right, Bullfinch. It is magnificent. I insist we go on.”

  “Good!” The Professor clapped his hands together. “First let’s turn on the recording instruments. Grimes, you know where the panels are up above. Will you take care of them? I’ll start the camera and the Geiger counter going.”

  He caught sight of Danny and Joe, huddled close together and not quite sure just how they felt. At once he came over to them.

  “Danny,” he said in a kindly voice, “you mustn’t feel too bad about this. Even though you acted again without thinking, it may be all for the best. I must admit I’m having the time of my life.”

  “But I don’t understand how it happened,” Danny said. “All I did was shut the hatch with this lever.”

  “No. That lever charges the anti-gravity paint. As a safety measure, the hatch closes automatically when the power goes on.”

  He put his arms around both boys’ shoulders. “You are a pair of good-for-nothing idiots,” he said with a grin. “Let’s forget it.” He gave them an affectionate squeeze. “I’ll turn on the television cameras, and you can take a look at the earth while I start some of the other instruments.”

  He snapped a switch and turned a dial. On one of the four screens mounted above the control panel a wonderful scene slowly took shape.

  They could see the great curve of the earth’s surface. They were much too high to see any details, but here and there great shining patches marked where the water lay, in contrast to the flat, darker land patches. Far to one side below a thick haze of air there was a gleaming band which the Professor told them was the sea.

  “What are those little white spots below us?” Danny asked, pointing.

  “Clouds,” said the Professor. “We are twenty times higher than the highest mountain on earth. We are far above the clouds.”

  Joe swallowed. “Twenty times—! Ulp! You know,” he said uneasily, “it’s funny, but I feel seasick. Maybe it’s looking at that ocean way over there—I never did like oceans—”

  Danny said, “If Columbus could only have seen this, he could have saved himself a trip. The world is round!”

  “But we fell off the edge,” Joe said. “No, we didn’t, we fell up. Oh, my head! How can you fall up?”

  He staggered away from the screen and sat down on one of the bunks.

  “How much longer will it take to get to the top?” he groaned.

  “The top of what?” asked Danny. “There isn’t any top.”

  “Oh, golly. No top—” Joe closed his eyes. “Well, how long before we get back to the bottom?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s already taken us all day to get this far up.”

  “What do you mean? We’ve only been flying for about an hour.”

  “But it’s night,” Joe said, pointing to the window.

  “Oh, no,” Danny said, laughing. “The air gets thinner and thinner as we go higher, and what we call blue sky is just the effect of the air on light waves. That’s why the sky seems to be getting darker now and why we can see the stars. We’re up where the air is thinned out.”

  Danny left his friend sitting on the bunk and went to watch the Professor, who was busily turning on various instruments, reading dials, and making notes.

  “You know,” Danny said, “it’s a strange thing, but I feel very light somehow. Like I’m walking on air. Is it because we’re up so high?”

  “In a way, you are walking on air,” the Professor replied. “The anti-gravity paint is shielding us from the earth’s pull. Not altogether, since we haven’t got it turned on full—luckily you didn’t move that lever all the way over—but enough so that, as we go higher, our weight lessens.”

  Dr. Grimes came down the ladder. “What’s the reading now?” he asked.

  “One hundred and eighty-five miles,” The Professor glanced at a dial. “At our present speed we have another seven or eight minutes.”

  “Fantastic!” Dr. Grimes looked at the television screen. “I still can’t believe it. And without rockets—!”

  The Professor grinned. Then he went to a cupboard above the stove and poked around in it for a moment or two. He brought out four bottles of ginger ale.

  “Gentlemen,” he said, looking around with twinkling eyes, “we are making history. I think the occasion calls for a little celebration. Let us drink a toast to the exploration of space.”

  He handed round the ginger ale and some straws.

  “Danny,” he said, “you have a lively mind. Can’t you give us a song, or a poem, that will fit this moment?”

  “Not me,” said Danny. “Poetry is Joe’s department. He’s good at that.”

  Joe smiled bash
fully; he was beginning to feel much better. He thought for a moment, and then he recited:

  I am a boy who has always thought it was quite a trip from home plate to first base,

  And now, all of a sudden, I find myself on the way to outer space;

  I can imagine myself zipped inside a leather briefcase

  Or in some even more unlikely place,

  But I find it hard to realize that I am on the way to outer space.

  I can picture myself as a contender in a three-legged race,

  Or as a movie star with a million-dollar face;

  In fact, just about the only way I cannot picture myself

  Is on the way to outer space.

  He dropped his eyes modestly as the other three applauded.

  Professor Bullfinch said, “Do you mind if I set that to music?”

  “Oh, come on,” Joe mumbled. “Quit kidding.”

  “No, really, Joe, it was very good indeed.” The Professor raised his bottle. “To our excellent bard. Drink up.”

  They drank, and he added, “Grimes, watch the altimeter and speed dials. I’m about to cut down the current.”

  He took hold of the red lever. Grimes bent over the control board.

  “Oh-ten,” he began counting. “Oh-nine, oh-eight, oh-seven—”

  The Professor pushed the handle a little way toward the right.

  “—oh-three,” said Grimes, “oh-two, oh-one, zero. Two hundred miles, Bullfinch.”

  The Professor slowly drew the red lever farther over.

  “That’s it,” he said decisively. He glanced through the window. “Our trip is over. But it was a magnificent, an unforgettable—”

  He broke off.

  At the same time Dr. Grimes clutched the edge of the control panel with both hands and shouted, “Bullfinch! There’s something wrong!”

  The Professor stared at the dials. Then he grabbed the lever and jerked it all the way to the right.