Stand by for Mars!

  CHAPTER 19

  "Tom--Roger!" shouted Astro. "I think I've got it!"

  Astro, on his knees, pulled a long file blade away from the hatch andjumped to his feet.

  "Did you cut all the way through?" asked Tom.

  "I don't know--at least I'm not sure," Astro replied, looking down atthe hole he had made in the hatch. "But let's give it a try!"

  "Think we can force it back enough to get a good hold on it?" askedRoger.

  "We'll know in a minute, Roger," said Astro. "Get that steel bar overthere and I'll try to slip it in between the hatch and the bulkhead."

  Roger rummaged around in the jumble of broken parts and tools on theopposite side of the power deck and found the steel bar Astro wanted.After several attempts to force the hatch open had proven futile, Tomsuggested that they try to file the hinges off the hatch, and thenattempt to slide it sideways. After much effort, and working in shifts,they had filed through the three hinges, and now were ready to make alast desperate attempt to escape. Astro took the steel bar from Rogerand jammed it between the bulkhead wall and the hatch.

  "No telling what we'll find on the other side," said Astro. "If thesand has covered up the ship all the way down to here, then we'll neverget out!"

  "Couldn't we tunnel through it to the top, if it has filled the shipdown as far as here?" asked Roger.

  "Not through this stuff," said Tom. "It's just like powder."

  "Tom's right," said Astro. "As soon as you dig into it, it'll fall rightback in on you." He paused and looked at the hatch thoughtfully. "No.The only way we can get out of here is if the sand was only blown intothe deck outside and hasn't filled the rest of the ship."

  "Only one way to find out," said Tom.

  "Yeah," agreed Roger. "Let's get that hatch shoved aside and take alook."

  Astro jammed the heavy steel bar farther into the space between thehatch and the bulkhead, and then turned back to his unit-mates.

  "Get that piece of pipe over there," he said. "We'll slip it over theend of the bar and that'll give us more leverage."

  Tom and Roger scrambled after the length of pipe, slipped it over theend of the bar, and then, holding it at either end, began to apply evenpressure against the hatch.

  Gradually, a half inch at a time, the heavy steel hatch began to movesideways, sliding out and behind the bulkhead. And as the opening grewlarger the fine powderlike sand began to fall into the power deck.

  "Let's move it back about a foot and a half," said Tom. "That'll give usplenty of room to get through and see what's on the other side."

  Astro and Roger nodded in agreement.

  Once more the three boys exerted their strength against the pipe andapplied pressure to the hatch. Slowly, grudgingly it moved back, untilthere was an eighteen-inch opening, exposing a solid wall of the desertsand. Suddenly, as if released by a hidden switch, the sand began topour into the power deck.

  "Watch out!" shouted Tom. The three boys jumped back and looked on indismay as the sand came rushing through the opening. Gradually it slowedto a stop and the pile in front of the opening rose as high as the hatchitself.

  "That does it," said Tom. "Now we've got to dig through and find out howdeep that stuff is. And spacemen, between you and me, I hope it doesn'tprove too deep!"

  "I've been thinking, Tom," said Roger, "suppose it's as high as theupper decks outside? All we have to do is keep digging it out andspreading it around the power deck here until we can get through."

  "Only one thing wrong with that idea, Roger," said Tom. "If the wholeupper part of the ship is flooded with that stuff, we won't have enoughroom to spread it around."

  "We could always open the reaction chamber and fill that," suggestedAstro, indicating the hatch in the floor of the power deck that lead tothe reactant chamber.

  "I'd just as soon take my chances with sand," said Roger, "as riskopening that hatch. The chamber is still hot from the wildcattingreaction mass we had to dump back in space."

  "Well, then, let's start digging," said Tom. He picked up an emptygrease bucket and began filling it with sand.

  "You two get busy loading them, and I'll dump," said Astro.

  "O.K.," replied Tom and continued digging into the sand with his hands.

  "Here, use this, Tom," said Roger, offering an empty Martian watercontainer.

  Slowly, the three cadets worked their way through the pile on the deckin front of the hatch opening and then started on the main pile in theopening itself. But as soon as they made a little progress on the mainpile, the sand would fall right in again from the open hatch, and aftertwo hours of steady work, the sand in front of the hatch still filledthe entire opening. Their work had been all for nothing. They sat downfor a rest.

  "Let's try it a little higher up, Tom," suggested Roger. "Maybe thisstuff isn't as deep as we think."

  Tom nodded and stepped up, feeling around the top of the opening. Hebegan clawing at the sand overhead. The sand still came pouring throughthe opening.

  "See anything?" asked Astro.

  "I--don't--know--" spluttered Tom as the sand slid down burying him tohis waist.

  "Better back up, Tom," warned Roger. "Might be a cave-in and you'll getburied."

  "Wait a minute!" shouted Tom. "I think I see something!"

  "A light?" asked Astro eagerly.

  "Careful, Tom," warned Roger again.

  Tom clawed at the top of the pile, ignoring the sand that was heapedaround him.

  "I've got it," shouted Tom, struggling back into the power deck just intime to avoid being buried under a sudden avalanche. "There's anotherhatch up there, just behind the ladder that leads into the passengerlounge. That's the side facing the storm! And as soon as we dig alittle, the sand falls from that pile. But the opposite side, leading tothe jet-boat deck, is free and clear!"

  "Then all we have to do is force our way through to the top," saidAstro.

  "That's all," said Tom. "We'd be here until doomsday digging our wayclear."

  "I get it!" said Roger. "The storm filled up the side of the ship facingthat way, and that is where the passenger lounge is. I remember now. Ileft the hatch open when we came down here to the power deck, so thesand just kept pouring in." He smiled sheepishly. "I guess it's all myfault."

  "Never mind that now!" said Tom. "Take this hose and stick it in yourmouth, Astro. Breath through your mouth and plug up your nose so youwon't get it all stopped up with sand while you pull your way through."

  "I'll take this rope with me too," said Astro. "That way I can help pullyou guys up after me."

  "Good idea," said Roger.

  "As soon as you get outside the hatch here," said Tom, "turn back thisway. Keep your face up against the bulkhead until you get to the top.Right above you is the ladder. You can grab it to pull yourself up."

  "O.K.," said Astro and took the length of hose and put it in his mouth.Then, taking a piece of waste cotton, he stopped up his nose and testedthe hose.

  "Can you breathe O.K.?" asked Tom.

  Astro signaled that he could and stepped through the hatch. He turned,and facing backward, began clawing his way upward.

  "Keep that hose clear, Roger!" ordered Tom. "There's about five feet ofsand that he has to dig through and if any of it gets into thehose--well--"

  "Don't worry, Tom," interrupted Roger. "I've got the end of the hoseright next to the oxygen bottle. He's getting pure stuff!"

  Soon the big cadet was lost to view. Only the slow movement of the hoseand rope indicated that Astro was all right. Finally the hose and ropestopped moving.

  Tom and Roger looked at each other, worried.

  "You think something might be wrong?" asked Tom.

  "I don't know--" Roger caught himself. "Say, look--the rope! It'sjerking--Astro's signaling!"

  "He made it!" cried Tom.

  "I wonder if--" Roger suddenly picked up the end of the hose and spokeinto it. "Astro? Hey, Astro, can you hear me?"

  "Sure I can." Astro's voice came back through the hose
. "Don't shout soloud! I'm not on Earth, you know. I'm just ten feet above you!"

  Roger and Tom clapped each other on the shoulders in glee.

  "All set down there?" called Astro, through the hose.

  "O.K." replied Tom.

  "Listen," said Astro, "when you get outside the hatch, you'll find apipe running along the bulkhead right over your head. Grab that and pullyourself up. Tie the rope around your shoulder, but leave enough of itso the next guy can come up. We don't have any way of getting it backdown there!" he warned. "Who's coming up first?"

  Tom looked at Roger.

  "You're stronger, Tom," said Roger. "You go up now and then you can giveAstro a hand pulling me through."

  "All right," agreed Tom. He began pulling the hose back through thesand. He took the end, cleared it out with a few blasts from the oxygenbottle and put it in his mouth. Then, after Roger had helped him tie therope around his shoulders, he stuffed his nose with the waste cotton. Hestepped to the opening. Roger gave three quick jerks on the rope andAstro started hauling in.

  With Astro's help, Tom was soon free and clear, standing beside Astro onthe jet-boat deck.

  "Phoooeeeey!" said Tom, spitting out the sand that had filtered into hismouth. "I never want to do that again!" He dusted himself off andflashed his emergency light around the deck. "Look at that!" he said inamazement. "If we'd kept on digging, we'd have been trapped down therefor--" he paused and looked at Astro who was grinning--"a long, longtime!" He held the light on the sand that was flowing out of the openhatch of the passenger lounge.

  "Come on," urged Astro. "Let's get Roger out of there!"

  They called to Roger through the hose and told him to bring two moreemergency lights and the remainder of the Martian water. Three minuteslater the _Polaris_ unit was together again.

  Standing on the deck beside his two unit-mates, Roger brushed himselfoff and smiled. "Well," he said, "looks like we made it!"

  "Yeah," said Tom, "but take a look at this!" He walked across thejet-boat deck to the nearest window port. What should have been a clearview of the desert was a mass of solidly packed sand.

  "Oh, no!" cried Roger. "Don't tell me we have to go through that again?"

  "I don't think it'll be so bad this time," said Astro.

  "Why not?" asked Tom.

  "The sand is banked the heaviest on the port side of the ship. And thewindow ports on the starboard side of the control deck were pretty highoff the ground."

  "Well, let's not just stand here and talk about it," said Roger. "Let'stake a look!" He turned and walked through the jet-boat deck.

  Tom and Astro followed the blond cadet through the darkened passages ofthe dead ship, and after digging a small pile of sand away from thecontrol-deck hatch, found themselves once more amid the jumble of thewrecked instruments.

  For the first time in three days, the boys saw sunlight streakingthrough the crystal port.

  "I told you," cried Astro triumphantly.

  "But there still isn't any way out of this place!" said Roger. "We can'tbreak that port. It's six inches thick!"

  "Find me a wrench," said Astro. "I can take the whole window port apartfrom inside. How do you think they replace these things when they getcracked?"

  Hurriedly searching through the rubble, Tom finally produced a wrenchand handed it to Astro. In a half hour Astro had taken the whole sectiondown and had pushed the crystal outward. The air of the desert rushedinto the control room in a hot blast.

  "Whew!" cried Roger. "It must be at least a hundred and twenty-fivedegrees out there!"

  "Come on. Let's take a look," said Tom. "And keep your fingers crossed!"

  "Why?" asked Roger.

  "That we can dig enough of the sand away from the ship to make itrecognizable from the air."

  Following Tom's lead, Roger and Astro climbed through the open port andout onto the sand.

  "Well, blast my jets!" said Astro. "You can't even tell there was astorm."

  "You can't if you don't look at the ship," said Tom bitterly. "That wasthe only thing around here of any size that would offer resistance tothe sand and make it pile up. And, spaceman, look at that pile!"

  Astro and Roger turned to look at the spaceship. Instead of seeing theship, they saw a small mountain of sand, well over a hundred feet high.They walked around it and soon discovered that the window port in thecontrol deck had been the only possible way out.

  "Call it what you want," said Roger, "but I think it's just plain dumbluck that we were able to get out!" He eyed the mound of sand. Unlessone knew there was a spaceship beneath it, it would have been impossibleto distinguish it from the rest of the desert.

  "We're not in the clear yet!" commented Astro grimly. "It would take ahundred men at least a week to clear away enough of that sand so searchparties could recognize it." He glanced toward the horizon. "There isn'tanything but sand here, fellows, sand that stretches for a thousandmiles in every direction."

  "And we've got to walk it," said Tom.

  "Either that or sit here and die of thirst," said Roger.

  "Any canals around here, Tom?" asked Astro softly.

  "There better be," replied Tom thoughtfully. He turned to Roger. "If youcan estimate our position, Roger, I'll go back inside and see if I canfind a chart to plot it on. That way, we might get a direction to starton at least."

  Astro glanced up at the pale-blue sky. "It's going to be a hot day," hesaid softly, looking out over the flat plain of the desert, "an awfulhot day!"