“I can’t understand why they don’t turn off course!” Lieutenant Starky exclaimed. “Their radar _must_ have contacted us!”
Ted watched the blips from the _Moonstone_ slowly nearing the center of the screen. By the time they did reach that center, the _Moonstone_ and the _Shooting Star_ would be occupying the same area in space.
Lieutenant Foran came over to the Kentons. “I think you folks had better get back to your suite. We’re going to be awfully busy in here for the next few minutes,” he said.
Ted could see that the officer was trying to keep the fear out of his voice. They must really be in a bad spot.
As they left, they met stout, red-faced Commander Grissom coming in. His face was redder than usual, and he was so concerned with the _Shooting Star’s_ danger that he barely nodded to Dr. Kenton.
As the Kentons returned to their quarters, golden-haired Mrs. Kenton faced her family with stricken eyes.
“What’s happening, John?” she asked her husband. “All the crewmen are running around like mad.”
“It’s just a little trouble outside,” the scientist said gently. “I’m sure Commander Grissom and his men can handle it.”
Mrs. Kenton began pacing restlessly. “This waiting! I wish we knew what’s going on.”
“We can,” the scientist said, crossing the room and pressing a button on a wall panel. “I thought it might upset us more to listen in, but I guess it would be better to know what they’re doing.”
They heard first the voice of Lieutenant Starky coming over the compartment’s loud-speaker. “_The Moonstone_ has just answered, sir!”
“What do they say?” the commander asked urgently.
After a few moments’ pause, the Kentons heard the pilot speak again: “They say that they had some electronic trouble and that it’s just now been repaired. Their radio and radar were off because of it.”
Ted listened tensely as orders flew back and forth. Both space ships set their rocket jets to carry each away from the other, but at the speeds they were traveling, only time would tell if they could avoid a crash.
The Kentons heard the final miles being slowly called off by Commander Grissom as the two ships hurtled toward one another:
“Four hundred—three hundred—two—a hundred and fifty....”
Ted’s eyes were on the side port. He knew that at the last moment either he would see a large silver shape hurtle past the window or he would feel the might of tons crashing head on. In the final seconds, Dr. Kenton had an arm around his wife and daughter, and Ted’s heart was thumping wildly.