Tom quickly told him of the emergency signal from
the _Lady Venus_.
"_Lady--Venus--_" said the big cadet, rolling the name on his tongue, "I
know her. She's one of the Martian City--Venusport jobs--an old-timer.
Converted from a chemical burner to atomic reaction about three years
ago!"
"Any ideas what the trouble might be?" asked Tom.
"I don't know," replied Astro. "There are a hundred and fifty things
that could go wrong--even on this wagon and she's brand new. But I
wouldn't be surprised if it was on the power deck!"
"And what makes you think so?" asked Tom.
"I knew a spaceman once that was on a converted tub just like the _Lady
Venus_ and he had trouble with the reaction chamber."
"Wow!" exclaimed Tom. "Let's hope it isn't that now!"
"You can say that again," said Astro grimly. "When this stuff gets out
of control, there's very little you can do with it, except leave it
alone and pile out!"
The _Polaris_, rocketing through space at full space speed, plunged like
a silver bullet through the vastness of the black void, heading for what
Strong hoped to be the _Lady Venus_. Tom prepared the emergency
equipment, doubling all the reserves on the oxygen bottles by refilling
the empties he found on the ship and making sure that all space suits
were in perfect working order. Then he opened the emergency surgical kit
and began the laborious task of examining every vial and drug in the kit
to acquaint himself with what there was to work with just in case.
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