"Sir, this ship is going to blow up any moment. You've got to save us!"
He turned to face Al James. "And he refused to allow us to escape in the
jet boats!" He pointed an accusing finger at the young skipper as the
other passengers loudly backed him up.
"Just a moment," snapped Strong. "There's a Solar Guard rocket cruiser
only five hundred yards away, so take it easy and don't get hysterical.
No one is going to get hurt if you keep calm and obey orders!" He turned
to James. "What's the trouble, skipper?"
"It's the reaction chamber. The lead baffle around the chamber worked
loose and flooded everything with radiation. Now the mass in
number-three rocket is building and wildcatting itself. If it gets any
higher, it'll explode."
"Why didn't your power-deck man dump the mass?" asked Strong.
"We didn't know it was wildcatting until after he had tried to repair
it. And he didn't tighten the bolts enough to keep it from leaking
radiation." The young skipper paused. "He lived long enough to warn us,
though."
"What's the Geiger count on the radiation?" asked Strong.
"Up to twelve thirty-two--about ten minutes ago," answered James. "I
pulled everybody out of the power deck and cut all energy circuits,
including the energizing pumps. We didn't have any power so I had to use
the combined juice of the three jet boats to send out the emergency
signal that you picked up.
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