"We're smack out of
reactant feed!"
"Isn't there any left at all?" asked Tom. "Not even enough to get us
into Marsopolis?"
"We haven't enough left to keep the generator going!" said Astro.
"Everything, including the lights and the teleceiver, will go any
minute!"
"Then we can't change course!"
"Right," drawled Roger. "And if we can't change course, the one we're on
now will take us straight into Mars's gravity and we crash!"
"Send out an emergency call right away, Roger," said Tom.
"Can't, spaceboy," replied Roger in his lazy drawl. "Not enough juice to
call for help. Or haven't you noticed you're standing in the dark?"
"But how--how could this happen?" asked Tom, puzzled. "We were only
going at half speed and using just three rockets!"
"When we got rid of that hot tube back in space," explained Astro
grimly, "we dumped the main reactant mass. There isn't a thing we can
do!"
"We've got one choice," said Tom hollowly. "We can either pile out now,
in space suits and use the jet boat, and hope for someone to pick us up
before the oxygen gives out, or we can ride this space wagon right on
in. Make up your minds quick, we're already inside Mars's gravity pull!"
There was a pause, then Astro's voice filled the control deck. "I'll
ride this baby right to the bottom. If I'm going to splash in, I'll take
it on solid ground, even if it is Mars and not Venus.
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