"Let's pile out of here!" said Roger.
The three boys made a dash for their space suits and the jet boat. Inside the air lock, they adjusted their oxygen valves and waited for pressure to equalize so they could blast off.
"Blast it," said Astro, "there must be some way to get to that rocket tube and dump that stuff!"
"Impossible, Astro," said Roger. "The release controls are in the control box, and with all that radiation loose, you wouldn't last half a minute!"
Tom walked over to the valve that would open the outside hatch.
"Wonder how Captain Strong is making out with those tough babies on the Polaris?" asked Tom.
"I don't know," replied Roger, "but anything would be better than sitting around waiting for this thing to blow up!"
"Ah—stop griping," said Astro, "or I'll shove you up a rocket tube and blast you from here all the way back to Atom City!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted Tom. "Astro, remember the time we were on the ground crew as extra duty and we had to overhaul the Polaris?"
"Yeah, why?"