Under the tremendous drive of the stern rockets, the silver ship suddenly hurtled forward as if shot out of a cannon. The dangerous tube slid out of the stern of the ship and was quickly left behind as the Lady Venus sped in the opposite direction.
"That's it," yelled Tom, "hold full space speed! We dumped the tube, but we're still close enough for it to blow us from here to Pluto!"
"I tracked it on the radar, Tom," yelled Roger. "I think we're far enough away to miss—"
At that moment a tremendous flash of light filled the radar scanner as the mass exploded miles to the rear of the Lady Venus.
"There it goes!" shouted Roger.
"Great jumping Jupiter," yelled Tom, "and we're still in one piece! We did it!"
From the power deck, Astro's bull-like roar could be heard through the whole ship.
"Gimme an open circuit, Tom," said Astro. "I want to operate the air blowers down here and try to get rid of some of that radiation. I have to get into the control chamber and see what's going on."
Tom flipped a switch on the board and set the ship on automatic flight. Then, turning to the teleceiver, he switched the set on.
"Lady Venus to Polaris—" said Tom, "come in, Polaris—come in!"