"That's good; that's very good," he said drowsily, and before Jon could say anything about finding that new metal, his father had again sunk into sleep—or unconsciousness; not even Jak could tell which.
"Well," Jon tried to be brave about his disappointment, "I guess we'll just have to go ahead. But isn't it swell that Pop woke up fully?"
"It certainly is." Mrs. Carver had tears of joy in her eyes. "Now we know he'll soon be all right."
The trip to Planet One—"Tad"—was neither long nor eventful, once they got started. They found, as expected, that the small world—smaller than Sol's Mercury—was so close to the sun that it was fearfully hot, even on the equator, or "intermediate" zone.
Despite the refrigerators on the ship, it was becoming hot inside, and all stripped as far as decency allowed. The planet had no real atmosphere, but many of the metals—indeed, the very rocks, themselves—were so largely molten, especially on the eternally sunward side, that there was a fog of gasses about the surface. These gaseous emanations were in a state of motion much like that of Earthly cyclones, constantly swirling and blowing with terrific velocity.
The boys carefully examined their spectro-analyzer, but "Annie" showed none of that strange fuel-metal they were so keen to locate in its natural state. "Maybe we found all there is here," Jak suggested.
"Perhaps, but somehow I can't feel that way." Jon's voice was worried. "I must have slipped somewhere. Don't see how just one boxful could have shown up so clearly from as many light years away as we first discovered it."
Despite the conditions the young planet mappers found here on One, the Colonial law required that a sending beacon be set up on ALL planets, or else in an orbit about them. They decided to place theirs on top of one of the highest of the small mountains that comprised the twilight zone.
Jon made up the tape for this planet's signal-marker, while Jak brought it from the storeroom. When the tape was installed and running, the sender was placed in the lock between the inner and outer doors, and the boys returned to the control room.
Jon directed the ship toward the range of mountains and when he neared them Jak—from his co-pilot's seat—worked the remote controls and the outer lockdoor swung open. Then he activated the "distant hands"—the handling mechanism that was an integral part of the airlock's equipment, for handling materials into and out of the ship.