Inside the Venture, the Planeteers climbed again with Lana and Stilicho to the control-room, while the door was ground shut. They removed their space-suits, and then Stilicho nervously gave the order into the interphone.
"Power-chambers on!"
All stiffened, as from below came the soft, rising roar of the chambers, growing rapidly to a thunderous throbbing that shook the whole fabric of the cruiser. The radioactive fuel, being broken down in the power chambers, was yielding such unprecedented torrents of energy as to threaten a new explosion.
"Blast off!” Thorn told the old pirate.
Stilicho's thin hands descended on the firing-keys. With a raving roar of released titanic energy, a spuming plume of fire from their rocket-tubes, the Venture shot skyward.
Up from the domed metal mountain, up from the shimmering blue hazes of Erebus, the cruiser arrowed; picking up speed with appalling acceleration. Air screamed briefly outside, then faded away.
Night black space, starred with the bright yellow speck of the far-distant sun, lay ahead. Rocketing faster and faster, shuddering and creaking to the thrust of its tubes, the Venture flashed on,
Sual Av was hanging tensely over the instrument panel, and the Venusian's green eyes flashed at he turned.
"Instruments are operating again!” he reported. “But our audio was permanently wrecked by the radiation of Erebus."
"Lay a course straight for Saturn,” Thorn ordered Stilicho. “Cheerly will be making straight for that world, and we'll be following him directly."