Jim faced the officer in gray and gold, his heart pounding. Had Mr. Bowers radioed the ship about him? Or had Captain Coppard found out about him in some other way?
“Yes, sir?” Jim said.
Captain Coppard touched Jim’s blouse. “You’ve got a button undone on your uniform. Don’t let me see that again.”
“Yes, sir,” Jim replied in relief, and lost no time tidying himself. The captain “swam” off down the corridor.
“That scared the life out of me!” Jim blurted to Babe. “I thought he had found me out for sure! I know now why you didn’t want me to turn myself in yet.”
“The captain’s an expert spaceman, but he’s as strict as they come, just as I told you,” Babe replied.
After lunch Jim and Babe had a little time on their hands and “hung” by the port in their compartment looking out into space. By now Earth had dwindled to an arc light, and the endless star patterns and dusty nebulae challenged his imagination tremendously. The planet they were heading for was an enlarging brilliant disk that stood out prominently among the sparkling diamonds of black space.
“How long have you been out of the orphanage, Jim?” Babe asked suddenly.
“Over two years,” Jim said. “I’ve been working as an assistant athletic coach at Oceanside Boys’ Home outside Miami since then.”
“How come you were doing redcap service at the space harbor?”