“Thanks to you, your whole crew was saved,” Rob countered. “If you hadn’t fixed that antenna....”
Jim looked thoughtful for a moment. “I guess it’s thanks to everybody on this trip, Rob.”
Thinking of the heroic work of Lieutenant Stone and Duff on Pluto and the other crewmen who had trusted their lives to his doubtful theory in the Saturn crisis, Rob had to agree with him. “You’re right, Jim,” he murmured. “This trip it’s ‘thanks to everybody.’ And I can’t say it too much.”
MERCY FLIGHT TO LUNA
Toby Workman stared out of the window of his room on the rim of the space station, wondering what he should do. As the countless stars of black space trooped slowly past in an endless caravan, the boy was still haunted by the nightmare of last week. That nightmare could yet end forever his dreams of a space pilot’s career. Toby was looking in the direction of the mist-covered globe, five thousand miles away, which was Earth. The space station was a celestial lookout, a scientific laboratory, and a harbor for space-going rockets.
“What’re you thinking, Toby?” asked Lou Penner, his roommate.
“I’m wondering if I should take Dr. Shepard and Deb to Luna,” Toby answered.
“Are you crazy?” Lou blurted. “Do you think they’d ride with you after all that mess that happened last week? Remember, too, you never did get along with Deb’s dad very well.”
Toby turned from the window, his sturdy shoulders slumped in defeat, a brooding unhappiness on his sensitive face. “You sound just like the others, Lou,” he said bitterly.