“That’s right. Come quickly.”
They went out, leaving some sticks in mid-air and others drifting off. The young Shannons walked shyly into the captain’s room where all the officers stood. Steve felt out of place among the neatly uniformed spacemen.
Mr. Shannon was in charge of cargo which the freighter dropped off at different ports in space, for he was an official of the American Space Supply Company. But he had nothing to do with the running of the ship.
“Young folks,” said the tall captain, who had a blond mustache, “we want you to help us solve a problem.”
“Sir?” Steve asked, puzzled.
“Here it is,” went on the chief, in his booming voice. “If we go on past Earth to Sierra to help the Pole Star, it’ll leave us with only a fifty-fifty chance of having enough fuel to reach Earth. But the Pole Star is running short of supplies and their radio just went dead a while ago. It’s too late to get help from Earth. The crew is divided on what we should do, so I decided to call you two in to see what you think.”
A husky crewman spoke out boldly, “What do these kids know about space, Captain? They’re not even old enough to be out here! I say stick to our course and get this crew and ship back safely to Earth!”
The remark angered Steve, but the spaceman looked too big to talk back to. Sue wasn’t so timid.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” she exclaimed. “Thinking of yourself when other people are in trouble!”
Steve and his father were surprised at Sue’s outburst. Captain Furman and the other crewmen smiled.