Garry saw a door up ahead. “That leads into an air lock, Patch. We may be safe in there.”
Garry turned a wheel on the door, and it swung open. They found themselves in a short tunnel, at the other end of which was another door. The air lock was used for entering and leaving the ship while it was in space. The spaceman would enter the chamber and wait for the air pressure to equalize before he left the air lock.
Garry quickly turned another wheel on the inside of the door, closing it.
“We can’t stay in here very long without air,” Garry said. “The other end of this air lock probably leads directly into the space station. Shall we try it?”
“This running and hiding has got to end somewhere,” Patch replied with discouragement. “Lead on.”
Garry checked the pressure gauge on the far door and saw that there was normal pressure on the other side. He turned the wheel on the door, and it swung open. The boys went through, and Garry wheeled the door shut behind them.
They were in a huge enclosed dock of the space station. Lined up ahead were several space taxis, or fliers, which were used for trips outside the station and also doubled as lifeboats in time of emergency.
“Gee, it’s cold in here!” Patch said.
“The main thing, though, is that there’s no one around,” Garry said. “It’ll give us time to collect our thoughts.”
“That’s what you think,” Patch whispered, tugging at Garry’s arm. “There come a couple of men down that corridor across the way!”