Forgotten Star by Joseph Green

Author:Joseph Green [Green, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2011-04-19T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

The sound of braking rockets awoke Ken. He opened his eyes and found Jim fast asleep in his bunk. "Jim! Wake up!"

Jim raised his head and stared at his brother through sleep-fogged eyes.

"Dig is stopping the ship!"

"Oh!" Jim shook his head. "I remember now!"

Ken left his bunk. "Let's get to the control room!"

On the way, Jim asked, "How long do you think we've been sleeping? I feel groggy ...

and hungry!"

"Must be hours! Maybe around the clock."

In the control cabin, Dig was busy over the instrument panel. He did not look up when his spacemates entered.

"Where are we?"

"At the Asteroid Belt, Ken!"

"Aw! You're just blowing your jets, Dig! What's our position?"

"Look through the viewport!"

Ken did and gasped.

The sight that met his eyes was magnificent and frightening. For countless miles, space was filled with sparkling, dancing matter! The asteroids! Some were no bigger than grains of sand, others like pebbles, and here and there loomed huge masses of rock the size of mountains!

"The Asteroid Belt!" Jim whispered.

"Have you found No. 433?" asked Ken after a while.

"That big one-there," Dig replied, pointing. "See it?"

"Yes."

"The asteroid is named Eros," Dig told them. "It's about twenty miles long and about five miles across."

"When will we reach it?" Ken wanted to know.

"About twenty minutes. I was going to wake you as soon as we were alongside."

"How long did we sleep?" Jim asked.

"Oh, a couple of days."

"Days!" the brothers exploded.

"You were lucky. On Mars, they'd give you two weeks of hospital sleep."

"No wonder I'm hungry," Ken remarked.

"You're beginning to sound like Woody, but I'm hungry too," Jim laughed. "How about rustling up some food, Ken?"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

After a quick meal, Dig outlined his plan.

"We'll orbit around the asteroid and try to scan the surface for anything unusual," he said. "If we find something, we'll land." Then he added, "We'll land even if we don't find anything."

"Let's get started," Ken said. He switched on the videoscreen and focused the side scanner on the asteroid's surface.

"Jim, you stand by the metascope," Dig said. "If there's any metal on the surface, you'll see it on the scope."

Dig turned to the controls and began to guide the spaceship closer to the asteroid. After a while, Page 42

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