Mr. Bass's Planetoid by Cameron Eleanor

Author:Cameron, Eleanor [Cameron, Eleanor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16 - The Pit of Blackness

They had only a fleeting moment to feel the vibration of the space ship, to look down at the tiny, sparkling lights of earth, to know that the moon still hung in the sky.

Then something terrifying started to happen – and kept happening. David had been fully aware of the vibration of the ship after he had come out of the shock of take-off. But all at once the vibration became so bone-shaking that it was as if their craft were a bucking bronco. It seemed to be fighting some invisible enemy, to be trying to break through some invisible barrier. It seemed as if it might at any moment shiver into a thousand pieces.

“Chuck, it can’t – it can’t – ”

It can’t what? What was he trying to say? He knew what he meant but he couldn’t get out the words. His mind could scarcely work – and there was no answer from Chuck. We are done for, was all David could feel. Mom was right – Cap’n Tom couldn’t make the space ship work like a little Swiss watch after all, and we are lost and done for. And then “sound barrier” came into his head. Yes, that was it. The workings of this little ship, having been put together by mortal hands, were flawed. It was not perfect, could never be perfect as it once had been, for the deft, light, magical touch of Mr. Bass and Mr. Theo had been missing. And now the ship could not get through the barrier of sound – that was what he had been trying to say.

At this very moment, it must be trying to struggle upward at the speed of sound, at twelve and a half miles a minute. And unless it could pass this speed, unless it could emerge beyond the sound barrier, it would be dashed back to earth as though it had struck a ceiling of steel.

David, now, did not know what was happening. Sick and dizzy, he was shaken into blackness, into a pit of blackness. And yet, dimly, very, very far away, he thought he heard his own voice reminding himself of what Mr. Bass had said: “You must never doubt, David.” But the words were so faint, so faint, he could scarcely hear them.

Then at last he lifted his head. His sickness and dizziness had passed away, and he looked out of the window of the space ship; and there … there before him – just as he remembered from another time, from that first wonderful flight to the Mushroom Planet when he and Chuck had been alone, and then the second time when Mr. Theo was with them – were the hundred million billion suns of the Milky Way.

“Oh, Chuck,” he cried, and it was almost a sob because he was so thankful and relieved, “look, we’ve come through!”

Chuck didn’t answer, and David turned to him. And there was Chuck leaning forward, staring out of the big

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