The Secret of Saturn’s Rings Read Free Page A

your own business!” he snapped. “I know what I’m doing!” Bruce's nerves had been on edge all that strange day. He wasn't used to being treated like that and he knew he was right. Now a sudden suspicion surged through him.
    “I still don’t think you’re doing the right thing. It doesn’t make sense.”
    Waldron gave another wire a vicious twist, turned and said, “Why don’t you just keep quiet? In fact, why don’t you get out of here until I finish?” He raised the wrench furiously in a threatening manner.
    “I won’t,” he said slowly, “and I am going to report this business as soon as I find someone else in this crew!”
    “Oh yeah!” yelled Waldron, losing all reserve. The spacehand made a sudden thrust at Bruce with the wrench. The boy had expected it however, sidestepped and swung his fist. In a moment all the pent-up emotions of the day came to the surface. With a zest he waded into Waldron, grabbing his arm, punching him in the stomach, and crowding him back with another flurry of fists.
    Waldron broke suddenly, dropped the wrench and ran out of the engine room, down the short corridor, and leaped through the open space-lock door. When Bruce got after him, he saw the spacehand heading for the car lot, evidently planning to make a quick escape.
    Dr. Rhodes popped out of the charthouse nearby and stared after Waldron. Then he turned and ran up to Bruce in the ship. “What was that about?” he called.
    Quickly Bruce explained, and his father went with him to the engine room to see. He was visibly shocked. Taking out a handkerchief, he mopped his forehead.
    “That was quick thinking, son,” he said. “You were right. It was an attempt at sabotage. With the dials indicating the wrong tanks, we’d have been lost in space within days.”
    Dr. Rhodes picked up the wrench and pliers and started to reconnect the wires carefully. “We’re going to be shorthanded,” he said softly. “I don’t know where I’m going to get someone to replace Waldron who can be trusted, and in such a short time. I plan to take off in the next hour.”
    Bruce looked at his father, then said to him, “Suppose I take Waldron’s place? I’ve studied space ships and astronomy in school and by myself. I’m strong. And you know you can trust me.”
    Dr. Rhodes lowered his pliers and looked long at him. He seemed to struggle with himself., “I have no right to ask you,” he said. “It will be a very difficult trip. Who will be left to take care of your mother if we don’t return?”
    Bruce pressed his offer, his heart beating. “Mother will be proud of us whatever happens. I don’t know where you are going, but I’m sure it must be of real importance. Let me come along as the junior space-hand.”
    Dr. Rhodes nodded slowly. “Yes, I know your mother would never say no. And the trip is important. It may be the most important trip ever made. It may mean life or death for the whole world. I guess you will do.”
    The boy’s heart bounded with joy. And then he asked the one question he had failed to ask so far. “Where are we going, Dad?”
    The old engineer smiled briefly, then his face became quiet and sober. “We’re going to Saturn,” he said.
    Bruce’s eyes opened wide. The ringed planet of Saturn! It was beyond the farthest rim of human exploration! But what possible reason could there be for this terrible urgency?

CHAPTER 2  Slide Into Space
    trip to Saturn would represent a longer journey from Earth than had ever been made before. It had been Bruce's belief, from things he had been taught in school about space ships, that a trip of that distance was still considered beyond the ability of the spacecraft that existed up to then. If his father was indeed going to try to make such a record-breaking flight, why the secrecy, and what special plans did he have?
    These thoughts brought Bruce’s mind back to the first problem—why was his father in trouble, what did