"Thanks, Commander. I'm one grateful Planeteer, believe me!"
"Come on. We'll hurry right across ship to the opposite valve. Lad,
I've a son in the Planeteers, and he's just about your own age. He's
on Ganymede. He and the others will be proud of what ye've done."
MacFife was pulling himself along rapidly by the convenient handholds.
Rip followed, his breathing a little rapid in the heavier air of the
ship. He followed the Scottish commander through the maze of passages
that crossed the ship. They stopped at a valve where spacemen were
waiting. With them was an officer who carried a big case.
"The instruments," MacFife said, pointing. "We've tinkered with them a
bit, just to make it look real."
"But why do you want to board the Connie?"
MacFife's eye closed in a wink. "Ye'll see."
There was a slight bump as the cruiser touched the Connie. The waiting
group recovered balance and faced the valve. Rip knew that spacemen in
the inner lock were making fast to the Connie, setting up the airtight
seal.
It wasn't long before a bell sounded, and a spaceman opened the inner
valve. Two men in space suits were waiting, and beyond them the outer
valve was joined by a tube to the outer valve of the Connie ship.
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