the _Space Knight_! Come in, Miles! Come in!"

Bill Sticoon shook his head. "Miles must be nuts trying to get to
Ganymede without refueling," he muttered. "Traveling at emergency space
speed, he'll eat up his fuel before he gets one third of the way to
Jupiter!"

Tom looked at Sticoon. "And Roger's with him."

Sticoon nodded grimly. "They'll wind up drifting around in space halfway
between Mars and Jupiter. Finding them will be about as easy as looking
for a pebble in the Martian desert."

* * * * *

"Have you found the _Space Lance_ yet, Astro?" asked Kit Barnard,
glancing over his shoulder at the giant Venusian, standing at the
radarscope.

"I think I'm getting it now," said Astro. "Either that or I've picked up
an asteroid."

"Not likely," said Kit. "We're too far from the belt to have anything
that big drifting around without being charted. It must be Sticoon."

"Boy!" chuckled Astro. "This reactor really packs a load of power!"

"How are we doing on fuel, Sid?" Kit called into the intercom.

"We lost a lot trying to prime the pumps," replied the young crew chief.