he ordered.
Bud complied. Then Tom, following the space beings’ complex navigational instructions, began to steer the Star Spear in a path around the edge of the powerful, invisible magnetic field.
According to the directions, in less than a minute the Star Spear was supposed to have escaped from the magnetic pull of the meteor field. Tom flipped
190
OMINOUS SIGNS 191
off the switches of the steering motors and Bud pushed back the lever to cut off the kicker.
“Now we’ll see,” Tom said quietly.
Hardly daring to breathe, the anxious boys waited. For the next few moments there was a strange absence of any sensation in the rocket-practically no feeling of motion. Yet, according to the speedometer, they were still racing through outer space at well over eleven thousand miles per hour. It was not toward the meteors, however, but away from them.
“You did it, you old stargazer!” Bud exulted. “Whew! I don’t want another scare like that one. I can tell you now that I sure was worried those signals were coming from Rotzog and would send us to our doom!”
Tom smiled. “I was myself for a while. But one of those figures set me straight. It’s not a mathematical symbol which has ever been used on earth, so I figured Rotzog wouldn’t know it.”
“You mean the chicken’s beak holding the worm? How is that translated?”
“I don’t know. I had to skip it, Bud. Thank goodness it made no great difference.” Glancing at the altimeter and the speedometer, he remarked, “In about eight minutes we should fall back into our orbital track.”
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