As the door slid shut, sealing the little group into the space ark, Bud flashed an uneasy glance at Tom. “What’s the idea?” he asked over his suit radio.
“Check your atmosphere meters and you’ll see,” Tom replied.
The four were delighted to learn that they could doff their space suits.
Apparently the saucer’s oxygen system had recovered from the exposure to the void while the door was open.
“And now let’s have a closer look at those animals!” Evan Glennon urged eagerly.
“Are we supposed to inspect and treat them through this transparent wall?”
Jerry Walden asked with a puzzled frown.
“I imagine that was included for our own protection, in case we didn’t want to get close to them,” Tom replied. “But it shouldn’t be too difficult to get inside.”
Using a drill from among the tools which he and Bud had brought along, Tom made a small opening in the inner wall. Then he checked conditions inside by holding his suit meter close to the hole. It registered a much thinner atmosphere than that in the outer passage-equal to conditions approximately twenty thousand feet above the earth.
“We’ll need oxygen masks,” Tom reported.
Fortunately, their suit tanks were detachable and equipped with masks for separate use, under rarefied but above-vacuum conditions. Tom and MINIATURE MONSTERS 175
Bud cut out a section of the transparent wall, large enough for them to squeeze through. Then they all donned oxygen masks, entered the zoo garden, and sealed up the opening again.
“At last we can begin the real job,” Dr. Faber said with satisfaction. “Tom this project is a zoologist’s dream!”