Jess was clenching his teeth to stifle the pain. His face was white, with beads of sweat standing out on his forehead. Tom, Ted, and the other two men strained with all their might to budge the transformer.
“No use,” Tom gasped. Flicking on the intercom, he called Bud and explained the situation. “Bank the ship to starboard-but gently or one of the rest of us may get pinned!”
“Roger!” Bud’s voice replied.
A moment later Tom and his companions braced themselves as the plane tilted in a wide sweeping turn. Slowly the transformer slid across the deck, back toward its cradle.
“Lash it down pronto!” Tom ordered as he caught the injured crewman in his arms. Hastily the others secured the ponderous cast-iron monster with chains and steel cable. Then, after Tom signaled Bud to right the plane, they helped carry Jess to the nearest bunk. Immediately aromatic spirits of ammonia were held to the crewman’s nostrils.
“How is he, skipper?” the flight engineer asked anxiously.
“No ribs broken, thank goodness,” Tom announced after a first-aid examination, “but these bruises are bad enough.” He got a paper cup of water and some tablets from the first-aid locker. “Here, take one of these, Jess. It’ll help to relieve the pain.”
“Thanks, skipper,” Jess replied. “I’m feeling better already. That whiff of ammonia cleared
14 SPACE SOLARTRON
my head-but it sure hurt like blazes when I was pinned there!”
“You’re lucky it was no worse,” Ted put in. “You would’ve been hit full force by the transformer if its flange hadn’t caught on a deck girder.”
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