The PlanetMappers
E. EVERETT EVANS
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
NEW YORK, 1955
Copyright 1955
By E. Everett Evans
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without permission in writing from the publisher
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 55-5211
Printed in the United States of America
By The Cornwall Press, Inc., Cornwall, N. Y.
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any
evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Books by E. Everett Evans
MAN OF MANY MINDS
ALIEN MINDS
THE PLANET MAPPERS
The characters and situations in this book are wholly
fictional and imaginative: they do not portray and are not
intended to portray any actual persons or parties.
To my boys—
Carl, Dave,
Tommy, Billy,
Edward, Freddy
THE PLANET MAPPERS
1
As he heard that dread yet telltale spang against the hull of theirspaceboat, young Jon Carver dropped his reelbook and sprang to hisfeet. His eyes looked swiftly to help his ears trace the sudden hisshe knew was their precious air escaping.
In the back of his mind he heard the sudden grunt his father made,the sound of a falling body, his mother's frightened scream, and hisbrother's "What's wrong?" But he did not stop his own lanky, ganglingbody in its leap toward the outer bulkhead. And as he jumped, he pulledhis handkerchief from his hip pocket.
"Leaping tuna! If that isn't fixed quick, we'll lose our air," was hisnear-panicked thought. "We won't be able to get where we're going. Belucky if we come out of it alive!"
So, guided by the whistling, escaping air, Jon found the hole, nearlyhalf an inch in diameter. Into it he wadded the corner of the clothas best he could. The outward loss of their precious air slackened,although there was still some leakage he could not stop this way. Hejumped to the nearest of the many emergency repair kits scatteredabout the ship. From it he grabbed a metal patch and an electric torch.
Swiftly he plugged the latter into a wall socket. With it he quicklywelded the patch into place, after pulling—with considerabledifficulty—his handkerchief from the hole. "It'll do for now," hedecided, after carefully examining his work and listening closely tomake sure there was no more whistling-out of air. "But we'll have togo outside and really fill in and weld-plug that hole in the hull, butquick."
He re-stowed the torch, then opened a flagon of emergency oxygen-heliummixture in front of the electric blowers that kept their aircirculating—to replenish what had been lost. Only then—although ithad been less than two minutes, really—did he turn back to the restof the family. He had been somewhat surprised that his father had notcome to help him; he had not been at all surprised that his brother hadnot. Jak was a grand guy—Jon thought the world of him—but he justwasn't worth a dead salmon in an emergency like this; he did not have amechanical type of mind.
Now, as he turned, Jon saw his mother and brother kneeling beside theprone body of his father, and noted with astonishment that she wascrying. There was something stiff and unnatural about the man's body,too, lying there on the deck beside his recline seat.
A sudden fear sent the boy leaping across the room. "What ... whathappened? Pop isn't dead, is he?"
"No. Something made him fall, and he hit his head on the deck andknock