Having survived the crucial first day without discovery, Jim found the others that followed were much easier. When three weeks had passed and he still had not been discovered, he started believing that the tourist company owner he had “bumped” was not going to complain. But one day late in the voyage Jim and Babe happened to run into a very important person in the corridor on the way to mess. Jim recognized the insigne of four platinum rockets that showed he was Captain Coppard. It was Jim’s first face-to-face meeting with the officer. After the stewards’ salute Captain Coppard suddenly pulled up short, and Jim felt the trim, hawk-nosed man’s steely gaze on him. It was a stare that appeared to look clear through him. Why was the officer suddenly so interested in him? It brought an anxious lump up into Jim’s throat. “Steward,” the chief officer said, “just a minute.” Jim faced the officer in gray and gold, his heart pounding. Had Mr. Bowers radioed the ship about him? Or had Captain Coppard found out about him in some other way? “Yes, sir?” Jim said. Captain Coppard touched Jim’s blouse. “You’ve got a button undone on your uniform. Don’t let me see that again.” “Yes, sir,” Jim replied in relief, and lost no time tidying himself. The captain “swam” off down the corridor. “That scared the life out of me!” Jim blurted to Babe. “I thought he had found me out for sure! I know now why you didn’t want me to turn myself in yet.” “The captain’s an expert spaceman, but he’s as strict as they come, just as I told you,” Babe replied. After lunch Jim and Babe had a little time on their hands and “hung” by the port in their compartment looking out into space. By now Earth had dwindled to an arc light, and the endless star patterns and dusty nebulae challenged his imagination tremendously. The planet they were heading for was an enlarging brilliant disk that stood out prominently among the sparkling diamonds of black space. “How long have you been out of the orphanage, Jim?” Babe asked suddenly. “Over two years,” Jim said. “I’ve been working as an assistant athletic coach at Oceanside Boys’ Home outside Miami since then.” “How come you were doing redcap service at the space harbor?” Jim grinned broadly. “Just because I loved it. I loved to go aboard space ships and pretend I was a real passenger. I’ve wanted to go into space ever since I knew there was such a thing. It seems now as though I’m in a wonderful dream and that all this is not really true at all!” A pause followed, as Jim looked at Babe. “You’ve never told me anything about yourself.” Babe shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. I’m thirty-two, unmarried. Been going into space since I was seventeen. Like you, I have space in my blood, and I hope I’ll be rocketing until I’m eighty.”