“You realize the consequences of stowing away on a space ship, don’t you, Hogan?” “Yes, sir,” Babe said. “Remind your young friend of it, then, so that he will be prepared for what happens when the cable car gets back. The two of you will return immediately to the colony. That is all.” There was a pall of silence for several seconds after the captain’s stern order. Jim could hear Babe’s tense breathing in the darkness. “They finally caught us,” Jim murmured, “and you’ll have to pay for helping me.” “I’d do it all over again, Jim,” Babe said firmly. “You’re a real friend, Babe,” Jim told him. Babe went out and explained to the tourists that they had to return at once to the space harbor. The stewards went back to the duplicate drivers’ quarters at the other end of the car, and Babe started the car out of the Haunted Tunnel. As they drove back, both he and Babe gloomily silent, Jim was thinking that he had satisfied his lifelong ambition for a short while anyway. It had been great while it lasted. After they passed Point Luna, a flock of albatrosses gathered around the car again. The birds’ curiosity made them bolder than usual, and some of them flew directly in front of the car. Jim heard sickening thumps as some of the careless birds were battered by the speeding car. Both he and Babe shook their heads regretfully. Jim looked ahead where the space harbor was rapidly growing closer as they swept downhill. “Guess we’d better slow down, or we’ll go crashing into everything down there,” Babe said. He shoved the lever to brake the car, but nothing happened. “Something’s wrong!” Babe shouted hoarsely. “I can’t stop this thing!” In his imagination Jim could see them tearing loose from the cable when they reached land and hurtling down into the space port. The destruction would be staggering. “Something’s plugged up the forward rocket tube!” Babe exclaimed. “One of the albatrosses must have been caught in it!” Jim burst out. “It must be that!” Babe agreed. “There’s only one thing to do—get the bird out of there double quick!” “How’re you going to do it?” “Climb out the front of the car through the window!” Babe said, flinging up the pane in front of them. The hot air swept them back as though they had suddenly opened the door of a blast furnace. “I can do it easier than you can,” Jim said. “I’m lighter and slenderer.” He was also thinking of the debt he owed Babe for helping him all this time. “Nothing doing,” Babe retorted. “I’m the responsible one on this tour.” Jim heard a battering at the door and saw some of their passengers trying to force themselves into the cabin. Babe opened the door a crack and pleaded with them for calmness. In those few seconds, Jim acted quickly. First he shut off the forward jet completely. Then he began scrambling through the window out onto the front of the car. The wind cut him unmercifully. Projections across the front of the cable car gave him handholds, enabling him to crawl downward.