“Hey, look!” Shep cried. “Ben’s in a big hurry and he’s not carrying a crate across!” He seized Rock’s space suit. “Now there goes Judas right behind him and he’s empty-handed too!” Rock felt his heart take a dive. “Shep, they must be going to do exactly what I feared!” He sprang into action. “Come on, we’ve got to get Hugh and Johnny!” “They can’t maroon us in space!” Shep said, furious, as he tagged along behind Rock down the corridor. “It’s the same as murder!” “They’re not even waiting to carry the rest of the ore across!” Rock said. “As soon as we find the fellows, we’ll get over to the _Dog Star_ right away!” Sparky, Ed, and Leo were already in the other ship. Rock and Shep quickly rounded up Johnny and Hugh and the four of them hustled toward the air lock, bumping into crates in their hurry. As they reached it, Johnny pointed out the open doorway. “Look, Sparky’s coming over!” he said. “Maybe he’s found out what’s going on,” Hugh spoke. They gave Sparky a hand into the ship. “What’s up, Sparky?” Rock asked. “Jack Judas told me you wanted help in finishing up over here and for me to come over,” Sparky replied. “We didn’t send for you,” Rock told Sparky. “It must be a trick to get the most of us over here. Come on, you guys! We’ll go over and have a show-down with Kalmus right away!” But before they could launch themselves, Kalmus had already begun his act of treachery. “Look what those crooks are doing!” Shep exclaimed. The boys could hardly believe what they saw. It was more like a bad dream. The cable had jerked away from the side of the _Northern Cross_ as its magnetic attraction was broken. Then the five saw Kalmus lean out and pull it into the _Dog Star_. “We’re too late!” Rock groaned. The ex-cadets shouted in frustration and anger at the cold-blooded act. Over their suit radios, they warned their former partners of the consequences of abandoning men in space. But even as they yelled themselves hoarse, Rock knew it wasn’t going to do any good. Kalmus had simply gotten the jump on them, something that had probably been planned at the very beginning of the voyage. The outer door of the _Dog Star_ closed. A feeling of utter desperation took possession of Rock. Here they were, five of them, marooned on a ghost ship in space, without any foreseeable chance of returning alive to Earth. An hour had passed since the five ex-cadets had been cut off from the mother ship. The _Dog Star_ had blasted off and was now out of sight. Rock guessed that Kalmus and his rebel crew had compelled Leo and Ed to assist Jack Judas in running the ship. During this time, the castaways had been taking stock of their situation. Any hopes of sending an SOS were virtually gone. The radio antenna had been badly damaged at its base when loosened by the bulging wall. The radio’s present range could not be over a few thousand miles.