“We may as well open up,” he said. “Whether or not they’re friendly, they’ve certainly got the upper hand.” Garry pressed the button that controlled the outer door of the air lock. Then he pressed another that opened the inner door. Garry and Patch looked through the double air locks into the face of a man who wore a small, neat white beard. He appeared to be in his early sixties, and he was clinging to a webbing of ropes that completely covered the walls of a giant tube or tunnel. “Hello,” the man said, with a smile. “Hello,” Garry and Patch replied together. And they smiled too, because they were very glad that it was an earthman who faced them. “I must say I didn’t expect to find a couple of boys alone in here,” the man went on. “What’s happened to the adults with you? You didn’t heave them out the waste hatch, did you?” The elderly man laughed. “Uh, no, Sir,” Garry replied with hesitation. “We’ve been by ourselves ever since this flier left the Von Braun Space Station. It’s a pretty long story, Sir.” “The name is Captain Eaton, boys.” The man winked at them, showing his white teeth in another smile. “Oh, I’m not really a space captain. I wouldn’t deceive you. The _Carefree_ is a private ship, and the men call me ‘Captain’ because I’m the owner.” Captain Eaton’s dark, alert eyes flickered over the interior of the flier. “I thought whoever was in this ship must be in some sort of trouble,” he said, “because of your erratic flight. That’s why we latched onto you, to see if we could be of some help.” “We _do_ need help, Captain,” Patch said earnestly. “We don’t know the first thing about running this thing. We had just about given ourselves up for lost.” “How in the world did you get into such a spot as this?” Captain Eaton asked. “Well, Sir,” Garry explained, lowering his eyes, “you see, we’re stowaways, although we’ve been able to escape being caught all this time. We didn’t _mean_ to be stowaways, Captain. We were helping an officer aboard the _Orion_ with his gear, and the rocket blasted off before we could get out.” “Say, I’ll bet your parents are worried to death about you,” Captain Eaton said. “No, Sir,” Patch answered. “You see, we’re orphans, and we lived in an orphanage back in the United States.” “I see,” the elderly man replied, stroking his short, snowy beard. Then suddenly he grinned broadly. “Well, fellows, how would you like to be rescued?” “We’re all for it!” Garry answered, and Patch nodded his head vigorously. “Come aboard then. The _Carefree_ welcomes you!” “What about the flier?” Garry asked. “We don’t want to be charged with stealing a space craft.” “I’ll have Ben Dawes come aboard and set her adrift toward the satellite so that she can be picked up easily,” the captain said. “I think we blew something out when we tried to start her,” Patch said. “Ben’s a genius,” Captain Eaton replied. “He’ll get her to running, no matter what’s wrong with her.”