Garry was aware of bustling footsteps and urgent voices in the dormitory. His eyes popped open in the bright glare of the lights that had been turned on fully. He had a feeling that it was the middle of the night and not morning, although he was not to find this out until a little later. Garry sat bolt upright in his bunk. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Gino, hastily pulling on his shirt, paused at Garry’s bunk. His eyes showed the anxiety he felt. “Hurry and get dressed, Garry!” he said. “You and Patch. We’re in great danger. We’ve got to get ready for the captain’s orders.” Garry leaped out of bed, his heart thumping swiftly. The cold floor on the soles of his feet shocked him fully awake. He seized his peacefully sleeping buddy and yanked him without mercy. “Patch, get up! There’s trouble—I don’t know just what kind yet!” Patch’s eyes were still drugged with sleep, but he struggled to a sitting position. “Trouble? Wh—what trouble?” Patched muttered. “I told you I don’t know, but Gino warned us to get ready for the captain’s orders. Hurry! Everyone else is already dressed and out of the dorm!” Patch needed no more urging and popped out of bed. He and Garry quickly dressed and hurried out into the corridor to see what was going on. There was no one in sight. The boys went farther along. Then, at the foot of the stairs leading into the center tube, they heard excited voices. “Whatever it is, it seems to be up in the tunnel,” Garry said. “Let’s go.” They hurried up the stairs. Reaching the top, Garry, who was in the lead, looked down the tunnel from which most of the sounds were coming. He saw Ben, Captain Eaton, Mr. Klecker, and Gino on or near the platform outside the flight deck, the door of which was closed. Garry and Patch pulled their weightless bodies along the webbing of the tube. As they approached the men, they heard Ben saying: “This is terrible! Poor Mac! And what’s going to happen to the rest of us?” “What is going to happen?” Garry asked, as he and Patch came upon the scene. Captain Eaton turned to them with a distraught look. “I’m sorry, boys. If I had hastened to get you back to the space station promptly, you would have survived this—this disaster.” “Disaster?” Garry echoed, with a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Yes,” Captain Eaton answered, his voice shaking. “Mac is already done for, and we shall soon follow after him.” “What happened?” Patch asked Mr. Klecker. The boys could see pain on the men’s faces. “The _Carefree_ collided with an _Explorer_ satellite,” the butler replied. “It destroyed the flight deck while Mac was on duty. It looks as if he had managed to close the door before he was swept off into space. The collision knocked us off course, and we’re plunging into space—toward where, no one knows. We can’t so much as lift a finger to bring her under control, and our antenna disk has been damaged so that we can’t even send an SOS.”