“The transmitter is a very light and simple one,” Mac went on. “All it can do is send out an SOS signal from time to time; it can’t transmit words. Yet whoever picks it up can easily trace it. I hope our signal will carry as far as the mining settlement and that there’s no interference between to block our radio waves. Those mountains could block the waves.” “How long do you think we can hold out, just in case our rescue is slow in coming?” Garry asked Mac. “If we carefully ration food, water, and air, I’d say we could last about five days, earth time,” Mac replied. “I’m pretty sure the captain will start rationing right away, just to make sure, but I can’t see any reason why we won’t see a rescue flier heading this way pretty soon, certainly by tomorrow.” Captain Eaton presently came back inside and began taking off his space suit. “If we get out of this alive, we’ll owe it all to Ben,” Isaac remarked. Garry noticed the sudden sadness on the faces of the others at the mention of Ben’s name. Presently, everyone in turn began saying something good about their friend; that is, everyone except Captain Eaton, whom Garry knew had been closer to Ben than any of the others. The captain was still plainly too broken up to say anything about Ben at this time. He just quietly finished removing his pressure-suit gear, and Garry could see the tragedy in his eyes. Garry was glad when Captain Eaton changed the subject, because he himself had grown very fond of the brilliant young spaceman. “We should take inventory of our stock,” the captain was saying, “and then start a rationing schedule. We can’t be sure how long we’ll have to wait before help comes. I don’t want to alarm everybody, but there’s always the possibility of radioactivity or mineral deposits in the hills beyond the crater which would keep our SOS from going through. The moon is full of those things.” Mac’s prediction as to how long the food and water would last turned out to be fairly close, although it turned out to be four days instead of five. No one expected the fourth day to roll around with their still being trapped in the flier, but Captain Eaton was playing safe, as Mac had said he probably would do. Those who had invented the equipment making up the escape flier’s emergency kit had seemingly thought of everything to ease the plight of those trapped on strange planets. They had not overlooked the boredom of those awaiting rescue. There was a special cabinet containing tiny games, and there were also miniature books. When the inventory was completed and everything was done that could be done, Captain Eaton distributed the games and books, and everyone settled down in the flight chairs. “This isn’t so bad,” Isaac said, sighing and stretching out comfortably with one of the little books. “I’ve always wanted to read this book on great poetry, but up to now I just haven’t had the time because it’s so long. It looks like I’ve finally gotten my chance to read it.”