rcot's scalp, but a quick, sure
examination by the doctor revealed that there appeared to be no serious
injury. He had been knocked unconscious by the blow that made the cut,
and he had not yet recovered his senses.

"How did this happen?" asked the doctor as he bathed the cut and deftly
bandaged it.

Morey explained: "There's a device aboard whose job it is to get us out
of the way of stray meteors, and it works automatically. Arcot and I
were just changing places at the controls. While neither of us was
strapped into our seats, a meteor came within range and the rocket tubes
shot the car out of the way. We both went tumbling head over heels and
Arcot landed on his ear. I was luckier, and was able to break my fall
with my hands, but it was a mean fall--at our speed we had about double
weight, so, though it was only about seven feet, we might as well have
fallen fourteen. We took turns piloting the ship, and Arcot was about to
bring us back when that shock just about shook us all over the ship. We
will have to make some changes. It does its job--but we need warning
enough to grab hold."

The doctor was through now, and he began to revive his patient. In a
moment he stirred and raised his hand to feel the sore spot. In ten
minutes he was conversing with his friends, apparently none the worse
except for a very severe headache. The doctor gave him a mild opiate,
and sent him to bed to sleep off the effects of the blow.

* * * * *

With the ship fully equipped, tested and checked in every possible way,
the time for leaving was set for the following Saturday, three days off.
Great supplies of stores had to be carried aboard in the meantime. Care
had to be exercised in this work, lest the cargo slip free under varying
acceleration of the _Solarite_, and batter itself to bits, or even wreck
some vital part of the ship. At noon on the day chosen, the first ship
ever to leave the bounds of the Earth's gravity was ready to start!

Gently the heavily laden _Solarite_ rose from the hangar floor, and
slowly floated out into the bright sunshine of the early February day.
Beside it rode the little ship that Arcot had first built, piloted by
the father of the inventor. With him rode the elder Morey and a dozen
newsmen. The little ship was badly crowded now as they rose slowly, high
into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. The sky about them
was growing dark--they were going into space!

A