into its tiny
groove. Then he rubbed it with the blunt end of the pliers, trying to
get a good bond between the tape and the solder of the junction.

He drew back and waited. The connection was made. He knew that the rush
of air outside was louder, and he suddenly realized that the cabin was
very hot. Jerry Lipton would have taken over control long ago! Why
wasn't the control responding?

Rick fought down the fear that gripped at his throat and made breathing
hard. He couldn't panic! There must be something still wrong. But what
was it?

The flashlight beam moved over the maze of wiring, then stopped on the
coppery gleam of a cut wire.

Of course! When he had pulled the alligator clip, the board had showed
red. Jerry didn't know the controls were working!

Rick tried to reconnect the wire he had cut. The ends barely touched;
the wire had been tight. He couldn't hold contact.

Jerry had to understand that the controls were working. If only he had a
microphone, a key--anything with which to signal.

The heat was increasing rapidly. The temperature must surely be over a
hundred. Pegasus had reached the air again, and was falling out of
control!

CHAPTER XIX

The Unyielding Ground

Prince Machiavelli began to cry. He let Rick know he didn't like the
heat in a series of sobbing yelps.

Rick glanced up, surprised at the sudden noise, and flashed his light on
the monk. The little animal was suffering from the heat, the fur of his
head matted and his eyes staring. Dangling from his little chest was the
stethoscope Rick had ripped away to get the tape.

Rick stared at it. If only ...

He fought his body's tendency to fly to the top of the rocket and got a
firm grip with one leg around the channel under the spacemonk, then he
took the stethoscope bell and began to tap in Morse code:

T-A-K-E C-O-N-T-R-O-L T-A-K-E C-O-N-T-R-O-L.

* * * * *

In the blockhouse, Charlie Kassick was watching the display with an
anxious eye. Suddenly the straight line--a reading of zero--that had
begun when the stethoscope quit functioning began to break up into a
regular pattern.

Charlie couldn't read Morse code. He only knew there was something
strange going on. He let out a yell that brought John Gordon jumping to
his side.

Gordon studied the strange pattern, a square wave shape, a blank, then a
peak followed by a square wave shape, a blank, then a square wave, peak,
and square ...