Outer Space Mystery (5 page)

“The snake is long gone,” Jessie assured her. “He just used the rough rocks in the chimney to help shed his skin.”

Violet shuddered. “Let’s go. Rachel isn’t here. I don’t think anyone has been here in a long time.”

But Jessie wasn’t so sure. As they hurried out the front door, her foot kicked a cane-bottomed rocker. Always neat, she bent to straighten the piece of furniture.

Her hand brushed a square of pale blue paper.

“Henry, Benny!” she exclaimed. “This looks like that gum wrapper you found in your room.”

Henry examined the scrap. “It’s the same brand of gum. And it’s not dusty. Someone
has
been here. And recently!”

“Maybe it was Rachel,” Jessie said. “She chews a lot of gum.” But if Rachel had been here, Jessie wondered, why did she leave? And where was she now?

Back at the college, the Aldens hurried into the main office. Randy Merchant was manning the radio. He held the earphones cupped over one ear.

“Has Rachel been found?” Violet asked him anxiously.

He shook his head. “One search team returned for supplies, but the rest are still out there.”

“We can take over,” Henry told Randy.

“Great,” Randy said, handing Henry the earphones. “I have to set up the observatory for tonight.”

“I forgot,” Jessie exclaimed. “Tonight is the party.”

“People from town will be here, too,” Randy said. “Even if Rachel isn’t found, the show will go on.”

“Don’t remind me,” groaned a voice from the doorway. Mark Jacobs came in, looking rumpled. “I’m the narrator.”

“How did the search go?” asked Randy.

Mark just shook his head.

“Tough break,” said Randy as he left.

Wearily, Mark collapsed into a chair. “What a terrible day. No sign of Rachel. And my latest notes are missing from the desk in my room. I’m supposed to present my paper tomorrow and I don’t have the data I need in order to finish it.”

“Is it that important?” Violet asked.

“Yes, it is. I’ve been working all year on my big discovery.”

Benny pulled the tattered snakeskin from his pocket. “You can show them this. I found it, but you can have it.”

Mark managed a smile. “Thanks, Benny. That’s a great specimen, but my discovery is in the field of astronomy,” Mark ran a hand through his rumpled hair. “I can’t help thinking how strange it is that my notes disappeared at the same time as Rachel. Did you kids know that Hazel thinks Rachel planned to leave? Some of her clothes are gone.”

Henry considered this new information. It
was
odd that Rachel and Mark’s notes disappeared at the same time. But why would she have taken Mark’s notes with her? After all, she had no use for them.

“Is there anything we can do?” Jessie asked.

Mark smiled. “Thanks, but you’re already helping with the search. And Hazel told me you’re serving breakfast tomorrow. You don’t have to worry about my troubles. All is not lost.”

“What do you mean?” asked Benny.

“I keep a second set of notes hidden in the observatory. That set doesn’t have my latest data, but it’s a start,” Mark replied. “I’m going back out to search for Rachel until dinnertime. Then I’ll skip dinner and work on my paper at the observatory. And I’ll be there tonight for the meteor shower.”

A noise outside the door caught Benny’s attention. It sounded like someone choking.

Mark stood up. “Got to hit the trail. My team should have fresh provisions by now.”

As Mark headed out the door, he bumped into Eugene.

“
There
you are,” Eugene exclaimed in an overly loud voice. “We’ve been wondering where you were. Our team is set to go out again.”

“Wish us luck,” Mark said.

As soon as the young men were out of sight, Henry said, “There’s something weird about Eugene Scott.”

“I think so, too,” Violet agreed. “He acts like he’s friendly, but he’s really not.”

Henry nodded. “You’ve hit the nail on the head, Violet. Eugene is a big phony. He pretends to like Mark, but he’s really his rival.”

“What’s a rival?” Benny asked. He rolled his snakeskin neatly and placed it in his pocket. He couldn’t wait to show it to Grandfather.

“It means they are in competition with each other,” Jessie explained. “Like in a race.”

Suddenly the radio crackled.

Henry sat up straight, pulling the microphone toward him. “This is Eagletop,” he spoke anxiously into the microphone, remembering the code name. “Is anyone out there?”

After more squawks and static, a voice said, “This is A Team, Eagletop. It’s getting dark. We’re coming in. I’ve already signaled the other teams to abandon the search.”

“Eagletop reads you,” Henry said. “Over and out.” Slowly he pulled off the headphones.

Dr. Porter came into the room. “I heard from the hall. You children have been a big help. My thanks to you.”

Grimly, the Aldens left the main building. After cleaning up in their dorm rooms, they met in the dining room.

A steam-table buffet had been set up along one wall. Hot dishes gave off delicious aromas.

“Mmmm,” Benny said, first in line as always. “Macaroni and cheese.”

“Don’t take more than you can eat,” Violet advised him.

When their plates were filled, they headed toward a table. Grandfather was waiting for them.

“I’m going to dine with my grandchildren tonight,” he said.

Just then Able Porter rushed up. “I have wonderful news! Rachel Cunningham just called.”

“She did?” Jessie asked, astonished. “Is she okay?”

“Where is she?” Violet wanted to know.

Dr. Porter raised a hand to halt the questions. “She’s fine. She’s at her grandparents’ house on the other side of the mountain.”

“Why did she leave?” Henry asked.

“She would only say that she had personal problems,” Dr. Porter replied. “And that as soon as she worked them out, she’d return to the college.”

Grandfather poured iced tea for everyone. “This is very peculiar, Able. Why couldn’t Rachel tell you before she left? We thought something had happened to her.”

“I know,” Dr. Porter agreed. “I told her about the search team. She apologized but wouldn’t tell me anything more. But she sounded good. I’m so relieved she’s okay.”

Jessie wondered if that was true. She couldn’t stop thinking about the gum wrapper she’d found in the abandoned cabin. Suppose Rachel had dropped the wrapper on purpose, as a clue? Maybe she had been kidnapped. Maybe her kidnapper forced Rachel to make that call to Dr. Porter.

Before she could voice her concerns, Grandfather said, “It’s nearly time to go to the observatory.”

“That’s right!” Henry said. “Tonight’s the shower.”

“I already took one bath today,” said Benny, joking.

The meteor shower was a big event. Students from Mountvale College hiked up the trail or drove up the mountain to the observatory. Families from the town rolled up in pickup trucks.

People set up lawn chairs or spread blankets on the grassy knoll around the observatory building.

“We won’t be using the telescope tonight,” Randy Merchant explained as he led the Aldens and Dr. Porter into the dome room. “The best way to view meteors is with the unaided eye. They move too fast to track with a telescope.”

Lawn chairs had been set up in rows around the telescope. Faculty members and special guests were filling the seats.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” Randy told the gathering crowd. “Lie back so your neck won’t get tired.”

The Aldens sat down and tilted their chairs.

“I feel like I’m at the beach!” Violet said with a giggle. She claimed the seat at the end of the row, next to Randy’s desk.

Randy pushed a button on the wall. The domed roof slid open all the way.

Stars glittered in the night sky. The show was about to begin.

V
iolet leaned back with a contented sigh. Stars lay scattered against the velvety black like diamonds. She felt like she was part of the soft summer night.

Benny sat up. “I don’t see anything,” he said. “Except outer space.”

“You will,” Randy promised. “Keep your eye on the sky!” Then he added, “By the way, I have the scoop on a terrific story.”

Now Jessie sat up, interested. “What’s it about?”

But Randy merely put his forefinger to his lips. Then he left to join some other faculty members.

“Everybody’s got a secret around here! I wonder what kind of a story he’s writing,” Jessie asked Henry.

“Maybe it has something to do with Eugene’s and Mark’s discoveries,” Henry answered.

“But
those
are secret,” Jessie said. “Mark and Eugene won’t tell anyone about their discoveries until tomorrow.” The next day was the last day of the conference. The young astronomers would present their papers to the scientists.

Benny scooted to the end of his lawn chair. For once he wasn’t interested in the mystery. He wanted to see a meteor! “I haven’t seen one single falling star,” he complained.

“Where are they, anyway?”

“Be patient,” Henry told him. He was wondering if Mark Jacobs would make it tonight after all. He spied Eugene Scott sitting at the end of the front row with some other students.

Just then Mark rushed into the observatory. He carried a folder, which he placed on Randy’s desk.

“Ah!” said Dr. Porter. “Our narrator has arrived.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Mark said, clipping a small microphone to his shirt collar. When he spoke again, his voice was amplified so everyone could hear him. “Welcome to my Perseid meteor shower. Actually, this show appears every year about this time. I can’t really take credit for it.”

The audience laughed.

“While I’m talking,” Mark said, “please direct your attention to the east-southeast portion of the sky.”

“That way,” Henry whispered, pointing for Benny.

Mark continued his speech. “As you know, meteors are sometimes called shooting stars or falling stars. They aren’t really stars, but particles of rock or metal. We see them as a bright streak when these particles enter our atmosphere and burn up.”

“But they don’t always burn up,” Eugene put in.

“Right,” said Mark. “Sometimes a fragment can strike the earth. These are called meteorites. Meteorites are usually small, like pebbles, but they can be large. Once, a meteorite hit a house in Illinois. It went through the roof of the garage, the roof of the car, and was found embedded in the front seat.”

Benny had been staring at the sky so hard that his eyes were watering. Suddenly he saw a greenish flash.

“I saw one!” he cried, leaping from his seat.

“The first sighting of the evening goes to Benny Alden,” Mark said in an announcer tone. “Congratulations!”

Benny was pleased. He bounced excitedly in his chair.

“There’s one!” exclaimed Violet. “And another!”

“There’s a whole bunch over there!” Henry cried.

At once, the sky was filled with streaks racing across the sky in shades of orange, yellow, and emerald green.

“I never knew there’d be so many colors!” said Jessie.

“The Perseid meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus,” Mark explained. “That’s how they were named. They are dust fragments from the tail of a comet. Of all the meteor showers throughout the year, the Perseids are the most spectacular.”

Jessie had to agree. The graceful streaks swooping across the sky were prettier than fireworks.

“How far away are they?” Henry asked Mark.

“Closer than you think,” Mark replied. “Some are only sixty miles overhead.”

“That’s not so far!” Benny said. “When the next one falls, I’m going to go out and get it!”

Grandfather laughed. “Sixty miles is a long way to walk, Benny. And remember, Mark said most meteors don’t make it to Earth.”

But Benny wasn’t discouraged. A meteorite would be a terrific souvenir to go with his snakeskin.

The show continued for another hour. The children tried to guess which falling star would disappear below the horizon first.

Violet found herself nodding off. It was so comfortable in the lawn chair. . . . Suddenly someone bumped the back of her seat. Whoever it was didn’t apologize for jostling her chair. And it
was
dark in the observatory. Anyone moving around could easily stumble.

She settled back once more. Through half-closed eyes, she was aware that someone was near the desk. Then the figure melted into the shadows.

When she felt a hand on her arm, she jumped again.

“Sorry to startle you,” Grandfather said soothingly. “But it’s very late. You children should go to bed before you fall asleep right here.”

“I think I was snoozing,” she confessed, climbing out of the low chair.

Several people were getting to their feet. The meteor shower was nearly over. But a few were staying to look through the telescope.

In the lit hallway, the Aldens waited for Grandfather, who was discussing business with Dr. Porter.

Mark came down the hall, his folder under his arm. “Well, kids, how did you like it?”

“It was great!” Henry said.

“Tomorrow I’m going to go look for one of those meteor-things,” Benny said, yawning hugely. “A whole bunch fell tonight. I ought to be able to find at least
one.
”