CHAPTER 3
"Well, looks like we're big boys now," said Tom, as the three cadetsstrolled down the corridor away from Captain Strong's office. "Theydon't hand out secret and important missions to cadet units unlessthey're really on the ball!"
"But we've got Major 'Blast-off' Connel to educate," grumbled Roger.
"What do you mean 'educate'?" asked Astro.
"You know he's the roughest officer in the Academy," replied theblond-haired cadet. "He eats cadets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.And then has an extra one for dessert. He isn't just tough--his hide'smade of armor plate. But I've got a hunch that if we play dumb at first,then smarten up slowly, we can make him feel that he's done it for us.So he'll be easier on us."
"Say, it's after eleven!" exclaimed Tom. "We'd better hurry!"
Suddenly, as if a rocket cruiser were blasting off in the corridors, aroar, deafening and powerful, filled their ears. And beneath itsferocity there were four unmistakable words:
"_Polaris unit--staaaaaaaannnnnndddddd toooooo!_"
Every muscle, every bone in their three bodies snapped to rigidattention simultaneously. Eyes straight, chins in, the cadets waited forwhatever calamity had befallen them. From behind came quick, heavyfootsteps. They drew closer until they passed alongside and thenabruptly stopped. There, in front of them, stood the one and only Major"Blast-off" Connel!
Though a few inches shorter than Astro, he was what Astro might becomein thirty years, heavily muscular, with a barrel chest that filled thegold-and-black uniform tightly. He stood balanced on the balls of hissmall feet like a boxer, hands hanging loosely at his sides. A bulldogchin jutted out of his rough-hewn face as if it were going to snap offthe head of the nearest cadet. He towered over Tom and Roger, and thoughshorter than Astro, he made up for this by sheer force of personality.When he spoke, his voice was like a deep foghorn that had suddenlylearned the use of vowels.
"So this is the great _Polaris_ unit, eh?" he bellowed. "You're twominutes late!"
Tom suddenly felt that he and his unit-mates were all alone in thecorridor with the major. He glanced to one side, then the other,cautiously, and saw it was empty. And for good reason! No one wanted tobe around when "Blast-off" Connel was blasting. Cadets, enlisted men,and even officers were not safe from his sudden outbursts. He drovehimself so hard that he became impatient with others who were not ableto match his drive. It was not because of ego but rather to get the jobat hand finished. More than once he had dressed down a captain of theSolar Guard in the same tone he used on a green Earthworm. It was legendaround the Academy that once, believing he was right, he had broken intothe Council Chamber itself to argue his point. He won by a unanimousdecision. Nothing, but nothing, had been devised or thought of thatcould stop "Blast-off" Connel. Every waking moment of his adult life hadbeen spent in the pursuit of more and more knowledge about space, spacetravel, and life on the other planets.
Now, his wrath at fever pitch at their being tardy, he stood in front ofthe cadets, turning his anger on Roger first.
"Your name's Manning, isn't it?" he growled.
"Yes, sir!" replied Roger.
"Father got a medal--used to be a Solar Guard officer?"
"That's right, sir. He was killed in space."
"I know. He was a good man. _You'll_ never be the man he was, if youlive ten thousand years. But if you don't _try_ to be a better man thanhe was, you won't live five minutes with me! Is that clear, CadetManning?"
"Very clear, sir!" gulped Roger.
Connel turned to Astro.
"And you're the home-grown atomic-rocket genius, Venusian style, eh?"
"Yes, sir," choked Astro. "I'm from Venus."
"Bucked rockets on the old chemical burners as a kid before entering theAcademy, eh?" asked Connel. There was less than an inch and a halfbetween Astro's face and Major Connel's jaw.
"Yes, sir," answered Astro, "I was an enlisted man before coming to theAcademy."
"Well, get this, you rocket buster," roared Connel. "I want a power deckthat will give me what I want, when I want it, or you'll be back in theranks again. Is that clear, Cadet Astro?"
"Yes, sir! Everything she's got, when you want it, sir."
"And I like to have a power deck clean enough to eat off the deckplates!"
"Yes, sir," stuttered Astro, growing more and more confused. "You liketo eat off the deck plates, sir!"
"_By the craters of Luna, no!_ I don't like to eat off the deck plates,_but I want them clean enough to eat there if I want to!_"
"Yes, sir!" Astro's voice was hardly above a whisper.
"And you're the tactical wizard that won the space maneuvers recently,singlehanded, eh?" asked Connel, bending down to face Tom.
"Our side won, sir. If that answers your question," replied Tom. He wasas nervous as Roger and Astro, but he fought for control. He wasdetermined not to be bullied.
"I didn't ask you who won!" snapped Connel. "But you're the one just thesame. Control-deck cadet, eh? Well, you work with me. On the controldeck there's only room for one brain, one decision, one answer. And whenI'm on the control deck, that decision, answer, and brain will be mine!"
"I understand perfectly, sir," said Tom tonelessly.
Connel stepped back, fists on his hips, eying the three cadets. He hadheard about their difficulty in fitting personalities together when theyhad first arrived at Space Academy (as described in _Stand By forMars!_). And he had heard about their triumph over the Martian desert.He was impressed with everything he had learned about them, but he knewthat he had a reputation for being tough and that this reputationusually brought out the best in cadets. Early in his long and brilliantcareer he had learned that his life depended on the courage andingenuity of his fellow spacemen. When he became an instructor at theAcademy, he had determined that no cadet would ever be anything but thebest, and that, when they blasted off in later years, they could bedepended on.
He looked at the three cadets and felt a tinge of excitement that didnot show on his scowling face. "Yes," he thought, "they'll makespacemen. It'll take a little time--but they're good material."
"_Now listen to this!_" he bawled. "We blast off for the Venus spacestation in exactly thirty minutes. Get your gear aboard the _Polaris_and stand by to raise ship." He dropped his voice and pushed out his jawa little farther. "This will be the toughest journey you'll ever make.You'll either come back spacemen, or you'll come back nothing. I'm goingto try my best to make it"--he paused and added coldly--"_nothing!_Because if you can't take it from me, then you don't belong in space!Unit _dis_-missed!"
He turned on his heel and disappeared up the slidestairs without anotherlook at the three rigid cadets.
"Yeah--we'll educate him, all right," said Astro softly, with a wink atTom. "Make him think he's done everything for us."
"Ah, go blast your jets!" snarled Roger after he had found his voice.
"Come on," said Tom. "Let's get the _Polaris_ ready. And, fellows, Imean _ready_!"
Bill Loring and Al Mason stood near the entrance to the control tower ofthe Academy spaceport and watched the three cadets of the _Polaris_scramble into the giant rocket cruiser.
"Every time I think about that Connel kicking us out of space for twelvemonths I wanta pound his head in with a wrench!" snarled Loring.
Mason snorted. "Well, what's the use of hanging around here?" he asked."That Connel wouldn't have us aboard the _Polaris_, even if we werecleared and had our papers. There ain't a thing we can do!"
"Don't give up so easy. There's a fortune setting up there inspace--just waiting for me and you to come and take it. And no big-shotSolar Guard officer is going to keep me from getting it!"
"Yeah--yeah," grumbled Mason, "but what are you going to do about it?"
"I'll show you what I'm going to do!" said Loring. "We're heading forVenusport."
"Venusport? By the moons of Jupiter, what are we going to do there?"
"Get a free ride to Tara!"
"But how? I only got a few h
undred credits and you ain't got much more.There ain't nobody going to go fifty billion miles on nothing!"
Loring's eyes followed the massive figure of Major Connel on theslidewalk as it swept across the spaceport field toward the _Polaris_."You just buy us a coupla seats on the next rocket to Venusport and stopasking stupid questions. When we see Major 'Blast-off' Connel again,we'll be giving the orders with a paralo-ray!"
The two disgruntled spacemen turned quickly and walked to the nearestslidewalk, disappearing around a building.
Aboard the _Polaris_, Tom confronted his two unit-mates.
"Now look, fellows. After the hard time Major Connel just gave us, let'ssee if we can't really stay on the ball from now on."
"All right by me, Tom," Astro said, nodding his head.
"You're having space dreams, Corbett!" drawled Roger. "No matter what wedo for old 'Blast-off' we'll wind up behind the eight ball."
"But if we really try," urged Tom, "if we all do our jobs, there can'tbe anything for him to fuss about."
"We'll make it tough for him to give us any demerits," Astro chimed in.
"Right," said Tom.
"It won't work," grumbled Roger. "You saw the way he chewed us up, andfor what? I ask you--for what?"
"He was just trying to live up to his reputation, Roger," replied Tom."But common sense will tell you that if you're on the ball you won't getdemerits."
"What's the matter, hot-shot?" growled Astro. "Afraid of a little work?"
"Listen, you Venusian clunk," sneered Roger, "I'll work the pants offyou any day in the week, and that includes Titan days, too!"
"O.K." Tom smiled. "Save half of that energy for the _Polaris_, Roger."
"Yeah, use some of that Manning hot air to shine brass!" suggestedAstro.
"Come on. Let's get this wagon in shape," said Tom. He turned to theinstrument panel and the great control board.
A moment later the three cadets were busy shining the few bits of brassand rechecking the many controls and levers. Suddenly there was thesound of a hatch slamming below and then Astro's voice came whisperingover the intercom, "... watch it, fellows. Here he comes!"
The airtight hatch leading to the control deck slid back, and MajorConnel stepped inside. With one sweeping glance he took in the controldeck and the evidence of their work.
"Unit--_staaaaand to!_" he roared.
Astro climbed into the control deck and snapped to attention with hisunit-mates as Connel began a quick but thorough check of the many dialsand switches and relays on the control panel.
"Ummmmh," he mused. "Been doing a little work, I see."
"Oh, nothing special, sir," said Roger.
"Well, from now on it's going to be special!" roared Connel.
"Yes, sir," acknowledged Roger quickly.
"All right, at ease," ordered Connel. As the three boys relaxed, Connelstepped over to the astrogation board and snapped a switch. Immediatelya solar chart filled the huge chart screen. It was a black-and-whiteview of the planet Venus.
"This is where we're going first," he said, placing a finger on aball-shaped satellite in orbit around the misty planet. "This is theVenus space station. As you know, Venus has no natural satellite of itsown, so we built one. We'll blast off from here and go directly to thespace station where the _Polaris_ will be fitted with hyperdrive fordeep-space operations. While at the station you will acquaint yourselveswith the operation of the new audio communications transmitter. When I'msatisfied that you can handle it under the prevailing conditions of anextended space flight, we'll blast off for a test of its range andperformance."
Major Connel paused and faced the cadets squarely. Then he continued:"This is an important mission--one which I hope will enable the SolarGuard to establish the first base outside of our solar system. Ourdestination is Tara, in the star system of Alpha Centauri. Tara is aplanet in a stage of development similar to that of Earth severalmillion years ago. Its climate is tropical, and lush vegetation--junglesreally--covers the land surface. Two great oceans separate the landmasses. One is called Alpha, the other Omega. I was on the firstexpedition, when Tara was discovered, and have just returned from thesecond, during which we explored it and ran tests to learn if it couldsustain human life. All tests show that Tara can be transformed into aparadise."
Connel paused, took a deep breath, and continued: "I shall expect morethan just hard work from you. I want everything you have to offer. Notjust good performance, but _excellence_! I will not tolerate anythingless, and if I'm forced to resort to extreme disciplinary action to getwhat I demand, then you can expect to receive every demerit in thebook!" He stepped closer to the three cadets. "Remember! Spacemen--or_nothing!_ Now, stand by to blast off!"
Without a word, the three cadets hurried to their stations and beganroutine procedure to raise ship.
"All departments ready to blast off, Major Connel," reported Tom,saluting sharply.
"Very well, Corbett, proceed," said Connel.
Tom called into the intercom, "Stand by for blast-off!" He then openedthe circuit to the teleceiver screen overhead and spoke to the spaceportcontrol tower.
"_Polaris_ to spaceport control. Request permission to blast off.Request orbit."
"Spaceport traffic to _Polaris_. Your orbit has been cleared 089--repeat089--blast off in two minutes ..."
"Orbit 089--blast off minus one fifty-nine fifty-eight."
"You read me clear, _Polaris_ ..."
Tom clicked off the switch and turned to the intercom. "Control deck toradar bridge. Do we have a clear tangent forward and up?"
"All clear forward and up, Tom," replied Roger.
"Control deck to power deck. Energize the cooling pumps!"
"Cooling pumps in operation," answered Astro briskly.
The giant ship began to shudder as the mighty pumps on the power deckstarted their slow, whining build-up. Tom sat in front of the controlpanel, strapped himself into the acceleration chair, and began checkingthe dials and gauges. Satisfied everything was in order, he fastened hiseyes to the sweeping red second hand on the solar clock. The teleceiverscreen brought a sharp picture of the surrounding base of the spaceship,and he saw that it was all clear. The second hand reached the ten-secondmark.
"Stand by to raise ship!" bawled Tom into the intercom. The red handmoved steadily, surely, to the zero at the top of the clock face. Tomreached for the master switch.
"Blast off minus five--four--three--two--one--_zero!_"
Tom threw the switch.
Slowly the giant ship raised itself from the ground. Then faster andfaster, pushing the four spacemen deep into their acceleration cushions,it hurtled spaceward.
In a few seconds the _Polaris_ was gravity-free. Once again, Earthmenhad started another journey to the stars.