"Now, now, boys," purred Governor Hardy, "I think you"re jumping to conclusions. Personally I"m very much pleased with the way Lieutenant Governor Vidac is handling details. And as far as the asteroid cl.u.s.ter is concerned, we"ll go under it, or over it, or whatever is the shortest route."
"Yes, sir," said Tom, "but--"
"No _buts_, Corbett," said Hardy, still smiling. "This is a great undertaking and we need the co-operation of every member of the expedition. In a few days we"ll be arriving at Roald and the strain of this long trip will be over. Mr. Vidac is a capable man and I trust him implicitly, no matter how strange his methods may appear. I urge you to bury any differences you might have with him and work for the success of the colony. Now what do you say?"
Tom glanced at his two unit mates. Roger shuffled his feet and looked down at the deck, while Astro studied the bulkhead behind the governor"s desk. "If that"s the way you want it, sir," said Tom, "then I guess we"ll have to play along."
"I guess you will," said Hardy, a slight edge creeping into his voice.
"And if you tell me any more wild, unsubstantiated stories such as Vidac sending you to scout an unknown asteroid cl.u.s.ter in a poorly equipped rocket scout--well, I"ll have to take stronger measures to ensure your co-operation. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," chorused the cadets. They saluted and left the room.
"Well," said Tom, when they had reached the safety of their quarters, "I guess that just about does it."
"Yeah. We played our last card," grumbled Roger. "Either Hardy is the smoothest crook in the world, or Vidac really has him s.p.a.ce happy."
"I wouldn"t bet that it isn"t a little bit of both," commented Astro.
The hatch suddenly opened and the cadets spun around nervously.
"Jeff!" they yelled in unison.
"h.e.l.lo, guys," said the enlisted man glumly as he entered the room. He slumped on Tom"s bunk. "I"ve got bad news."
"We already know," said Roger. "Vidac met us before we got out of the air lock. He couldn"t wait to tell us."
"He asked us if we knew anything about it," said Tom. "We told him No."
"I lied myself," said Marshall. "I--I was going to do a little work on it, hoping to have it ready for you when you got back, but--" He stopped and shrugged his shoulders.
"Never mind, Jeff," said Tom. "If Vidac suspected we were building that communicator, he"d have found it sooner or later. The thing is, what are we going to do now?"
"I"ll tell you in three words," growled Astro. The others looked at the big cadet. "Sweat it out," he said finally.
Tom nodded his head. "You"re right, Astro. We"re tied hand and foot to this guy for the next eleven months."
"How about Governor Hardy?" suggested Jeff.
"We just saw the ill.u.s.trious governor," said Roger bitterly. "And the only question left in our minds is whether Hardy is working for Vidac, or Vidac for Hardy. No one could be as blind to what"s going on as Hardy seems to be."
"Three words," said Tom half to himself. "Sweat it out!"
Like a gleaming diamond on the black velvet of s.p.a.ce, the sun star Wolf 359 loomed ahead of the giant fleet, solitary and alone in its magnificence. With the _Polaris_ leading the way for the ma.s.s of s.p.a.ce vessels that stretched back and away, the pioneers and their families blasted through the last million miles that separated them from their new home in deep s.p.a.ce.
Fifty-five billion miles from their own sun, they were about to establish a colony as their forefathers had done centuries before them.
Like the first colony in the new world, then on the Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, t.i.tan, and Ganymede, and hundreds of outposts in the asteroid belt, these Earthmen were braving new dangers and hardships, leaving the comfort of their homes to establish the first star colony. Inside each of the ma.s.sive ships, Earthmen gathered around the scanners to look ahead across the abyss of s.p.a.ce and gaze at their new home. Finally the momentous order came crackling through the teleceivers.
"_Polaris_ to fleet! Single up for landing! Ships to follow the _Polaris_ and touch down in order of their fleet numbers!"
On the control deck of the command ship, Vidac began barking orders to Tom. The three cadets had been rea.s.signed to their original stations because of their intimate knowledge and sure handling of the giant ship.
"Prepare the ship for touchdown, Corbett!" yelled Vidac.
"Yes, sir," said Tom. He flipped on the intercom and barked orders to Astro below on the power deck.
"Stand by to reduce thrust to one-quarter s.p.a.ce speed, Astro. Stand by forward nose braking rockets."
"Right," replied Astro.
"Hey, Roger!" yelled Tom. "How far are we from the surface?"
"Estimated distance to touchdown is two hundred thousand feet," answered Roger crisply.
"Reduce thrust to minimum, Astro," barked Tom, his eyes watching every dial and meter on the control board.
"Distance one hundred fifty thousand feet," reported Roger. "Looks like an open plain right below us. Maybe we"d better try for it, eh?"
"I guess so," said Tom. "Relay your scan down here to the control-deck scanner." Tom gave it a quick glance, saw that there was plenty of room on the plain Roger had mentioned to hold the entire fleet, and turned to Vidac. "Request permission to touch down, sir," said Tom.
"Granted," replied Vidac.
The curly-haired cadet turned back to the control board and once again checked his instruments. Behind him, Vidac and Governor Hardy watched the surface of Roald as the _Polaris_ began to turn for her tailfirst landing.
"Cut all thrust at one hundred thousand feet, Astro," ordered Tom.
"Aye, aye," replied Astro.
"One hundred ten thousand feet," reported Roger. "One-O-seven, one-O-four, one hundred!"
Almost immediately, the blasting roar of the rockets was cut to a whisper and the ship began to drop toward the surface of the satellite.
Vidac jumped forward and grabbed Tom"s shoulder. "What"re you trying to do, Corbett? We"re falling!"
"I have no data on the gravity of Roald," said Tom calmly. "The best way to find out is to check our rate of fall. I can then gauge the amount of braking power necessary."
Behind the two s.p.a.cemen, Governor Hardy smiled. He stepped forward and tapped Vidac on the shoulder. "Whatever your difficulties coming out here with them, Paul, you"ve got to admit that they know how to handle this ship."
"Yeah," growled Vidac. "Too bad they don"t know how to handle themselves as well."
Tom smarted under the sarcasm but concentrated on the task of getting the ship safely to the ground.
"Fifty thousand feet," reported Roger. "I"d say that the gravity of Roald is about 2.7 over Earth"s, Tom."
"O.K., Roger," replied Tom. "Give her one-quarter thrust, Astro. We"ll have to feel our way down."