All day the s.p.a.ceport rocked with the thunderous noise of stripped-down s.p.a.ceships blasting off on their trial runs around the Moon. Kit Barnard worked like a demon to complete the cooling system in his aged ship, and as each ship blasted off on its scheduled run to the Moon, the time for his own flight drew nearer. Kit worked with his chief crewman, Sid Goldberg, a serious, swarthy-faced youngster who rivaled Astro in his love for the power-deck machinery on a s.p.a.ceship. By nightfall, with Tom, Roger, and Astro standing by to make their final inspection, Kit wiped the oil and grime from his hands and stepped back. "Well, she"s finished. You can make your inspections now, boys," he said.
While Tom, Astro, and Roger swarmed over the vessel, examining the newly designed and odd-looking gear, the veteran s.p.a.ceman and his young helper stretched out on the concrete ramp and in thirty seconds were asleep.
The _Polaris_ unit quickly checked out Kit"s ship as qualified for the race, and then turned, fascinated, to the tangle of pipes, cables, and mechanical gear of the reactor unit and cooling pumps. Tom and Roger were unable to figure out exactly what changes Kit had made, but Astro gazed at the new machinery fondly, almost rapturously. He tried to explain the intricate work to his unit mates, but would stop in the middle of a sentence when a new detail of the construction would catch his eye.
"Come on, Roger," Tom sighed. "Let"s go on to the next ship. This lovesick Venusian can catch up with us later."
They turned away and left Astro alone on the power deck, doubtful that he had even noticed their departure.
The trials had been suspended at nightfall, and the ships that had already blasted off left sections of the huge s.p.a.ceport empty. The day had been a grueling one for the cadets, and Tom and Roger climbed wearily on the nearest slidewalk that would take them back to the Academy grounds. Just as they rode through the main field gate, Roger nudged Tom. "Look! There"s Quent Miles up ahead of us," he said. "Isn"t he scheduled to blast off in the morning?"
"Yes. Why?" asked Tom.
"He hasn"t called us in to inspect his ship yet."
"Maybe he isn"t ready yet," said Tom. "Probably still souping it up."
"I"ve been watching him. He hasn"t done very much."
"What do you mean?"
"He"s the only one working on his ship," replied Roger. "Not one helper."
Tom snorted. "You"re beginning to suspect everything, Roger. He might be going to get a part or grab a bite to eat."
"Where? In Atom City?" asked Roger. "That"s the slidewalk to the monorail station." He pointed to the black-suited figure as he hopped on another moving belt that angled away from theirs.
"Oh, forget it," groaned Tom. "I"m too tired to think about it now.
Let"s just report to Captain Strong and get some sack time. I"m all out of reactant."
"I suppose Astro will spend half the night trying to figure out what it took Kit Barnard years to build," mused Roger.
"And if I know Astro," chuckled Tom, "he"ll get it figured out too!"
As the two weary cadets continued their ride into the Academy grounds, on another slidewalk going in the opposite direction, Quent Miles watched the darkening countryside closely. It was several miles from the Academy to the monorail station, and the moving belt dipped and turned through the rugged country that surrounded s.p.a.ce Academy. Suddenly Quent straightened, and making certain no one was watching him, he jumped off the slidewalk and hurried to a clump of bushes a few hundred yards away.
He disappeared into the thick foliage and then reached inside his tunic and pulled out a paralo-ray gun.
"You in here, Charley?" Miles whispered.
There was a movement to his left and he leveled the gun. "All right!
Come out of there!"
The bushes parted and Charley Brett stepped out. "Put that thing away!"
he snarled. "What"s that for?"
"After I got your message to meet you out here, I didn"t know what was up, so I brought this along just in case," Quent replied. "What"s so secret that you couldn"t come to the s.p.a.ceport?"
"I"ve got the stuff for Kit Barnard"s reactor."
"What stuff?"
"This." Brett took a small lead container out of his pocket and handed it to Quent. "This is impure reactant. Dump it into his feeders and we can count him out of the race."
Quent took the lead container, looked at it, and then stuffed it inside his tunic. "What"ll happen?"
"Nothing. He"ll just get out in s.p.a.ce and find his pumps won"t handle the heat from his feeders, that"s all. He"s the only one I"m worried about."
"Reports are coming in from Luna City. You can worry about Gigi Duarte, too. He"s burning up s.p.a.ce."
"Ross is at the Luna s.p.a.ceport," replied Brett. "He"ll take care of any ship that looks like it"s going to be too fast."
"Then why not have him take care of Kit Barnard too?" demanded Quent.
"There will be less chance of getting caught. Remember, I"ve got those three s.p.a.ce Cadets and Strong to worry about."
"You can"t expect to get what we"re after unless you take chances. Now get back to the s.p.a.ceport and put this stuff in Barnard"s feeders. You blast off tomorrow morning before he does and won"t have much time."
"O.K.," agreed Quent. "When did Ross get to Luna City?"
"Yesterday. I had him come in from the hide-out."
"You think there"ll be any cause for suspicion with him on the Moon and me down here?" asked Quent.
"When you land at Luna City s.p.a.ceport, he"ll disappear. By that time we should know how the time trials are shaping up."
"O.K. Where are you going now?"
"Back to the office. I"ve still got some things to check on before the big race. We"re going to use the hide-out for that."
A smile spread across Quent Miles" face. "So that"s it, eh? Pretty clever, Charley. Ross know about it?"
"Yeah. He"s leaving as soon as he knows we"ve won the time trials. Now get back to the s.p.a.ceport and take care of Barnard"s ship."
Quent slipped his hand inside his tunic and patted the lead container.
"Too bad this isn"t a baby bomb," he muttered. "We could be sure Barnard wouldn"t finish."
"He"s finished right now, but he doesn"t know it." Brett smiled. "He"s borrowed heavily just on this race, and when he loses, the banks will close him up. Kit Barnard is through."
CHAPTER 5
"We regret to announce that the s.p.a.ceship _La Belle France_, piloted by Gigi Duarte, has crashed!"
Captain Strong"s voice was choked with emotion as he made the announcement over the s.p.a.ceport public-address system. There was an audible groan of sympathy from the thousands of spectators in the grandstands. In spite of every precaution for safety, death had visited the s.p.a.ceways.
Strong continued, "We have just received official confirmation from Luna City that the Paris-Venusport Transfer Company entry exploded in s.p.a.ce soon after leaving Luna City. Captain Duarte had flown the first leg of the race from Earth to the Moon in record time."