Chapter 15

“Is he still out there?” Tom whispered.

“Yeah,” growled Astro. “He hasn’t moved.”

“They’re not taking any chances,” said Roger. “When they change the guard, they take out their ray guns, just in case.”

The three cadets were crowded around the door of their quarters with Astro down on his hands and knees, trying to see through a small crack. The big cadet straightened up and shook his head.

“I guess it’s useless,” he sighed. “Vidac is making sure we stay here.”

“Well,” said Roger disgustedly, “if we don’t get out pretty soon, we won’t--” He didn’t finish the sentence. At that moment the door suddenly opened and Bush stepped in, two paralo-ray guns in his hands, cocked and ready to fire. Behind him was Hyram Logan and his daughter, Jane.

“You got ten minutes,” said Bush, “and one funny move out of any of you and I’ll blast you silly.”

He closed the door and the click of the lock could be heard ominously.

“Mr. Logan!” exclaimed Tom. “How’d you manage to get in here?”

“Sonny,” replied the Venusian farmer, “when you’re dealing with crooks, you have to act like a crook!” He smiled and added, “I bought my way in here!”

“You mean that Vidac doesn’t know you’re here?” asked Astro.

“No,” said Jane. “But we had to come. Vidac was going to--” She stopped and turned to her father. “Maybe you’d better tell them, Father.”

“Well,” said Logan slowly, “we just heard that Vidac is going to hold trial for you three boys right here on Roald.”

“Trial!” exclaimed Astro.

“How’d you find that out?” asked Tom.

“They called all the colonists together and gave us pieces of paper with numbers on them,” said Logan. “Then they put all the numbers into a bowl and picked twelve of them out again. The people that held those numbers were told that they were going to be the jury at your trial for the murder of Professor Sykes!”

“Murder?” exclaimed Roger.

“Blast my jets!” roared Astro. “They can’t do that! We’re under Solar Guard jurisdiction!”

“That’s what I told them,” snorted Logan. “You see, my number was pulled. I got up and opened my big mouth. I should have kept quiet and sat on the jury, and then had my say where it would have meant something!”

“Then they took you off the jury?” asked Roger.

“Yep,” said Logan. “Me and everyone else they thought might be prejudiced!”

“We came to tell you,” said Jane, “because we wanted you to know what was going on and to see if there was anything we could do to help.”

“We already tried to help in a lot of ways,” said Logan. “We tried to get that space jerk outside to let you escape. I offered him--well, I offered him a lot, but he wouldn’t do it.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Jane, looking at Tom.

“I don’t know, Jane,” said Tom. “But we’ve certainly got to do something. If we ever stand trial here on Roald--”

Tom was interrupted by a loud banging on the door, followed by the click of the lock. Then the door was opened and Bush stepped inside.

“All right, Logan,” said Bush. “Time’s up!”

“But--but,” complained Logan, “we’ve only been here two minutes!”

“Time’s up, I said,” sneered Bush. He raised his ray guns threateningly.

“Well, I guess we’d better go,” said Logan. He turned and shook hands with each of the cadets. “Good luck, boys,” he said with a smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll find someway of getting you out of this mess!”

“Thanks for telling us, sir,” said Tom.

“Telling you what?” demanded Bush.

“That the world is round and that you’re a square-headed space crawler,” said Roger casually.

“A real big mouth, eh!” snarled Bush. “Why, I oughta--” He raised his guns again, but just at the moment Jane walked into the line of fire and stood there quietly. Bush stepped back. It was just enough to break the tension.

“Go on!” Bush growled. “Get out of here!”

“Don’t get rough,” said Logan, “or I might tell your boss you took a bribe to let us see the cadets!” With a parting wink at the boys, he followed Jane out.

Just as Bush started to close the door, Tom stepped forward. “How about something to eat,” he demanded, “and some story tapes to pass away the time?”

“Yeah,” said Roger, picking up Tom’s cue, “and we don’t want anything you’d select either. It might be too infantile! Send Jeff Marshall up here so we can get what we want!”

“I’ll see about it,” sneered Bush, slamming the door behind him.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Roger asked Tom.

“Yes. If there is anyone we can trust, it’s Jeff. Let’s hope that space jerk outside comes through!”

“Well,” growled Astro, “if worse comes to worse, we can always jump him.”

“Uh--uh,” said Tom, shaking his head. “We wouldn’t get past the first corridor. If we escape, and we will, we’ve got to have help from someone on the outside!”

“But won’t they be watching Jeff too?” asked Astro.

“Sure they will, but we’ve got to take that chance. If Vidac holds us for trial here on Roald, and we’re convicted, the only place for a review of the case will be the Solar Council Chamber back on Earth.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” asked Astro.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it,” said Roger. “Before the case would come up for a review, we would have already spent at least two years on a prison rock!”

Meanwhile, in his office in the Administration Building, Lieutenant Governor Vidac listened with mounting apprehension to a report from the communications control officer of Roald.