Chapter 5

“We passed!”

Tom turned away from the lists posted on the dormitory bulletin board and with his arms around Astro and Roger pushed through the knot of cadets.

“Yeow!” bellowed Astro.

“We made it,” murmured Roger with a note of disbelief in his voice. “We made it!” And then, with the realization that he was still a Space Cadet for at least another term, he turned and began pounding Astro on the back. “You big Venusian ape, we made it.”

Arm in arm, the three cadets strolled across the quadrangle and shouted to friends they passed. Occasionally they fell silent when they saw a boy carrying his gear to the supply building. These had failed to pass the rigid examinations.

Near the Tower of Galileo, the cadets came face to face with Tony Richards, McAvoy, and Davison. The two units looked at each other silently, remembering what had happened only four short weeks before. Then they all smiled and pounded each other on the back, congratulating each other on passing. Neither of the units had made top honors as a result of their fight and the trial, and having to spend so much time on guard duty, but they had passed and that was the most important thing. The boys all adjourned to the credit exchange and gorged themselves on Martian fruit pies covered with ice cream. Finally the party broke up when Tom remembered that he and his unit mates had to go on guard duty in half an hour.

“Well,” said Tony Richards, rising, “we relieve you guys at midnight, so we might as well hit the sack right now. I’ve been waiting for this night for a long time.”

“No study,” sighed Davison. “What heaven! I feel as if I’ve been pardoned from prison.”

The three boys of the Capella crew said good-by to Tom, Roger, and Astro, and walked off. Tom settled back in his chair and sighed. “Sure wish I was in their boots,” he said. “I don’t see how I’m going to get through tonight.”

“Don’t think about it,” said Roger. “Only seven more days to go, and then we go on summer cruise with the Polaris.”

“I can’t wait to get back on that power deck,” said Astro. “It’ll be like going home.”

Later, riding the new slidewalk to the area where the huge hangar had been built, they saw Captain Strong returning from the restricted area on the other slidewalk. They hopped off their walk and waited for the young officer.

“I’m happy that you passed the exams, boys,” he said. “And I want you to know Commander Walters and Major Connel think a lot more of you, though they wouldn’t admit it, for the way you worked to make it.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Astro respectfully.

“You’ll have to excuse us, sir,” said Tom. “We’ve got to get out to the hangar and go on guard.”

“Yes, and you’d better hurry,” said Strong. “After that mix-up with Dave Barret, Firehouse Tim has his eye on you. Barret put up quite a fuss about it.”

“I still don’t see how Mr. Barret got in there,” said Tom. “The fourth side of the hangar faces the hills, and we three covered the other three sides.”

“However he got in,” interrupted Strong, “he had a right to be there. And he also had a right to carry sidearms.”

“Captain Strong,” said Roger, “we’ve talked about it a lot, the three of us. And we decided that regardless of what Major Connel or Firehouse or Barret have said, we’d do the same thing, in the same way again.”

“I think you’re perfectly right, Manning. But don’t quote me,” said Strong, his voice serious. “This is one of the most important projects I’ve ever been connected with and--” He stopped suddenly. “Well, I can’t tell you any more. That’s how tight the security is on it.”

“But everyone knows that it’s a projectile that will home on a target, sir,” said Tom.

“Yes, that was given to the stereos for general news release, but there are other factors involved, factors so important that they could revolutionize the whole concept of space flight.”

“Wow!” said Tom. “No wonder they have this place so well guarded.”

“Humph,” snorted Roger. “I’d give up the opportunity of guarding this revolutionary secret for one night’s good sleep.”

“You’ll get that tomorrow when we go off duty,” said Tom. “And please, Roger, no blunders tonight, eh? Let’s not take any chances of losing the summer cruise in the Polaris.”

“Listen! You want to talk to the Venusian hick about that, not me,” declared Roger. “He’s the one that spotted Barret.”

“But you hit him on the head,” growled Astro. “You and your catlike reflexes.” The big cadet referred to a recent letter he had seen in which one of the blond-haired cadet’s many space dolls referred to his sensitivity as being that of a poet, and his dancing as smooth as the reflexes of a cat.

Roger spun on the big cadet. “You blasted throwback to a Venusian ape!” he roared. “If I ever catch you reading my mail again--”

“You’ll what?” growled Astro. “You’ll do just exactly what?” He grabbed Roger by the arm and held him straight out, so that he looked as if he were hanging from a tree.

Strong laughed and shook his head. “I give you three to the loving, tender care of Firehouse Tim,” he said, hopping over on the moving slidewalk, back to the Academy.

“Put me down, you overgrown idiot,” Roger howled.

“Not until you promise not to threaten me with violence again,” said Astro with a wink at Tom. The young curly-haired cadet doubled up with laughter. Finally Roger was lowered to the ground, and, though he rubbed his shoulder and grumbled, he was really pleased that Astro felt like roughhousing with him. The events of the last few weeks had so tired all of them that there had been no energy left for play.

Lightheartedly they stepped over to the slidewalk and were back on their way to the secret project.

Two huge wire fences had been built around the hangar area now, fences carrying a surge of paralyzing power ready to greet anyone that dared touch it. More than twenty feet high, the outer fence was buried six feet into the ground and was some hundred yards away from the hangar building itself, and fifty yards away from the second fence. The entire area was also guarded by radar. Should any unauthorized person or object be found in that area, an automatic alarm sounded and in fifteen seconds a hundred fully armed guards were ready for action. The men who had been cleared by security to work in and around the restricted area wore specially designed belts of sensitized metal that offset the effects of the radar. But the fence was still the untouchable for everyone.

Tom, Roger, and Astro had now been moved inside the hangar itself, to stand guard over the only three doors in the cavernous structure. They were armed with powerful heat blasters. These rifles were different from the paralo-ray guns they had used previously. A beam of light from the ray guns would only paralyze a human being, while the blaster destroyed anything it touched, burning it to a crisp.

As soon as the three cadets saw the change in armament, they knew they were guarding something so secret that human life, if it interfered with the project, would be disintegrated. Only once before, on a hunting trip to Venus, had they ever used the blasters, but they knew the deadly power of the weapons.

Nothing was said to them. Firehouse Tim had not posted any special orders or given them any special instructions. Each man who worked inside the hangar had to pass a simple but telling test of identification. On a table at each entrance to the hangar was a small box with a hole in the top. Each worker, guard, and person that entered the hangar had to insert a key into the hole and it made contact with a highly sensitive electronic device inside. The keys were issued only by Major Connel or Captain Strong, and should anyone attempt to enter the hangar without it, or should the key not make the proper contact, lighting up a small bulb on the top of the box, Tom, Roger, and Astro had simple instructions: Shoot to kill.