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"Three degrees on the starboard rockets, seventy-eight degrees on the up-plane of the ecliptic will put you at the corner of Luna Drive and Moonset Land in the heart of Luna City, spaceboy!" answered Roger. "Get that, Astro?" asked Tom on the intercom. "All set," replied Astro. "Attention all ships in Squadron A this is flagship code name Starlight am changing course. Stand by to form up on me!"
"Take it easy, spaceboy," said Roger, "I'm leaving the hatch now. You and your fatheaded friend from Venus are so hopped up for getting a Solar Medal " "Knock it off, Manning!" said Astro from inside the ship. "And for your information, I don't want a medal. I don't want anything except for you to stop griping!"
Get me a course to Luna City!" "Good for us, spaceboy. I'll give you that course in a jiffy!" " ... Capella to Polaris am standing by for your orders...." Tony Richards' voice crackled over the teleceiver. One by one the twenty-three ships that made up the defender's fleet checked in for orders.
Presently the jet boat circled the Polaris and made a landing run for the open port. Roger braked the small craft and brought it to rest alongside the others. "That's it, spaceboy," he said to Astro. "All out for the Polaris express back home!"
Roger turned and glared at Tom. "The Academy regs say that the man on the control deck is the boss of the unit. But I have my private opinion of the man who has that job now!" "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tom. "Just this, spaceboy. There's a gym below where I'll take you or your big friend on together or one at a time." He paused, a cold smile twisting his lips.
Tom gave him a quick run-down on everything that had happened, concluding with, "Major Connel and Astro, with a patrol of Solar Guard Marines, are outside now drawing the Nationalist fire. Time's running out on us fast. Think you can walk?" "Spaceboy," replied Roger, "to get out of this place I'd crawl on my hands and knees!" "Then come on!"
"All right, spaceboy," said Strong, flopping in the nearest chair. "Start at the beginning and give it to me. All of it!"
"Say it again, spaceboy," growled Roger. "Say it again!" At that moment over fifty-five billion miles away, in his office high in the Tower of Galileo, Commander Walters was talking with Captain Steve Strong and Dr. Joan Dale. The stern-faced, gray-haired commander of Space Academy frowned as he read a report Joan Dale had just given him. "Are you sure of this, Joan?" he asked.
He stared at the darkened screen and began estimating the chances of success for a plan he had in mind. Deciding that, regardless of what happened, he had to take over the ship, he got up and turned toward the hatch and the gun locker. He stopped cold. Loring stood framed in the doorway, a paralo-ray gun in each hand. "Just stand right where you are, spaceboy!" snapped Loring.
Roger thought a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "All right," he said finally. "When I went down to the library to see if it was our turn for them yet, I found that we were still twenty-seventh in line." "Twenty-seventh?" gasped Astro. "That's right, spaceboy!" snorted Roger.
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