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Updated: June 12, 2025
"Get your gear and yourselves over on that slidewalk! Blast!" He turned once again to the rolling platform. Manning smiled at Astro and hopped nimbly onto the slidewalk after McKenny, leaving his luggage in a heap in front of Astro. "And be careful with that small case, Astro," he called as he drifted away. "Here, Astro," said Tom. "I'll give you a hand." "Never mind," replied Astro grimly.
Most of the ground crew were ex-spacemen like McKenny, no longer able to blast off because of acceleration reaction. And they smiled knowingly, remembering their reactions to their first spaceship. Inside the massive cruiser, the boys roamed over every deck, examining the ship excitedly. "Say look at this!" cried Tom.
"It's back to the hold of a Venusport freighter, I guess. I don't know." Astro paused and looked at Tom. "What'll you do?" "Go home," said Tom simply. "Go home and and find a job." "Ever think about the enlisted Solar Guard? Look at McKenny " "Yeah but " "I know how you feel," sighed Astro. "Being in the enlisted section is like well, being a passenger almost." The door was suddenly flung open.
"The only reason I'm not logging you now is because you're not a Space Cadet yet and won't be, until you've taken the Academy oath!" "Yes, sir!" McKenny walked down the line and across the platform to an open teleceiver booth. The ranks were quiet and motionless, and as he made his call, McKenny smiled.
McKenny blew the whistle again and the boys charged forward, but by now, aware of the sudden flash of unity on the part of the opposing team, the Capella unit fought desperately to salvage at least a tie. Tom managed to block a kick by Richards, and the ball took a dizzy hop to the left, landing in front of Astro. He was in the clear.
"My congratulations for having solved that problem too!" Strong saluted them again and walked toward the door, where he paused. "By the way, I want you to report to the Academy spaceport tomorrow at eight hundred hours. Warrant Officer McKenny has something out there he wants to show you." Tom's eyes bugged out and he stepped forward.
"Cut the chatter," snapped Roger nervously. "Baldy's ready to give us the go ahead!" Standing on the side lines, Warrant Officer McKenny slowly raised his hand, and the crowd in the grandstand hushed in eager anticipation. A second passed and then there was a tremendous roar as he brought his hand down and blew heavily on the whistle.
Warrant Officer McKenny burst into the room and began to compete with the rest of the noise outside the buildings. "Five minutes to the dining hall and you'd better not be late! Take the slidestairs down to the twenty-eighth floor. Tell the mess cadet in charge of the hall your unit number and he'll show you to the right table.
Tom laughed and shook hands with the elderly spaceman. "Yes, sir," he said. "But you could hardly call Astro a monkey!" "More along the lines of a Venusian gorilla, if you ask me!" snorted McKenny. The short, squat spaceman's eyes twinkled. "I've been hearing some mighty fine things about you three space bongos, Tommy.
"But never mind, my dear," he comments, "I had a good run for my money." Staff-Sergeant J.W. Butler, 1st Lincolns, was saved by a paper pad in his pocket book; the bullet embedded itself there. Sapper McKenny, Royal Engineers, records the unique experience of a comrade whose cap was shot off so neatly that the bullet left a groove in his hair just like a barber's parting!
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