only question left in our minds is whether Hardy is working for Vidac,
or Vidac for Hardy. No one could be as blind to what's going on as Hardy
seems to be."

"Three words," said Tom half to himself. "Sweat it out!"

* * * * *

Like a gleaming diamond on the black velvet of space, the sun star Wolf
359 loomed ahead of the giant fleet, solitary and alone in its
magnificence. With the _Polaris_ leading the way for the mass of space
vessels that stretched back and away, the pioneers and their families
blasted through the last million miles that separated them from their
new home in deep space.

Fifty-five billion miles from their own sun, they were about to
establish a colony as their forefathers had done centuries before them.
Like the first colony in the new world, then on the Moon, Mars, Venus,
Mercury, Titan, and Ganymede, and hundreds of outposts in the asteroid
belt, these Earthmen were braving new dangers and hardships, leaving the
comfort of their homes to establish the first star colony. Inside each
of the massive ships, Earthmen gathered around the scanners to look
ahead across the abyss of space and gaze at their new home. Finally the
momentous order came crackling through the teleceivers.

"_Polaris_ to fleet! Single up for landing! Ships to follow the
_Polaris_ and touch down in order of their fleet numbers!"

On the control deck of the command ship, Vidac began barking orders to
Tom. The three cadets had been reassigned to their original stations