the jet barge. With many of the vital parts aboard the crashed
freighters still hot with radioactivity, the crew had to improvise. And
Astro, with his native talent for mechanics, soon became the unspoken
leader of the crew. Even the supervisor acknowledged the young cadet's
superior ability and allowed him a free hand in the construction of the
barge. After six hours of hard labor, the "mover" was finished. It was
not the streamlined machine its designer had conceived, but it was
effective, in some cases, more so than the designer imagined. A low,
flat table roughly three hundred feet square, it moved on sledlike
runners and was powered by two dozen rockets. On each of the four sides
there was a two-hundred-foot boom which could be swung around in a 360°
arc and was capable of lifting three hundred tons. Astro's most
outstanding improvement on the original design was what he termed
"adjustment rockets," placing single rockets that could be individually
controlled on all four sides, so that the operator of the giant jet
barge could jockey into perfect position anywhere. The machine quickly
demonstrated it could move anything, anywhere.

Roger worked with the supervisor of the assembly groups, ordering
supplies and machinery as they were needed from the wrecking crews and
seeing that they were sent to the right place at the right time. One of
his first jobs was the assembling of materials for the construction of
the Administration Building of the colony. Less than five days after the
foundation had been dug, the last gleaming sheets of Titan crystal were
welded together and the building towered over the plain, a glistening
monument to man's first flight to the stars.

Tom had been assigned to work closely with Vidac, who was responsible
for all the construction on Roald. The young cadet welcomed the chance
to observe the man in action, and time after time he found