[Illustration: _"We better take it easy, Astro," said Tom. "Turn off the
lights."_]

"Colonists!" cried Astro. "Why would they want to help him?"

"Vidac will think of something to convince them that we're dangerous
criminals," said Roger grimly. "Tom's right. We've got to get the
_Polaris_."

They were just leaving the crystal city behind them and winding through
the hill section surrounding the flat plain. Astro's handling of the jet
car was perfect as he took the curves in the road at full throttle. They
still had a long way to go to reach the spaceport that had been built on
the other side of the hills.

"You sure did a fine job of conversion on these jet boats," said Tom to
Astro. "This baby feels as though she was going to take off."

"I wish it was," said Roger, looking up at the hills on either side of
them. "It would be a lot easier to blast over these things than go
through them."

The car sped up to the last summit that separated them from the
spaceport.

"We'd better take it easy," said Tom. "Turn off the lights, Astro. We'll
ditch this jet car about a mile from the spaceport and walk the rest of
the way."

"Right," said Astro. He gunned the little vehicle for the last burst of