"Get that, Astro?" snapped Tom. "Stand by for one-quarter burst on
steering rockets!"

"One-quarter--right!" acknowledged the power-deck cadet and turned to
the massive panel that controlled the rockets.

On the control deck Tom Corbett continued talking to Roger. "Relay the
pickup to the control-deck scanner, Roger," he ordered. "Let me take a
look at that thing."

In a moment the thin sweeping white line on the control-deck scanner
swept around the green surface of the screen, picking out the blip that
marked the meteor. Tom watched it for a moment and then barked into the
intercom, "Stand by to execute change course!"

He watched the meteor a few more seconds, making sure the course change
would take them out of its path, and then gave the command. "Fire!"

Before he could draw another breath, Tom felt himself pressed into his
seat as the _Polaris_ quickly accelerated and curved up and away from
the onrushing meteor in a long, smooth arc.

Captain Strong suddenly stepped through the hatch into the control deck.
Glancing quickly at the scanner screen, he saw the white blip that was
the meteor flashing away from the _Polaris_ and he smiled.

"That was nice work, Corbett!" said Strong. "Get us back on course as
soon as you can. Governor Hardy wants to get to Venusport as quickly as
possible."