concrete ramp.

"Cut all power!" Tom's voice blasted through the intercom. A split
second later there was a deafening silence, followed by a heavy muffled
thud and the creak of straining metal as the _Polaris_ came to rest on
the ramp.

"_Touchdown!_" yelled Tom. He quickly cut all power to the control board
and watched as one by one the gauges and dials registered zero or empty.
The cadet stood up, noticed the time on the astral chronometer, and
turned to face Captain Strong, rising from the chair beside him.

"_Polaris_ made touchdown, planet Venus, at exactly 1543, sir," he said
and saluted crisply.

Strong returned the salute. "Good work, Corbett," he said. "You handled
her as though she was nothing more than a baby carriage!"

Roger came bouncing down the ladder, grinning. "Well," he said, "we're
back on the planet where the monkeys walk around and call themselves
men!"

"I heard that, Manning!" roared Astro, struggling through the hatch from
the power deck. "One more crack like that and I'll stand you on your
head and blast you off with your own space gas!"

"Listen, you overgrown Venusian ape," replied Roger, "I'll--"

"Yeah--" growled Astro, advancing on the smaller cadet. "You'll what?"