The door to Tom's room opened and the curly-haired cadet walked in
holding an application.

"Captain Strong," he said, "could I see you a minute?"

"Sure, Tom. Any trouble?" asked Strong.

Tom handed him the application silently and waited. Strong read the
sheet and turned to Tom. "You know what to do in a case like this, Tom.
Why come to me?"

Tom screwed up his face, thinking. "I don't know, sir. There's something
different about this fellow. Astro passed him with flying colors. Said
he knew as much about a reactor unit as he did. Roger passed him too."

"Who is it?" asked Roger. Strong handed him the paper.

"Sure, I passed him," said Roger. "That guy really knows his
electronics."

Strong looked at Tom. "How do you feel about it, Tom?"

"Well, sir," began Tom, "I would pass him in a minute. He's had
experience handling men and he's been in deep space before. He's logged
an awful lot of time on merchant spaceships, but--"

"But what?" asked Strong. He took the paper and studied it again. "Looks
to me as if he's what we're looking for," he said.