"That," announced Roger, "is as close as I ever want to come to getting
a rocket shell in the side of the head."

"You can say that again, spaceboy," sighed Astro.

"Just think what would have happened if we'd opened our mouths about
Vidac!"

"Come on," said Tom. "We've got twenty-four hours to soak up as much of
this Earth as we can. And I, for one, am going to have a good time!"

Without a word, the three cadets left the Tower building and made their
way to the monorail station, where they would catch the streamlined
express to Atom City. Each of the cadets was acutely aware of the
trouble that lay ahead of them, and with Captain Strong at the outer
edge of the solar system on a long haul to Pluto, not even a miracle
could get him back to Space Academy in time to help them.

[Illustration]




CHAPTER 6


A thousand spaceships, freighters, converted luxury liners, auxiliary
supply vessels, rocket cruisers, destroyers and scouts, all led by the
_Polaris_, blasted in even formation through the last charted regions of
the solar system. Inside the gleaming ships the colonists had settled