re in when Quent Miles had blasted them with his paralo-ray gun. And
then Brett and Miles were standing before them again, Miles covering
them with his paralo-ray gun.

"Why should we break our backs loading the ship?" sneered Miles. "Let
them carry it out for us."

[Illustration: _"Look!" Strong cried. "It's Brett's ship!"_]

"All right, release them," agreed Brett. "But get that stuff loaded in
a hurry. Walters is either getting suspicious or he's pulling a bluff.
We can't take any more chances."

Miles flipped on the neutralizer switch of the paralo ray and leveled it
at Tom. "We'll take the little fella first," he said. "If he acts up,
we'll just leave the other fella the way he is."

He fired at Tom, and the young cadet began to shudder violently. His
teeth chattered and he found it difficult to focus his eyes as his
nervous system tried to shake off the effects of the ray. He crumpled to
a heap on the balcony floor and gasped for breath.

"He won't be much use to you for a while." Brett laughed. "Look at him
flopping around like a fish out of water."

"Get up!" snarled Miles at Tom, quickly flipping the ray gun back to
positive charge. "Come on. You're not that bad off. Get up." He leaned
over and prodded the cadet with the gun. "If you don't get up, I'll
freeze you again," he threatened.

Tom struggled to his feet. "I'll get you for this, Miles," he gasped
weakly, his teeth still chattering.

"Never mind the hot air!" snarled Brett. "Go down there and start
hauling up those boxes."

Tom turned helplessly and stumbled down the stairs to the floor of the
cavern.

"Now for the big fellow," said Miles. He fired the neutralizer charge
and Astro started to quiver at the shock of the release. But he clamped
his teeth together and made a quick lunge for Miles, reaching for the
spaceman's throat. Expecting the attack, Miles stepped aside quickly and
brought the gun down sharply on the big cadet's head. Astro dropped to
the floor, half-stunned. The black-clad spaceman leveled the ray gun and
sneered, "Try that again, you overgrown punk, and I'll drop you on your
head."

Astro shook his head and stumbled to his feet. He glared at Miles, spun
away, and walked down the stairs shakily.

Miles and Brett stood on the balcony and watched the two cadets working
on the cavern floor. "Hurry it up there!" shouted Miles. "We haven't got
all day."

Brett took his ray gun from his belt and stepped forward. "I'll handle