as another sound, much closer. In fact, it was in
the room with him.

He opened one eye to see Quent Miles moving about in the one-room,
airtight space hut which had been his jail for the last week. Miles was
throwing clothes into a space bag, keeping a wary eye on Roger, sprawled
on the bunk. Hoisting the bag to his shoulder, Miles closed the face
plate of his space helmet, turned to the air lock, and stepped inside,
slamming the portal behind him. From the bunk, Roger could hear the
hissing of the change of pressure inside the lock from normal to the
vacuum of space outside.

The entire week had been a time of waiting and wondering. He couldn't
understand Miles' actions in taking him prisoner the moment before
blast-off from Earth, and then keeping him at the asteroid, seemingly
giving up all chances of winning the race.

Roger waited until he was sure that the black-clad spaceman had gone,
then he sat up and worked desperately on the thin metal chain binding
his wrists. He had been working on one of the links ever since his
arrival at Miles' strange asteroid base, scraping it against the rough
metal edge of one of the legs of his bunk. Two days before, he had
succeeded in wearing it down to a point where he could snap it easily
when the opportunity came for him to make a break. But so far the chance
had not presented itself. He had been kept prisoner in the space hut,
and Miles had pushed his food in through a vent in the air lock. Now,
however, with the sound of the spaceship outside, the cadet decided it
was time for action.

Working quickly, Roger snapped the link and tore off the chain, freeing
his hands. He allowed himself the longed-for luxury of stretching just
once, and then crossed to the small locker beside the air-lock door to
take out a space suit. He climbed into it hurriedly, secured the helmet,
and began searching the small room for a weapon. In the bottom of a
chest he found a rocketman's wrench. Grasping it tightly, he stepped
into the air lock. Just before he turned on the oxygen in his space
suit, he listened again for the noise of the blasting ship. Then he
grinned as he realized that it wasn't the noise of the ship he heard,
but the vibration it created on the surface of the asteroid. Sound
wouldn't travel through the vacuum of space outside. Suddenly it stopped
and Roger realized the tubes were being blasted in preparation for
take-off. The young cadet closed the inner portal of the lock, ad