large glass tube with a crystal surface that had been polished to
a smooth finish.

"Two thousand tons," said Quent. "Why?"

Roger shook his head. "This is too small, Mr. Miles. You will have to
use the standard operational scope."

"But it's too big."

"I'm sorry, sir--" began Roger.

"Sorry!" Quent exploded. "Give me that tube, you squirt." He snatched it
out of Roger's hand. "I'm using this scope whether you like it or not!"

"If you use that scope," said Tom coldly, "your ship will be
disqualified."

Quent glared at the two boys for a moment, his black eyes cold and hard.
"They make kids feel mighty important around here, don't they?"

"They give us jobs to do," said Roger. "Usually we can handle them fine.
Occasionally we run into a space-gassing bum and he makes things
difficult, but we manage to take care of him."

Quent stepped forward in a threatening manner, but Roger did not move.
"Listen," the spaceman snarled, "stay out of my way, you young punk, or
I'll blast you."

"Don't ever make the mistake of touching me, Mister," said Roger
calmly. "You might find that you're the one who's blasted."

Quent stared at them a moment, then spun on his heels and swaggered back
to his ship.

"You know, Roger," said Tom, watching Miles disappear into the hangar,
"I have an idea he is one spaceman who'll back up his threats."

Roger ignored Tom's statement. "Come on. We've got a lot of work to do,"
he said, turning away.

The two cadets headed for the next hangar and boarded a ship with the
picture of a chicken on its nose. While Roger examined the
communications and astrogation deck, Tom busied himself inspecting the
control deck, where the great panels of the master control board were
stripped of everything but absolute essentials. Later, they called Astro
back to make a careful inspection of the power deck on the ship. While
they waited for the Venusian cadet, Tom and Roger talked to the pilot.

Gigi Duarte was a small, dapper Frenchman who somehow, in the course of
his life, had acquired the nickname "Chicken" and it had been with him
ever since. The cadets had met him once before when they rode on a
passenger liner from Mars to Venusport and liked the small, stubby
spaceman. Now, renewing their friendship, the boys and "Gigi the
Chicken" sat on the lower step of the air lock and chatted.

"This is the greatest thing that has happened to me," said Gigi. "Ever
since I can remember, I have wanted to rac