, huh?" mused Kit, almost asking the question
of himself.

"That's right. I checked it right away, but I couldn't find anything
wrong."

"Well, it's too late now, anyway. I blast in three minutes." Grimly Kit
Barnard looked up at the sky where the black ship had just vanished.

"Spaceman's luck, Kit," said Sid, offering his hand. Kit grasped it
quickly and jumped into his ship, closing the air lock behind him.

As Sid climbed down from the ramp, the three cadets rushed up
breathlessly, disappointed at being unable to give Kit their personal
good wishes.

"Well, anyway, I gave the new reactor my blessing last night," said
Astro as they walked away from the ramp.

"You were aboard the ship last night?" Sid exclaimed.

"Uh-huh," replied Astro. "Hope you don't mind."

"No, not a bit!" Sid broke into a smile. "Whew! I thought for a while it
was Quent."

"What about Quent?" asked Tom.

"I saw someone messing around on the power deck last night and thought
it might be Quent. But now that you say it was you, Astro, there isn't
anything to worry about."

Reaching a safe distance from the ramp, they stopped just as Strong
finished counting off the seconds to blast off.

"_Zero!_"

The three cadets and Sid waited for the initial shattering roar of the
jets, but it did not come. Instead, there was a loud bang, followed by
another, and then another. And only then did the ship begin to leave the
ground, gradually picking up speed and shooting spaceward.

"What was wrong?" asked Tom, looking at Sid.

"The feeders," replied the young engineer miserably. "They're not
functioning properly. They're probably jamming."

Astro looked puzzled. "But I checked those feeders myself, just before
you closed the casing," he said. "They were all right then."

"Are you sure?" asked Sid.

"Of course I'm sure," said Astro. "Checking the feeders is one of my
main jobs."

"Then it must be the reactant," said Tom. "Did Kit use standard
reactant?"

Sid nodded. "Got it right here at the spaceport. Same stuff everyone
else is using."

Gloomily the four young spacemen turned away from the ramp and headed
for the control tower to hear the latest reports from the ships already
underway. There were only a few more ships scheduled to blast off, and
the cadets had already inspected them.

"Wait a minute," said Tom, stopping suddenly. "The fuel tanks are on the
portside of the ship, and the feeders are on the starboard. Where did
you