off."

Spears, Coglin, and Duke jumped into the chairs and Tom walked around
them eying them coldly. "Now, Misters," he said, "you are to blast off,
make a complete circle of the Earth, and return to the Academy spaceport
for a touchdown. Is that clearly understood?"

"All clear," chorused the boys.

"Stand by to raise ship!" bawled Tom.

"Power deck, check in!" snapped Duke from the first chair. "Radar deck,
check in!"

"Just one moment, Mister," interrupted Roger. "When you issue an order
over the intercom, I want to see you pick up that mike. I want to see
all the motions. It's up to you, Misters, to make us believe that you
are blasting off!"

"Very well," replied Duke with a nervous glance back at his unit mates.

"Carry on!" roared Tom.

Then, as Tom, Roger, and Astro sprawled on their bunks, grinning openly,
the three Earthworm cadets began their simulated flight through space.
Going through the movements of operating the complicated equipment of a
spaceship, they pushed, pulled, jerked, snapped on imaginary switches,
read unseen meters and gauges, and slammed around in their chairs to
simulate acceleration reaction. The three cadets of the _Polaris_ unit
could no longer restrain themselves and broke into loud laughter at the
antics of the aspirants. Finally, when they had landed their imaginary
ship again, the Earthworms were pounded on the back heartily.

"Welcome to Space Academy!" said Tom with a grin. "That was as smooth a
ride as I've ever had."

"Yeah," agreed Astro, pumping Coglin's hand. "You handled those reactors
and atomic motors like a regular old space buster!"

"And that was real fine astrogation, Spears," Roger chimed in. "Why, you
laid out such a smooth course, you never left the ground!"

The three Earthworms relaxed, and while Astro brewed hot cups of tea
with synthetic pellets and water from the shower, Tom and Roger told
them about the traditions and customs of the Academy.

Tom began by telling them how important it was for each crew member to
be able to depend on his unit mate. "You see," he said, "in space there
isn't much time for individual heroics. Too many things can happen too
fast for it to be a one-man operation."

"I'll say," piped up Roger. "A couple of times I've been on the radar
deck and seen a hunk of space junk coming down on us fast. So instead of
following book procedure, relaying the dope to Tom on the control deck
to pass it on to Astro, I'd just sing ou