"Never mind, Jeff," said Tom. "If Vidac suspected we were building that
communicator, he'd have found it sooner or later. The thing is, what are
we going to do now?"

"I'll tell you in three words," growled Astro. The others looked at the
big cadet. "Sweat it out," he said finally.

Tom nodded his head. "You're right, Astro. We're tied hand and foot to
this guy for the next eleven months."

"How about Governor Hardy?" suggested Jeff.

"We just saw the illustrious governor," said Roger bitterly. "And the
only question left in our minds is whether Hardy is working for Vidac,
or Vidac for Hardy. No one could be as blind to what's going on as Hardy
seems to be."

"Three words," said Tom half to himself. "Sweat it out!"

* * * * *

Like a gleaming diamond on the black velvet of space, the sun star Wolf
359 loomed ahead of the giant fleet, solitary and alone in its
magnificence. With the _Polaris_ leading the way for the mass of space
vessels that stretched back and away, the pioneers and their families
blasted through the last million miles that separated them from their
new home in deep space.

Fifty-five billion miles from their own sun, they were about to
establish a colony as their forefathers had done centuries before them.
Like the first colony in the new world, then on the Moon, Mars, Venus,
Mercury, Titan, and Ganymede, and hundreds of outposts in the asteroid
belt, these Earthmen were braving new dangers and hardships, leaving the
comfort of their homes to establish the first star colony. Inside each
of the massive ships, Earthmen gathered around the scanners to look
ahead across the abyss of space and gaze at their new home. Finally the
momentous order came crackling through the teleceivers.

"_Polaris_ to fleet! Single up for landing! Ships to follow the
_Polaris_ and touch down in order of their fleet numbers!"

On the control deck of the command ship, Vidac began barking orders to
Tom. The three cadets had been reassigned to their original stations
because of their intimate knowledge and sure handling of the giant ship.

"Prepare the ship for touchdown, Corbett!" yelled Vidac.

"Yes, sir," said Tom. He flipped on the intercom and barked orders to
Astro below on the power deck.

"Stand by to reduce thrust to one-quarter space speed, Astro. Stand by
forward nose braking rockets."

"Right," replied Astro.

"Hey, Roger!" yelled Tom. "How far are we from the surface?"