leration, and Tom
could feel the tug of war between the cruiser's thrust and the
satellite's gravity. The ship continued to drop at slightly lessened
speed, but still too fast to land safely.

Tom waited for Vidac to order emergency thrust to counter the pull of
the satellite. They were dropping too fast. He watched Vidac and waited
for the only order that would save the ship. If he doesn't do it now,
thought Tom, it will be too late.

"Vidac!" yelled Tom. "Emergency power! We're falling too fast!"

Vidac didn't answer. "Vidac!" screamed Tom again. "Emergency power!"

The man didn't move. He sat in front of the control panel as though
paralyzed. Tom slipped off the straps of the acceleration chair and
raced to the intercom. Vidac made no attempt to stop him.

"Astro! Full emergency thrust! Hit it!"

In immediate reply, a jolting burst of power blasted through the tubes,
jerking the ship convulsively and throwing Tom to the deck. A loud,
crashing sound filled the ship, followed by a strange stillness. Dimly
Tom realized that the rockets had been cut and they were safely on the
surface of the satellite.

He picked himself up and turned to face Vidac. The lieutenant governor
was unstrapping himself from the pilot's chair. His face was ashen. He
stalked out of the control deck without a word.

"Touchdown!" screamed Roger from the radar deck. "We made it. We're on
Roald!"

Tom heard the blond-haired cadet, but his unit mate's excitement did not
register. He was staring at the open hatch. "He lost his nerve," said
Tom aloud, half to himself and half to Governor Hardy who was
unstrapping himself from the acceleration chair. "He quit cold!"

"He certainly did," said Hardy. "And if it wasn't for your quick
thinking, we'd be spread all over this satellite!"

Roger tumbled down the ladder from the radar deck. "Nice work, Tom," he
shouted, slapping his unit mate on the back. He followed Tom's gaze past
Hardy to the empty hatch.

"Say, can you imagine a guy like that suddenly losing his nerve?" asked
Roger.

"No," replied Tom. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't
believe it!"

"This will go on your official record of course," said Hardy. "I'll see
that you're rewarded in some way, Corbett."

"Thank you, sir," said Tom. "But if you could just assure me that my
reports back to the Academy will get through, I'll be very happy."

"You mean they're not being sent?" asked Hardy, seemingly quite
concerned.