ered, the two cadets quickly forgot their game
and turned to greet the farmer.

"Hiya, Mr. Logan!" said Astro. "You saved me from doing a wicked deed."

Logan stared at the big cadet, puzzled. "How's that again, Astro?"

Roger laughed. "He's joking, sir. I was about to clean him out in a game
of checkers."

Logan sat wearily on the side of the nearest bunk. "I wish all I had to
lose was a game of checkers."

He quickly filled in the details of the meeting between Vidac and the
farmers. Tom had awakened by this time and heard the last of the older
man's story. He turned to his unit mates.

"Well, it looks as though we're right back where we started," he said.
"And here I thought Vidac was O.K. after the way he worked during the
past ten days setting up Roald City."

"I've been talking to some of the other men," said Logan bitterly. "They
feel the same way I do. Something's got to be done about this!"

"But what?" asked Roger.

"And how?" chimed in Astro.

"Force, by the stars!" yelled Logan. "And when I say force, I mean
throwing Vidac and Hardy and his crew out!"

"You can't do a thing like that, sir," said Tom. "It would be playing
right into their hands. Remember, Vidac and Hardy represent the Solar
Alliance here on Roald. If you tried force, you would be charged with
rebellion against the Solar Alliance!"

"Well," snorted Logan, "what have _you_ got in mind?"

"When the enemy is in full control, Mr. Logan," said Tom quietly, "the
best thing to do is draw back and regroup, then wait for the right
moment to attack. Vidac wants you to revolt now. He's expecting it, I'm
sure. But if we wait, he can't get away with making you mortgage your
land holdings or your profits. Somewhere along the line he'll slip up,
and when he does, that's when we start operating!"

Meanwhile, in his luxurious office in the Administration Building, Vidac
sat behind a massive desk, talking to Tad Winters.

"Now that the land boundaries have been established, and the colonists
have their little pieces of dirt," he said, "we can go right to work.
I've told the farmers that they'll have to sign over half of their
profits to get chemicals to farm with. They're already talking about
revolt, which is just what I want them to do. Let them rebel. We can
throw them into the brig, send them back to Earth, and take over their
property in the name of the City of Roald!"

"Which is you," said Tad Winters with a smile. "That's the smartest