idea
you've ever had, boss!"

"In a short while," continued Vidac, "the entire satellite will be mine.
Ships, houses--and--"

Suddenly the door opened and Ed Bush hurried into the room.
"Boss!--boss!" he shouted breathlessly. "Logan is spilling everything to
the Space Cadets!"

"What?" cried Vidac. "How did that happen?"

"He came to the _Polaris_," whined Bush. "Said he had some books and
stuff he wanted to return, so I let him aboard. Luckily I followed him
and listened outside the door."

"What did they talk about?" demanded Vidac.

"Logan told them about the meeting with the farmers the other night. He
wanted to get the colonists together to start a rebellion, but Corbett
convinced him it would be the wrong thing to do."

"What?" yelled Vidac. He rose and grabbed Bush around the throat. "You
dirty space crawler! You've ruined everything. All my plans messed up,
because you let a hick and a kid outsmart you!"

"I'm sorry, boss," Bush whined. "I didn't know."

"Get out of here!" Vidac snarled. "I should have known better than to
jeopardize the whole operation by signing on a couple of space jerks
like you two! Get out!"

The two men left hurriedly and Vidac began to pace the floor. He was
acutely aware that his scheme was out in the open. All of the careful
planning to keep the cadets off balance and unsure of him until he could
make his move was lost. He regretted not having gotten rid of them
before, out in space, where unexplained accidents would be accepted. He
had placed too much confidence in Bush and Winters and had
underestimated the cadets. Something had to be done--and fast! But it
couldn't be anything obvious, or his plans of taking over Roald would
fail.

The buzz of the teleceiver on his desk interrupted his train of thought
and he flipped open the small scanner.

"Professor Sykes to see you, sir," reported his aide in the outer
office.

"Tell him to come back later," said Vidac. "I'm busy."

"He says it's very important," replied the aide.

"All right--all right, send him in," snapped Vidac and closed the key on
the teleceiver irritably. A second later the door opened and Professor
Sykes entered hurriedly. He was dirty and dusty from his ten-day stay in
the desert wastes of the satellite.

"Vidac!" cried Sykes excitedly. "I've just made the most tremendous
discovery in the history of the Solar Alliance!"

Vidac eyed the professor calculatingly. He had never seen the old man
excite