nd those Space Cadets and my
assistant, Jeff Marshall. They may be young, but they can be depended
on."

"I'd rather send men _I_ can depend on, Professor," said Vidac. "As you
say, the cadets are still quite young. And this report is too important
to take chances."

The door opened and Winters and Bush entered.

Vidac stuffed the report and the exposed film into a dispatch case and
quickly sealed it. He handed it over to Winters. "Guard this with your
life," said Vidac seriously.

"Wait a minute," said Sykes. "Aren't you going to tell Governor Hardy
about this?"

"This is so important, Professor," said Vidac, "that I think we should
get it off at once. There's plenty of time to tell the governor."

"Well, all right." Sykes got up and stretched. "After almost two weeks
in that desert, I'm ready for a nice clean bed and something to eat
besides synthetics." He turned to Winters and Bush. "That pouch is worth
more than any man ever dreamed of. Be sure you guard it well!"

"You can depend on us, Professor," said Winters.

"Yeah," said Bush. "Don't worry about a thing."

The three spacemen watched the professor leave. As soon as the door
closed, Vidac grabbed the pouch out of Winters' hand. His face hardened
and his eyes were narrow slits.

"You messed up one operation for me, but luck has given us another
chance. If you mess this one up, I'll dump you into space for a long
swim. Now listen to me!"

The two spacemen crowded close to Vidac's desk.

"Sykes has just made the biggest discovery in the universe. It's worth
billions! The cadets are in our way, and as long as the professor is
alive, so is he! We're going to wipe them out. I want you to take the
professor to that asteroid we spotted a few days ago and keep him there.
I'm going to accuse the cadets of getting rid of the old man, so we can
eliminate the cadets, the professor, and keep the uranium secret for
ourselves. His report says it's located at section three, map eight.
That's the property given to Logan. After we get rid of the cadets and
the professor, we'll have plenty of time to bounce old Logan. This is
the sweetest operation this side of paradise. And it's all mine!"

"But what kind of proof will you have that the cadets did something to
the old man?" asked Winters. "Getting rid of Space Cadets is a pretty
tricky job."

"Tomorrow I'll assign the cadets to work with the professor again. That
jerk, Manning, has a sharp tongue. I'll set up so