ds
touched their pillows.

The next morning, still groggy, their heads filled with facts and
figures, buzzing with dates and explanations, they returned to their
cubicles for more of the same. Sykes met them at the office door.

"Well, Manning!" he snapped. "You still insist you know more, _and_ can
teach better than I, eh?" He glowered at the cadet.

"I don't understand, sir," said Roger.

"You don't, eh?" screamed Sykes. "You came back here last night and
changed that spool to _your_ liking!"

"I did what?" asked Roger, incredulous. Only a few moments before he
could hardly drag himself from his bunk. The idea of returning to the
office before the required time was incredible. "I'm sorry, sir," he
said, "but I only got out of bed a few minutes ago."

Ed Bush and several colonists suddenly appeared and Sykes whirled around
to face them.

"Well! What do you want?" he demanded.

"Governor Vidac said we could pick up some of the spools that were
ready," said Bush.

"Well, there isn't anything ready now," growled Sykes. "When I'm
finished, I'll let Vidac know." He turned back to Roger.

"Well, Manning? What have you got to say for yourself?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir!" answered Roger.

"Cadet Manning," shouted Sykes, "do you remember our conversation last
night on the subject of circular motion of captive planets around a sun
star?"

"Yes, sir," said Roger.

"And do you recall your childish manner of explaining it?" sneered
Sykes.

"Now just a minute, sir," said Roger, "I might be wrong--but--"

"Quiet!" The professor was screaming now. He turned around and inserted
a study spool in a soundscriber. Turning it on he waited, glaring at
Roger. The blond-haired cadet's voice came over the machine's
loud-speaker clearly and precisely.

" ... the idea of motion of one satellite around a mother planet, or
planet around a sun star, can best be explained by the use of a rock
tied to the end of a rope. If you swing the rope around your head, the
rock will maintain a steady position, following a measured orbit. The
planets, and their captive satellites, work on the same principle, with
the gravity of the mother planet substituted for the rope, and the
satellite for the rock...."

Sykes stopped the machine, turned, and glared at Roger. "Do you deny
that that is your voice?"

Roger shook his head. "It's my voice all right but--"

"_And_ do you deny that last night, before we left, it was d