ame violent
and the cadet had to call enlisted Solar Guardsmen to throw him out.

While Tom and Roger made decisions quickly and decisively, Astro, on the
other hand, patiently listened to all the tearful stories and
sympathized with the applicants when they were unable to tear down a
small reactor unit and rebuild it blindfolded. Painfully, sometimes with
tears in his own eyes, he would tell the applicant he had failed, just
when the would-be colonist would think Astro was going to pass him.

The three cadets were doing their jobs so well that in the one hundred
and fifty-three applications approved by them Strong did not reject one,
but sent them all on to Governor Hardy for final approval.

On the morning of the tenth day of screening, Hyram Logan and his
family entered Roger's small office. A man of medium height with a thick
shock of iron-gray hair and ruddy, weather-beaten features Logan looked
as though he was used to working in the outdoors. Flanked by his son and
daughter, he stood quietly before the desk as the young cadet, without
looking up, scanned his application quickly.

"How old are the children?" asked Roger brusquely.

"I'm nineteen," replied a low musical voice, "and Billy's twelve."

Roger's head suddenly jerked up. He stared past Hyram Logan and a small
towheaded boy, to gaze into the warm brown eyes of Jane Logan, a
slender, pretty girl whose open, friendly features were framed by neatly
combed reddish blond hair. Roger sat staring at her, openmouthed, until
he heard a loud cough and saw Logan trying to hide a smile. He quickly
turned back to the application.

"I see here you're a farmer, Mr. Logan," said Roger. He stole a glance
at the young girl, but Billy saw him and winked. Roger flushed and
turned to Logan as the older man answered his questioner.

"That's right," said Logan. "I'm a farmer. Been a farmer all my life."

"Why do you want to go to Roald, Mr. Logan?" asked Roger.

"Well," said Logan, "I have a nice piece of land south of Venusport a
ways. Me and my wife developed it and we've been farming it for over
twenty-five years. But my wife died last year and I just sort of lost
heart in this place. I figured maybe that new satellite will give me a
start again. You'll have to have farmers to feed the people. And I can
farm anything from chemicals to naturals, in hard rock or muddy water."
He paused and clamped his jaws together and said proudly, "My father
was a farmer, and his f