ather before him. One of the first to put a plow
into Venusian topsoil!"

"Yes--uh--of course, Mr. Logan," mumbled Roger. "I don't think
there'll--er--be any trouble about it."

The young cadet hadn't heard a word Hyram Logan had said, but instead
had been gazing happily into the eyes of Jane Logan. He stamped the
application and indicated the door to Tom's screening room, following
the girl wistfully with his eyes. He muttered to himself, "There ought
to be more applicants like Farmer Logan and his daughter for the brave
new world of Roald!"

"And if there were, Cadet Manning," roared Captain Strong, standing in
the doorway from the hall, "we'd probably wind up with a satellite
filled with beautiful women!"

"Yes, sir! Er--no, sir," stuttered Roger, jerking himself to attention.
"I mean, what's wrong with that?"

"By the rings of Saturn," declared Strong, "you'll never change,
Manning!"

Roger grinned. "I hope not, sir."

The door to Tom's room opened and the curly-haired cadet walked in
holding an application.

"Captain Strong," he said, "could I see you a minute?"

"Sure, Tom. Any trouble?" asked Strong.

Tom handed him the application silently and waited. Strong read the
sheet and turned to Tom. "You know what to do in a case like this, Tom.
Why come to me?"

Tom screwed up his face, thinking. "I don't know, sir. There's something
different about this fellow. Astro passed him with flying colors. Said
he knew as much about a reactor unit as he did. Roger passed him too."

"Who is it?" asked Roger. Strong handed him the paper.

"Sure, I passed him," said Roger. "That guy really knows his
electronics."

Strong looked at Tom. "How do you feel about it, Tom?"

"Well, sir," began Tom, "I would pass him in a minute. He's had
experience handling men and he's been in deep space before. He's logged
an awful lot of time on merchant spaceships, but--"

"But what?" asked Strong. He took the paper and studied it again. "Looks
to me as if he's what we're looking for," he said.

"I know, sir," said Tom. "But why would a man like that, with all that
experience, want to bury himself on Roald? He could get practically any
job he wants, right here in the system."

"Ummh," mused Strong. He reread the application. In the blank space for
reason for going, the applicant had written simply: _Adventure._ He
handed the application back to Tom. "I think I see what you mean, Tom.
It does look too good. Better not take a