s it will be Mars.
Or Ganymede. Or even Titan. Another name, another plan, and once again
the Solar Guard will have to fight me. Only next time, I assure you, it
is I who will win!"

"There won't be any next time," growled Roger. "You're washed up now.
This base is swarming with Marines. How do you think you're going to get
out of here?"

"You shall see, my friend. You shall see!"

Sinclair motioned them toward a door on the ground floor. "Open it!"
demanded Sinclair. Tom opened it and stepped inside. It was a cleaner's
closet, crammed with old-fashioned mops and pails and dirty rags.
Sinclair pushed Roger inside and was about to follow when several
green-clad guards came running down the hall toward them.

"Lactu! Lactu!" they shouted frantically. "They're pouring into the
base! The Solar Guard--they've got us surrounded!"

"Keep fighting!" snapped Sinclair. "Don't surrender! Inflict as much
damage as possible!"

"Where--where are you going?" asked one of the men, looking at the
closet speculatively.

"Never mind me!" barked Sinclair. "Do as I tell you. Fight back!"

"It looks like we're losing a leader," observed another of the men
slowly. "You wouldn't be running out on us, would you, Lactu?"

Sinclair fired three quick blasts from the ray guns, freezing the men
solid, and then turned back to Tom and Roger. "Stay in that closet and
do as I tell you."

Inside the closet, Sinclair kicked a pail out of the way and barked,
"Remove the loose plank in the floor and drop it on the floor."

Tom felt around until he found the loose board and lifted it up.

"What's down there?" asked Roger.

"You'll see," said Sinclair. "Now step back, both of you!"

Tom and Roger backed up and watched while Sinclair bent over the hole
in the floor. He felt around inside with one hand and appeared to turn
something. Suddenly the wall opposite the two cadets slid back to reveal
a narrow flight of stairs leading down. Sinclair motioned with his gun
again. "Get going, both of you."

Tom stepped forward, followed by Roger, and they started down the
stairs. At the bottom they found themselves in a narrow tunnel about
four hundred feet underground. The floor of the tunnel slanted downward
sharply.

[Illustration]

"At the end of this tunnel," announced Sinclair, "is a clearing and in
that clearing is a spaceship. It is nearly three miles from the canyon.
By the time the Solar Guard learns of my absence, we shall be lost in
spa