minutes later they marched up to one of the many
ticket counters of the Atom City Interplanetary Spaceport.

"Reservations for Cadets Corbett, Manning, and Astro on the _Venus
Lark_, please," announced Tom.

The girl behind the counter ran her finger down a passenger manifest,
nodded, and then suddenly frowned. She turned back to Tom and said, "I'm
sorry, Cadet, but your reservations have been pre-empted by a priority
listing."

"Priority!" roared Roger. "But I made those reservations two weeks ago.
If there was a change, why didn't you tell us before?"

"I'm sorry, sir," said the girl patiently, "but according to the
manifest, the priority call just came in a few hours ago. Someone
contacted Space Academy, but you had already left."

"Well, is there another ship for Venusport today?"

"Yes," she replied and picked up another manifest. Glancing at it
quickly, she shook her head. "There are no open reservations," she said.
"I'm afraid the next flight for Venusport with open reservations isn't
for four days."

"Blast my jets!" growled Roger disgustedly. "Four days!" He sat down on
his gear and scowled. Astro leaned against the desk and stared gloomily
at the floor. At that moment a young man with a thin face and a strained
intense look pushed Tom to one side with a curt "Excuse me!" and stepped
up to the desk.

"You're holding three reservations on the _Venus Lark_," he spoke
quickly. "Priority number four-seven-six, S.D."

Tom, Roger, and Astro looked at him closely. They saw him nervously pay
for his tickets and then walk away quickly without another look at the
ticket girl.

"Were those our seats, miss?" asked Tom. The girl nodded.

The three cadets stared after the young man who had bumped them off
their ship.

"The symbol S.D. on the priority stands for Solar Delegate," said Roger.
"Maybe he's a messenger."

The young man was joined by two other men also dressed in Venusian
clothing, and after a few words, they all turned and stepped onto the
slidewalk rolling out to the giant passenger ship preparing to blast
off.

"This is the most rocket-blasting bit of luck in the universe!" growled
Roger. "Four days!"

"Cheer up, Roger," said Tom. "We can spend the four days in Atom City.
Maybe Liddy Tamal is here. We can follow Captain Strong's suggestion."

"Even she doesn't make four days delay sound exciting," interrupted
Roger. "Come on. We might as well go back to town or we won't even get a
room."