ess than ten minutes, with no more than three corrections,
the _Polaris_ unit would be victorious.

Seated directly in front of the scanner, Captain Steve Strong, the
examining officer, watched the space-suited figure dwindle to a mere
speck on the screen. As the regular skipper of the _Polaris_ crew, he
could not help secretly rooting for Tom, but he was determined to be
fair, even to the extent of declaring the _Arcturus_ unit the winner,
should the decision be very close. He leaned forward to adjust the focus
on the scanner, bringing the drifting figure into a close-up view, and
then lifted the microphone to his lips.

"Stand by, Corbett!" he called. "You're getting close to range."

"Very well, sir," replied Tom. "Standing by."

Behind Strong, Roger and Astro looked at each other and turned back to
the screen. As one, they crossed the fingers of both hands.

"Ready, Corbett!" called Strong. "You'll be clocked from the second
you're on range. One hundred feet--seventy-five--fifty--twenty-five
--ten--_time_!"

As the signal echoed in his blacked-out space helmet, Tom jerked his
body around in a sudden violent move, and grasping the valve of the jet
unit on his back, he opened it halfway. He waited, holding his breath,
expecting to hear Captain Strong correct his course. He counted to ten
slowly, and when no correction came over the headphones, he opened the
valve wide and blindly shot through space.

Aboard the Polaris, Astro and Roger shouted with joy and Strong could
not repress a grin. The tiny figure on the scanner was hurtling straight
for the side of the _Polaris_!

As the image grew larger and larger, anxious eyes swiveled back and
forth from the scanner screen to the steady sweeping hand of the
chronometer. Roger bit his lip nervously, and Astro's hands trembled.

When Tom reached a point five hundred feet away from the ship, Strong
flipped open the audio circuit and issued his first order.

"Range five hundred feet," he called. "Cut jets!"

"You're already here, spaceboy!" yelled Roger into the mike, leaning
over Strong's shoulder. The captain silenced him with a glare. No one
could speak to the examinee but the testing officer.

Tom closed the valve of his jet unit and blindly jerked himself around
again to drift feet first toward the ship. Strong watched this approach
closely, silently admiring the effortless way the cadet handled himself
in weightless space. When Tom was fifty feet away from t