a smile in the face of such obvious love for the
ship. "You forget that to repair her out in space, the parts have to be
hauled from Venus. But I'll see what I can do. Meantime, Roger, see if
you can't get that patrol ship to give us a lift to Venusport. Tell the
C.O. I'm aboard and on urgent official business."

"Yes, sir," said Roger.

"And," continued the spaceman, noticing the downcast looks of Tom and
Astro, "it wouldn't hurt if you two started repairing as much as you
can. So when the maintenance crew arrives, they won't find her in such a
mess."

"Yes, sir!" chorused the two cadets happily.

Connel returned to his quarters and sat down heavily in the remains of
his bunk, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Somehow, word had gotten out
that he was going to check on the secret organization on Venus and
someone had made a bold and desperate attempt to stop him before he
could get started. It infuriated him to think that anyone would
interrupt official business. As far as Connel was concerned, nothing
came before official business. And he was doubly furious at the danger
to the three cadets, who had innocently hitched a ride on what was
almost a death ship. Someone was going to pay, Connel vowed, clenching
his huge fists--and pay dearly.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 4

"_Yeeooowww!_"

Roaring with jubilation and jumping high in the air at every other step,
Astro raced out of the gigantic maintenance hangar at the Venusport
spaceport and charged at his two unit mates waiting on the concrete
apron.

"Everything's O.K.," he yelled, throwing his arms around them. "The
_Polaris_ is going to be brought in for full repairs! I just saw the
audiograph report from the maintenance chief!"

Tom and Roger broke into loud cheers and pounded each other on the back.

"Great Jupiter," gasped Roger, "I feel as though I've been sitting up
with a sick friend!"

"Your friend's going to make a full recovery," asserted Astro.

"Did you see Major Connel?" asked Tom.

"Yeah," said Astro. "I think he had a lot to do with it. I saw him
talking to the head maintenance officer."

"Well, now that we've sweated the old girl through the crisis," asserted
Roger, "how's about us concentrating on our vacation?"

"Great," agreed Tom. "This is your party, Astro. Lead the way."

The three cadets left the spaceport in a jet cab and rode happily into
the city of Venusport. As they slid along the superhighway toward the
first and larg