from your unit, that's it!"

"Yeah--yeah--I know--incompatible--but honest, Tom--"

The curly-haired cadet felt his big friend weaken and he pressed his
advantage.

"It isn't every day that a unit gets a ship right after finishing ground
manuals. Captain Strong said he waited for four months after manuals
before getting his first hop into space."

"Yeah--but what do you think it's going to be like out in space with
Manning making sour cracks all the time?"

Tom hesitated before answering his Venusian friend. He was fully aware
that Roger was going to play a lone hand. And that they would never
really have unity among them until some drastic measure was taken. After
all, Tom thought, some guys don't have good hearts, or eyes, a defect to
prevent them from becoming spacemen. Roger is just mixed up inside. And
the handicap is just as real as if he had a physical flaw.

"Well, what do you want to do?" asked Tom finally.

"Go see Captain Strong. Give it to him straight. Tell him we want a
transfer."

"But tomorrow we blast off. We might not have another chance for months!
Certainly not until we get a new astrogator."

"I'd rather wait and have a guy on the radar bridge I know isn't going
to pull something behind my back," said Astro, "than blast off tomorrow
with Manning aboard."

Again Tom hesitated. He knew what Astro was saying was the truth. Life,
so far, at the Academy had been tough enough, but with mutual dependence
and security even more important out in space, the danger of their
constant friction was obvious.

"O.K.," he relented, "if that's the way you really want it. Come on.
We'll go see Captain Strong now."

"You go," said Astro. "You know how I feel. Whatever you say goes for me
too."

"Are you sure you want to do it?" asked Tom. He knew what such a request
would mean. A black mark against Roger for being rejected by his
unit-mates and a black mark against Astro and himself for not being able
to adjust. Regardless of who was right and who was wrong, there would
always be a mark on their records.

"Look, Tom," said Astro, "if I thought it was only me I'd keep my mouth
shut. But you'd let Manning get away with murder because you wouldn't
want to be the one to get him into trouble."

"No, I wouldn't," said Tom. "I think Roger would make a fine spaceman;
he's certainly smart enough, and a good unit-mate if he'd only snap out
of it. But I can't let him or anyone else stop me from becoming a
spa