upercargo. I'll ride in the second pilot's chair."

Tom snapped a sharp salute and added vocally, "Aye, aye, sir!"

He turned back to the control board, strapped himself into the command
pilot's seat and opened the circuit to the spaceport control tower.

"Rocket cruiser _Polaris_ to spaceport control," he droned into the
microphone. "Check in!"

"Spaceport control to _Polaris_," the voice of the tower operator
replied. "You are cleared for blast-off in two minutes. Take out--orbit
75 ... repeat ... 75...."

"_Polaris_ to spaceport control. Orders received and understood. End
transmission!"

Tom then turned his attention to the station check.

"Control deck to radar deck. Check in."

"Radar deck, aye! Ready to raise ship." Roger's voice was relaxed, easy.

Tom turned to the board to adjust the teleceiver screen for a clear
picture of the stern of the ship. Gradually it came up in as sharp
detail as if he had been standing on the ground.

He checked the electric timing device in front of him that ticked off
the seconds, as a red hand crawled around to _zero_, and when it swept
down to the thirty-second mark, Tom pulled the microphone to his lips
again. "Control deck to power deck. Check in!"

"Power deck, aye?"

"Energize the cooling pumps!"

"Cooling pumps, aye!" repeated Astro.

"Feed reactant!"

"Reactant at D-9 rate."

From seventy feet below them, Strong and Tom heard the hiss of the
reactant mass feeding into the rocket motors, and the screeching whine
of the mighty pumps that kept the mass from building too rapidly and
exploding.

The second hand swept up to the twenty-second mark.

"Control deck to radar deck," called Tom. "Do we have a clear trajectory
forward?"

"All clear forward and overhead," replied Roger.

Tom placed his hand on the master switch that would throw the combined
circuits, instruments and gauges into the single act of blasting the
mighty ship into space. His eyes glued to the sweeping hand, he counted
past the twelve-second mark--eleven--ten--nine--

"Stand by to raise ship," he bawled into the microphone.
"Minus--five--four--three--two--one--_zero_!"

Tom threw the master switch.

There was a split-second pause and then the great ship roared into life.
Slowly at first, she lifted her tail full of roaring jets free of the
ground. Ten feet--twenty--fifty--a hundred--five hundred--a
thousand--picking up speed at an incredible rate.

Tom felt himself being pushed d