mind that now," answered Tom. "Sound off, Roger!" he yelled.

"Ship moving astern--one thousand feet a second--two thousand--four
thousand--"

"I'm going to let her build to ten, Roger," yelled Tom. "We've only got
one chance and we might as well make it a good one!"

"Six thousand!" yelled Roger. "Seven thousand!"

"Astro," bellowed Tom, "stand by to fire stern rockets!"

"Ready, Tom," was Astro's reply.

"Eight thousand," warned Roger. "Spaceman's luck, fellas!"

The silver ship moved through space away from the _Polaris_.

"Nine thousand," reported Roger. "And, Astro, I really love ya!"

"Cut nose braking rockets!" ordered Tom.

There was a sudden hush that seemed to be as loud as the noise of the
rockets. The huge passenger ship, _Lady Venus_, was traveling through
space as silent as a ghost.

"Nine thousand five hundred feet a second," yelled Roger.

"Stand by, Astro, Roger! Hang on tight, and spaceman's luck!"

"Ten thousand feet a second!" Roger's voice was a hoarse scream.

"_Fire stern rockets!_" bawled Tom.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 16

Under the tremendous drive of the stern rockets, the silver ship
suddenly hurtled forward as if shot out of a cannon. The dangerous tube
slid out of the stern of the ship and was quickly left behind as the
_Lady Venus_ sped in the opposite direction.

"That's it," yelled Tom, "hold full space speed! We dumped the tube, but
we're still close enough for it to blow us from here to Pluto!"

"I tracked it on the radar, Tom," yelled Roger. "I think we're far
enough away to miss--"

At that moment a tremendous flash of light filled the radar scanner as
the mass exploded miles to the rear of the _Lady Venus_.

"There it goes!" shouted Roger.

"Great jumping Jupiter," yelled Tom, "and we're still in one piece! We
did it!"

From the power deck, Astro's bull-like roar could be heard through the
whole ship.

"Gimme an open circuit, Tom," said Astro. "I want to operate the air
blowers down here and try to get rid of some of that radiation. I have
to get into the control chamber and see what's going on."

Tom flipped a switch on the board and set the ship on automatic flight.
Then, turning to the teleceiver, he switched the set on.

"_Lady Venus_ to _Polaris_--" said Tom, "come in, _Polaris_--come in!"

" ... Strong here on the _Polaris_!" the officer's voice crackled over
the speaker. "By the rings of Saturn, I should log you three
space-brained idi