h-huh. Now give it to our friend from Venus." Tom gingerly handed
Astro the ring.

"Try it on, Astro," invited Strong.

The big cadet tried it on all of his fingers but couldn't get it past
the first joint.

"Give it to Manning."

Roger accepted the ring and held it in the palm of his hand. He looked
at it with a hard stare, then dropped it in the outstretched hand of the
Solar Guard officer. Replacing it on his finger, Strong spoke casually.

"All units design their own rings. There are only three like this in the
universe. One is drifting around in space on the finger of Sam Jones.
Another is blasting a trail to the stars on the finger of Addy Garcia."
He held up his finger. "This is the third one."

Strong got up and began to pace in front of the boys.

"Addy Garcia couldn't speak a word of English when he first came to the
Academy. And for eight weeks Sam and I sweated to figure out what he was
talking about. I think we spent over a hundred hours in the galley doing
KP because Addy kept getting us fouled up. But that didn't bother us
because we were a unit. Unit 33-V. Class of 2338."

Strong turned to face the silent cadets.

"Sam Jones was pretty much like you, Astro. Not as big, but with the
same love for that power deck. He could always squeeze a few extra
pounds of thrust out of those rockets. What he knew about astrogation
and control, you could stick on the head of a pin. On long flights he
wouldn't even come up to the control deck. He just sat in the power hole
singing loud corny songs about the Arkansas mountains to those atomic
motors. He was a real power-deck man. But he was a _unit_ man first! The
only reason I'm here to tell you about it is because he never forgot the
unit. He died saving Addy and myself."

The room was still. Down the long hall, the lively chatter of other
cadets could be heard as they showered and prepared for dinner. In the
distance, the rumble of the slidewalks and test firing of rockets at the
spaceport was dim, subdued, powerful.

"The unit is the backbone of the Academy," continued Strong. "It was set
up to develop three men to handle a Solar Guard rocket cruiser. Three
men who could be taught to think, feel and act as one intelligent brain.
Three men who would respect each other and who could depend on each
other. Tomorrow you begin your real education. You will be supervised
and instructed personally.

"Many men have contributed to the knowledge that will be placed