speak
to Captain Strong about it in the morning. As soon as the matter was
settled in his mind, he was asleep.

* * * * *

At exactly 0800 hours the three cadets and Captain Strong appeared at
the Academy spaceport dressed in the severe black tight-fitting trousers
and jacket of merchant spacemen. Quietly eluding all friends and
acquaintances, they entered the confiscated freighter that had been
prepared for space flight during the night and began acquainting
themselves with the ship's equipment.

When Astro reported the power deck ready and Roger cleared their course,
Tom called the traffic-control tower for blast-off clearance.

"Take it easy on the first hop," said Strong. "There's no hurry and I
want to be sure we get this crate off in one piece." Smiling confidently
at the control-deck cadet, he turned away to his quarters. He was aware
of the effect that being left alone had on the cadets. He had learned
early in his associations with Tom, Roger, and Astro that they bore
responsibility well, and a challenge to do a good job would assure him
the job would be done efficiently.

"Stand by to raise ship!" Tom's voice crackled confidently over the
ship's intercom.

Strong sat on an acceleration cushion and strapped himself in. He heard
Tom's voice counting off the seconds for blast-off.

"... Five--four--three--two--one--_zero_."

As the rockets burst into a loud roar, the freighter lurched from the
ground and thundered up into the atmosphere, pushing Strong deep into
his acceleration cushion. Minutes later, he felt the freedom of
free-fall space. In a strange ship, the _Polaris_ crew had begun a
strange mission.

During the flight to Luna City, their first stop on the tour of the
hangouts of outlawed spacemen across the solar system, Strong briefed
his cadets on a plan of action.

"I think it'll be better if we split up into two teams. You work with
me, Corbett, and Astro will team up with Manning. We'll operate like
simple tramp spacers. Our space papers have new last names, but the same
first names, so there won't be any slip-ups when we speak to each other.
From now on, if we happen to meet, you'll all call me Steve and I'll
call you by your first names. Is that clear?"

The cadets nodded.

"All right," continued Strong. "Now, when we arrive in a city, Tom and I
will go to one section, while you two go to another. Visit the
toughest-looking places you can find. Talk,