ut the decoy ship, and when we
showed up on his scanner, he figured right away that we might have the
Titan pay roll."

"So what?" demanded Roger. "That still doesn't let you off for not
belting that crawler with our six-inchers!"

"Use your head!" snapped Tom. "With the Solar Guard squadrons on the
other side of the belt and with no gun crews on our ship, how far do you
think we'd have gotten?"

"You didn't have to surrender, Tom," said Astro. "I could have outrun
Coxine in nothing flat. Why, I haven't got half the speed out of this
old girl I think she's got."

"A great idea, bird brain! Run away from the very guy the Solar Guard's
going crazy trying to find!"

The intercom was suddenly silent as Astro and Roger began to understand
Tom's decision and waited for him to elaborate on his idea.

"Now, listen, Roger," said Tom patiently, "we've got about five minutes
before those crawlers will be aboard. How long will it take you to make
a signal beacon that'll send out a constant automatic SOS?"

"A what?" asked Roger.

"Beacon. One that will transmit on the Solar Guard special frequency and
be small enough to hide here on the _Polaris_."

"Why hide it on the _Polaris_?" asked Astro. "Why not try to get it on
their ship?" His tone was almost apologetic now that he realized Tom was
not planning a cowardly surrender.

"It's a cinch they'll take the _Polaris_ over," explained Tom. "She's
fast and she's got six-inch blasters."

"I get it!" yelped Astro. "We plant the beacon on the _Polaris_, and
when they take her over, the signal will be going out all the time."
Astro paused. "But wait a minute. They'll be sure to search the ship
first!"

"First things first, Astro," answered Tom. "Roger, can you make the
beacon?"

"Yeah," said Roger, "but it'll take me at least a half hour!"

"You've got to finish it faster than that!" Tom insisted.

"I can't, Tom. I just can't."

"All right, then we'll have to stall as best we can. Get to work.
Meantime, Astro and I will find a place to hide it. How big do you think
it'll be?"

There was a momentary pause and then Roger replied, "No smaller than six
inches. About like a shoe box."

"Could you make it three inches thick, and longer, instead of
box-shaped?"

Roger hesitated again. "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"

"Because I just thought of a good place to hide it. They'd have to tear
the ship apart to find it, _if_ they even hear the signal!"

"Attention! Attention! Thi