sly out of range on the
other side of the asteroid belt, the cadets' only hope of saving the
tiny colony lay in the beacon hidden inside the hull of the _Polaris_.

Leaving Wallace and half of his crew aboard the _Polaris_, Bull Coxine
had transferred the three cadets to the Avenger and thrown them into the
brig. As the ship accelerated toward the colony, Tom stared out of the
small, barred viewport while Roger and Astro sprawled glumly on the hard
bunks.

Roger finally broke the heavy silence. "What do you suppose Coxine meant
when he said he had three passes into Ganymede?"

"Give you one guess, pal," snorted Astro.

"He obviously expects us to give him the recognition signal," said Tom.

Roger sighed. "That's what I figured. But I was hoping I was wrong."

"At least we're all immune to truth drugs," said Astro hopefully. "He
won't get the recognition code out of us that way."

"That dirty space crawler wouldn't even bother with drugs," muttered
Roger. "They aren't enough fun. He likes to get what he wants the hard
way."

"Yes," agreed Tom. "We're in for a rough time, guys."

They all looked at each other, fully aware of what lay in score for
them. Finally Astro growled, "I don't care what he does to me. I won't
tell him a thing!"

"Same here!" exclaimed Roger.

Tom merely nodded, his face a grim, expressionless mask.

Suddenly three men led by Brooks, the radar operator, appeared in the
passageway outside the brig. Brooks stepped forward, opened the door,
and gestured with the paralo-ray gun in his hand.

"All right, you punks! Outside!"

Astro started to lunge for the pirate, but Tom grabbed him by the arm.
"Take it easy, Astro. That won't get us any place."

"You can say that again," sneered Brooks. "One crazy move like that,
kid, and I'll freeze you solid as a cake of ice! Now come on! Move!"

Tom, followed by Astro and Roger, walked slowly out of the brig, and
guarded closely by the three pirate crewmen they were taken to the main
air lock.

"All right," said Brooks. "The big ox and blondie, get in there!"

One of the crewmen opened the air-lock portal while the other two jabbed
Astro and Roger with ray guns. The two cadets stumbled into the chamber
and the door was slammed behind them.

"Lock it!" snarled Brooks.

When the men had secured the portal, Brooks turned and pushed Tom
roughly along the passageway. A moment later they reached the control
deck where Bull Coxine was hunched over