. "You owe your lives to your buddy
here. One more minute and you would've been walking with the angels.
Now," he added to the crewmen, "tie them up so they can see the scanner.
I want them to see how easy it is to knock off a Solar Guard garrison!"

"Why you--" Astro lunged toward the pirate but was stopped in his tracks
by a blast from a paralo-ray gun behind him. The big cadet stood rigid,
motionless, every nerve and muscle in his body paralyzed. Coxine sneered
and turned back to the intercom while his men tied up the two cadets.

Tom and Roger looked at each other and, without speaking, knew what the
other was thinking. Their only hope was the beacon signal aboard the
_Polaris_.

After the men had tied Astro, they released him from the effects of the
ray charge and threw him down beside Roger.

"How do you feel?" asked Tom.

"Like I've been run through a set of gears," mumbled Astro. "How about
yourself?"

"O.K.," replied Tom. "Was it"--he paused--"was it tough in the air
lock?"

Roger smiled. "Not as tough as it must have been on you up here. We
realized what was going on as soon as we found out we were losing air."

The blond-haired cadet shook his head and Tom noticed that both Roger
and Astro were weak from their ordeal in the chamber.

At the control panel, Coxine was bawling orders to his crew. "Jet boats
one, two, three, four, and five! Stand by to blast off!"

The three cadets looked at each other helplessly.

"Russell, check in," continued the burly spaceman.

"Russell here!" replied a voice on the intercom.

"You're in charge of the party. I want you to do one thing, and one
thing only! Take the largest ships on the spaceport and blast off. Don't
touch anything else! Just the ships. Those you can't get off the ground,
leave. We'll blast them later!"

"Aye, aye, sir."

Coxine strode over to the teleceiver. Immediately the image of a man in
the uniform of a Solar Guard major appeared on the screen. His voice
echoed in the control room.

"Hello, Coxine! This is Major Sommers! Come in, Coxine!"

"Yeah--" replied Coxine. "Whaddya want?" The pirate captain stepped
arrogantly in front of the teleceiver's transmitting lens, and from the
look on the officer's face, Tom knew he had seen Coxine on his own
screen.

"We've followed orders," said the major. "Our only request is that you
do not harm any of the citizens--"

Coxine cut him off. "Stow that space gas! I'll do what I please! I'm
sendi