gid
attention on the control deck of the _Avenger_. Wallace, Russell,
Attardi, Harris, Shelly, Martin, and Brooks. In front of them, standing
equally rigid, Bull Coxine was addressing them in a low restrained
voice.

"Raise your right hands and repeat after me."

The men raised their hands.

"I hereby pledge my life to Bull Coxine!"

"... I hereby pledge my life to Bull Coxine...." repeated the men in
unison.

"To uphold his decisions, obey his orders, and fulfill his purpose of
destroying the Solar Alliance and establishing a new governmental
order!"

The seven men repeated the words slowly and hesitantly.

"All right," said Coxine. "From this day on, you are my chief
lieutenants. You will command the ships of my fleet, and when we destroy
the power of the Solar Guard and take over the Alliance, you will help
me rule our new order."

The seven men looked at each other, raised a mild cheer, and waited as
Coxine shook hands with each of them.

"All right," said Coxine abruptly as he reached the end of the line.
"Get to your ships and prepare for full acceleration. We go into action
immediately!"

The men filed from the room silently, each with a worried look on his
face. Coxine failed to notice their lack of enthusiasm and turned to the
three cadets.

"Some day, boys," he said, "you'll go down in history as being the first
witnesses to the establishment of the new order."

Astro glared up at the giant spaceman. "We'll be the witnesses to the
biggest bust in the universe when the Solar Guard catches up with you!"

"Yeah," drawled Roger in his most casual manner. "You're the one that'll
go down in history, Coxine, as the biggest space-gassing idiot that ever
blasted off!"

Tom suddenly guffawed. Though close to death, he couldn't help laughing
at Roger's remark. The big spaceman flushed angrily and with the flat of
his hand slapped the cadet across the face. Then, he turned to the
teleceiver and opened the circuit to all the ships that were standing by
in space around the _Avenger_, the ships of the Ganymede garrison.

"Stand by for acceleration," he called. "We're going to show the Solar
Alliance who's boss, beginning right now! I'll give you the target in a
few minutes but head in the direction of Earth!"

He faced the three cadets and sneered. "By the time I'm finished with
Luna City, the only thing active will be radioactive!"

Suddenly Gus Wallace could be heard screaming over the teleceiver, hi