ed the credits Tom had given him
and turned to the front of the car. Suddenly a heavy voice growled
behind him.

"One side, spaceboy!"

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him to one side. Caught
off balance, Astro fell back on his sleeping unit-mates.

"Hey! What th--" stuttered Astro as he sprawled on top of his friends.
The two sleepy cadets came up howling.

"Astro! What in blazes do you think you're doing?" roared Tom.

"Why, you space-brained idiot," yelled Roger, "I ought to lay one on
your chin!"

There was a tangle of arms and legs and finally the three cadets
struggled to their feet. Astro turned to see who had pushed him.

Two men standing at the end of the car grinned back at him.

"It was those two guys at the end of the car," explained Astro. "They
pushed me!" He lumbered toward them, followed by Tom and Roger.

Stopping squarely in front of them, he demanded, "What's the big idea?"

"Go back to your beauty rest, spaceboy!" jeered the heavier of the two
men and turned to his companion, adding with a snarl, "How do you like
his nerve? We not only have to pay taxes to support these lazy kids and
teach them how to be spacemen, but they're loud-mouthed and sassy on top
of it!"

The other man, smaller and rat-faced, laughed. "Yeah, we oughta report
them to their little soldier bosses at Space Academy."

Astro suddenly balled his fists and stepped forward, but Tom grabbed his
arm and pulled him back while Roger eased himself between his mates and
the two grinning men.

"You know, Tom," he drawled, looking the heavier of the two right in the
eye, "the only thing I don't like about being a Space Cadet is having to
be polite to _all_ the people, including the space crawlers!"

"Why, you little punk," sneered the bigger man, "I oughta wipe up the
deck with you!"

Roger smiled thinly. "Don't try it, mister. You wouldn't know what hit
you!"

"Come on, Wallace," said the smaller man. "Leave 'em alone and let's
go."

Astro took another step forward and roared, "Blast off. Both of you!"

The two men turned quickly and disappeared through the door leading to
the next monorail car.

The three cadets turned and headed back down the aisle to their seats.

"Let's get some sleep," said Tom. "We better be in good shape for that
new assignment when we hit the Academy. No telling what it'll be, where
we'll go, or worse yet, when we'll blast off. And I, for one, want to
have a good night's rest