ing, and walked back to his tiny office in the shadow of
the mighty ship that was anchored on the ground.

"May I speak to you a moment, Major?" a voice broke the silence in the
hangar.

Connel turned around slowly. "You!" he exclaimed. "If it hadn't been for
you and your big mouth, this ship might be in space right now!"

"Stop blowing your jets!" snapped Dave Barret. "I want to see this ship
in space as badly as you do. Perhaps even more so. But listen, I'm not
afraid of the jinx. Neither are you, nor is Professor Hemmingwell. We're
spacemen. And we know the operation of every piece of equipment on that
ship. What's to prevent us from taking her up?"

Connel looked at the young man, immediately recognizing the value of his
suggestion. He nodded his head curtly. "All right," he said. "I'll take
you up on that."

Barret grinned, stuck out his hand, and after a friendly shake turned
and ran to the professor's office. Connel walked back to the outside of
the hangar and began bellowing orders for the giant ship to be brought
out to the blast ramp and prepared for the blast-off.

[Illustration]

But Dave Barret did not go directly to Professor Hemmingwell's office.
He made one stop. Looking around quickly to make sure that he was not
observed, he slipped into the teleceiver booth and made a hurried call
to an Atom City number. When a gruff voice answered, he merely said
three words:

"It's all set!"

* * * * *

Roger and Astro were some distance away from the main gang, working at
the tunnel mouth overlooking the hangar area.

"Look, Astro," said Roger. "They're bringing out the ship. They must be
ready to blast off!"

[Illustration]

Astro stopped his work momentarily and stared as the huge ship was
inched out of the hangar, resting on her tail fins, her nose pointing
skyward.

"I'd sure like to be bucking the power deck on that baby," sighed Astro.

"Yeah, and I'd give my eyeteeth to see that radar deck," said Roger. "It
must be really something with all the gear to control those projectiles
when they're released."

"Do you believe any of that talk about her being jinxed?" asked Astro.

"Stop being a Venusian lunkhead!" snorted Roger. "The only thing wrong
with that ship is a rocket-blasting clever saboteur."

"You know," said Astro, "I've been thinking."

"Don't strain yourself," snorted Roger. But when Astro failed to reply
in kind, the blond-haired cadet realized