urst into a roar, Benjy Edwards jumped
to his feet.

"Your honor," he appealed, "I insist that the _Capella_ unit be allowed
to take the stand and deny the charge--"

"Your honor," interrupted Alfie, "the _Polaris_ unit makes no charge.
They freely admit that the _Capella_ unit could not, I repeat, sir,
could not have struck the first blow. And the _Polaris_ unit--"

"Your honor--!" cried Edwards. "I insist."

The cadet judge rapped his gavel. "_Polaris_ counsel will speak."

"Thank you, your honor. I just wanted to say that the members of the
_Polaris_ unit defer to the _Capella_ unit. I submit, your honor, that
it was nothing more than a misunderstanding and that both sides should
be punished or freed."

"Is that all?" asked the cadet judge.

"Yes, sir," said Alfie.

"Counsel for the _Capella_ unit may speak now. Do you insist on having
your defendants brought to the stand to swear they did not start the
fight?"

"Your honor--" began Benjy. But Alfie had already planted the seed.
There were shouts of "Give it to both of them" from the gym.

Red-faced, Edwards held up his hand and appealed for quiet. "Your
honor," he began at last, "after consultation with the members of the
_Capella_ unit, they have directed me to state that they are willing to
abide by the suggestion of the _Polaris_ counsel."

As the cadets in the courtroom roared their approval, the cadet judge
consulted quickly with the members of the Council. A decision was
reached quickly. A verdict of conduct unbecoming cadets was brought
against both units, with orders for a strong reprimand to be placed on
their individual official records. In addition, each unit was denied
leaves and week-end passes from the Academy until the end of the term,
four weeks away. All spare time was to be spent on guard duty.

"You are to report to Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Rush for further
orders on all time not actually accountable for in Academy schedules,"
concluded the cadet judge. "Dismissed."

The case was closed with a loud roar of approval from the entire cadet
audience, who had seen justice done and democracy in action. Tom, Astro,
and Roger looked at each other and smiled. They were still Space
Cadets.

CHAPTER 3

"Where is Captain Strong?"

Startled, Commander Walters glanced up to see Major Connel enter his
office, accompanied by Professor Hemmingwell. The thin little man
scowled with irritation as he walked right up to the commander'