referred to a recent letter he had seen in
which one of the blond-haired cadet's many space dolls referred to his
sensitivity as being that of a poet, and his dancing as smooth as the
reflexes of a cat.

Roger spun on the big cadet. "You blasted throwback to a Venusian ape!"
he roared. "If I ever catch you reading my mail again--"

"You'll what?" growled Astro. "You'll do just exactly what?" He grabbed
Roger by the arm and held him straight out, so that he looked as if he
were hanging from a tree.

Strong laughed and shook his head. "I give you three to the loving,
tender care of Firehouse Tim," he said, hopping over on the moving
slidewalk, back to the Academy.

"Put me down, you overgrown idiot," Roger howled.

"Not until you promise not to threaten me with violence again," said
Astro with a wink at Tom. The young curly-haired cadet doubled up with
laughter. Finally Roger was lowered to the ground, and, though he
rubbed his shoulder and grumbled, he was really pleased that Astro felt
like roughhousing with him. The events of the last few weeks had so
tired all of them that there had been no energy left for play.

Lightheartedly they stepped over to the slidewalk and were back on their
way to the secret project.

* * * * *

Two huge wire fences had been built around the hangar area now, fences
carrying a surge of paralyzing power ready to greet anyone that dared
touch it. More than twenty feet high, the outer fence was buried six
feet into the ground and was some hundred yards away from the hangar
building itself, and fifty yards away from the second fence. The entire
area was also guarded by radar. Should any unauthorized person or object
be found in that area, an automatic alarm sounded and in fifteen seconds
a hundred fully armed guards were ready for action. The men who had been
cleared by security to work in and around the restricted area wore
specially designed belts of sensitized metal that offset the effects of
the radar. But the fence was still the untouchable for everyone.

Tom, Roger, and Astro had now been moved inside the hangar itself, to
stand guard over the only three doors in the cavernous structure. They
were armed with powerful heat blasters. These rifles were different from
the paralo-ray guns they had used previously. A beam of light from the
ray guns would only paralyze a human being, while the blaster destroyed
anything it touched, burning it to a crisp.