, with the little professor talking
rapidly to the younger scientist, trying to calm his anger.

Astro, Tom, and Roger were extraordinarily strict about the exit of the
workers that night and there was angry muttering in the ranks of the men
who wanted to get home. But the three cadets refused to be hurried and
made each man perform the ritual of getting out to the letter. Still
later, after they had been relieved by the _Capella_ unit and had told
them of the incident between Astro and Barret, they headed back to the
Academy dormitory more tired than they had ever been before in their
lives. Thirty seconds after reaching their room, they were asleep in
their bunks, without undressing or washing. Like whipped dogs, they
sprawled on their bunks, dead to the world.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 6

Sabotage!

Major Connel, Commander Walters, Captain Strong, Professor Hemmingwell,
and Dave Barret stared unbelievingly at the tangle of wires and smashed
tubes on the main deck of the sleek spaceship.

"Get every man that has been in this hangar during the last twenty-four
hours and have him brought under guard to the laboratory for
psychographs." Commander Walters' face was grim as he snapped out the
order.

Professor Hemmingwell and Barret got down on their hands and knees and
examined the wrecked firing device carefully. After a long period of
silence, while Strong, Walters, and Connel watched them pawing through
the tangle of wires and broken connections, Hemmingwell stood up.

"It can be replaced in twelve hours," he announced. "I believe that
whoever did this either didn't know what he was doing, or it was an
accident."

"Explain that, will you, Professor?" asked Strong. "I don't
understand."

"This is an important unit," Hemmingwell replied, indicating the
wreckage, "but not the most important part of the whole unit. Anyone who
really knew what he was doing and wanted to delay the project could have
done so much more easily by simply destroying this." Hemmingwell held
out a small metallic-looking cylinder.

"What is that, Professor?" asked Barret.

"Don't you know?" asked Connel.

"No, he doesn't," snapped Professor Hemmingwell. "This is something I
developed that only the commander and myself know about."

[Illustration]

"So, if you and Commander Walters are the only ones that know about it,"
said Steve Strong slowly, "then a saboteur would have thought it
unimportant and concentrated on the res