ro. We're friends now, remember?"

"Sure, Dave," stuttered Astro. "But listen, we'd do anything to be taken
off this detail and get Firehouse off our necks."

Barret smiled. "All right. I'll see what I can do." He turned and walked
off, giving them a friendly wave in parting.

Astro and Roger could hardly believe their luck. They returned to their
posts and took up guard duty again with light hearts.

In his small private office, Barret watched them through the open door
to the hangar and then turned to his desk, to pick up the recently
installed private audioceiver. He asked for a private number in a small
city on Mars, and then admonished the operator, "This is a security
call, miss. Disconnect your circuit and do not listen in. Failure to
comply will result in your immediate dismissal and possible criminal
prosecution."

"Yes, sir," replied the operator respectfully.

There was a distinct click and Barret heard a gruff voice.

"Hello?"

"This is Barret," the young designer whispered. "Everything's going fine
down here. I just had the foreman arrested to throw them off the track,
and I have a plan to get rid of two of these nosy cadets." Barret
listened a minute and then continued. "Connel and the other cadet,
Corbett, have gone to Mars to inspect the receivers. Don't worry about a
thing. This ship will never get off the ground. And if it does, it will
never fire a projectile."

Barret hung up and returned to the open door. He waved at Roger and
Astro on the other side of the hangar and the two cadets waved back.

"Like lambs to the slaughter," he said to himself.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 7

"Sound off, Corbett!"

Seated in the pilot's chair on the control deck of the rocket cruiser
_Polaris_, Major Connel bellowed the order into the intercom as he
scanned the many dials on the huge control board.

"One minute to touchdown, sir," reported Tom over the intercom from the
radar bridge of the _Polaris_.

"One minute to touchdown," repeated Connel. "Right!"

Connel reached for the switches and levers that would bring the giant
ship to rest on the red planet of Mars. Even after his many years in the
Solar Guard and thousands of space flights, landing a rocket ship was
still a thrill to the veteran spaceman, and knowing that he had a good
man on the radar deck made it even more exciting and demanding of his
skill.

"Decelerate!" yelled Tom over the intercom.

Connel shut down the main drive r