ble--by order of Major Connel."

Tom and Astro got up. Astro found it hard to hide his eagerness to begin
indoctrination on hyperdrive, and it was only his deep concern for Roger
that kept him from letting out one of his bull-throated bellows.

"Take it easy, Roger," said Tom. "The investigation will be over and
we'll be on our way to Tara before you know it."

"Yeah, you space Romeo," growled Astro, "crawl in the sack and rest your
bones. You're lucky you can miss this."

Roger managed a weak smile. "I'll be O.K. Go ahead and learn about that
hyperdrive before you explode."

There was an awkward moment while the three cadets stared at one
another. The deep friendship between them didn't need to be expressed in
words. Abruptly, Tom and Astro turned and left the room.

Roger stared at the closed door for a moment and then flopped on his
bunk. He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. Whatever happened, he
thought, it wouldn't do any good to knock himself out.

As he lay there thinking back to the first months at Space Academy when
he had met Tom and Astro, he heard a knock on the door and he turned to
see the steel hatch slide back stealthily. He jumped up.

Loring stuck his head inside the door. "You alone, Manning?" he asked.

"Yeah. Who're you?" asked Roger.

"My name's Loring, and this is my space buddy, Al Mason. We were on the
_Annie Jones_."

Roger's eyes lighted up. "Then you know I'm not responsible for the
crash!" said Roger.

"I wouldn't say that, kid," said Loring grimly. "I wouldn't say that at
all."

"What do you mean?" demanded Roger.

"A shame"--Loring shook his head--"young fella like you winding up on
the prison asteroid."

"Prison asteroid?" asked Roger stupidly.

"Yeah," grunted Loring. "Have you ever seen one of them joints, Manning?
They work from noon to midnight. Then they give you synthetic food to
eat, because it costs too much to haul up solid grub. Once you've been
on the prison rock, you can't ever blast off again. You're washed up as
a spaceman. Think you'll like that?"

"Why--why--what's that got to do with me?" asked Roger.

"Just this, kid. After the investigation they'll find out your
radarscope wasn't working right. Then they'll come to me and ask me what
happened aboard the _Annie Jones_."

"Well," demanded Roger, "what did happen?"

Loring glanced at Mason. "Just this, kid. Jardine and Bangs were on the
teleceiver and the radar for fifteen minutes trying to