irst had to control an impulse to laugh at the strange
seriousness of Astro's manner and tone, now found it equally difficult
to hold back the tears that were welling up in his eyes.

Connel was not going to let the incident stand there. He had secretly
hoped that such a situation would present itself, because he wanted to
see what material the _Polaris_ unit was made of. And he was secretly
satisfied. Any cadet who would offer to resign from the Academy in
defense of his unit-mate was a true spaceman. Connel wasn't going to
allow Astro or Tom to resign over some foolish trick of Roger's, but, at
the same time, he couldn't allow them to take too many liberties with
discipline. Connel turned to Tom.

"I suppose you feel the same way, Corbett?" he asked.

"I do, sir," said Tom.

"Of course you know I could make your lives miserable now," he
threatened.

"We are aware of that, sir," said Tom quietly.

"Very well, Cadets Corbett and Astro. I shall comply with your request.
Not because of your request but out of respect for your feelings as
spacemen. I wouldn't have thought much of you if you hadn't come out in
defense of Manning. And just for your own sake, Astro," said Connel,
stepping back in front of the big cadet, "never ask to talk to a Solar
Guard officer man to man again. As long as you're still a member of the
Cadet Corps such disrespect will not be tolerated. Another man, who
might not have understood your feelings, could have used your desire for
fair play as a means of trapping you into one of the worst offenses in
the Spaceman's Code--striking a Solar Guard officer!"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Astro. "Thank you, sir."

"Report aboard the _Polaris_"--Connel glanced at his watch--"in fifteen
minutes. I'm going to put you through your paces on hyperdrive and the
operation of the transmitter."

"Then we're still going to make the trip to Tara, sir?" asked Tom.

"We certainly are, Corbett," replied Connel. "In two hours another cadet
is arriving from the Academy to replace Roger. His name's Alfie Higgins.
Perhaps you know him."

Tom smiled. "Yes, sir, we know him," he replied. "Cadet Higgins is a
friend of mine. He carries the nickname of 'The Brain.' Has the highest
I.Q. in the Academy."

"Good. I'm glad you know him, because this is going to be a rough trip.
We got off to a bad start, but it's all over now. So forget it. And
before I go, I want you to know this. In my personal opinion, Manning
had nothing