. Take a jet boat and under no circumstances are you to land.
Dismissed! Oh, yes, one more thing. Take Alfie Higgins along with you
and keep _your eye on him_. Report back in one hour!"

Tom felt a tingle of excitement run up his backbone as he heard the
tough skipper give him permission to explore the planet.

He saluted and turned away, Alfie trailing him down the ladder.

"Hey, Astrooooo!" yelled Tom. "Get number-one jet boat out of the hatch.
We're going for a look-see at this place!"

Tom went to the gun locker and took out three paralo-ray guns and
rifles. He made sure each of them was fully loaded and then handed them
to Alfie.

"Put these on the jet boat, Alfie. I'll be along in a minute."

Alfie took the guns and walked toward the jet-boat catapult deck. Tom
returned to the radar bridge and stood before Connel.

"Would you see if there is any news of Roger, sir, when you make contact
with the Academy?"

Connel read the cadet's lips and nodded his head. Tom turned and went
directly to the jet-boat deck. Astro and Alfie waited for him inside.

"Brought along three space suits, Tom," said Astro. "You can never tell
what we might run into."

"Good idea," said Tom.

The three cadets climbed into the jet boat, Tom taking the pilot's seat.
He pushed a release button, and a portion of the _Polaris'_ steel hull
slid back. Tom pressed another button, gripped the wheel of the small
space craft, and stepped on the acceleration pedal. The little red ship
shot out of the open hatch and zoomed over the giant trees.

Traveling at a slow speed, Tom made a wide arc over the forest, checking
his position against that of the _Polaris_ before losing sight of it. He
pulled the tiny ship up to one thousand feet, leveled off, set the
automatic pilot, and took his first close look at Tara, four and a half
light years from Earth.

From above, Tara seemed to be a quagmire of reptiles, dinosaurs, and
dense vegetation reaching as high as the gleaming towers of Venusport
and Atom City. Huge trees that spread their branches over an area of a
thousand feet soared skyward, limbs and trunks wrapped in jungle
creepers. Now and then Alfie would grasp Tom or Astro by the arm and
point a wavering finger at a moving animal below, then gasp and fall
back white-faced into his seat. While Tom was inclined to share Alfie's
reactions, Astro took it in stride, having been exposed to the dangers
of wild jungles on his own Venus.

The tiny