te search through the cavernous spaceship for any doubtful
connections. Satisfied there were none, the three weary cadets assembled
on the control deck and sipped the hot tea that Manning had thoughtfully
prepared.

[Illustration: _The three weary cadets assembled on the control deck_]

"You know, by the time we get out of the Academy I don't think there'll
be a single _inch_ of this space wagon that I haven't inspected with my
nose," commented Roger in a tired voice.

"You know you love it, Manning," said Astro, who, though as tired as Tom
and Roger, could still continue to work if necessary. His love for the
mighty atomic rocket motors, and his ability to repair anything
mechanical, was already a legend around the Academy. He cared for the
power deck of the _Polaris_ as if it were a baby.

"Might as well pack in and grab some sleep before we report to Captain
Strong," said Tom. "He might have us blasting off right away, and I, for
one, would like to sleep and sleep and then sleep some more!"

"I've been thinking about what Alfie had to say," said Roger. "You know,
about this being a great adventure."

"What about it?" asked Astro.

"Well, you don't give this kind of overhaul for just a plain, short hop
upstairs."

"You think it might be something deeper?" asked Astro softly.

"Whatever it is," said Tom, getting up, "we'll need sleep." He rose,
stretched, and walked wearily to the exit port. Astro and Roger followed
him out, and once again they boarded the slidewalk for the trip back to
the main dormitory and their quarters on the forty-second floor. A half
hour later the three members of the _Polaris_ were sound asleep.

Early morning found Captain Steve Strong in his quarters, standing at
the window and staring blankly out over the quadrangle. In his left hand
he clutched a sheaf of papers. He had just reread, for the fifth time, a
petition for reinstatement of space papers for Al Mason and Bill Loring.
It wasn't easy, as Strong well knew, to deprive a man of his right to
blast off and rocket through space, and the papers in question, issued
only by the Solar Guard, comprised the only legal license to blast off.

Originally issued as a means of preventing overzealous Earthmen from
blasting off without the proper training or necessary physical
condition, which resulted in many deaths, space papers had gradually
become the only effective means of controlling the vast expanding force
of men who made space