flight their life's work. With the establishment
of the Spaceman's Code a hundred years before, firm rules and
regulations for space flight had been instituted. Disobedience to any
part of the code was punishable by suspension of papers and forfeiture
of the right to blast off.

One of these rules stated that a spaceman was forbidden to blast off
without authorization or clearance for a free orbit from a central
traffic control. Bill Loring and Al Mason were guilty of having broken
the regulation. Members of the crew of the recent expedition to Tara, a
planet in orbit around the sun star Alpha Centauri, they had taken a
rocket scout and blasted off without permission from Major Connel, the
commander of the mission, who, in this case, was authorized
traffic-control officer. Connel had recommended immediate suspension of
their space papers. Mason and Loring had petitioned for a review, and,
to assure impartial judgment, Commander Walters had sent the petition to
one of his other officers to make a decision. The petition had landed on
Strong's desk.

Strong read the petition again and shook his head. The facts were too
clear. There had been flagrant disregard for the rules and there was no
evidence to support the suspended spacemen's charge that they had been
unjustly accused by Connel. Strong's duty was clear. He had to uphold
Major Connel's action and suspend the men for a year.

Once the decision was made, Strong put the problem out of his mind. He
walked to his huge circular desk and began sorting through the day's
orders and reports. On the top of the pile of papers was a sealed
envelope, bordered in red and marked "classified." It was from
Commander Walters' office. Thoughtfully he opened it and read:

To: CAPTAIN STEVE STRONG: Cadet Supervisor,
_Polaris_ Unit
Upon receipt of this communication, you are ordered to
transfer the supervisory authority of the cadet unit
designated as _POLARIS_ unit; i.e., Cadets Tom Corbett, Roger
Manning, and Astro, and the command of the rocket cruiser
_Polaris_, to the command and supervisory authority of Major
Connel for execution of mission as outlined herein:

1. To test range, life, and general performance of audio
communications transmitter, type X21.

2. To test the above-mentioned transmitter under conditions of
deep space flight.

3. This test to take place on the planet Tara, Alpha Centauri.

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