have
been denied you, except that of actively participating in the flight of
a spaceship!"

The signal bell of the teleceiver began to chime softly, and on the desk
the teleceiver screen glowed again. "Cadets Corbett, Manning, and Astro
are here for their assignments, sir," announced the enlisted man
outside.

Loring glared at Strong. "I suppose you're going to send some punk kids
out on the next trip to Tara and leave us experienced spacemen to rot on
the ground, huh?"

Strong didn't see the door slide open to admit the three cadets who
entered quietly. His whole attention was focused on the ugly glaring
faces of Bill Loring and Al Mason.

"Get this, Loring!" snapped Strong hotly. "The assignments of the
_Polaris_ unit, whether it be to Tara or the Moon, has nothing to do
with your own breech of conduct. In any case, if they were to be
assigned, they'd do a better job than you 'experienced' spacemen who are
disrespectful of your superior officers and break regulations! If either
of you makes one more crack about the Solar Guard or Space Cadets, or
_anything_ at all, I'll take you out on the quadrangle and pound some
common courtesy into your heads! Now get out!"

"All right, all right--" muttered Loring retreating, but with a sneer on
his lips. "We'll meet again, Mr. Bigshot Spaceman!"

"I hope so, Loring. And if we do, I hope you've taken a bath. You even
smell bad!"

From the rear of the room came a burst of laughter. Tom, Roger, and
Astro, unobserved, had been listening and watching their skipper in
action. When Loring and Mason had left the room, they advanced to the
desk, came to attention, and saluted.

"_Polaris_ unit reporting for duty, sir!" snapped Tom crisply.

"At ease," said Strong. "Did you hear all of that?"

"Yes, sir, skipper!" Roger smiled. "And believe me, you really gave it
to those two space bums!"

"Yeah," agreed Astro, "but I don't think even _you_ could do much for
Loring. He's just born to smell bad!"

"Never mind that," said Strong. "I suppose you heard the part about the
assignments?"

The three cadets assumed looks of pure innocence.

"We didn't hear a thing, sir," said Tom.

"You'll make a fine diplomat, Corbett," Strong laughed. "All right, sit
down and I'll give it to you straight."

They hastily took seats and waited for their skipper to begin.

"You've been assigned as cadet observers on a mission to test the range
of a new long-range audio transmitter." Strong p