nnel enter the room.
He snapped to attention and saluted smartly.

"Morning, Corbett," said Connel, returning Tom's salute. "Getting into
the swing of the operation?"

"Yes, sir," said Tom. "I've handled about twenty approaches since
Captain Stefens left me alone, and about fifty departures." Tom brought
his fist up, with the thumb extended and wiped it across his chest in
the traditional spaceman's signal that all was clear. "I didn't scratch
one of 'em, sir," he said, smiling.

"Good enough," said Connel. "Keep it that way." He watched the monitor
screen as the liner _San Francisco_ settled into landing-port eleven.

When she was cradled and secure, he grunted his satisfaction and turned
to leave. At the door he suddenly paused. "By the way, isn't Manning on
radar watch?"

"Yes, sir," replied Tom.

"Well, it's one forty-eight. How about his standard check-in with
traffic control?"

Tom stammered, "He--uh--he may be plotting some space junk, sir."

"He _still_ must report, regardless of what he's doing!"

"I--uh--ah--yes, sir!" gulped Tom. Blast Roger anyway, he thought,
forgetting the all-important quarter-hour check-in.

"I'd better go up and find out if anything's wrong," said Connel.

"Gosh, sir," suggested Tom, desperately seeking an excuse for his
shipmate. "I'm sure Roger would have notified us if anything had
happened."

"Knowing Manning as I do, I'm not so sure!" And the irascible officer
thundered through the door like a jet-propelled tank!

"Come on, Mason. Hurry and put on that space suit," barked Loring.

"Take it easy," grumbled Mason. "I'm working as fast as I can!"

"Of all the rotten luck," growled Loring. "Who'd ever figure the _Annie
Jones_ would blast off from Venus--and then stop at the space station!"

"Shows you ain't so smart," retorted Mason. "Lots of ships do that. They
carry just enough fuel to get 'em off the surface, so they'll be light
while they're blasting out of Venus' gravity. Then they stop at the
space station to refuel for the long haul."

"All right," barked Loring, "lay off the lecture! Just get that space
suit on in a hurry!"

"Listen, wise guy," challenged Mason, "just tell me one thing. If we
bail out of this tub in space suits, who's going to pick us up?"

"We're not bailing out!" said Loring.

"We're not? Then what are we suiting up for?"

"Just in case," said Loring. "Now listen to me. In a few minutes the
_Annie Jones_'ll make contact with traffi