either
Harkness nor I would steal an atom of his glory. I'll have the proof
when I come back. And when I come--"

* * * * *

For an instant the ready grin that marked Chet's irresistible good
nature lighted up his face with a silent echo of some laugh-provoking
thought occurring in his mind.

"--when I do come, Commander, I will make you eat your words. It's you
who will be out of the Service then, laughed out!"

The Commander smiled, too; smiled coldly, complacently, while his head
shook.

"Again you are mistaken," he told Chet; "never again will you fly as
much as one foot above Earth."

And still Chet's grin persisted. "Commander," he said, "a man in your
position should not make so many mistakes. I am going--I give you
warning now--going to the Moon. And you haven't enough Patrol Ships in
all the air levels of Earth to hold me back, once I'm on my way!"

And every television screen of Earth showed a remarkable scene: a
red-faced, choleric Commander of the Air, who shouted that a group of
officers might leap forward to do his bidding; a dark-haired man and a
girl who sprang beside him. The bodies of the two were interposed for an
instant between the officers' weapons and a fair-haired man.... And the
lean young man, with his shock of golden hair thrown back from his face,
leaped like a panther in that same instant; drew himself to an open
window; threw himself through, and vanished among the brilliant lights
and black shadows of a New York night.

But, as he fought his way free of the throng outside, there came above
the clamor of an excited crowd the voice of Walt Harkness in cryptic
words:

"The ship is yours, Chet," the fugitive heard Harkness call; "it's in
cold storage for you!"

CHAPTER II

_A Dirty Red Freighter...._

Chet Bullard was more at home among the air-lanes of Earth than he was
on solid ground. But he oriented himself in an instant; knew he was on a
cross street in the three hundred zone; and saw ahead of him, not a
hundred feet away, the green, glowing ring that marked a subway
escalator.

In the passing throng there were those who looked curiously at him. Chet
checked his first headlong flight and dropped to an unhurried walk.

About him, as he well knew, the air was filled with silent radio waves
that were sounding the alarm in every sentry box of the great city. They
would reach the aircraft terminals and the control room of every ship
wi