would he leave the ship?"

"Whatever he's done, I'm sure Roger has a good explanation," replied the
big Venusian. But inwardly he couldn't help feeling that Roger, somehow,
had gotten into another scrape which would, in the end, reflect on the
whole unit. Neither Tom nor Astro cared much for their own individual
reputations, but they were concerned about the record of the unit. Roger
had managed to pull himself out of some narrow scrapes, but there was
always the first time for everything. Leaving his post as monitor in the
race was as serious as anything he had done so far.

"Heads up, Tom!" Kit called out. "Meteor storm in our course. We've got
to change our heading."

"Aye, aye, sir," replied the young cadet, pushing aside his concern over
his unit mate and concentrating on routine flight operations.

On and on, the sleek ship plummeted through the black depths of space
beyond Jupiter, heading for the planet Saturn and her magnificent rings
of different colors, and to her largest satellite with its deadly
methane ammonia gas atmosphere, the crystal-bearing moon, Titan.

* * * * *

"They are approaching the spaceport, sir," called the Titan
control-tower operator, and Strong jumped to the radarscope to stare at
the two blips on the screen. Only a mile separated them, with Quent
Miles' _Space Knight_ ahead.

"Five minutes to touchdown," reported the operator.

"Come on, Kit," muttered Strong through clenched teeth. "Pour it on,
boy. Give her the gun!"

The two blips drew closer to the heart of the scope. First one and then
the other shooting ahead for brief seconds as they began deceleration.

"You can see them outside, now, sir," said the operator, and Strong
jumped to the door, stepping out on the observation platform that looked
out over the spaceport. He searched the skies above him, and then,
faintly, he could see the exhaust trails of the two ships as they
streaked over the field, beginning their deceleration orbits around the
satellite.

Behind him, Strong heard the voice of the tower operator ordering Ramp
Four and Ramp Five cleared for the two ships, and the mobs of people on
the spaceport surged back. Strong noted the irony of the situation. The
people of Titan were not out to greet a hero of space, but were waiting
for the next evacuation rocket ship.

The ramps were cleared and within minutes the two ships reappeared over
the horizon, nosing upward over the spa