Yes, sir," said Tom. "Anything else, sir?"

"Yes," said Vidac. He stepped closer to the three boys. "This is not a
joy ride. I expect you to find a way through that cluster. You have
enough time to explore the greater part of it."

"But you said forty-one hours, sir," retorted Tom.

"That's plenty of time if you travel at full space speed."

"Full thrust!" exploded Roger. "In an unknown asteroid cluster? Why, the
odds are better than a thousand to one that we'll be ripped open by a
space rock. The best we can do is one-quarter space speed."

"You'll open those jets wide or you'll spend the rest of the trip to
Roald in the brig and I'll send a report back to the Academy on your
cowardice!" Vidac paused, then added quietly, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," said Tom, tight-lipped. "You make yourself perfectly
clear!"

CHAPTER 9

"Do you think it will be safe there?" asked Roger, as he watched Tom and
Astro push the half-completed communications set under a workbench
behind several large cartons.

"As safe as any place," replied Tom. "If Vidac has any idea we're
building it, we could hide it any place and he'd find it. So, as the
saying goes, the least hidden is the best hidden. We'll have to take a
chance."

"Besides," chimed in Astro, "here in the storeroom, Jeff will have his
eye on it all the time. If Vidac starts getting nosy, Jeff will be able
to shift it to another hiding place without too much trouble."

"Well, that's all we can do now," said Tom, straightening up. "Come on.
Let's get to the scout ship and blast off before Vidac wants to know
what we're doing."

Checking the hiding place one last time, the three cadets left the
storeroom and headed for the jet-boat deck. In a few moments they were
blasting through space toward the rear of the fleet where a rocket scout
was waiting for them. The scouts were being carried by the larger space
freighters to save fuel. Now one had been fueled and was blasting
alongside its carrier ship with a skeleton crew. When the cadets' jet
boat came alongside, the crew of the scout transferred into the jet boat
and the three cadets took over the scout.

On the control deck, Tom checked his instruments and made preliminary
tests on the circuits. Suddenly Roger's voice crackled over the ship's
intercom. "Blast that guy Vidac!" he yelled. "He's one jump ahead of us
again!"

Startled, Tom called into the intercom. "What do you mean, Roger?"

"The ship's