be so secret about this
mission?" he asked.

"I don't know," answered Roger. "After that speech the president of the
Solar Council made the other night, the whole Alliance must know about
the project, the screening, and practically everything else."

Strong laughed. "You space brats see adventure and mystery in
everything. Now, why wouldn't a man in charge of a project as large as
this have secret messages? He might be talking to the president of the
council!"

Tom blushed. "You're right, sir," he said. "I guess I let my imagination
run riot."

"Just concentrate on getting this wagon to Venus in one piece, Corbett,
and leave the secret messages to the governor," joked Strong. "And any
time you get too suspicious, just remember that the governor was
appointed head of this project by the Solar Alliance itself!"

Blasting through space, leaving a trail of atomic exhaust behind her,
the _Polaris_ rocketed smoothly through the dark void toward the misty
planet of Venus. In rotating watches, the cadets ran the ship, ate,
slept, and spent their few remaining spare hours attending to their
classroom work with the aid of soundscribers and story spools. Each of
them was working for the day when he would wear the black-and-gold
uniform of the Solar Guard officer that was respected throughout the
system as the mark of merit, hard work, distinction, and honor.

[Illustration]

Once, Captain Strong and Astro donned space suits and went outside to
inspect the hull of the _Polaris_. The ship had passed through a swarm
of small meteorites, each less than a tenth of an inch in diameter but
traveling at high speeds, and some had pierced the hull. It was a simple
and quick job to seal the holes with a special atomic torch.

Like a giant silver bullet speeding toward a bull's-eye, the rocket ship
pin-pointed the planet Venus from among the millions of worlds in space
and was soon hovering over Venusport, nose up toward space, ready for a
touchdown at the municipal spaceport. As the braking rockets quickly
stopped all forward acceleration, the main rockets were cut in and the
giant ship dropped toward the surface of the tropical planet tailfirst.

Tom's face glowed with excitement as he adjusted one lever and then
another, delicately balancing the ship in its fall, meanwhile talking
into the intercom and directing Astro in the careful reduction of
thrust. On the radar deck Roger kept his eyes glued to the radar scanner
and posted