icer wearily, "even if I knew I couldn't
tell you. It was a special order from Commander Walters' office. Captain
Strong blasted off three days ago with a full crew of guardsmen in a
rocket cruiser."

"And he didn't--" began Roger.

"And he didn't leave any message for you," concluded the officer.

"Thank you, sir," said Tom. "Come on, fellows, let's go. We've got to
blast off for Mars in half an hour and we haven't got our gear packed."

The officer watched the three cadets leave and then called after them.
"If Captain Strong returns before you get back from Mars, Corbett, I'll
ask him to leave a message!"

"Thanks, sir," said Tom.

The three boys left the Tower building and hopped on a slidewalk for
the spaceport. The Academy was buzzing with activity as Solar Guard
officers, scientists, and enlisted men attended to the millions of
details of the mass flight of the colonists into deep space.

They met Mike McKenny, the stubby warrant officer, at the air lock of
the Solar Guard rocket destroyer that would take them to Mars. After
they had climbed into the ship, they waited for a full hour before they
could get clearance to blast off. And, in flight, they were forced to
maintain constant alert and careful position in the heavy flow of
traffic to and from Earth.

"Never saw the Academy so busy in all my life," commented Mike. "Must be
a thousand ships there and in the Atom City fitting docks."

"Yeah," agreed Roger. "This is going to be some push!"

From Mars, Titan, Ganymede, Luna City, Venus, the Asteroid Colonies, and
as far away as the uranium mines of Pluto, the colonists arrived, to be
quartered at Space Academy. Excited, and anxious to begin their new
life, they assembled for their antibiotic shots and the last medical
check by the Solar Guard doctors. There were crystal miners from Titan,
farmers from Venus, Mars, and Earth, prospectors from the New Sahara
desert of Mars, engineers from the atmosphere booster stations on
Ganymede, and just plain citizens who wanted a new life on the distant
satellite of Wolf 359. All had gathered for the great mass flight into
space.

At the same time the giant fleet of ships needed to carry the colonists
to Roald was being assembled. Officers of the Solar Guard worked late
into the night, examining the construction of every ship in the Alliance
for use in the flight to Roald. If a jet liner or merchantman was found
to be satisfactory, it was purchased at full price