t the whole matter and no one will get
hurt."

"And the Solar Guard won't get a reputation of being nosy," added
Strong.

Connel nodded. "I'll take care of it." He shook hands all around, coming
to Sykes last. "Sorry I lost my temper, Professor," he said gruffly.

"Forget it, Major." Sykes smiled. He really admired the gruff spaceman.

The thick-set senior officer came to smart attention, saluted crisply,
turned, and left the office. For the time being, the mysterious trouble
on Venus was his responsibility.

* * * * *

"Atom City express leaving on Track Four!"

A metallic voice boomed over the station loud-speaker, as last-minute
passengers boarded the long line of gleaming white monorail cars,
hanging from a single overhead steel rail. In the open doorway of one
of the end cars, a conductor lifted his arm, then paused and waited
patiently as three Space Cadets raced down the stairs and along the
platform in a headlong dash for the train. They piled inside, almost one
on top of the other.

"Thanks for waiting, sir," gasped Tom Corbett.

"Not at all, Cadet," said the conductor. "I couldn't let you waste your
leave waiting for another train."

The elderly man flipped a switch in the narrow vestibule and the door
closed with a soft hiss of air. He inserted a light key into a near-by
socket and twisted it gently, completing a circuit that flashed the "go"
light in the engineer's cab. Almost immediately, the monorail train
eased forward, suspended on the overhead rail. By the time the last
building of Space Academy flashed past, the train was rolling along at
full speed on its dash across the plains to Atom City.

The ride to the great metropolis of the North American continent was
filled with excitement and anticipation for the three members of the
_Polaris_ crew. The cars were crowded with cadets on leave, and while
there was a lot of joking and horseplay, the few civilian passengers
were impressed with the gentlemanly bearing of the young spacemen. Tom
and Roger finally settled down to read the latest magazines supplied by
the monorail company. But Astro headed for the dining car where he
attracted a great deal of attention by his order of a dozen eggs,
followed by two orders of waffles and a full quart of milk. Finally,
when the dining-car steward called a halt, because it was closing time,
Astro made his way back to Tom and Roger with a plastic bag of French
fried potatoes,