he waited
for Captain Strong to make the first move.

"Hello, Bull," said Strong quietly. "I'd like to talk to you."

"Oh, you would, huh?" Coxine spat and his lips twisted in a mocking
grin. "What's the matter? Afraid to talk to me alone?" he indicated
Astro. "Did you have to bring one of your Space Cadets for protection?"

"Listen, Bull," urged Strong, "I was your friend once. I turned you in
because you were a mutineer and I was an officer of the Solar Guard. I'd
do the same to this cadet if he tried what you did."

"Yeah, I'll bet you would," snarled the criminal. "Just like a real
friend!" His voice deepened into a low roar. "Don't talk to me about the
old days! I'm on the Rock and you're just another Solar Guard space
crawler to me. Now get out of here and leave me alone."

"I came to ask you to help me, Bull," Strong persisted. "I need
information."

Coxine's eyes narrowed into slits. "What kind of information?"

"You once tried to hold up a Credit Exchange on Ganymede with a man
called Gus Wallace. He had a hide-out in the asteroid belt. I'd like to
know where it is," said Strong.

"Why?"

"I can't answer that, Bull."

"What do I get if I tell you?"

"Nothing, except my thanks and the thanks of the Solar Guard."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll turn around and leave."

"Then start turning, Strong," snarled the giant prisoner, "because I
ain't got nothing to tell you except how much I hate your guts!"

Astro moved forward slightly, but Strong held him back. "O.K., Bull. If
that's the way you want it, I'll leave."

"Why don't you let the young punk try something?" challenged Coxine. "I
ain't had any exercise in a long time."

Strong looked at the huge man and said coldly, "I wouldn't want the
death of a piece of space scum to show on his record."

Then, as if the space and sky overhead had suddenly been torn open,
there was a flash of light followed by the roar of a tremendous
explosion. The ground trembled. The air seemed to moan in agony. Strong
and Astro wheeled around and looked toward the tower that shimmered in
the light of the late afternoon sun. To their horror, they saw the
unmistakable mushrooming cloud of an atomic blast rising in the
synthetic atmosphere behind it.

"By the craters of Luna--" gasped Strong.

A second flash and explosion rocked the prison asteroid and suddenly the
tower disappeared. Almost immediately, a spaceship appeared over the
small planetoid and began systematic