y there was a burst of brilliant light. The lighter ship had been
completely destroyed by a direct hit.

Sick with horror, Tom looked away and watched the ship Roger had joined
blast off under full acceleration. It roared spaceward in a straight
line, disappearing at incredible speed.

Meanwhile, the invader continued to blast relentlessly.
One--two--three--four--automatic reload--one--two--three--four, reload.
Over and over, firing at seemingly peaceful fields of grass, only to
strike an armory, space cradle, or supply depot buried underneath the
ground. Suddenly it changed its course and trained its guns skyward. Tom
looked up and saw a tiny flyspeck roaring straight down at the ship. It
was Lieutenant Williams' rocket destroyer, with Roger on the radar
bridge, in a suicidal attempt to destroy the invader. But the larger
ship was ready. The two forward blasters opened fire. A flaming ball of
light exploded near the stabilizer of the destroyer and it fell off
course to float helplessly in free-fall orbit around the asteroid. Still
lying on the ground, Tom sighed with relief. At least Roger was all
right.

Then the young cadet saw the invading spaceship move away from the area
around the tower toward the horizon not too far away on the small
planetoid. He followed it with his eyes and saw it suddenly land near a
cluster of white prisoner huts. Tom gasped as the reason for the attack
became clear.

"Major! Major! Major Savage!" he called as he raced across the field.
But the major was nowhere to be seen. A guard carrying a medical kit
hurried past him and Tom grabbed him by the arm.

"Major Savage! Where is he?"

The guard pointed to a near-by stretcher and Tom saw the unconscious
figure of the major sprawled on the plastic frame.

"But--but the prisoners are getting away!" yelled Tom.

"I can't do anything about it. I've got wounded men to care for!" The
man jerked away and disappeared in the smoky, choking dust.

The curly-haired space cadet, his face blackened from the smoke, his
lungs crying for fresh air, started across the blast-pitted field,
looking for help. But there was none to be had. Suddenly he wheeled in
the direction of the spaceship and started to run toward it.

As soon as the young cadet had left the smoking area around the wrecked
tower, he realized that it was the only section of the small satellite
that had suffered attack. Ahead, he could see the prisoners in their
white suits crowding a