Devil_ will
serve only as a starter, a trigger, you might say, to make use of the
copper as fuel!"

Once again Astro gasped. "Then--then--there isn't anything to stop you,
sir," he finished slowly.

Connel smiled. "I know there isn't. I'm going to contact Space Academy
now for permission to pitch the biggest ball in the history of man!"

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 15

"Well, I'll be a star-gazing lunatic!" exclaimed Roger a few minutes
later. "You really think that you can blast this satellite out of its
orbit?"

"Not only that, Manning," said Connel with a smile, "but I might be able
to get it back to our sun faster than we could get back ourselves."

"Why that would be the biggest project ever attempted by man, sir," said
Tom. "You'd be transporting an entire satellite from one star system to
another!"

"That's right, Corbett," said Connel. "I've just finished talking to
Space Academy and they've given me permission to do anything I think
necessary to accomplish just that. Now pay close attention to me, all of
you. We haven't much time."

Tom, Roger, Astro, Alfie, and Mr. Shinny gathered in a close circle
around the major on the control deck of the _Polaris_ and watched him as
he drew several rough diagrams on a piece of paper.

"Getting the satellite back is the trickiest part of the whole
operation. Astro, are you sure you made a correct estimate on the amount
of reactant fuel in the _Space Devil_?"

"Yes, sir," replied Astro. "I checked it four times, and Mr. Shinny
checked it, too!"

"All right, then, listen," said Connel. "I've given the satellite a
name. From now on we call it Junior. And this will be known as Junior's
Pitch! I've explained how Junior is a captive satellite revolving around
Tara, the same way our Moon revolves around Earth. We have two problems.
One is to blast it out of Tara's grip. And the other is to take
advantage of Tara's orbital speed around its sun Alpha Centauri, _and_
Junior's orbital speed around Tara. We've got to combine the velocities
of the orbits, so that when we do spring Junior loose, he'll gain in
speed!"

"But how do we get the orbital speeds to help us, Major?" asked Alfie.
His glasses had slipped to the very end of his nose.

"If you'd give the major a chance, he'd tell you, Big Brain," drawled
Roger. Alfie gave Roger a withering look and turned back to the major.

"Do you remember when you were kids and tied a rock on the end of a rope
and then sw