h to the inner part of
the ship opened. Tom greeted them with a smile and an outstretched hand.

"Glad to have you aboard!" he joked.

After the back slapping between Roger, Astro, and Tom was over, Connel
questioned Tom on his strange departure from the satellite.

"It was just like I told you, sir," explained Tom. "They got out of the
brig," he paused, not mentioning the spoon that Loring had used or how
he had gotten it. "They forced me to take them to Tara. I managed to get
the gravity turned off and gave them a lesson in free-fall fighting.
They're still frozen stiff up on the control deck."

"Good boy!" said Connel. "I'll go and have a talk with them. Meantime,
Astro, you and Shinny and Alfie get below and see how much fuel we have
in emergency supply. We're going to need every ounce we have."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Astro. The three hurried to the power deck.

Connel followed Roger and Tom to the control deck. Loring and Mason were
still in the positions they were in when Tom had fired his paralo-ray.
Connel took Tom's gun and switched to the neutralizer. He fired twice
and the two men rose shakily to their feet. Connel faced them, his eyes
burning.

"I'm going to say very little to you two space-crawling rats!" snapped
Connel. "I'm not going to lock you in the brig; I'm not going to confine
you in any manner. But if you make one false move, I'll court-martial
you right here and now! You've caused enough trouble with your
selfishness, jeopardizing the lives of six men. If we fail to get off
this satellite, it'll be because _you_ put us in this position. Now get
below and see what aid you can give Astro. And if either of you so much
as raises your voice, I'm going to let _him_ take care of you! Is that
clear?"

"Yes, sir!" mumbled Loring. "We understand, sir. And we'll do everything
we can to--to--make up for what we've done."

"The only thing you can do is to stay out of my sight!" said Connel
coldly.

Loring and Mason scuttled past Connel and climbed down to the power
deck.

"Attention! Attention! Control deck--Major Connel! Sir, this is Roger on
the radar bridge. I just checked over Tom's figures on thrust, sir, and
I'm not sure, but I think we've passed the point of safety."

"Thanks, Roger," said Connel. He turned to the intercom. "Power deck,
check in!"

"Power deck, aye," said Astro.

"Loring and Mason there?" asked Connel.

"Yes, sir. I'm putting them right to work in the radiation chambe