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Treachery in Outer Space

<h2>CHAPTER 4</h2> "The course is to Luna and return! Spaceman's luck." Captain Strong's voice rasped out over the public address system as a lone spaceship stood poised on the starting ramp, her ports closed, her crew making last-minute preparations. Ringing the huge spaceport, crews from other ships paused in their work to watch the first vessel make the dash around the Moon in a frantic race against the astral chronometer. In the temporary grandstands at the north end of the field, thousands of spectators from cities all over Earth leaned forward, hushed and expectant. "Are you ready Star Lady?" Strong called, his voice echoing over the field. A light flashed from the viewport of the ship. "Stand by to raise ship!" roared Strong. "Blast off, minus five, four, three, two, one—zero!" There was a sudden, ear-shattering roar and smoke and flame poured from the exhaust of the ship, spilling over the blast-off ramp. The ship rocked from side to side gently, rose into the air slowly, and then gathering speed began to move spaceward. In a moment it was gone and only the echoing blasts of thunder from its exhausts remained. <div class='figcenter'> <ANTIMG src="images/046-1.jpg" alt="[Illustration]" /></div> "There goes number one," said Tom to his unit mates as they watched from a vantage point near one of the service hangars. "He got a pretty shaky start there at the ramp," commented Astro. "He must've poured on so much power, he couldn't control the ship." "Heads up, fellas," announced Roger suddenly. "Here comes work." Kit Barnard was walking toward them, carrying a small metallic object in his hand. "'Morning, boys," said Kit with a weary smile. His eyes were bloodshot. The cadets knew he had worked all night to revise and resubmit his specification sheet to Strong. <div class='figcenter'> <ANTIMG src="images/047-1.jpg" alt="[Illustration]" /></div> "'Morning, sir," said Tom. "I'd like to have you O.K. this gear unit. I made it last night." Astro took the gear and examined it closely. "Looks fine to me," he said finally, handing it back. "Part of your main pumps?" "Why, yes," replied Kit, surprised. "Say, you seem to know your business." "Only the best rocket buster in space, sir," chimed in Tom. "He eats, sleeps, and dreams about machinery on a power deck." "Is that for your new reactor, sir?" asked Astro. "Yes. Want to come over and take a look at it?" "Want to!" exclaimed Roger. "You couldn't keep him away with a ray gun, Captain Barnard." "Fine," said Kit. "Incidentally, I'm not in the Solar Guard any more; don't even hold a reserve commission, so you don't have to 'sir' me. I'd prefer just plain Kit. O.K.?" The three boys grinned. "O.K., Kit," said Tom. Astro began to fidget and Tom nudged Roger. "Think we can spare the Venusian for a little while?" "Might as well let him go," grunted Roger. "He'd only sneak off later, anyway." Astro grinned sheepishly. "If anyone wants me to check anything, I'll be over at Kit's. Where is your ship?" he asked the veteran spaceman. "Hangar Fourteen. Opposite the main entrance gate." "Fine, that's where I'll be, fellows. See you later." With Astro bending over slightly to hear what Kit was saying, the two men walked away. Roger shook his head. "You know, I still can't get used to that guy. He acts like a piece of machinery was a good-looking space doll!" "I've seen you look the same way at your radarscope, Roger." "Yeah, but it's different with me." "Is it?" said Tom, turning away so that Roger would not see him laughing. And as he did, he saw something that made him pause. In front of the hangar, Captain Strong was talking to Quent Miles. There was no mistaking the tall spaceman in his severe black clothes. "Here comes more work," muttered Tom. Quent had turned away from Strong and was walking toward them. "Strong said I had to get you to O.K. this scope," said Quent with a sneer. "Hurry it up! I haven't got all day." He handed them a radarscope that was common equipment on small pleasure yachts, and was considerably lighter in weight than the type used on larger freight vessels. "What's the gross weight of your ship?" asked Roger after a quick glance at the large glass tube with a crystal surface that had been polished to a smooth finish. "Two thousand tons," said Quent. "Why?" Roger shook his head. "This is too small, Mr. Miles. You will have to use the standard operational scope." "But it's too big." "I'm sorry, sir—" began Roger. "Sorry!" Quent exploded. "Give me that tube, you squirt." He snatched it out of Roger's hand. "I'm using this scope whether you like it or not!" "If you use that scope," said Tom coldly, "your ship will be disqualified." Quent glared at the two boys for a moment, his black eyes cold and hard. "They make kids feel mighty important around here, don't they?" "They give us jobs to do," said Roger. "Usually we can handle them fine. Occasionally we run into a space-gassing bum and he makes things difficult, but we manage to take care of him." Quent stepped forward in a threatening manner, but Roger did not move. "Listen," the spaceman snarled, "stay out of my way, you young punk, or I'll blast you." "Don't ever make the mistake of touching me, Mister," said Roger calmly. "You might find that you're the one who's blasted." Quent stared at them a moment, then spun on his heels and swaggered back to his ship. "You know, Roger," said Tom, watching Miles disappear into the hangar, "I have an idea he is one spaceman who'll back up his threats." Roger ignored Tom's statement. "Come on. We've got a lot of work to do," he said, turning away. The two cadets headed for the next hangar and boarded a ship with the picture of a chicken on its nose. While Roger examined the communications and astrogation deck, Tom busied himself inspecting the control deck, where the great panels of the master control board were stripped of everything but absolute essentials. Later, they called Astro back to make a careful inspection of the power deck on the ship. While they waited for the Venusian cadet, Tom and Roger talked to the pilot. Gigi Duarte was a small, dapper Frenchman who somehow, in the course of his life, had acquired the nickname "Chicken" and it had been with him ever since. The cadets had met him once before when they rode on a passenger liner from Mars to Venusport and liked the small, stubby spaceman. Now, renewing their friendship, the boys and "Gigi the Chicken" sat on the lower step of the air lock and chatted. "This is the greatest thing that has happened to me," said Gigi. "Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to race in space!" "Don't get much chance when you're hauling passengers around, I guess," said Tom. Gigi shook his head. "One must always be careful. Just so fast, over a certain route, taking all the precautionary steps for fuel! Bah! But this flight! This time, I will show you speed! Watch the French Chicken and you will see speed as you have never—" Suddenly he stopped and frowned. "But you cannot see me. I will be going too fast!" Tom and Roger laughed. After Astro joined them, they shook hands with the Frenchman, wished him luck, and went to the next ship to inspect it. Gigi's ship was already being towed out to the blast-off ramp, and by the time the three boys had completed their inspection of the next ship, the gaily colored French ship flashed the ready signal to Strong. "Blast off, minus five, four, three, two, one—zero!" Strong's voice boomed out over the loud-speakers and the French Chicken poured on the power. His ship arose from the ground easily, and in five seconds was out of sight in the cloudless skies above. <hr style='width: 45%;' /> All day the spaceport rocked with the thunderous noise of stripped-down spaceships blasting off on their trial runs around the Moon. Kit Barnard worked like a demon to complete the cooling system in his aged ship, and as each ship blasted off on its scheduled run to the Moon, the time for his own flight drew nearer. Kit worked with his chief crewman, Sid Goldberg, a serious, swarthy-faced youngster who rivaled Astro in his love for the power-deck machinery on a spaceship. By nightfall, with Tom, Roger, and Astro standing by to make their final inspection, Kit wiped the oil and grime from his hands and stepped back. "Well, she's finished. You can make your inspections now, boys," he said. While Tom, Astro, and Roger swarmed over the vessel, examining the newly designed and odd-looking gear, the veteran spaceman and his young helper stretched out on the concrete ramp and in thirty seconds were asleep. The Polaris unit quickly checked out Kit's ship as qualified for the race, and then turned, fascinated, to the tangle of pipes, cables, and mechanical gear of the reactor unit and cooling pumps. Tom and Roger were unable to figure out exactly what changes Kit had made, but Astro gazed at the new machinery fondly, almost rapturously. He tried to explain the intricate work to his unit mates, but would stop in the middle of a sentence when a new detail of the construction would catch his eye. "Come on, Roger," Tom sighed. "Let's go on to the next ship. This lovesick Venusian can catch up with us later." They turned away and left Astro alone on the power deck, doubtful that he had even noticed their departure. The trials had been suspended at nightfall, and the ships that had already blasted off left sections of the huge spaceport empty. The day had been a grueling one for the cadets, and Tom and Roger climbed wearily on the nearest slidewalk that would take them back to the Academy grounds. Just as they rode through the main field gate, Roger nudged Tom. "Look! There's Quent Miles up ahead of us," he said. "Isn't he scheduled to blast off in the morning?" "Yes. Why?" asked Tom. "He hasn't called us in to inspect his ship yet." "Maybe he isn't ready yet," said Tom. "Probably still souping it up." "I've been watching him. He hasn't done very much." "What do you mean?" "He's the only one working on his ship," replied Roger. "Not one helper." Tom snorted. "You're beginning to suspect everything, Roger. He might be going to get a part or grab a bite to eat." "Where? In Atom City?" asked Roger. "That's the slidewalk to the monorail station." He pointed to the black-suited figure as he hopped on another moving belt that angled away from theirs. "Oh, forget it," groaned Tom. "I'm too tired to think about it now. Let's just report to Captain Strong and get some sack time. I'm all out of reactant." "I suppose Astro will spend half the night trying to figure out what it took Kit Barnard years to build," mused Roger. "And if I know Astro," chuckled Tom, "he'll get it figured out too!" As the two weary cadets continued their ride into the Academy grounds, on another slidewalk going in the opposite direction, Quent Miles watched the darkening countryside closely. It was several miles from the Academy to the monorail station, and the moving belt dipped and turned through the rugged country that surrounded Space Academy. Suddenly Quent straightened, and making certain no one was watching him, he jumped off the slidewalk and hurried to a clump of bushes a few hundred yards away. He disappeared into the thick foliage and then reached inside his tunic and pulled out a paralo-ray gun. "You in here, Charley?" Miles whispered. There was a movement to his left and he leveled the gun. "All right! Come out of there!" The bushes parted and Charley Brett stepped out. "Put that thing away!" he snarled. "What's that for?" "After I got your message to meet you out here, I didn't know what was up, so I brought this along just in case," Quent replied. "What's so secret that you couldn't come to the spaceport?" "I've got the stuff for Kit Barnard's reactor." "What stuff?" "This." Brett took a small lead container out of his pocket and handed it to Quent. "This is impure reactant. Dump it into his feeders and we can count him out of the race." Quent took the lead container, looked at it, and then stuffed it inside his tunic. "What'll happen?" "Nothing. He'll just get out in space and find his pumps won't handle the heat from his feeders, that's all. He's the only one I'm worried about." "Reports are coming in from Luna City. You can worry about Gigi Duarte, too. He's burning up space." "Ross is at the Luna spaceport," replied Brett. "He'll take care of any ship that looks like it's going to be too fast." "Then why not have him take care of Kit Barnard too?" demanded Quent. "There will be less chance of getting caught. Remember, I've got those three Space Cadets and Strong to worry about." "You can't expect to get what we're after unless you take chances. Now get back to the spaceport and put this stuff in Barnard's feeders. You blast off tomorrow morning before he does and won't have much time." "O.K.," agreed Quent. "When did Ross get to Luna City?" "Yesterday. I had him come in from the hide-out." "You think there'll be any cause for suspicion with him on the Moon and me down here?" asked Quent. "When you land at Luna City spaceport, he'll disappear. By that time we should know how the time trials are shaping up." "O.K. Where are you going now?" "Back to the office. I've still got some things to check on before the big race. We're going to use the hide-out for that." A smile spread across Quent Miles' face. "So that's it, eh? Pretty clever, Charley. Ross know about it?" "Yeah. He's leaving as soon as he knows we've won the time trials. Now get back to the spaceport and take care of Barnard's ship." Quent slipped his hand inside his tunic and patted the lead container. "Too bad this isn't a baby bomb," he muttered. "We could be sure Barnard wouldn't finish." "He's finished right now, but he doesn't know it." Brett smiled. "He's borrowed heavily just on this race, and when he loses, the banks will close him up. Kit Barnard is through." <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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