Sabotage in Space

s Captai

office, accompanied by Professor Hemmingwell. The thin little man s

here for this meeting,"

n Strong should be here." He turned t

he sighed. "Steve is with his unit, chewing th

You heard about ou

cannot see how Captain Strong can ignore this me

Walters, whose face was approaching the same colo

ir, "I assure you Steve Strong is not holding their hands. I

not see that the staff of this institution has done anything constructive for the last three days.

I'll tell you right now that the lesson would come first. This was a very important issue. The cadets had their real taste of democracy in action today, down on a level where they could understand it

better get on with the meeting," he said. "Do you

uaded. He faced Commander Walters and wag

ed. "But I have a right to my ideas regarding my space projectile operations. I've devoted a g

d reply, Connel jum

ot the speeches out of the w

ing tactics, knew how to take the edge off a touchy situation. Walters sat down again and Hemmingwell spread out

ger on the map. "I think it is best suited for ou

mention

d and a tall, distinguished man with iron-gray h

in obvious delight. "I didn't

Solar Guard officers. "Hello, Commander Walters, Major Connel. Meet Dave Barret, my

vers, "have we

ing," repli

to you to work on the operation with the professor, I'm not even going to let you pay him. He remain

"All right wit

Commander," said Hemmingwell, wiping his glasses carefully. "

one credit a year as salary, I have no objections to working on this project," he said. "In

ptain Strong were only here, we could

Why is he so impo

. "And that reminds me, Professor," he continued. "Where is your hangar going to be? And where is that spur coming in from? Are we going to have a lot of

a way of tunneling through this section here"-he pointed to a particularly rugged se

ied the map closely. "V

can do it, Dave

, sir," replied

time?" gro

operation, bringing in the first ha

confidence, Connel turned to

ters, "Professor Hemmingwell will have to be

e wiry old man. "Right

one thing explained, Commander, unless, of cours

it?" aske

ed Devers. "But I still don't know the exact nature of the

n absolutely blindly. Now you should know everything." He paused and looked at Hemmingwell and Connel, who nodded in return. "Carter,

you are going to fire payloads from space

-of-the-way settlements that do not have a spaceport large enough to handle the

ly. "This is the most amazing thi

is to lick the problem of standardizing the receivers for the projectiles. They must be lightweight, easily asse

lectronic gismo, as you call it, is th

Professor?"

paceship, the projectile designated for that receiver will be tuned in to the frequency of that beam and fired from t

at radar beam wo

el stiffly, "is a

Devers, smiling. "

operation," said Professor Hemmingwell, "is the

d the commandant of Space Academy. "You

k his head, Deve

ecrecy," he said with a smile at Connel. "I don't remember seeing anything about

came to a vote. So I ran around the whole Solar Alliance, be

ers. "Of course, should the project succeed, we will go before the Solar Council with an

"You are a very brave man, Professor Hemmingwell, to risk so much. And, I might a

rted the professor.

tried to talk common sense were horses." As everyone laughed, he

his project already that I'm going

t under

eeds anything, he'll tell Steve Strong. If Strong can't fulfill the request, he'll pass it on to

said Walters, trying to softe

"Still, if you need my help on this

id Walters. "You've bee

ofessor Hemmingwell turned to their study of the map, but Major Connel remained where he was, rubbing his chin

y room, backs ramrod straight, eyes front, hands stiffly at their sides. Captain

m out. "When I think," he continued, "when I think of how close you three space brats came to getting kicked out of the Academy-" Words seemed to fail the young captain momentarily and he slumped on one of the bunks and looked at the row of cadets, shaking his head. "Why, in the name of S

all, but with the bulging muscles of a tiny giant stretching his brigh

to assign the Polaris unit to

. "Give it to them. Show them no mercy. By the rings of Satur

said the thi

ithout another word, nor even a

se" Rush faced the three cadets, his beaten

u don't deserve because you wear that uniform. You get a chance to learn to be a spaceman and most of you muff it. I've got E.M.'s in my outfit that could blast circles around either of you-guys that deserve the chance you've got, and fouled out because they can't spell or don't know how to hold a cup of tea with their fing

in a perfect about-fa

ighed Tom. "The Capella unit is ge

" breathed R

ut quitting the Academy