Danger in Deep Space

Danger in Deep Space, by Carey
Rockwell

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Title: Danger in Deep Space
Author: Carey Rockwell
Illustrator: Louis Glanzman
Release Date: November 4, 2006 [EBook #19709]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANGER
IN DEEP SPACE ***

Produced by Greg Weeks, Patricia A Benoy and the Online Distributed
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Transcriber's Note There is no evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed. Several obvious typographical errors were

corrected, one possible typographical error was left as is, and
hyphenation was standardized. A list of these items may be found at the
end of the text. Words and phrases surrounded by underscore's like this
are in italics in the original text. Although the cover page includes the
title "STAND BY FOR MARS!" that book is not included in this e-text.
Enjoy!

DANGER IN DEEP SPACE

THE TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET STORIES
By Carey Rockwell
STAND BY FOR MARS! DANGER IN DEEP SPACE
[Illustration]
A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure
DANGER IN DEEP SPACE
By CAREY ROCKWELL
WILLY LEY Technical Adviser
GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers New York
COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY ROCKHILL RADIO
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Illustrations by LOUIS GLANZMAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece
The three weary cadets assembled on the control deck 13
The junior spaceman maneuvered the great rocket ship toward the air
lock 36
The jet cab raced along the highway to Venusport 54
Tom could see two space-suited figures floating effortlessly 76
Mason was frozen into a rigid statue, unable to move 133
"Remember," Astro cautioned, "set the fuse for two hours" 161
Landing, they would tumble out of the jet boat and begin their frantic
digging 180
"I know we're going to be sent to the prison asteroid and we deserve it,"
said Loring 206

DANGER IN DEEP SPACE
CHAPTER 1
"Stand by to reduce thrust on main drive rockets!" The tall,
broad-shouldered officer in the uniform of the Solar Guard snapped out
the order as he watched the telescanner screen and saw the Western
Hemisphere of Earth looming larger and larger.
"Aye, aye, Captain Strong," replied a handsome curly-haired Space
Cadet. He turned to the ship's intercom and spoke quickly into the
microphone.
"Control deck to power deck. Check in!"

"Power deck, aye," a bull-throated voice bellowed over the
loud-speaker.
"Stand by rockets, Astro! We're coming in for a landing."
"Standing by!"
The Solar Guard officer turned away from the telescanner and glanced
quickly over the illuminated banks of indicators on the control panel.
"Is our orbit to Space Academy clear?" he asked the cadet. "Have we
been assigned a landing ramp?"
"I'll check topside, sir," answered the cadet, turning back to the
intercom. "Control deck to radar deck. Check in!"
"Radar bridge, aye," drawled a lazy voice over the speaker.
"Are we cleared for landing, Roger?"
"Everything clear as glass ahead, Tom," was the calm reply.
"We're steady on orbit and we touch down on ramp seven. Then"--the
voice began to quicken with excitement--"three weeks' liberty coming
up!"
The rumbling voice of the power-deck cadet suddenly broke in over the
intercom. "Lay off that space gas, Manning. Just see that this space
wagon gets on the ground in one piece. Then you can dream about your
leave!"
"Plug your jets, you big Venusian ape man," was the reply, "or I'll turn
you inside out!"
"Yeah? You and what fleet of spaceships?"
"Just me, buster, with my bare hands!"
The Solar Guard officer on the control deck smiled at the young cadet
beside him as the good-natured argument crackled over the intercom

speaker overhead. "Looks like those two will never stop battling,
Corbett," he commented dryly.
"Guess they'll never learn, sir," sighed the cadet.
"That's all right. It's when they stop battling that I'll start getting
worried," answered the officer. He turned back to the controls. "One
hundred thousand feet from Earth's surface! Begin landing procedure!"
As Cadet Tom Corbett snapped orders into the intercom and his
unit-mates responded by smooth co-ordinated action, the giant rocket
cruiser Polaris slowly arched through Earth's atmosphere, first nosing
up to lose speed and then settling tailfirst toward its destination--the
spaceport at Space Academy, U.S.A.
Far below, on the grounds of the Academy, cadets wearing the green
uniforms of first-year Earthworms and the blue of the upper-classmen
stopped all activity as they heard the blasting of the braking rockets
high in the heavens. They stared enviously into the