On the Trail of the Space Pirates | Page 7

away out there by ourselves?" The man's tone was
surly and disrespectful.
"Sorry, but that's the only location left. In fact," Hawks added acidly,
"you're lucky to get it!"
"Really?" sneered the heavier of the two. "Well, I'm sure going to find
out about this!"
Hawks stood up and eyed the two men coldly. "I've been appointed
commissioner of this exposition by the delegates to the Solar Alliance
Council. I answer only to the council. If you have a complaint, then you
must present your case before that body." He cleared his throat and
glared at them from behind his desk. "Good day, gentlemen!" he said.
[Illustration: Hawks stood up and eyed the two men coldly]
The two men, who until now had been seated facing the desk, got up,
and after glaring at Hawks, turned and walked toward the door. Tom
gasped, and grabbing Roger by the arm, involuntarily pointed at the
two men.
"Look, Roger--those men--" he whispered.
"Yeah," said Roger. "Those are the wise-guy space crawlers we met on
the monorail, the ones who called us punks!"

"How'd they get here so fast?" asked Astro.
"Must have taken a jetliner from Atom City, I guess."
Strong, who sat near Tom, heard the exchange between the cadets.
"You know those men?" he asked.
"Well--uh--not exactly, sir. We just had a little run-in with them on the
monorail returning from leave, that's all," said Tom. "Nothing serious.
They don't think much of the Solar Guard, though."
"I gathered as much," said Hawks dryly. He walked over from his desk.
"I hated to give them the license to operate, but I had to, since I had no
valid reason to turn them down. They have a good idea, too."
"That so? What is it?" asked Strong.
"They have an old chemical-burning space freighter in which they're
going to take fair visitors up for a short ride. You see, the big one, Gus
Wallace, is an old deep-space merchantman. The smaller one is Luther
Simms, a rocketman."
"Hm. Not a bad idea at all," mused Strong. "They should make out all
right."
With that, the two Solar Guard officers dropped the incident of Wallace
and Simms and turned to exchanging news of mutual friends and of
what each had been doing since their last meeting. Finally, as the
conversation was brought around to the exposition, Hawks got up and
sat on the side of the desk, facing Strong and the cadets. His eyes
glowed as he spoke.
"Steve," he said, "this is going to be the greatest gathering of minds,
thoughts, and ideas in the knowledgeable history of mankind! There are
going to be lectures from the greatest minds in the system on any and
all subjects you can think of. In one building we're going to build a
whole spaceship--a rocket cruiser--piece by piece, right in front of the

eyes of fair visitors. In another building we're going to have the greatest
collection of musicians in the universe, continuously playing the most
beautiful music, in a hall built to seat a half million people. Industry,
science, medicine, art, literature, astrophysics, space flight, to say
nothing of a comparative history exhibit designed to show the people
where our forefathers went off the track by warring against each other.
In fact, Steve, everything you can think of, and then more, will be
represented here at the exposition. Why, do you know I've been
working for three years, co-ordinating ideas, activity, and information!"
Strong and the cadets sat transfixed as they listened to the
commissioner speak in glowing terms of the exposition, which, until
this time, by the cadets at least, had been considered little more than a
giant amusement park. Finally Strong managed to say, "And we
thought the Polaris was going to be so big, it'd be the center of
attraction." He smiled.
Hawks waved his hand. "Look, I don't want to offend you or the boys,
Steve, but the fact is, the Polaris is one of the smaller exhibits!"
"I can see that now," answered Strong. "Tell me, Mike, just what do
you want us to do?"
"I'll answer that in two parts. First, I would like the cadets to set up the
Polaris, get her shining and bright, and with quiet courtesy, answer any
question anyone might ask concerning the ship, referring any question
they can't answer to the information center in the Space Building."
"That's all, sir?" asked Tom incredulously.
"That's all, Corbett. You open the Polaris at nine in the morning and
close her at nine at night. You'll be living aboard, of course."
"Yes, sir. Of course, sir."
"That sounds so simple," drawled Roger, "it might be tough."
"It will be tough, Manning," commented Hawks. "Don't fool yourself

into assuming otherwise."
"Don't worry about these boys, Mike. Now, what