The Revolt on Venus | Page 7

orders,
Commander?"
"Use your own judgment, Lou," said Walters. "You know what we
want and how far to go to get it. If you learn anything, we'll start a
full-scale investigation. If not, we'll forget the whole matter and no one
will get hurt."
"And the Solar Guard won't get a reputation of being nosy," added
Strong.
Connel nodded. "I'll take care of it." He shook hands all around,
coming to Sykes last. "Sorry I lost my temper, Professor," he said
gruffly.
"Forget it, Major." Sykes smiled. He really admired the gruff
spaceman.
The thick-set senior officer came to smart attention, saluted crisply,
turned, and left the office. For the time being, the mysterious trouble on
Venus was his responsibility.
* * * * *
"Atom City express leaving on Track Four!"
A metallic voice boomed over the station loud-speaker, as last-minute
passengers boarded the long line of gleaming white monorail cars,
hanging from a single overhead steel rail. In the open doorway of one
of the end cars, a conductor lifted his arm, then paused and waited

patiently as three Space Cadets raced down the stairs and along the
platform in a headlong dash for the train. They piled inside, almost one
on top of the other.
"Thanks for waiting, sir," gasped Tom Corbett.
"Not at all, Cadet," said the conductor. "I couldn't let you waste your
leave waiting for another train."
The elderly man flipped a switch in the narrow vestibule and the door
closed with a soft hiss of air. He inserted a light key into a near-by
socket and twisted it gently, completing a circuit that flashed the "go"
light in the engineer's cab. Almost immediately, the monorail train
eased forward, suspended on the overhead rail. By the time the last
building of Space Academy flashed past, the train was rolling along at
full speed on its dash across the plains to Atom City.
The ride to the great metropolis of the North American continent was
filled with excitement and anticipation for the three members of the
Polaris crew. The cars were crowded with cadets on leave, and while
there was a lot of joking and horseplay, the few civilian passengers
were impressed with the gentlemanly bearing of the young spacemen.
Tom and Roger finally settled down to read the latest magazines
supplied by the monorail company. But Astro headed for the dining car
where he attracted a great deal of attention by his order of a dozen eggs,
followed by two orders of waffles and a full quart of milk. Finally,
when the dining-car steward called a halt, because it was closing time,
Astro made his way back to Tom and Roger with a plastic bag of
French fried potatoes, and the three boys sat, munching them happily.
The countryside flashed by in a blur of summer color as the train roared
on at a speed of two hundred miles an hour.
A few hours and four bags of potatoes later, Astro yawned and
stretched his enormous arms, nearly poking Roger in the eye.
"Hey, ya big ape!" growled Roger. "Watch the eye!"
"You'd never miss it, Manning," said Astro. "Just use your radar."

"Never mind, I like this eye just the way it is."
"We're almost there," called Tom. He pointed out the crystal window
and they could see the high peaks of the Rocky Mountain range
looming ahead. "We cut through the new tunnel in those mountains and
we'll be in Atom City in ten minutes!"
There was a bustle of activity around them as other cadets roused
themselves and collected their gear. Once again conversation became
animated and excited as the train neared its destination. Flashing into
the tunnel, the line of cars began to slow down, rocking gently.
"We'd better go right out to the spaceport," said Tom, pulling his gear
out of the recessed rack under his seat. "Our ship blasts off for Venus in
less than a half-hour."
"Boy, it'll be a pleasure to ride a spaceship without having to
astrogate," said Roger. "I'll just sit back and take it easy. Hope there are
some good-looking space dolls aboard."
Tom turned to Astro. "You know, Astro," he said seriously, "it's a good
thing we're along to take care of this Romeo. If he were alone, he'd
wind up in another kind of hunt."
"I'd like to see how Manning's tactics work on a female dasypus
novemcinctur maximus," said Astro with a sly grin.
"A female what?" yelled Roger.
"A giant armadillo, Roger," Tom explained, laughing. "Very big and
very mean when they don't like you. Don't forget, everything on Venus
grows big because of the lighter gravity."
"Yeah," drawled Roger, looking at Astro. "Big and dumb!"
"What was that again?" bellowed the giant Venusian, reaching for the
flip cadet. The next