The Space Pioneers

The Space Pioneers, by Carey
Rockwell

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Title: The Space Pioneers
Author: Carey Rockwell
Illustrator: Louis Glanzman
Release Date: July 4, 2006 [EBook #18753]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SPACE PIONEERS ***

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[Illustration: TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET THE SPACE
PIONEERS By CAREY ROCKWELL WILLY LEY, Technical

Adviser]
[Illustration]
THE SPACE PIONEERS
THE TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET STORIES By Carey Rockwell
STAND BY FOR MARS! DANGER IN DEEP SPACE ON THE
TRAIL OF THE SPACE PIRATES THE SPACE PIONEERS THE
REVOLT ON VENUS TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE
SABOTAGE IN SPACE THE ROBOT ROCKET
[Illustration]
A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure
THE SPACE PIONEERS
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
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research can find no evidence of the
required copyright renewal on this work.]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece
Her nose pointed skyward, the Polaris was ready to blast off 21 The
Solar Guard worked late into the night, examining every ship in the
Alliance 50 The speedy little ship shot ahead of the fleet toward the

gigantic mass of asteroids 90 The Polaris landed safely on the surface
of the satellite 105 Bush pulled a paralo-ray gun from his belt and said,
"All right, march!" 143 "Hasn't anybody figured out why four hundred
ships crashed in landing?" Strong asked. 159 "We better take it easy,
Astro," said Tom. "Turn off the lights." 171
THE SPACE PIONEERS
CHAPTER 1
"Go on, Astro," shouted the young Space Cadet. "Boot that screwy ball
with everything you've got!"
The three cadets of the Polaris unit raced down the Academy field
toward the mercuryball, a plastic sphere with a vial of mercury inside.
At the opposite end of the field, three members of the Arcturus unit ran
headlong in a desperate effort to reach the ball first.
Astro, the giant Space Cadet from Venus, charged toward the ball like a
blazing rocket, while his two unit mates flanked him, ready to block out
their opponents and give Astro a clear shot at the ball.
On the left wing, Tom Corbett, curly-haired and snub-nosed, ran lightly
down the field, while on the opposite wing, Roger Manning, his blond
hair cut crew style, kept pace with him easily. The two teams closed.
Roger threw a perfect block on his opposing wingman and the two boys
went down in a heap. Tom side-stepped the Arcturus cadet on his side
and sent him sprawling to the ground. He quickly cut across the field
and threw his body headlong at the last remaining member of the
opposition. Astro was free to kick the ball perfectly for a fifty-yard
goal.
Jogging back toward their own goal line, the three Polaris cadets
congratulated each other. Astro's kick had tied the score, two-all.
"That was some feint you pulled on Richards, Tom," said Roger. "You
sucked him in beautifully. I thought he was going to tear up the field
with his nose!"

Tom grinned. Compliments from Roger were few and far between.
Astro clapped his hands together and roared, "All right, fellas, let's see
if we can't take these space bums again! Another shot at the goal--that's
all I need!"
[Illustration]
Lining up at the end of the field again, the cadets kept their eyes on the
cadet referee on the side lines. They saw him hold up his hand and then
drop it suddenly. Once again the teams raced toward the ball in the
middle of the field. When they met, Roger tried to duplicate Tom's feat
and feint his opponent, but the other cadet was ready for the maneuver
and stopped dead in his tracks. Roger was forced to break stride just
long enough for the Arcturus cadet to dump him to the ground and then
race for Astro. Tom, covering Astro on the left wing, saw the cadet
sweeping in and lunged in a desperate attempt to stop him. But he
missed, leaving Astro unprotected against the three members of the
Arcturus unit. With his defense gone, Astro kicked at the ball
frantically but just grazed the side of it. The mercury inside the ball
began to play its role in the game, and as though it had a brain of its
own, the ball spun, stopped, bounced,