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THE REVOLT ON VENUS
THE TOM CORBETTSPACE CADET STORIES
By Carey Rockwell
STAND BY FOR MARS!DANGER IN DEEP SPACEON THE TRAIL OF THE SPACE PIRATESTHE SPACE PIONEERSTHE REVOLT ON VENUS
Frontispiece]
A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure
THE REVOLT ON VENUS
By CAREY ROCKWELL
WILLY LEY _Technical Adviser_
GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ New York
COPYRIGHT, 1954, BYROCKHILL RADIO
ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDILLUSTRATIONS BY LOUIS GLANZMAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Note | | | | The DP team has failed to uncover any evidence that the | | copyright on this work was renewed. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+
ILLUSTRATIONS
_Frontispiece_
"She tried to get farther into the cave" 54
They were completely surrounded by the jungle 57
Astro kept his blaster aimed at the monsters 107
His eyes probed the jungle for further movement 115
"Mr. Sinclair!" cried Tom, suddenly relieved 161
The Solar Guard troops landed on the rim of the canyon 189
Sinclair wasn't able to get clear in time 210
THE REVOLT ON VENUS
CHAPTER 1
"Emergency air lock open!"
The tall, broad-shouldered officer, wearing the magnificentblack-and-gold uniform of the Solar Guard, spoke into a small microphoneand waited for an acknowledgment. It came almost immediately.
"Cadet Corbett ready for testing," a voice crackled thinly over theloud-speaker.
"Very well. Proceed."
Seated in front of the scanner screen on the control deck of the rocketcruiser _Polaris_, Captain Steve Strong replaced the microphone in itsslot and watched a bulky figure in a space suit step out of the air lockand drift away from the side of the ship. Behind him, five boys, alldressed in the vivid blue uniforms of the Space Cadet Corps, strainedforward to watch the lone figure adjust the nozzles of the jet unit onthe back of his space suit.
"Come on, Tom!" said the biggest of the five boys, his voice a low,powerful rumble as he rooted for his unit mate.
"If Tom makes this one," crowed the cadet next to him, a slender boywith a thick shock of close-cropped blond hair, "the _Polaris_ unit ishome free!"
"This is the last test, Manning," replied one of the remaining threecadets, the insigne of the _Arcturus_ unit on the sleeve of his uniform."_If_ Corbett makes this one, you fellows deserve to win."
Aboard the rocket cruiser _Polaris_, blasting through the black void ofspace two hundred miles above Earth, six Space Cadets and a Solar Guardofficer were conducting the final test for unit honors for the term. Allother Academy units had been eliminated in open competition. Now, theresults of the individual space orientation test would decide whetherthe three cadets of the _Arcturus_ unit or the three cadets of the_Polaris_ unit would win final top unit honors.
Roger Manning and Astro kept their eyes glued to the telescanner screen,watching their unit mate, Tom Corbett, drift slowly through space towardhis starting position. The young cadet's task was basically simple; withhis space helmet blacked out so that he could not see in any direction,he was to make his way back to the ship from a point a mile away, guidedonly by the audio orders from the examining officer aboard the ship. Hisscore was measured by the time elapsed, and the amount of correctionsand orders given by the examining officer. It was an exercise designedto test a cadet's steadiness under emergency conditions of space.
The three members of the _Arcturus_ unit had completed their runs andhad returned to the ship in excellent time. Roger and Astro had alsotaken their tests and now it depended on Tom. If he could return to the_Polaris_ in less than ten minutes, with no more than three corrections,the _Polaris_ unit would be victorious.
Seated directly in front of the scanner, Captain Steve Strong, theexamining officer, watched the space-suited figure dwindle to a merespeck on the screen. As the regular skipper of the _Polaris_ crew, hecould not help secretly rooting for Tom, but he was determined to befair, even to the extent of declaring the _Arcturus_ unit the winner,should the decision be very close. He leaned forward to adjust the focuson the scanner, bringing the drifting figure into a close-up view, andthen lifted the microphone to his lips.
"Stand by, Corbett!" he called. "You're getting close to range."
"Very well, sir," replied Tom. "Standing by."
Behind Strong, Roger and Astro looked at each other and turned back tothe screen. As one, they crossed the fingers of both hands.
"Ready, Corbett!" called Strong. "You'll be clocked from the secondyou're on range. One hundred feet--seventy-five--fifty--twenty-five--ten--_time_!"
As the signal echoed in his blacked-out space helmet, Tom jerked hisbody around in a sudden violent move, and grasping the valve of the jetunit on his back, he opened it halfway. He waited, holding his breath,expecting to hear Captain Strong correct his course. He counted to tenslowly, and when no correction came over the headphones, he opened thevalve wide and blindly shot through space.
Aboard the Polaris, Astro and Roger shouted with joy and Strong couldnot repress a grin. The tiny figure on the scanner was hurtling straightfor the side of the _Polaris_!
As the image grew larger and larger, anxious eyes swiveled back andforth from the scanner screen to the steady sweeping hand of thechronometer. Roger bit his lip nervously, and Astro's hands trembled.
When Tom reached a point five hundred feet away from the ship, Strongflipped open the audio circuit and issued his first order.
"Range five hundred feet," he called. "Cut jets!"
"You're already here, spaceboy!" yelled Roger into the mike, leaningover Strong's shoulder. The captain silenced him with a glare. No onecould speak to the examinee but the testing officer.
Tom closed the valve of his jet unit and blindly jerked himself aroundagain to drift feet first toward the ship. Strong watched this approachclosely, silently admiring the effortless way the cadet handled himselfin weightless space. When Tom was fifty feet away from the ship, andstill traveling quite fast, Strong gave the second order to break hisspeed. Tom opened the valve again and felt the tug of the jets brakinghis acceleration. He drifted slower and slower, and realizing that hewas close to the hull of the ship, he stretched his legs, striving tomake contact. Seconds later he felt a heavy thump at the soles of hisfeet, and within the ship there was the muffled clank of metal bootweights hitting the metal skin of the hull.
"_Time!_" roared Strong and glanced at the astral chronometer over hishead. The boys crowded around as the Solar Guard captain quicklycomputed Tom's score. "Nine minutes, fifty-one seconds, and twocorrections," he announced, unable to keep the pride out of his voice.
"We win! We win!" roared Roger. "Term honors go to the _Polaris_!"
Roger turned around and began pounding Astro on the chest, and the giantVenusian picked him up and waltzed him around the deck. The threemembers of the _Arcturus_ unit waited until the first flush of victorydied away and then crowded around the two boys to congratulate them.
"Don't forget the cadet who did it," commented Strong dryly, and thefiv
e cadets rushed below to the jet-boat deck to wait for Tom.
When Tom emerged from the air lock a few moments later, Roger and Astroswarmed all over him, and another wild dance began. Finally, shakingfree of his well-meaning but violent unit mates, he grinned and gasped,"Well, from that reception, I guess I did it."
"Spaceboy"--Roger smiled--"you made the _Arcturus_ unit look like threeold men in a washtub counting toes!"
"Congratulations, Corbett," said Tony Richards of the _Arcturus_ crew,offering his hand. "That was really fast maneuvering out there."
"Thanks, Tony." Tom grinned, running his hand through his brown curlyhair. "But I have to admit I was a little scared. Wow! What a creepyfeeling to know you're out in space alone and not able to see anything."
Their excitement was interrupted by Strong's voice over the ship'sintercom. "Stand by, all stations!"
"Here we go!" shouted Roger. "Back to the Academy--and leave!"
"_Yeeeeooooow!_" Astro's bull-like roar echoed through the ship as thecadets hurried to their flight stations.
As command cadet of the _Polaris_, Tom climbed up to the control deck,and strapping himself into the command pilot's seat, prepared to getunder way. Astro, the power-deck cadet who could "take apart a rocketengine and put it back together again with his thumbs," thundered belowto the atomic rockets he loved more than anything else in the universe.Roger Manning, the third member of the famed _Polaris_ unit, raced upthe narrow ladder leading to the radar bridge to take command ofastrogation and communications.
While Captain Strong and the members of the _Arcturus_ unit strappedthemselves into acceleration cushions, Tom conducted a routine check ofthe many gauges on the great control panel before him. Satisfied, heflipped open the intercom and called, "All stations, check in!"
"Radar deck, aye!" drawled Roger's lazy voice.
"Power deck, aye!" rumbled Astro.
"Energize the cooling pumps!" ordered Tom.
"Cooling pumps, aye!"
The whine of the mighty pumps was suddenly heard, moaning eerilythroughout the ship.
"Feed reactant!"
The sharp hiss of fuel being forced into the rocket engines rose abovethe whine of the pumps, and the ship trembled.
"Stand by to blast," called Tom. "Standard space speed!"
Instantly the _Polaris_ shot toward Earth in a long, curving arc.Moments later, when the huge round ball of the mother planet loomedlarge on the scanner screen, Roger's voice reported over the intercom,"Academy spaceport control gives us approach orbit 074 for touchdown onRamp Twelve, Tom."
"074 Ramp Twelve," repeated Tom. "Got it!"
"Twelve!" roared Astro suddenly over the intercom. "Couldn't you make itcloser to the Academy than that, Manning? We'll have to walk two milesto the nearest slidewalk!"
"Too bad, Astro," retorted Roger, "but I guess if I had to carry aroundas much useless muscle and bone as you do, I'd complain too!"
"I'm just not as lucky as you, Manning," snapped Astro quickly. "I don'thave all that space gas to float me around."
"Knock it off, fellows," interjected Tom firmly. "We're going into ourapproach."
Lying on his acceleration cushion, Strong looked over at Tony Richardsof the _Arcturus_ unit and winked. Richards winked and smiled back."They never stop, do they, sir?"
"When they do," replied Strong, "I'll send all three of them to sick bayfor examination."
"Two hundred thousand feet to Earth's surface," called Tom. "Stand byfor landing operations."
As Tom adjusted the many controls on the complicated operations panel ofthe ship, Roger and Astro followed his orders quickly and exactly. "Cutmain drive rockets and give me one-half thrust on forward brakingrockets!" ordered Tom, his eyes glued to the altimeter.
The _Polaris_ shuddered under the sudden reverse in power, then began anupward curve, nose pointing back toward space. Tom barked anothercommand. "Braking rockets full! Stand by main drive rockets!"
The sleek ship began to settle tailfirst toward its destination--SpaceAcademy, U.S.A.
In the heart of a great expanse of cleared land in the western part ofthe North American continent, the cluster of buildings that marked SpaceAcademy gleamed brightly in the noon sun. Towering over the green grassyquadrangle of the Academy was the magnificent Tower of Galileo, built ofpure Titan crystal which gleamed like a gigantic diamond. With smallerbuildings, including the study halls, the nucleonics laboratory, thecadet dormitories, mess halls, recreation halls, all connected byrolling slidewalks--and to the north, the vast area of the spaceportwith its blast-pitted ramps--the Academy was the goal of every boy inthe year A.D. 2353, the age of the conquest of space.
Founded over a hundred years before, Space Academy trained the youth ofthe Solar Alliance for service in the Solar Guard, the powerful forcecreated to protect the liberties of the planets. But from the beginning,Academy standards were so high, requirements so strict, that not manymade it. Of the one thousand boys enrolled every year, it was expectedthat only twenty-one of them would become officers, and of this group,only seven would be command pilots. The great Solar Guard fleet thatpatrolled the space lanes across the millions of miles between thesatellites and planets possessed the finest, yet most complicated,equipment in the Alliance. To be an officer in the fleet required acombination of skills and technical knowledge so demanding that eightyper cent of the Solar Guard officers retired at the age of forty.
High over the spaceport, the three cadets of the _Polaris_ unit, happyover the prospect of a full month of freedom, concentrated on the taskof landing the great ship on the Academy spaceport. Watching theteleceiver screen that gave him a view of the spaceport astern of theship, Tom called into the intercom, "One thousand feet to touchdown. Cutbraking rockets. Main drive full!"
The thunderous blast of the rockets was his answer, building up intoroaring violence. Shuddering, the great cruiser eased to the ground footby foot, perfectly balanced on the fiery exhaust from her main tubes.
Seconds later the giant shock absorbers crunched on the ramp and Tomclosed the master switch cutting all power. He glanced at the astralchronometer over his head and then turned to speak into the audio logrecorder. "Rocket cruiser _Polaris_ completed space flight one-seven-sixat 1301."
Captain Strong stepped up to Tom and clapped him on the shoulder."Secure the _Polaris_, Tom, and tell Astro to get the reactant pile fromthe firing chamber ready for dumping when the hot-soup wagon gets here."The Solar Guard officer referred to the lead-lined jet sled that removedthe reactant piles from all ships that were to be laid up for longerthan three days. "And you'd better get over to your dorm right away,"Strong continued. "You have to get ready for parade and full Corpsdismissal."
Tom grinned. "Yes, sir!"
"We're blasting off, sir," said Tony Richards, stepping forward with hisunit mates. "Congratulations again, Corbett. I still can't figure outhow you did it so quickly!"
"Thanks, Tony," replied Tom graciously. "It was luck and the pressure ofgood competition."
Richards shook hands and then turned to Strong. "Do I have yourpermission to leave the ship, sir?" he asked.
"Permission granted," replied Strong. "And have a good leave."
"Thank you, sir."
The three _Arcturus_ cadets saluted and left the ship. A moment laterRoger and Astro joined Strong and Tom on the control deck.
"Well," said Strong, "what nonsense have you three planned for yourleave? Try and see Liddy Tamal. I hear she's making a new stereo aboutthe Solar Guard. You might be hired as technical assistants." He smiled.The famous actress was a favorite of the cadets. Strong waited. "Well,is it a secret?"
"It was your idea, Astro," said Roger. "Go ahead."
"Yeah," said Tom. "You got us into this."
"Well, sir," mumbled Astro, turning red with embarrassment, "we're goingto Venus."
"What's so unusual about going to Venus?" asked Strong.
"We're going hunting," replied Astro.
"Hunting?"
"Y
es, sir," gulped the big Venusian. "For tyrannosaurus."
Strong's jaw dropped and he sat down suddenly on the nearestacceleration cushion. "I expected something a little strange from youthree whiz kids." He laughed. "It would be impossible for you to go homeand relax for a month. But this blasts me! Hunting for a tyrannosaurus!What are you going to do with it after you catch it?" He paused and thenadded, "If you do."
"Eat it," said Astro simply. "Tyrannosaurus steak is delicious!"
Strong doubled with laughter at the seriousness of Astro's expression.The giant Venusian continued doggedly, "And besides, there's a bounty onthem. A thousand credits for every tyranno head brought in. They'redangerous and destroy a lot of crops."
Strong straightened up. "All right, all right! Go ahead! Have yourselvesa good time, but don't take any unnecessary chances. I like my cadets tohave all the arms and legs and heads they're supposed to have." Hepaused and glanced at his watch. "You'd better get hopping. Astro, didyou get the pile ready for the soup wagon?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Very well, Tom, secure the ship." He came to attention. "Unit,_stand--to_!"
The three cadets stiffened and saluted sharply.
"Unit dismissed!"
Captain Strong turned and left the ship.
Hurriedly, Tom, Roger, and Astro checked the great spaceship and fifteenminutes later were racing out of the main air lock. Hitching a ride on ajet sled to the nearest slidewalk, they were soon being whisked alongtoward their quarters. Already, cadet units were standing around infresh blues waiting for the call for final dress parade.
At exactly fifteen hundred, the entire Cadet Corps stepped off withelectronic precision for the final drill of the term. By threes, eachunit marching together, with the _Polaris_ unit walking behind thestandard bearers as honor unit, they passed the reviewing stand. Seniorofficers of the Solar Guard, delegates from the Solar Alliance, andstaff officers of the Academy accepted their salute. Commander Waltersstood stiffly in front of the stand, his heart filled with pride as herecognized the honor unit. He had almost washed out the _Polaris_ unitin the beginning of their Academy training.
Major Lou Connel, Senior Line Officer of the Solar Guard, steppedforward when the cadets came to a stop and presented Tom, Roger, andAstro with the emblem of their achievement, a small gold pin in theshape of a rocket ship. He, too, had had his difficulties with the_Polaris_ unit, and while he had never been heard to compliment anyoneon anything, expecting nothing but the best all the time, henevertheless congratulated them heartily as he gave them their hard-wontrophy.
After several other awards had been presented, Commander Waltersaddressed the Cadet Corps, concluding with "... each of you has had atough year. But when you come back in four weeks, you'll think this pastterm has been a picnic. And remember, wherever you go, whatever you do,you're Space Cadets! Act like one! But above all, have a good time!Spaceman's luck!"
A cadet stepped forward quickly, turned to face the line of cadets, andheld up his hands. He brought them down quickly and words of the Academysong thundered from a thousand voices.
"_From the rocket fields of the Academy To the far-flung stars of outer space, We're Space Cadets training to be Ready for dangers we may face.
Up in the sky, rocketing past, Higher than high, faster than fast, Out into space, into the sun, Look at her go when we give her the gun.
We are Space Cadets, and we are proud to say Our fight for right will never cease. Like a cosmic ray, we light the way To interplanet peace!_"
"_Dis_-missed!" roared Walters. Immediately the precise lines of cadetsturned into a howling mob of eager boys, everyone seemingly running in adifferent direction.
"Come on," said Roger. "I've got everything set! Let's get to thestation ahead of the mob."
"But what about our gear?" said Tom. "We've got to get back to thedorm."
"I had it sent down to the station last night. I got the monorailtickets to Atom City last week, and reserved seats on the _Venus Lark_two weeks ago! Come on!"
"Only Roger could handle it so sweetly," sighed Astro. "You know,hotshot, sometimes I think you're useful!"
The three cadets turned and raced across the quadrangle for the nearestslidewalk that would take them to the Academy monorail station and thebeginning of their adventure in the jungles of Venus.