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TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE
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 VENUSTREACHERY IN OUTER SPACESABOTAGE IN SPACETHE ROBOT ROCKET
A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure
TREACHERY INOUTER SPACE
By CAREY ROCKWELL
WILLY LEY _Technical Adviser_
GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers New York
COPYRIGHT, 1954, BYROCKHILL RADIO
[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:EXTENSIVE RESEARCH SHOWS NO EVIDENCEOF REQUIRED COPYRIGHT RENEWAL]
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LOUIS GLANZMAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ILLUSTRATIONS
_Frontispiece_
"Great galaxy! There must be a hundred ships!" 27
The giant Venusian held up the oil-smeared test tube 63
"Yeow!" bawled Astro. "Thanks, sir. Thanks a million!" 102
Tom got down on his knees and felt around for an opening 131
"Look!" Strong cried. "It's Brett's ship!" 151
It would be a rough ride, but at least he was hidden 165
Slowly and cautiously he began climbing 181
"Proceed to quadrant five and seize the _Space Knight_!" 196
TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE
CHAPTER I
"All right, you blasted Earthworms! _Stand to!_"
Three frightened cadet candidates for Space Academy stiffened theirbacks and stood at rigid attention as Astro faced them, a furious scowlon his rugged features. Behind him, Tom Corbett and Roger Manninglounged on the dormitory bunks, watching their unit mate blast thefreshman cadets and trying to keep from laughing. It wasn't long agothat they had gone through the terrifying experience of being hazed bystern upperclassmen and they knew how the three pink-cheeked boys infront of them felt.
"So," bawled Astro, "you want to blast off, do you?"
Neither of the three boys answered.
"Speak when you're spoken to, Mister!" snapped Roger at the boy in themiddle.
"Answer the question!" barked Tom, finding it difficult to maintain hisrole of stern disciplinarian.
"Y-y-yes, sir," finally came a mumbled reply.
"What's your name? And don't say 'sir' to me!" roared Astro.
"Coglin, sir," gulped the boy.
"Don't say 'SIR'!"
"Yes, sir--er--I mean, O.K.," stuttered Coglin.
"And don't say O.K., either," Roger chimed in.
"Yes ... all right ... fine." The boy's face was flushed withdesperation.
Astro stepped forward, his chin jutting out. "For your information," hebawled, "the correct manner of address is 'Very well.'"
"Very well," stammered Coglin.
Astro shook his head and turned back to Tom and Roger. "Have you everseen a greater display of audacity and sheer gall?" he demanded. "Thenerve of these three infants assuming that they could ever become SpaceCadets!"
Tom and Roger laughed, not at the three Earthworms, but at Astro'ssudden eloquence. The giant Venusian cadet usually limited his commentsto a gruff Yes or No, or at most, a garbled sentence full of a veteranspaceman's oaths. Then, resuming his stern expression, Roger faced thethree boys.
"Sound off! Quick!" he demanded.
"Coglin, John."
"Spears, Albert."
"Duke, Phineas."
"You call those _names_?" Roger snorted incredulously. "Which of youground crawlers is radar officer?"
"I am, very well," replied Spears.
The blond-haired cadet stared at him in amazement.
"Very well, what?" he demanded.
"You said that's the correct form of address," replied Spears doggedly.
Roger turned to Tom. "Well, thump my rockets," he exclaimed, "I didn'tknow they made them that dumb any more!"
"Who is the command cadet?" asked Tom, suppressing a grin.
"I am, very well," replied Duke.
"How fast is fast?"
"Fast is as fast must be, without being either supersonic or turgid.Fast is necessarily that amount of speed that will not be the most northe least, yet will be sufficient unto the demands of fast ..." Dukequoted directly from the _Earthworm Manual_, a book that was notprescribed learning in the Academy, but woe unto the Earthworm who didnot know it by heart when questioned by a cadet upperclassman.
"What is a blip on a radar, Mister?" demanded Roger of Spears.
"A blip is never a slip. It is constant with the eye of the beholder,and constant with the constant that is always--" Spears faltered, hisface flushing with embarrassment.
"Always what?" hounded Roger.
"I--I don't know," stammered the fledgling helplessly.
"_You don't know?_" yelled Roger. He looked at Tom and Astro, shakinghis head. "He doesn't know." The two cadets frowned at the quivering boyand Roger faced him again. "For your information, Mr. Spears," he saidat his sarcastic best, "there are five words remaining in that sentence.And for each word, you will spend one hour cleaning this room. Is thatclear?"
Spears could only nod his head.
"And for your further information," continued Roger, "the remainingwords are 'constantly alert to constant dangers'! Does that help you,Mister?"
"Yes, Cadet Manning," gulped Spears. "You are very kind to give me thisinformation. And it will be a great honor to clean your room."
Astro stepped forward to take his turn. He towered over the remainingcadet candidate and glowered at the thoroughly frightened boy. "So," heroared, "I guess this means you're going to handle the power deck in oneof our space buckets, eh?"
"Yes, very well," came the quavering, high-pitched reply.
"Give me the correction of thrust when you are underway in a forwardmotion and you receive orders from the control deck for immediatereversal."
Coglin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and the words poured fromhis lips. "To go forward is to overtake space, and to go sternward is toretake space already overtaken. To correct thrust, I would figure in thebeginning of my flight how much space I intended to take and how much Iwould retake, and since overtake and retake are both additionalquotients that have not been divided, I will add them together andarrive at a correction." The cadet candidate stopped abruptly, gaspingfor breath.
Secretly disappointed at the accuracy of the reply, Astro grunted andturned to Tom and Roger. "Any questions before they blast off on theirsolo hop?" he growled.
The two cadets shook their heads and Roger quickly lined three chairs ina row. Tom addressed the frightened boys solemnly. "This is yourspaceship. The first chair is the command deck; second, radar deck;third, power deck. Take your stations and stand by to blast off."
Spears, Coglin, and Duke jumped into the chairs and Tom walked aroundthem eying them coldly. "Now, Misters," he said, "you are to blast off,make a complete circle of the Earth, and return to the Academy spaceportfor a touchdown. Is that clearly understood?"
"All clear," chorused the boys.
"Stand by to raise ship!" bawled Tom.
"Power deck, check in!" snapped Duke from the first chair. "Radar deck,check in!"
"Just one moment, Mister," interrupted Roger. "When you issue an orderover the intercom, I want to see you pick up that mike. I want to seeall the motions. It's up to you, Misters, to make us believe that youare blasting off!"
"Very well," replied Duke with a nervous glance back at his unit mates.
"Carry on!" roared Tom.
Then, as Tom, Roger, and Astro sprawled on their bunks, grinning openly,the three Earthworm cadets began their simulated flight through space.Going through the movements of operating the complicated equipment of aspaceship, they pushed, pulled, jerked, snapped on imaginary switches,read unseen meters and gauges, and slammed around in their chairs tosimulate acceleration reaction. The three cadets of the _Polaris_ unitcould no longer restrain themselves and broke into loud laughter at theantics of the aspirants. Finally, when they had landed their imaginaryship again, the Earthworms were pounded on the back heartily.
"Welcome to Space Academy!" said Tom with a grin. "That was as smooth aride as I've ever had."
"Yeah," agreed Astro, pumping Coglin's hand. "You handled those reactorsand atomic motors like a regular old space buster!"
"And that was real fine astrogation, Spears," Roger chimed in. "Why, youlaid out such a smooth course, you never left the ground!"
The three Earthworms relaxed, and while Astro brewed hot cups of teawith synthetic pellets and water from the shower, Tom and Roger toldthem about the traditions and customs of the Academy.
Tom began by telling them how important it was for each crew member tobe able to depend on his unit mate. "You see," he said, "in space thereisn't much time for individual heroics. Too many things can happen toofast for it to be a one-man operation."
"I'll say," piped up Roger. "A couple of times I've been on the radardeck and seen a hunk of space junk coming down on us fast. So instead offollowing book procedure, relaying the dope to Tom on the control deckto pass it on to Astro, I'd just sing out to Astro direct on theintercom, 'Give me an upshot on the ecliptic!' or 'Give me a starboardshot!' and Astro would come through because he knows I always know whatI'm talking about."
"Not always, hot-shot!" growled Astro. "How about the time we went outto Tara and snatched that hot copper asteroid out of Alpha Centauri'smouth? _You_ said the time on that reactor blast should be set at--"
"Is that so?" snapped Roger. "Listen, you big overgrown hunk of Venusianspace gas--" Roger got no further. Astro grabbed him by the shirt front,held him at arm's length, and began tickling him in the ribs. The threefreshmen cadets backed out of the way, glancing fearfully at the giantVenusian. Astro's strength was awesome when seen for the first time.
"Lemme go, you blasted space ape!" bellowed Roger, between fits oflaughter.
"Say uncle, Manning!" roared Astro. "Promise you won't call me namesagain, or by the stars, I'll tickle you until you shake yourself apart!"
"All right--un-un-uncle!" managed Roger.
Astro dropped his unit mate on a bunk like a rag doll and turned back toTom with a shrug of his shoulders. "He'll never learn, will he?"
Tom grinned at Duke. "Astro's like a big overgrown puppy."
"Someone ought to put him on a leash," growled Roger, crawling out ofthe bunk and rubbing his ribs. "Blast it, Astro, the next time you wantto show off, go play with an elephant and leave me alone."
Astro ignored him, turning to Coglin. "As much as I gas Roger," thegiant cadet said seriously, "I'd rather ride a thrust bucket with him onthe radar deck than Commander Walters. He's the best."
Tom smiled. "That's what I mean, Duke. Astro believes in Roger, andRoger believes in Astro. I believe in them, and they in me. We've gotto, or we wouldn't last long out there in space."
The three fledgling spacemen were silent, watching and listening withawe and envy as the _Polaris_ crew continued their indoctrination. Theyconsidered themselves lucky to have been drawn by these famous cadetsfor their hazing. The names of Corbett, Manning, and Astro were becomingsynonymous with great adventure in space. But, with all theirhairbreadth escapes, the _Polaris_ unit was still just learning its job.The boys were still working off demerits, arguing with instructors ontheory, listening to endless study spools, learning the latest advancedmethods of astrogation, communication, and reactor-unit operation. Theywere working toward the day when they would discard the vivid blueuniforms of the Space Cadet Corps and don the magnificent black and goldof the Solar Guard.
Tom was aware of the eager expressions on the faces of the Earthwormsand he smiled to himself. It was not a smile of smugness or conceit, butrather of honest satisfaction. More than once he had shaken his head inwonder at being a Space Cadet. The odds against it were enormous. Eachyear thousands of boys from all the major planets and the occupiedsatellites competed for entrance to the famed Academy and pitifully fewwere accepted. And he was happy at having two unit mates like RogerManning and Astro to depend on when he was out in space, commanding oneof the finest ships ever built, the powerful rocket cruiser _Polaris_.
As Roger and Astro continued to talk to the fledglings, Tom sipped histea and thought of his own first days at the Academy. He remembered hisfear and insecurity, and how hard he had fought to make what was thenUnit 42-D a success, the unit that eventually became the _Polaris_ unit.And how each assignment had brought him closer to his dream of becomingan officer in the Solar Guard.
He got up and walked to the window and looked out across the Academycampus, over the green lawns and white buildings connected by therolling slidewalks, to the gleaming crystal Tower, the symbol of man'sconquest of space. And beyond the Tower building, Tom saw a spaceshipblasting off from the spaceport, her rockets bucking hard against thinair as she clawed her way spaceward. When it disappeared from sight, hefollowed it with his mind's eye and it became the _Polaris_, his ship!He and Roger and Astro were blasting through the cold black void, theirown personal domain!
A loud burst of laughter behind him suddenly brought Tom back to Earth.He smiled to himself and shook his head, as though reluctant to leavehis dream world. He glanced out of the window again, this time down atthe quadrangle, and far below he recognized the squat, muscular figureof Warrant Officer Mike McKenny drilling another group of newly arrivedcadet candidates. Tom saw the slidewalks begin to fill with boys and menin varicolored uniforms, all released from duty as the day drew to aclose. Tonight, Astro, Roger, and he would go to see the latest stereo,and tomorrow they would blast off in the _Polaris_ for the weeklycheckout of her equipment. He turned back to Spears, Coglin, and Duke.Roger was just finishing the story of their latest adventure (describedin _The Revolt on Venus_).
"The best part, of course, was the actual hunting of the tyrannosaurus,"said Astro.
"A tyrannosaurus?" exploded Spears, the youngest and most impressionableof the three Earthworms. "You actually hunted for a dinosaur?"
Astro grinned. "That's right. They're extinct here on Earth, but onVenus we catch 'em and make pets out of the baby ones."
"We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble, though," commentedRoger mockingly. "We have several officers here that would have servedjust as well. Major 'Blast-off' Connel, for instance, the toughest,meanest old son of a hot rocket you have ever seen!"
"_Stand to!_"
The six boys nearly broke their backs jumping to attention. A squat,muscular figure, wearing the black-and-gold uniform of a Solar Guard,strode heavily into their line of vision. Roger gulped as Major Connelstopped in front of him. "Still gassing, eh, Manning?" he roared.
"'Evening, Major, sir," mumbled Roger, his face beet red."We--er--ah--were just telling this Earthworm unit about the Academy,sir. Some of its pitfalls."
"Some of the cadets are going to fall into a pit if they don't learn tokeep their mouths shut!" snapped Connel. He glared at Tom, Astro, andRoger, then wheeled sharply to face the three quaking freshmen cadets."You listen to anything they tell you and you'll wind up with a bookfull of demerits! What in blazes are you doing here, anyway? You'resupposed to be at physical exams _right this minute!_"
The three boys began to shake visibly, not knowing whether to breakranks and run or wait until ordered.
"Get out of here!" Connel roared. "You've got thirty seconds to makeit. And if you _don't_ make it, you'll go down on my bad-rocket list!"
Almost in one motion, the three cadet candidates saluted and chargedthrough the door. When
they had gone, Connel turned to the _Polaris_cadets who were still at attention. "At ease!" he roared and thengrinned.
The boys came to rest and smiled back at him tentatively. They neverknew what to expect from Connel. "Well, did you put them through theirpaces?" he asked as he jerked his thumb toward the door.
"Yes, sir!" said Tom.
"Did they know their manual? Or give you any lip when you started givingthem hot rockets?" Connel referred to the hazing that was allowed by theAcademy, only as another of the multitude of tests given to cadets.Cadet candidates might possibly hide dangerous flaws from Academyofficials but never from boys near their own ages.
"Major," said Astro, "those fellows came close to blasting off righthere in these chairs. They really thought they were out in _space!_"
"Fine!" said Connel. "Glad to hear it. I've singled them out as mypersonal unit for instruction."
"Poor fellows," muttered Roger under his breath.
"What was that, Manning?" bellowed Connel.
"I said lucky fellows, sir," replied Roger innocently.
Connel glared at him. "I'll bet my last rocket that's what you said,Manning."
"Yes, sir."
Connel turned to the door and then spun around quickly to catch Rogergrinning at Astro.
"'Poor fellows,' wasn't it?" said Connel with a grin. Roger reddenedand his unit mates laughed. "Oh, yes," continued Connel, "I almostforgot. Report to Commander Walters on the double. You're gettingspecial assignments. I recommended you for this job, so see that youbehave yourselves. Especially you, Manning."
He turned and disappeared through the doorway, leaving the three cadetsstaring at each other.
"Wowie!" yelled Astro. "And I thought we were going to get chewed up forkeeping those Earthworms too long!"
"Same here," said Roger.
"Wonder what the assignment is?" said Tom, grabbing his tunic and racingfor the door. Neither Roger nor Astro answered as they followed on hisheels. When they reached the slidestairs, a moving belt of plastic thatspiraled upward to an overhead slidewalk bridge connecting the dormitoryto the Tower of Galileo, Tom's eyes were bright and shiny. "Whatever itis," he said, "if Major Connel suggested us for it, you can bet yourlast reactor it'll be a rocket buster."
As the boys stepped on the slidestairs that would take them to CommanderWalters' office, each of them was very much aware that this was thefirst step to a new adventure in space. And though the three realizedthat they could expect danger, the special assignment meant that theywere going to hit the high, wide, and deep again. And that was all theyasked of life. To be in space, a spaceman's only real home!