CHAPTER 5
"We regret to announce that the spaceship _La Belle France_, piloted byGigi Duarte, has crashed!"
Captain Strong's voice was choked with emotion as he made theannouncement over the spaceport public-address system. There was anaudible groan of sympathy from the thousands of spectators in thegrandstands. In spite of every precaution for safety, death had visitedthe spaceways.
Strong continued, "We have just received official confirmation from LunaCity that the Paris-Venusport Transfer Company entry exploded in spacesoon after leaving Luna City. Captain Duarte had flown the first leg ofthe race from Earth to the Moon in record time."
The Solar Guard officer snapped off the microphone and turned to Tom,Roger, and Astro. "It's hard to believe that the French Chicken won't beshuttling from Paris to Venusport any more," he murmured.
"Are there any details, sir?" asked Tom.
"You know there are never any details, Corbett," said Strong with alittle edge in his voice. Then he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry,Tom. Gigi was an old friend."
The door behind them opened and an enlisted spaceman stepped inside,saluting smartly. "Ready for the next blast-off, Captain Strong," heannounced.
"Who is it?" asked Strong, turning to the intercom connecting him withthe control tower that co-ordinated all the landings and departures atthe spaceport.
The spaceman referred to a clipboard. "It's the _Space Lance_, sir.Piloted by Captain Sticoon. He's representing an independent companyfrom Marsopolis."
"Right, thanks." Strong turned to the intercom mike, calling, "CaptainStrong to control tower, check in."
"Say, I'd like to see this fellow blast," said Tom. "He's supposed to beone of the hottest pilots ever to hit space."
"Yeah," agreed Roger. "He's so good I don't see how anyone else couldhave a chance."
"With that hot rocket in this race," said Astro, "the others will haveto fight for second and third place."
"Control tower to Strong," a voice crackled over the intercomloud-speaker. "Ready here, sir."
"Right. Stand by for the next flight, Mac," replied Strong. "It'sSticoon."
Strong flipped a switch on the intercom to direct contact with thewaiting ship and gave Sticoon the oft-repeated final briefing,concluding, "Do not go beyond the necessary limitations of fuelconsumption that are provided for in the Solar Guard space code. If youreturn here with less than a quarter supply of reactant fuel, you willbe disqualified. Stand by to blast off!"
"Uh-huh!" was all the acknowledgment Strong received from the Martian.Famed for his daring, Sticoon was also known for his taciturnpersonality.
"Clear ramp! Clear ramp!" Strong boomed over the public-address system.When he received the all-clear from the enlisted spaceman on the ramp,Strong flipped both the public-address system and the intercom on."Stand by to raise ship!"
He glanced at the astral chronometer. "Blast off, minus five, four,three, two, one--_zero!_"
Tom, Roger, and Astro crowded to the viewport in Strong's command shackto watch the bulky Martian's ship take to space. With Sticoon at thecontrols, there was no hesitation. He gave the ship full throttle fromthe moment of blast-off and in three seconds was out of sight. Therewasn't much to see at such speed.
The three members of the _Polaris_ unit left the shack to return totheir task of inspection. They passed the maintenance hangar where KitBarnard was readying his ship for blast-off in the next half hour.
"Any last-minute hitches, Kit?" asked Astro, vitally interested in thenew reactor unit and its cooling system.
Kit smiled wearily and shook his head. "All set!"
"Good." Tom smiled. "We'll try to be back before you blast. We've got tocheck Quent Miles' ship now."
As the three cadets approached the sleek black vessel with itsdistinctive markings, the air lock opened and Quent Miles stepped out onthe ladder.
"It's about time you three jerks showed up," he sneered. "I have toblast off in twenty minutes! What's the idea of messing around with thatBarnard creep? He hasn't got a chance, anyway."
"Is that so?" snapped Roger. "Listen--!"
"_Roger!_" barked Tom warningly.
Quent grinned. "That's right. Lay off, buster. Get to your inspectingand let a spaceman blast off."
"Kit Barnard will blast off after you, and still beat you back," growledRoger, stepping into the ship. He stopped suddenly and gasped inamazement. "Well, blast my jets!"
Tom and Astro crowded into the air lock and looked around, openmouthed.Before them was what appeared to be a hollow shell of a ship. There wereno decks or bulkheads, nothing but an intricate network of laddersconnecting the various operating positions of the spaceship. Everythingthat could be removed had been taken out of the ship.
"Is this legal?" asked Roger incredulously.
"I'm afraid it is, Roger," said Tom. "But we're going to make sure thateverything that's supposed to be in a spaceship is in this one."
"When I blast off, I don't intend carrying any passengers," growledMiles behind them. "If you're going to inspect, then inspect and stopgabbing."
"Let's go," said Tom grimly.
The three boys split up and began crawling around in the network ofexposed supporting beams and struts that took the place of decks andbulkheads. It did not take them long to determine that Quent Miles' shipwas in perfect condition for blast-off. With but a few minutes to spare,they returned to face Miles at the air lock.
"O.K., you're cleared," Tom announced.
"But it'll take more than a light ship to win this race," said Roger,and unable to restrain himself, he added, "You're bucking the best spacebusters in the universe!"
"One of them"--Quent held up his finger--"is dead."
"Yeah," growled Astro, "but there are plenty more just as good as GigiDuarte."
The intercom buzzer sounded in the ship and Quent snapped, "Beat it!I've got a race to win." He pushed the three cadets out of the air lockand slammed the pluglike door closed. From two feet away it wasimpossible to spot the seams in the metal covering on the port and thehull.
"Clear ramp! Clear ramp!" Strong's voice echoed over the spaceport. Tom,Roger, and Astro scurried down the ladder and broke away from the rampin a run. They knew Quent Miles would not hesitate to blast off whetheranyone was within range of his exhaust or not.
"Blast off, minus five, four, three, two, one--_zero!_"
Again the spaceport reverberated to the sound of a ship blasting off.All eyes watched the weirdly painted black ship shudder under the surgeof power, and then shoot spaceward as if out of a cannon.
"Well, ring me around Saturn," breathed Tom, looking up into the skywhere the black ship had disappeared from view. "Whatever Quent Milesis, he can sure take acceleration."
"Spaceman," said Astro, taking a deep breath, "you can say that again.Wow!"
"I hope it broke his blasted neck," said Roger.
* * * * *
"And you saw him messing around here, Sid?" asked Kit Barnard of hisyoung helper.
"That's right," replied the crew chief. "I was on the control deckchecking out the panel and I happened to look down. I couldn't see toowell, but it was a big guy."
"Messing around the reactor, huh?" mused Kit, almost asking the questionof himself.
"That's right. I checked it right away, but I couldn't find anythingwrong."
"Well, it's too late now, anyway. I blast in three minutes." Grimly KitBarnard looked up at the sky where the black ship had just vanished.
"Spaceman's luck, Kit," said Sid, offering his hand. Kit grasped itquickly and jumped into his ship, closing the air lock behind him.
As Sid climbed down from the ramp, the three cadets rushed upbreathlessly, disappointed at being unable to give Kit their personalgood wishes.
"Well, anyway, I gave the new reactor my blessing last night," saidAstro as they walked away from the ramp.
"You were aboard the ship last night?" Sid exclaimed.
"Uh-huh," replied
Astro. "Hope you don't mind."
"No, not a bit!" Sid broke into a smile. "Whew! I thought for a while itwas Quent."
"What about Quent?" asked Tom.
"I saw someone messing around on the power deck last night and thoughtit might be Quent. But now that you say it was you, Astro, there isn'tanything to worry about."
Reaching a safe distance from the ramp, they stopped just as Strongfinished counting off the seconds to blast off.
"_Zero!_"
The three cadets and Sid waited for the initial shattering roar of thejets, but it did not come. Instead, there was a loud bang, followed byanother, and then another. And only then did the ship begin to leave theground, gradually picking up speed and shooting spaceward.
"What was wrong?" asked Tom, looking at Sid.
"The feeders," replied the young engineer miserably. "They're notfunctioning properly. They're probably jamming."
Astro looked puzzled. "But I checked those feeders myself, just beforeyou closed the casing," he said. "They were all right then."
"Are you sure?" asked Sid.
"Of course I'm sure," said Astro. "Checking the feeders is one of mymain jobs."
"Then it must be the reactant," said Tom. "Did Kit use standardreactant?"
Sid nodded. "Got it right here at the spaceport. Same stuff everyoneelse is using."
Gloomily the four young spacemen turned away from the ramp and headedfor the control tower to hear the latest reports from the ships alreadyunderway. There were only a few more ships scheduled to blast off, andthe cadets had already inspected them.
"Wait a minute," said Tom, stopping suddenly. "The fuel tanks are on theportside of the ship, and the feeders are on the starboard. Where didyou see this fellow messing around, Sid?"
Sid thought a moment and then his face clouded. "Come to think of it, Isaw him on the portside."
"I wasn't even close to the tanks!" exclaimed Astro.
"There was someone messing around them, then," said Roger.
"Yes," said Tom grimly. "But we don't know _who_--or _what_ he did."
"From the sound of those rockets," said Astro, "Kit's feeders areclogged, or there's something in his reactant that the strainers are notfiltering out."
"Well," sighed Roger, "there isn't anything Kit can do but keep goingand hope that everything turns out for the best."
"_If_ he can keep going!" said Tom. "You know, there are some thingsabout this whole race that really puzzle me."
"What?" asked Roger.
"Impure reactant in Kit's ship, after fellows like Kit, Astro, and Sidchecked it a hundred times. Gigi Duarte crashing after making recordspeed to the Moon. The minimum specifications being stolen fromCommander Walters...." Tom stopped and looked at his friends. "Thatenough?"
Roger, Astro, and Sid considered the young cadet's words. The pictureTom presented had many curious sides and no one had the slightest ideaof how to go beyond speculation and find proof!