CHAPTER 6
"The winners are--" Captain Strong's voice rang loud and clear over theloud-speakers--"first place, Captain Sticoon, piloting the MarsopolisLimited entry, _Space Lance_! Second place, Captain Miles, piloting theCharles Brett Company entry, _Space Knight_! Third place, CaptainBarnard, piloting his own ship, _Good Company_!"
There was a tremendous roar from the crowd. In front of the officialstand, Tom, Roger, and Astro pounded Sid Goldberg on the back until hebegged for mercy. On the stand, Strong and Kit shook hands and grinnedat each other. And Commander Walters stepped up to congratulate thethree winners. Walters handed each of them a personal message of goodwishes from the Solar Council, and then, over the public-address system,made a short speech to the pilots of the losing ships thanking them fortheir co-operation and good sportsmanship. He paused, and in a voicehushed with emotion, offered a short prayer in memory of Gigi Duarte.The entire spaceport was quiet for two minutes without prompting,voluntarily paying homage to the brave spaceman.
After Walters left and the ceremonies were over, the three winners stoodlooking at each other, sizing up one another. Each of them knew that thewinner of this race probably would go down in the history of deep space.There was fame and fortune to be won now. Quent Miles ignored Sticoonand swaggered over to Kit Barnard.
"You were lucky, Barnard," he sneered. "Too bad it won't last for therace."
"We'll see, Quent," said Kit coolly.
Sticoon said nothing, just watched them quietly. Quent Miles laughed andwalked off the stand. Kit Barnard looked at Sticoon. "What's the matterwith him?" he asked.
The Martian shrugged. "Got a hot rocket in his craw," he said quietly."But watch your step with him, Kit. Personally, I wouldn't trust thatspaceman as far as I could throw an asteroid."
Kit grinned. "Thanks--and good luck."
"I'll need it if you get that reactor of yours working," said theMartian.
He turned and left the stand without a word to Tom, Roger, or Astro. Thethree cadets looked at each other, feeling the tension in the airsuddenly relax. Strong was busy talking to someone on the portableintercom and had missed the byplay between the three finalists.
"That Quent sure has a talent for making himself disliked," Tomcommented to his unit mates.
"And all he's going to get for it is trouble," quipped Sid, who wouldnot let any argument take away the pleasure he felt over winning thetrials. "I'm going back to our ship and find out what happened to thosefeeders."
"I'll come with you," volunteered Astro.
"Just a minute, Astro," interrupted Strong. "I've been talking withCommander Walters. He's on his way back to the Tower of Galileo andcalled me from the portable communicator on the main slidewalk. He wantsme to report to his office on the double. You three will have to takecare of the final details here."
"Come down when you can," said Sid to Astro, and turned to leave withKit.
"Something wrong, sir?" asked Tom.
"I don't know, Tom," replied Strong, a worried frown on his face."Commander Walters seemed excited."
"Does it have anything to do with the race?" asked Roger.
"In a way it does," replied Strong. "I'm leaving on special assignment.I'm not sure, but I think you three will have to monitor the race byyourselves."
* * * * *
Major Connel sat to one side of Commander Walters' desk, a scowl on hisheavy, fleshy face. The commander paced back and forth in front of thedesk, and Captain Strong stood at the office window staring blankly downon the dark quadrangle below. The door opened and the three officersturned quickly to see Dr. Joan Dale enter, carrying several papers inher hand.
"Well, Joan?" asked Walters.
"I'm afraid that the reports are true, sir," Dr. Dale said. "There arepositive signs of decreasing pressure in the artificial atmospherearound the settlements on Titan. The pressure is dropping and yet thereis no indication that the force screen, holding back the real methaneammonia atmosphere of Titan, is not functioning properly."
"How about leaks?" Connel growled.
"Not possible, Major," replied the pretty physicist. "The force field,as you know, is made up of electronic impulses of pure energy. Byshooting these impulses into the air around a certain area, like thesettlement at Olympia, we can refract the methane ammonia, push it backif you will, like a solid wall. What the impulses do, actually, iscreate a force greater and thicker in content than the atmosphere ofTitan, creating a vacuum. We then introduce oxygen into the vacuum,making it possible for humans to live without the cumbersome use ofspace helmets." Dr. Dale leaned against Commander Walters' desk andconsidered the three Solar Guard officers. "If we don't find out what'shappening out there," she resumed grimly, "and do something about itsoon, we'll have to abandon Titan."
"Abandon Titan!" roared Connel. "Can't be done."
"Impossible!" snapped Walters.
"It's going to happen," asserted the girl stoutly.
Connel sprang out of his chair and began pacing the floor. "We can'tabandon Titan!" he roared. "Disrupt the flow of crystal and you'll setoff major repercussions in the system's economy."
"We know that, Major," said Walters. "That's the prime reason for thismeeting."
"May I make a suggestion, sir?" asked Strong.
"Go ahead, Steve," said Walters.
"While these graphs of Joan's show us _what's_ happening, I think itwill take on-the-spot investigations to find out _why_ it's happening."
Connel flopped back in his chair, relaxed again. He looked at Walters."Send Steve out there and we'll find out what's going on," he saidconfidently.
Walters looked at Strong. "When are the ships supposed to blast off forthe race?"
"Tomorrow at 1800, sir."
"You planned to use the _Polaris_ to monitor the race?"
"Yes, sir."
"Think we should send the _Polaris_ unit out alone?"
"I have a better suggestion, sir," said Strong.
"Well?"
"Since there are only three finalists, how about putting one cadet oneach ship? Then I can take the _Polaris_ and go on out to Titan now.When the boys arrive, they could help me with my investigation."
Walters looked at Connel. "What do you think, Major?"
"Sounds all right to me," replied the veteran spaceman. "If you thinkthe companies won't object to having cadets monitor their race forthem."
"They won't have anything to say about it," replied Walters. "I'd trustthose cadets under any circumstances. And the race won't mean a thingunless we can find the source of trouble on Titan. There won't be anycrystal to haul."
"Fine," grunted Connel. He rose, nodded, and left the room. He was notbeing curt, he was being Connel. The problem had been temporarily solvedand there was nothing else he could do. There were other things thatdemanded his attention.
"What about me going along too, Commander?" asked Joan.
"Better not, Joan," said Walters. "You're more valuable to us here inthe Academy laboratory."
"Very well, sir," she said. "I have some work to finish, so I'll leaveyou now. Good luck, Steve." She shook hands with the young captain andleft.
Walters turned back to Strong. "Well, now that's settled, tell me, whatdo you think of the race tomorrow, Steve?"
"If Kit Barnard gets that reactor of his functioning properly, he'll runaway from the other two."
"I don't know," mused Walters. "Wild Bill Sticoon is a hot spaceman. Oneof the best rocket jockeys I've ever seen. Did I ever tell you what wewent through a few years back trying to get him to join the SolarGuard?" Walters laughed. "We promised him everything but the Moon. Buthe didn't want any part of us. 'Can't ride fast enough in your wagons,Commander,' he told me. Quite a boy!"
"And with Quent Miles in there, it's going to be a very hot race,"asserted Strong.
"Ummmmh," Walters grunted. "He's the unknown quantity. Did you see thatship of his? Never saw anything more streamlined in my whole life."
"And the cad
ets said he stripped her of everything but the hull plates."
"It paid off for him," said Walters. "He and Charley Brett are certainlyworking hard to get this contract."
"There's a lot of money involved, sir," said Strong. "But in any casewe're bound to get a good schedule with the speeds established so far."
"Well, advise the cadets to stand by for blast-off with the finaliststomorrow."
"Any particular ship you want them each assigned to, sir?" asked Strong.
"No, let them decide," replied Walters. "But it would be best if youcould keep Manning away from Miles. That's like putting a rocket into afire and asking it not to explode."
The two men grinned at each other and then settled down to working outthe details of Strong's trip. Before the evening was over, Walters haddecided, if necessary, he would follow Strong out to Titan.
In the distance, they could hear the muffled roar of rocket motors asthe three finalists tuned up their ships, preparing for the greatestspace race in history. And it seemed to Strong that with each blastthere was a vaguely ominous echo.
* * * * *
"I've strained that fuel four times and come up with the same answer,"said Astro. The giant Venusian held up the oil-smeared test tube for KitBarnard's inspection. "Impure reactant. And so impure that it couldn'tpossibly have come from the Academy supply depot. It would have beennoticed."
"Then how did it get in my feeders?" asked Kit, half to himself.
"Whoever was messing around on the power deck just before you blastedoff for the trials must have dumped it in," said Tom.
"Obviously." Kit nodded. "But who is that? Who would want to do a dirtything like that?"
"Who indeed?" said a voice in back of them. They all spun around toface Quent Miles. He lounged against the stabilizer fin and grinned atthem.
"What do you want, Miles?" asked Kit.
"Just stopped by to give you the proverbial handshake of good luckbefore we blast off," replied the spaceman with a mocking wink.
"Kit doesn't need your good wishes," snapped Sid.
"Well, now, that's too bad," said Quent. "I have a feeling that he'sgoing to need a lot more than luck."
"Listen, Miles," snapped Kit, "did you come aboard my ship and tamperwith the fuel?"
Quent's eyes clouded. "Careful of your accusations, Barnard."
"I'm not accusing you, I'm asking you."
"See you in space." Quent laughed, turning to leave, not answering thequestion. "But then, again, maybe I won't see you." He disappeared intothe darkness of the night.
"The nerve of that guy," growled Tom.
"Yes," Kit agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "But I'm more concernedabout this unit than I am about Quent Miles and his threats. Let's getback to work."
Renewing their efforts, Tom, Roger, Astro, Sid, and Kit Barnard turnedto the reactor unit and began the laborious job of putting it backtogether again, at the same time replacing worn-out parts and adjustingthe delicate clearances.
It was just before dawn when Strong visited Kit's ship. Seeing thecadets stripped to the waist and working with the veteran spaceman, heroared his disapproval. "Of all the crazy things to do! Don't you knowthat you could have Kit disqualified for helping him?"
_The giant Venusian held up the oil-smeared test tube_]
"But--but--" Tom tried to stammer an explanation.
"I couldn't have done it alone," explained Kit. He looked at Strong andtheir eyes met. Understanding flowed between them.
"Very well," said Strong, fighting to control himself. "If no one makesa complaint against you, we'll let it pass."
"Thanks, Steve," said Kit.
"You should have known better, Kit," said Strong. "The Solar Guard issupposed to be neutral throughout the entire race and do nothing butjudge it."
"I know, Steve," said Kit. "But someone dumped impure reactant intomy--"
"What?" It was the first time Strong had heard of it and he listenedintently as the cadets and Sid told him the whole story.
"Why didn't you make a complaint?" demanded Strong finally. "We'd havegiven you more time to get squared away."
"It's not important," said Kit. "I won a place in the finals and now theboys and Sid have helped me clean it out."
Strong nodded. "All right. I guess one seems to balance out the other.Forget it." He smiled. "And excuse me for jumping like that and thinkingthat you would do anything--er--" He hesitated.
"That's all right, Steve." Kit spoke up quickly to save his friendembarrassment.
Strong turned to the cadets. "I've got news for you three. You are goingto monitor the race by yourselves."
Tom, Roger, and Astro looked at each other dumfounded as Strong quicklyoutlined the plan. Later, when Sid and Kit were working inside theship, he told them of the sudden danger on Titan.
"So I'm going to leave it up to you which ship you want to ride," heconcluded. "The commander has suggested that Roger not be sent alongwith Miles on the _Space Knight_. He seems to think the two of youwouldn't get along."
"On the contrary, skipper," said Roger, "I'd like the opportunity ofkeeping an eye on him."
Strong thought a moment. "Not a bad idea, Roger," he said as he turnedto Astro. "And I suppose you want to ride with Kit and his reactor?"
Astro grinned. "Yes, sir. If I may."
"All right. Tom, I guess that means you ride with Wild Bill Sticoon."
"That's all right with me, sir," the young cadet said excitedly. "Thisis something I'll be able to tell my grandchildren--riding with thehottest spaceman in the hottest race through space."
* * * * *
Quent Miles spun around, his paralo-ray gun leveled. He saw a figureenter through the hatch, but when light revealed the face he relaxed.
"Oh, it's you!" he grumbled. "I thought you were setting things up backat Atom City."
"You fumble-fisted, space-gassing jerk!" snarled Charley Brett. "Dependon you to get things messed up! That Barnard guy is all set to roll withhis reactor!"
"Then why didn't Ross take care of him on the Moon?" asked Miles.
"He didn't land," replied Brett. "He kept going and made the whole tripwithout refueling that new unit of his. It's so good that he got backhere still carrying half a tank of reactant."
"Well, you haven't any kick with me," asserted Miles. "I dumped thatstuff in his tanks."
"Then how come he made it so fast?" growled Brett. "How come he made itat all?"
"How should I know?" snapped Quent. "Listen, Charley, lay off me. Youmight be able to order Ross around, but you don't scare me. And I don'tthink you have Ross fooled either."
"Never mind that now!" said Brett irritably. "We've got to line thingsup for the race. Listen! Ross left Luna City this morning for thehide-out. Here's what I want you to do. After you blast off--" Brett'svoice dropped to a whisper and Quent's eyes opened with understanding,and then his rugged features broke out into a grin as Brett continuedtalking.
Finally Brett straightened up. "I'm going on out to Titan now to see ifthings are O.K. You got everything clear?"
"Everything's clear," said Quent. "And you know something, Charley? Youhave a nasty way about you, but you certainly know how to figure theangles. This is perfect. We can't miss."
"I love you too, sweetheart," said Brett sourly. He turned and hurriedout of the ship. Just before he stepped on the slidewalk that would takehim to the monorail station, he saw the three members of the _Polaris_unit leaving Kit Barnard's installation. He grinned and made a mockingsalute to them in the darkness.
"So long suckers!" he called softly.