CHAPTER 21
"And you kept giving Hardy wrong information?" asked Strong with alaugh.
"Yes!" snorted Professor Sykes with a wry grin. "You see, I knew rightaway Vidac was doing something funny way back--" He paused to sip histea. "Way back before we landed on Roald." He grinned broadly at thepeople seated around the table in the dining room of the Logan house,Roger, Astro, Jeff, Tom, Jane, Billy, Hyram, and Strong.
After Strong had released the Space Cadets from the effects of theparalo rays, they had searched the _Polaris_ and found the professorlocked in one of the cabins. Placing Vidac and Hardy under arrest andconfining them in the brig of the ship with Winters and Bush, they hadreturned to the Logan farm to clear a few of the mysteries surroundingthe nightmare of violence since their landing on Roald.
"When Vidac and Hardy refused to let me go down and make an inspectionof the satellite after the instruments conked out, I knew there wassomething fishy," Sykes continued. "Any fool could have seen thatradioactivity would be the only thing to cause an instrumentdisturbance like that!"
"Then Vidac and Hardy knew about the uranium?" asked Strong. "We onlydiscovered it at Space Academy ourselves a little while ago."
"They knew about it all right," asserted Sykes. "Hardy told me sohimself. He got the information from an old prospector who had madeapplication to come to Roald as a colonist. The space rat had been herebefore, as a sailor on a deep spacer that had wandered off course. Theship was running low on water so the skipper sent him down to thesatellite to see if he could find any. He found the water and theuranium too. But he clammed up about that, hoping to keep it a secretuntil he could go back and claim it. His only chance was to become acolonist, and when he washed out in the screening, he told Hardy, hopingto bribe his way. Of course Hardy double-crossed him to get the uraniumhimself. That was why you were pulled off the project and sent to Pluto,Strong. Then he got Vidac to be his aide and everything looked rosy."
"It's still hard to believe that Hardy was behind the whole operation,"said Astro, shaking his head. "Imagine--the governor of the colonyratting on his own people."
"It's happened before, unfortunately," commented Strong. "Better menthan Hardy have succumbed to the lure of riches and power."
"You're right, Strong," snapped Sykes. "That's just what happened toHardy. While I was his prisoner on the _Polaris_, he kept boasting abouthow rich he was going to be--how powerful. When I reminded him of hispast achievements and of his responsibility to the colony, he justlaughed. He said getting the uranium meant more to him than anything inthe world." The little professor sighed. "If it hadn't been for thecadets, he would have gotten away with it."
"But wait a minute," said Roger. "If you suspected Vidac, why did yougive him the information on the uranium to send back to the SolarGuard?"
"I just told him about a puny little deposit near the Logan farm,"replied Sykes. "The big strike is on the other side of the satellite. Ifigured that if Vidac was honest it wouldn't hurt to delay sendinginformation back about the big strike until later." He paused and added,"But then, of course, I had to tell him about the big strike."
"You had to tell him!" exclaimed Jeff. "But why?"
"To stay alive, you idiot!" barked Sykes. "As long as I had somethingthey wanted, they'd keep me alive until they found out about it. Theygave me truth serum, but I'm immune to drugs. All Solar Guard scientistsare. They didn't know that. So I told them to look here, then there,acted as though I had lost my memory. It worked, and here I am."
"What about the way they antagonized us?" asked Tom. "Refusing to let uscontact Space Academy and sending us out on a stripped-down rocket scoutto investigate the asteroid cluster. It seems to me they should haveacted a little more friendly to throw us off the track. All they did wasarouse suspicion and get us sore."
"But they hoped that you would get angry enough to do somethingrebellious, so that they could send you back," said Sykes.
"Well, that makes sense," said Strong. "But what about their treatmentof the colonists?"
"Humph. A clear case of attempting to get the colonists to rebel whichwould give them the right to absolute control of the entire satelliteand the people. Cadet Tom Corbett here is to be congratulated for notallowing Mr. Logan to go around like a vigilante and get us all in aspace hurricane!"
Hyram Logan blushed and cleared his throat noisily.
The door suddenly opened and a uniformed messenger thrust a dispatchinto Strong's hands.
"What's this?" asked Strong, tearing the Solar Guard seal.
"Message from spaceport control, sir," said the messenger. "They reporta fleet of ships approaching Roald, under full thrust."
"A fleet!" gasped Strong. "But how? Why?"
Sykes laughed, winked at Jane, and slapped his thigh. "The Solar Guardcoming to the rescue!"
"Solar Guard!" chorused the others at the table.
"Yes! Solar Guard. I sent for them. I figured if the cadets could builda communicator, I could too. I did it on the _Polaris_ when Hardy wentsearching for the uranium. I told the whole story to Commander Waltersback at Space Academy."
"Well," sighed Roger, "with the confession Jeff got from Winters on theaudioscriber, I guess we can consider the first civil disorder of thestar satellite of Roald finished. Peace and harmony will reign. Andspeaking of harmony, Jane, would you like to take a walk in thestarlight?"
"I'm sorry, Roger," answered Jane, blushing prettily, "but I've alreadybeen invited."
Roger's face fell. "You've already been invited?"
Jane nodded. "Ready, Astro?"
"Sure!" replied the giant Venusian. He rose, offered Jane his armceremoniously, and the two walked out of the house. Roger's face turneda deep scarlet. The others around the table burst into laughter.
"Ah, go blow your jets," growled Roger.
Billy's eyes were shining. He turned to Strong. "Captain Strong, how olddo you have to be to get into Space Academy?"
Strong's eyes twinkled. "Since Roger doesn't seem to be too busy, whydon't you ask him for all the Academy dope?"
"Would you help me, Roger?" pleaded Billy. "I can recite the whole bookof Academy 'regs' by heart!"
Roger glanced around the table with a sheepish grin. "There isn't butone regulation that's really important, Billy."
"Oh? What's that?"
"I'll answer that, Billy," said Tom. "Roger means the one that goes likethis ... 'no cadet will be allowed to entertain any work, project, orideas that will not lend themselves directly to his immediate or futureobligation as a spaceman.'" Tom stopped and smiled broadly. "And thatmeans girls!"
* * * * *
Calling all boys and girls to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and allpoints in outer space--
You, too, can be a part of the group of daring adventurers from theSpace Academy who travel to mysterious lands in outer space on dangerousand exciting missions. It's as simple as opening a book ... if the bookis
TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET
You'll discover the Earth of the future, where you can hurtle throughspace at breath-taking speed, and a trip to Mars will be as simple astaking a walk around the block.
Don't miss these thrill-packed books:
1. STAND BY FOR MARS!2. DANGER IN DEEP SPACE3. ON THE TRAIL OF THE SPACE PIRATES4. THE SPACE PIONEERS5. THE REVOLT ON VENUS6. TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE7. SABOTAGE IN SPACE8. THE ROBOT ROCKET
GROSSET & DUNLAP, Inc., _Publishers_
New York 10, N. Y.
Transcribers Notes:
Standardized punctuation and added missing quotes.Pages 12 and 201: Changed Well to We'll (printer errors).Page 114: Changed watch to watch (printer error).Page 117: Changed became to become (printer error).
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The Space Pioneers Page 21