“O.K.,” said Astro. “Let me know!”
“Why use emergency speed, Corbett?” asked Strong. “You seem to have your enemy right where you want him now.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Tom. “And the enemy knows I have him. He can’t possibly attack Luna City now. But he can still run away. He can make his escape by this one route.”
Tom walked to the chart and ran his finger on a line away from the invader’s position into the asteroid belt.
“I don’t want him to get away,” Tom explained. “And with the extra speed, we can cut him off, force him to turn into a position where the remainder of my fleet would finish him off.”
“You’ll do this with just the Polaris?”
“Oh, no, sir,” said Tom. “I’d use the Arcturus, Capella and the Centauri, as well.”
“Are you sure those other ships can equal your speed?”
“They’ve got exactly the same type engines as we have here on the Polaris, sir. I’m sure they could—and with perfect safety.”
Strong hesitated a moment, started to ask a question, then stopped and walked to the chart screen. He checked the figures. He checked them four times, then turned to Tom with a grin and an outstretched hand.
“I’ve got to offer my congratulations, Tom. This maneuver would wipe them out. And I’ve got a notion that you’d come off without the loss of a single ship, plus, and it is a big plus, keeping the invaders more than fifty thousand miles away from their objective!”
The captain turned to the teleceiver. “Rocket cruiser Polaris to control tower at Space Academy—”
There was a crackle of static and then the deep voice of Commander Walters boomed from the speaker.
“Spaceport control to Polaris. Come in, Steve.”
In a few brief sentences, Strong outlined Tom’s plan of action to the Academy commander. The commander’s face on the teleceiver widened into a grin, then broke out in a hearty laugh.
“What’s that, sir?” asked Captain Strong.
“Very simple, Steve. All of us—all the Academy top brass—develop a foolproof test for cadet maneuvers. And then your young Corbett makes us look like amateurs.”
“But didn’t you expect one side or the other to win?” asked Strong.
“Of course, but not like this. We’ve been expecting a couple of days of maneuver, with both sides making plenty of mistakes that we could call them on. But here Corbett wraps the whole thing up before we can get our pencils sharpened.”
“Better stuff cotton in Corbett’s ears before he hears all this,” rasped Roger Manning over the intercom. “Or his head’ll be too big to go through the hatch.”
“Quiet, Manning,” came Astro’s voice from the power deck. “Your mouth alone is bigger than Tom’s head’ll ever be.”
“Look, you Venusian ape—” began Roger, but Commander Walters’ voice boomed out again. His face on the teleceiver screen was serious now.
“Attention! Attention all units! The battle has been fought and won on the chart screen of the rocket cruiser Polaris. The Luna City attack has been repelled and the invading fleet wiped out. All units and ships will return to Space Academy at once. Congratulations to all and end transmission.”
The commander’s face faded from the screen. Captain Strong turned to Tom. “Good work,” he said.
He was interrupted by a crackle of static from the teleceiver. A face suddenly appeared on the screen—a man’s face, frightened and tense.
“S O S.” The voice rang out through the control deck.
“This is an S O S. Space passenger ship Lady Venus requests assistance immediately. Position is sector two, chart one hundred three. Emergency. We must have—”
The screen went blank, the voice stopped as though cut off by a knife. Strong frantically worked the teleceiver dials to re-establish contact.
“Polaris to Lady Venus,” he called. “Come in Lady Venus. Rocket cruiser Polaris calling Lady Venus. Come in! Come in!”
There was no answer. The passenger ship’s instruments had gone dead.
CHAPTER 13
“Polaris to Commander Walters at Space Academy—Come in, Commander Walters!” Captain Strong’s voice was urgent in the teleceiver.
“Just worked up an assumed position on the Lady Venus,” said Roger over the intercom. “I think she’s bearing about seventeen degrees to port of us, and about one-twenty-eight on the down-plane of the ecliptic.”
“O.K., Roger,” said Tom. “Captain Strong’s trying to reach Commander Walters now.” He made a quick mental calculation. “Golly, Roger—if you’ve figured it right, we’re closer to the Lady Venus than anyone else!”
The teleceiver audio crackled.
“Commander Walters at Space Academy to Captain Strong on the Polaris. Come in, Steve!”
“Commander!” Strong’s voice sounded relieved. “Did you get that emergency from the Lady Venus—the S O S?”
“Yes, we did, Steve,” said the commander. “How far away from her are you?”
Without a word, Tom handed Strong the position that Roger had computed. Strong relayed the information to the commander.
“If you’re that close, go to her aid in the Polaris. You’re nearer than any Solar Guard patrol ship and you can do just as much.”
“Right, sir,” replied Steve. “I’ll report as soon as I get any news. End transmission!”
“Spaceman’s luck, end transmission!” said the commander.
“Have you got a course for us, Roger?” asked Strong.
“Yes, sir!”
“Then let’s get out of here. I have a feeling there’s something more than just the usual emergency attached to that S O S from the Lady Venus.”
In twenty seconds the mighty cruiser was blasting through space to the aid of the stricken passenger ship.
“Better get the emergency equipment ready, Tom,” said Strong. “Space suits for the four of us and every spare space suit you have on the ship. Never can tell what we might run into. Also the first-aid surgical kit and every spare oxygen bottle. Oh, yeah, and have Astro get both jet boats ready to blast off immediately. I’ll keep trying to pick them up again on the teleceiver.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Tom sharply.
“What’s going on up there?” asked Astro, when Tom had relayed the orders from Captain Strong. Tom quickly told him of the emergency signal from the Lady Venus.
“Lady—Venus—” said the big cadet, rolling the name on his tongue, “I know her. She’s one of the Martian City—Venusport jobs—an old-timer. Converted from a chemical burner to atomic reaction about three years ago!”
“Any ideas what the trouble might be?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know,” replied Astro. “There are a hundred and fifty things that could go wrong—even on this wagon and she’s brand new. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was on the power deck!”
“And what makes you think so?” asked Tom.
“I knew a spaceman once that was on a converted tub just like the Lady Venus and he had trouble with the reaction chamber.”
“Wow!”