Stand by for Mars! Part 3

The members of Section 42-D looked at Roger questioningly.

"I don't know if we have time." Tom was dubious.

"Sure you have--plenty. I'd hop off and take a look myself but I've got to get this junk ready to s.h.i.+p home." He indicated the pile of bags in front of him.

"Aw, come on, Tom, let's take a look!" urged Astro. "They have the old _s.p.a.ce Queen_ in here, the first s.h.i.+p to clear Earth's gravity. Boy, I'd sure like to see her!" Without waiting for the others to agree, the huge candidate stepped off the slidestairs.

"Hey, Astro!" yelled Tom. "Wait! I don't think--" His voice trailed off as the moving stair carried him up to the next floor.

But then a curious thing happened. As other boys came abreast of the museum floor and saw Astro they began to get off and follow him, wandering around gazing at the relics of the past.

Soon nearly half of the cadet candidates were standing in silent awe in front of the battered hull of the _s.p.a.ce Queen_, the first atomic-powered rocket s.h.i.+p allowed on exhibition only fifty years before because of the deadly radioactivity in her hull, created when a lead baffle melted in mids.p.a.ce and flooded the s.h.i.+p with murderous gamma rays.

They stood in front of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p and listened while Astro, in a hushed voice, read the inscription on the bronze tablet.

"--Earth to Luna and return. 7th March 2051. In honor of the brave men of the first atomic-powered s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p to land successfully on the planet Moon, only to perish on return to Earth...."

"Candidates--staaaaaaaaannnnnd _too_!"

Like a clap of thunder Warrant Officer McKenny's voice jarred the boys out of their silence. He stepped forward like a bantam rooster and faced the startled group of boys.

"I wanna know just _one_ thing! Who stepped off that slidestairs _first_?"

The boys all hesitated.

"I guess I was the first, sir," said Astro, stepping forward.

"Oh, you guess you were, eh?" roared McKenny.

Taking a deep breath McKenny launched into a blistering tirade. His choice of words were to be long remembered by the group and repeated to succeeding cla.s.ses. Storming against the huge Venusian like a pygmy attacking an elephant, McKenny roared, berated and blasted.

Later, when Astro finally reached his quarters and changed into the green coveralls of the cadet candidates, Tom and Phil crowded around him.

"It was Roger, blast him!" said Tom angrily. "He was getting back at you because Cadet Herbert made him carry his own gear."

"I asked for it," grumbled Astro. "Ah, I should've known better. But I just couldn't wait to see the _Queen_." He balled his huge hands into tight knots and stared at the floor.

"Now hear this!!!"

A voice suddenly rasped over the PA system loud-speaker above the door.

"All cadet candidates will come to attention to receive the s.p.a.ce Academy oath from Commander Walters." The voice paused. "_AT-TENT-SHUN!_ Cadet candidates--Staaaaannnnd _TO_!"

"This is Commander Walters speaking!" A deep, powerful voice purred through the speaker. "The Academy oath is taken individually.

"It is something each candidate locks in his spirit, his mind and his heart. That is why it is taken in your quarters. The oath is not a show of color, it is a way of life. Each candidate will face as closely as possible in the direction of his home and swear by his own individual G.o.d as he repeats after me."

Astro stepped quickly to the window port and gazed into the blue heavens, eyes searching out the misty planet Venus. Phil Morgan thought a moment, and faced toward the wall with the inlaid star chart of the sky, thinking of sun-bathed Georgia. Tom Corbett stared straight at a blank wall.

Each boy did not see what was in front of him yet he saw further, perhaps, than he had ever seen before. He looked into a future which held the limitlessness of the universe and new worlds and planets to be lifted out of the oblivion of uncharted depths of s.p.a.ce to come.

They repeated slowly....

" ... I solemnly swear to uphold the Const.i.tution of the Solar Alliance, to obey interplanetary law, to protect the liberties of the planets, to safeguard the freedom of s.p.a.ce and to uphold the cause of peace throughout the universe ... to this end, I dedicate my life!"

CHAPTER 2

Tom Corbett's first day at s.p.a.ce Academy began at 0530 hours with the blaring of the _Cadet Corps Song_ over the central communicators:

"_From the rocket fields of the Academy To the far-flung stars of outer s.p.a.ce, We're s.p.a.ce Cadets training to be Ready for dangers we may face._

_Up in the sky, rocketing past Higher than high, faster than fast, Out into s.p.a.ce, into the sun Look at her go when we give her the gun._

_From the rocket fields of the_...."

Within sixty seconds, the buildings of the Academy rocked with the impact of three thousand voices singing the last stanza. Lights flashed on in every window. Cadets raced through the halls and across the quadrangle. The central communicator began the incessant mustering of cadets, and the never-ending orders of the day.

" ... Unit 38-Z report to Captain Edwards for astrogation. Unit 68-E report to Commander Walters for special a.s.signments."

On and on, down the list of senior cadets, watch officers, and the newly arrived Earthworms. Units and individuals to report for training or study in everything from ground a.s.sembly of an atomic rocket motor, to the history of the founding of the Solar Alliance, the governing body of the tri-planet civilization.

Tom Corbett stepped out of the shower in Section 42-D and bellowed at the top of his voice.

"Hit the deck, Astro! Make use of the gravity!" He tugged at an outsized foot dangling over the side of an upper bunk.

"Uhhhh-ahhhh-hummmmm," groaned the cadet from Venus and tried to go back to sleep.

Philip Morgan stepped into the shower, turned on the cold water, screeched at the top of his voice, gradually trailing off into countless repet.i.tions of the last verse of the Academy song.

"Damp your tubes, you blasted s.p.a.ce monkey," roared Astro, sitting up bleary-eyed.

"What time do we eat?" asked Tom, pulling on the green one-piece coverall of the Earthworm cadet candidates.

"I don't know," replied Astro, opening his mouth in a cavernous yawn.

"But it'd better be soon. I like s.p.a.ce, but not between my backbone and my stomach!"

Warrant Officer McKenny burst into the room and began to compete with the rest of the noise outside the buildings.

"Five minutes to the dining hall and you'd better not be late! Take the slidestairs down to the twenty-eighth floor. Tell the mess cadet in charge of the hall your unit number and he'll show you to the right table. Remember where it is, because you'll have to find it yourself after that, or not eat. Finish your breakfast and report to the ninety-ninth floor to Dr. Dale at seven hundred hours!"

And as fast as he had arrived, he was gone, a flash of red color with rasping voice trailing behind.

Exactly one hour and ten minutes later, promptly at seven o'clock, the three members of Unit 42-D stood at attention in front of Dr. Joan Dale, along with the rest of the green-clad cadets.

When the catcalls and wolf whistles had died away, Dr. Dale, pretty, trim, and dressed in the gold and black uniform of the Solar Guard, held up her hand and motioned for the cadets to sit down.