Brooding over the seeming ill-fortune that had called McKenny's
attention to him at the wrong time, Tom sat down on his suitcase to
adjust his boot. He shook his head slowly. He had heard Space Academy
was tough, tougher than any other school in the world, but he didn't
expect the stern discipline to begin so soon.
"This could be the beginning of the end," drawled a lazy voice in back
of Tom, "for some of the more enthusiastic cadets." Someone laughed.
Tom turned to see a boy about his own age, weight and height, with
close-cropped blond hair that stood up brushlike all over his head. He
was lounging idly against a pillar, luggage piled high around his feet.
Tom recognized him immediately as Roger Manning, and his pleasant
features twisted into a scowl.
"About what I'd expect from that character," he thought, "after the
trick he pulled on Astro, that big fellow from Venus."
Tom's thoughts were of the night before, when the connecting links of
transportation from all over the Solar Alliance had deposited the boys
in the Central Station at Atom City where they were to board the
monorail express for the final lap to Space Academy.
Manning, as Tom remembered it, had taken advantage of the huge Venusian
by tricking him into carrying his luggage. Reasoning that since the
gravity of Venus was considerably less than that of Earth, he convinced
Astro that he needed the extra weight to maintain his balance.
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