"My congratulations for having solved that problem too!" Strong saluted
them again and walked toward the door, where he paused. "By the way, I
want you to report to the Academy spaceport tomorrow at eight hundred
hours. Warrant Officer McKenny has something out there he wants to show
you."
Tom's eyes bugged out and he stepped forward.
"Sir," he gasped, scarcely able to get the question past his lips, "you
don't mean we're--we're going to--"
"You're absolutely right, Corbett. There's a brand-new rocket cruiser
out there. Your ship. Your future classroom. You'll report to her in the
blues of the Space Cadets! And from now on your unit identification is
the name of your ship! The rocket cruiser _Polaris_!"
A second later, Strong had vanished down the corridor, leaving Tom and
Astro hugging each other and clapping each other on the back in
delirious joy.
Roger merely stood to one side, a sarcastic smile on his face.
"And now, as we prepare to face the unknown dangers of space," he said
bitingly, "let us unite our voices and sing the Academy hymn together!
Huh!" He strode toward the door. "Don't they ever get tired of waving
that flag around here?"
Before Tom and Astro could reply, he had disappeared. The big Venusian
shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't understand that guy!"
But Tom failed to reply. He had turned toward the window and was staring
out past the gleaming white Tower of Galileo into the slowly darkening
skies of evening to the east.
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