"
Astro studied his work-hardened palms.
"You wanta keep it this way for a while?" he asked. "I mean, forget
about talking to Captain Strong?"
"Roger's the best astrogator and radar man in the Academy, Astro.
There's something bothering him. But I'm willing to bet that whatever it
is, Roger will work it out. And if we're really unit-mates, then we
won't sell him out now, when he may need us most."
"That's it, then," said Astro. "I'll kill him with kindness. Come on.
Let's turn in. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow!"
The two boys began to prepare for bed. Roger came out of the shower
wearing pajamas.
"All excited, spacemen?" he drawled, leaning against the wall, brushing
his short hair.
"About as excited as we can get, Roger," smiled Tom.
"Yeah, you space-blasting jerk!" growled Astro good-naturedly. "Turn
out the lights before I introduce you to my space boot."
Roger eyed the two cadets quizzically, puzzled by the strange good humor
of both boys. He shrugged his shoulders, flipped out the light and
crawled into bed.
But if he could have seen the satisfied smile of Tom Corbett, Roger
would have been even more puzzled.
"We'll just kill him with kindness," thought Tom, and fell fast asleep.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER 9
The three members of the _Polaris_ unit stepped off the slidewalk at the
Academy spaceport and stood before Warrant Officer McKenny.
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