"What's cooking below, Astro?
Were you able to get rid of the radiation?"
"Naw!" replied the cadet from Venus. "Too hot! Couldn't even open the
hatch. It'll take a special job with the big equipment at the space
shipyards. We need their big blowers and antiradiation flushers to clean
this baby up."
"Then I'd better tell Captain Strong right away. He's going to get in
touch with Commander Walters at the Academy for orders."
"Yeah, you're right," said Astro. "There isn't a chance of getting those
people back aboard here now. Once we opened up that outer control deck
to dump that tube, the whole joint started buzzing with radioactive
electrons."
Tom turned to the ladder leading to the control deck and disappeared
through the hatch, leaving Astro and Roger alone.
"What was that little bit of space gas about, Roger?"
"Ah--nothing," replied Roger. "Just a little argument on who was the
biggest hero." Roger smiled and waved a hand in a friendly gesture. "Tom
won, two to one!"
"He sure handled that control deck like he had been born here, all
right," said Astro. "Well, I've got to take a look at those motors.
We'll be doing something soon, and whatever it is, we'll need those
power boxes to get us where we want to go."
"Yeah," said Roger, "and I've got to get a course and a position." He
turned to the chart screen and began plotting rapidly.
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