"Carey Rockwell - Tom Corbett Space Cadet 01 - Stand By for Mars!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rockwell Carey)

yourselves over on that slidewalk! Blast!" He turned once again to the rolling
platform. Manning smiled at Astro and hopped nimbly onto the slidewalk after
McKenny, leaving his luggage in a heap in front of Astro.
"And be careful with that small case, Astro," he called as he drifted away.
"Here, Astro," said Tom. "I'll give you a hand."
"Never mind," replied Astro grimly. "I can carry 'em."
"No, let me help." Tom bent over-then suddenly straightened. "By the
way, we haven't introduced ourselves. My name's Corbett-Tom Corbett." He
stuck out his hand. Astro hesitated, sizing up the curly-headed boy in front of
him, who stood smiling and offering friendship. Finally he pushed out his own
hand and smiled back at Tom.
"Astro, but you know that by now."
"That sure was a dirty deal Manning gave you."
"Ah, I don't mind carrying his bags. It's just that I wanted to tell him he's
going to have to send it all back. They don't allow a candidate to keep more
than a toothbrush at the Academy."
"Guess he'll find out the hard way."
Carrying Manning's luggage as well as their own, they finally stepped on
the slidewalk and began the smooth easy ride from the monorail station to the
Academy. Both having felt the sharpness of Manning's tongue, and both
having been dressed down by Warrant Officer McKenny, they seemed to be
linked by a bond of trouble and they stood close together for mutual comfort.
As the slidewalk whisked them silently past the few remaining buildings
and credit exchanges that nestled around the monorail station, Tom gave
thought to his new life.
Ever since Jon Builker, the space explorer, returning from the first
successful flight to a distant galaxy, came through his home town near New
Chicago twelve years before, Tom had wanted to be a spaceman. Through
high school and the New Chicago Primary Space School where he had taken
his first flight above Earth's atmosphere, he had waited for the day when he
would pass his entrance exams and be accepted as a cadet candidate in
Space Academy. For no reason at all, a lump rose in his throat, as the
slidewalk rounded a curve and he saw for the first time, the gleaming white
magnificence of the Tower of Galileo. He recognized it immediately from the
hundreds of books he had read about the Academy and stared wordlessly.
"Sure is pretty, isn't it?" asked Astro, his voice strangely husky.
"Yeah," breathed Tom in reply. "It sure is." He could only stare at the
shimmering tower ahead.
"It's all I've ever wanted to do," said Tom at length. "Just get out there
and-be free!"
"I know what you mean. It's the greatest feeling in the world."
"You say that as if you've already been up there."
Astro grinned. "Yup. Used to be an enlisted space sailor. Bucked rockets
in an old freighter on the Luna City-Venusport run."
"Well, what are you doing here?" Tom was amazed and impressed.
"Simple. I want to be an officer. I want to get into the Solar Guard and
handle the power-push in one of those cruisers."
Tom's eyes glowed with renewed admiration for his new friend. "I've been
out four or five times but only in jet boats five hundred miles out. Nothing like
a jump to Luna City or Venusport."