"Carey Rockwell - Tom Corbett Space Cadet 02 - Danger in Deep Space" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rockwell Carey)

morning. You'll have tonight off at least. Unit dis--missed!"
The three cadets snapped their backs straight, stood rigid, and saluted as their superior
officer strode toward the hatch. His foot on the ladder, he turned and faced them again.
"It's been a fine mission. I want to compliment you on the way you've handled yourselves
these past few months. You boys are real spacemen!" He saluted and disappeared down
the ladder leading to the exit port.
"And that," said Roger, turning to his unit-mates, "is known as the royal come-on for a
dirty detail!"
"Ahhh, stop your gassing, Manning," growled Astro. "Just be sure your radar bridge is
O.K. If we do have to blast out of here in a hurry, I want to get where we're supposed to be
going!"
"You just worry about the power deck, spaceboy, and let little Roger take care of his
own department," replied Roger.
Astro eyed him speculatively. "You know the only reason they allowed this space creep
in the Academy, Tom?" asked Astro.
"No, why?" asked Tom, playing along with the game.
"Because they knew any time the Polaris ran out of reactant fuel we could just stick
Manning in the rocket tubes and have him blow out some of his special brand of space
gas!"
"Listen, you Venusian throwback! One more word out of you and-"
"All right, you two!" broke in Tom good-naturedly. "Enough's enough! Come on. We've
got just enough time to run up to the mess hall and grab a good meal before we check the
ship."
"That's for me," said Astro. "I've been eating those concentrates so long my stomach
thinks I've turned into a test tube."
Astro referred to the food taken along on space missions. It was dehydrated and
packed in plastic containers to save weight and space. The concentrates never made a
satisfactory meal, even though they supplied everything necessary for a healthful diet.
A few moments later the three members of the Polaris stood on the main slidewalk, an
endless belt of plastic, powered by giant subsurface rollers, being carried from the
spaceport to the main academy administration building, the great gleaming Tower of
Galileo.
Space Academy, the university of the planets, was set among the low hills of the
western part of the North American continent. Here, in the nest of fledgling spacemen, boys
from Earth and the colonies of Venus and Mars learned the complex science that would
enable them to reach unlimited heights; to rocket through the endless void of space and visit
new worlds on distant planets millions of miles from Earth.
This was the year 2353-the age of space! A time when boys dreamed only of becoming
Space Cadets at Space Academy, to learn their trade and later enter the mighty Solar
Guard, or join the rapidly expanding merchant space service that sent out great fleets of
rocket ships daily to every corner of the solar system.
As the slidewalk carried the three cadets between the buildings that surrounded the
grassy quadrangle of the Academy, Tom looked up at the Tower of Galileo dominating the
entire area.
"You know," he began haltingly, "every time I go near this place I get a lump in my
throat!"
"Yeah," breathed Astro, "me too."
Roger made no comment. His eyes were following the path of the giant telescope
reflector that moved in a slow arc, getting into position for the coming night's observations.
Tom followed his gaze to the massive domed building, housing the giant one-thousand-inch