The Space Pioneers

by Carey Rockwell

  CHAPTER 14

  "That's right," sneered Winters. "Professor Sykes has disappeared andVidac wants to talk to you!"

  The burly spaceman stood in the open door of the cadets' quarters, legsspread apart, hands on the paralo-ray guns strapped to his side. Tom,Roger, and Astro eyed the man sleepily.

  "Say that again," said Tom.

  "I said Vidac wants to talk to you!" Winters shouted. "Now pile out ofthose bunks before I pull you out!"

  Astro sat up and looked at Winters. His voice rumbled menacingly. "I'llgive you five seconds to get out of here," he said quietly. "And if youdon't, I'll ram those ray guns down your throat! One--two--three--"

  Winters tried to match Astro's withering gaze and finally backed out thedoorway. "Vidac wants to see you on the double, and that means,_double!_" He disappeared from view.

  Tom and Roger were already out of their bunks and pulling on theiruniforms.

  "What do you think?" asked Roger, looking at Tom.

  "I don't know, Roger," said Tom, "but I don't like the looks of it."

  Astro jumped lightly to the floor. "I kinda wish Winters had triedsomething," he said with a smile. "I need a little early-morningexercise."

  "Good thing he didn't," commented Roger dryly. "We're in enough troublewithout you mauling one of Vidac's pet boys."

  Tom listened halfheartedly to the chatter of his unit mates. He wasthinking ahead to their meeting with Vidac. Since Roger's argument withthe professor, they had continued their work, but under a severe strain.They had finally finished the series of study spools the night before,and Tom felt sure that Vidac had waited until the work was finishedbefore he called them on the carpet. And then, too, there was thedisappearance of Professor Sykes that Winters had mentioned. The youngcadet felt there was trouble ahead.

  A few moments later the three cadets presented themselves to Vidac inhis office in the Administration Building.

  The lieutenant governor was seated behind his desk and appeared to bevery tired. Tom saluted smartly and stepped forward.

  "_Polaris_ unit reporting, sir," said Tom.

  "Where is Professor Sykes?" demanded Vidac abruptly without evenacknowledging the salute.

  "Why, I--I don't know, sir," replied Tom.

  "How about you, Manning? Astro?" asked Vidac, turning to the othercadets. "You have anything to say?"

  "We only heard about it ten minutes ago, sir," volunteered Roger.

  "I'll bet!" snapped Vidac. He got up and stepped around his desk to facethe cadets. "You three were the last ones to be seen with the professor.What happened last night?"

  "We finished the study spools and left him in the office, sir," saidTom. "Then we went for a swim in the pool and had a bite to eat beforehitting the sack. That's all."

  "Did anyone see you in the pool?" asked Vidac.

  "I doubt it, sir. We didn't notice anyone around," said Astro. "It waspretty late."

  "Did anyone see you at the mess hall when you went to get a bite?"pursued Vidac. "Surely there must be someone who can substantiate yourstory."

  The three cadets looked at each other. "I guess not, sir," said Roger."It was pretty late. After midnight."

  Vidac eyed them curiously. "And you're sure you saw no one, and that noone saw you?"

  "We can't be sure that no one saw us, sir," said Tom, "but I doubt it.As Roger said, it was after midnight."

  Vidac whirled and sat down again. He pressed a small button on his deskand waited, silently considering the cadets, his eyes cool and level.The door opened and Governor Hardy walked in, followed by several men.

  Tom suddenly realized that it was the first time they had seen thegovernor in nearly six weeks.

  "Have you found Professor Sykes?" he demanded.

  Vidac shook his head, then turned to the other men. Tom, with a suddensinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, recognized them as thecolonists who had been with Ed Bush when Roger had his last argumentwith the professor.

  "Did you hear Cadet Manning threaten Professor Sykes?" asked Vidac.

  "Yes, sir," replied one of the colonists.

  "What did he say?" asked Vidac. "Repeat it for Governor Hardy."

  The colonist quoted Roger's threat almost word for word and Tom notedgrimly that the witness made the most of the fact that he and Astro hadfollowed Roger out of the office after the argument. The implicationwas clear that they were part of the threat.

  Vidac then turned to Ed Bush. "Bush, did you see the cadets last night?"

  "Yes, sir," said Bush.

  "Where?" demanded Vidac.

  "Leaving the swimming pool with the professor."

  "With the pro--!" exclaimed Tom.

  "Shut up, Corbett!" barked Vidac, and then turned to Astro. "Did you sayyou went swimming _alone?_"

  "We did!" exclaimed the Venusian. "We left the professor at the office.We did not see him again after that. He did not go swimming with us."

  Vidac turned to Winters. "Did you see the cadets last night, Winters?"

  "Yes, sir," replied the spaceman. "I had the graveyard watch and I wasin the galley having a cup of coffee. I saw the cadets enter the galleyjust as I was leaving."

  "Were they alone?" asked Vidac.

  "No, sir," said Winters. "Professor Sykes was with them."

  "That's a lie!" shouted Roger. "We were alone!"

  Vidac merely looked at Roger and then turned back to Winters. "Then whathappened?"

  "Well," said Winters, "they got into an argument, the cadets and Sykes.It was about the movement of a captive planet, or something like that.Anyway, there was a scuffle, and all of a sudden the big cadet"--heindicated Astro--"picked up the professor and carried him out of thegalley. The other two followed."

  "Didn't the professor put up a fight?" asked Vidac.

  "Oh, yes, sir," said Winters. "But he didn't have a chance against thethree cadets."

  "Why didn't you do something about it?" Governor Hardy suddenly brokein.

  "I tried, sir," replied Winters calmly. "I ran after them, but they allpiled into a converted jet boat and blasted out of there."

  "Then what did you do?" asked Vidac.

  "That's when I came to get you, sir," said Winters. "And we startedlooking for them." Winters paused. "Ah--pardon me, sir, but can I gonow? I've been up all night and I'm pretty tired."

  Vidac nodded and Winters left the room.

  "You mean you've been up all night looking for the cadets?" asked Hardy."Weren't they in their quarters?"

  "No, sir," replied Vidac and turned to the cadets. "Well," he demanded,"what have you got to say for yourselves?"

  The three cadets were silent.

  "I must warn you," continued Vidac, "this is a serious matter andanything you say may be used against you. But on the other hand, if youspeak freely and are willing to co-operate, I will do what I can tolessen your punishment."

  Hardy suddenly stepped forward and slammed his fist on Vidac's desk."None of that! There'll be no favors to criminals!" He turned to thecadets angrily.

  "What did you do with the professor?" he demanded.

  The cadets kept silent.

  "Where did you take him?" he shouted.

  Neither Tom, Roger, or Astro batted an eyelash. They kept their eyesfront and their lips tight.

  "I warn you, you'll spend the rest of your lives on a prison rock if youdon't answer!"

  Tom finally turned and looked straight at the governor. "May I speak,sir?"

  "Only if you tell me what you did with Professor Sykes," replied Hardyangrily.

  "You have not asked us, sir," said Tom coolly, "to tell our side ofthe story. You are accusing us of a crime and have already assumed thatwe are guilty. We are not."

  _Bush pulled a paralo-ray gun from his belt and said,"All right, march!"_]

  "Do you deny it?" asked Hardy.

  "We deny everything," said Tom flatly.

  Hardy whirled around to face the colonists, Vidac, and Bush. "I want itclearly understood by everyone here that Spa
ce Cadets Tom Corbett, RogerManning, and Astro, in the face of testimony given by eyewitnesses as totheir argument with Professor Sykes, and their later abduction of theprofessor, do now conspire to withhold information which might help savethe professor's life!" He turned to Vidac. "I want them arrested andheld for investigation of their activities last night. Confine them totheir quarters."

  Vidac stood up and nodded his head to Bush. "Take them away. Keep aguard outside their quarters at all times."

  "Yes, sir," said Bush. He pulled a paralo-ray gun from his belt andcocked it. "All right, march!"

  The cadets of the _Polaris_ unit spun on their heels in unison andmarched from the room in perfect order.

  * * * * *

  "Attention! Attention! This is Captain Strong in rocket cruiser _Orion_calling central communications control, Roald! Come in, Roald! _Orion_to Roald! Come in!"

  Aboard the space cruiser, Captain Steve Strong tried again and again tocontact the star colony. For nearly five days, blasting through space atemergency speed, the Solar Guard captain had tried to contact thesatellite, but to no avail. He snapped off the audioceiver and slumpedback in his chair, a worried frown on his face.

  When the second report from the _Polaris_ unit had failed to come in,Strong had received permission from Commander Walters to blast offimmediately for Roald. Walters agreed that it would be better for thecaptain to go alone, since the uranium discovery must be kept anabsolute secret. Working by remote control relays from the control deck,Captain Strong handled the ship as easily as a jet boat and he kept theatomic reactors wide open.

  He stared into the astrogation prism and sighted on the cold light ofthe sun star Wolf 359. Still unable to see the satellite circling thestar, the captain's thoughts were on the past rather than the future. Hestill couldn't find any reasonable explanation for his suddenly havingbeen taken off the Roald colony project and sent on the minor mission toPluto. He had often thought about the man who had replaced him, PaulVidac. Strong had heard the name before and associated it with somethingunpleasant. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, since he hadnever met the man. Certainly there was nothing illegal about him. Hisrecord had been carefully checked, or he would never have been put inthe position of trust he held now. Still there was a persistent notionin Strong's head that something was wrong.

  The young captain turned and walked the deck of the huge empty ship,still deep in thought. He considered the fact that no reports had comethrough to the Academy from the colony at all. Not merely from the SpaceCadets, but from the expedition itself. Only the sketchiest details hadbeen audioed back during the trip and absolutely nothing since theirscheduled arrival on the satellite. A sudden cold wave of fear grippedthe space officer. He wondered if they had arrived safely!

  He shook off the horrible thought. There must be a simple, logicalexplanation for it all. Establishing a star colony was no easy matter.Communications could be easily disrupted for any number of reasons.

  Strong forced himself to forget it. It was still a long way to thesatellite and there was no point in worrying about a fact until it wasestablished to be a fact. He stretched out on a bunk and moments laterwas asleep, while the giant ship hurtled through the dark void towardits destination with a thousand electronic hands and eyes to guide itsafely across the immense gulf of space.