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SABOTAGE IN SPACE
THE TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET STORIES
By Carey Rockwell
STAND BY FOR MARS!
DANGER IN DEEP SPACE
ON THE TRAIL OF THE SPACE PIRATES
THE SPACE PIONEERS
THE REVOLT ON VENUS
TREACHERY IN OUTER SPACE
SABOTAGE IN SPACE
THE ROBOT ROCKET
[Illustration: Frontispiece]
A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure
SABOTAGE IN SPACE
By CAREY ROCKWELL
WILLY LEY _Technical Adviser_
GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ New York
COPYRIGHT, 1955, BY
ROCKHILL RADIO
COPYRIGHT ROCKHILL RADIO 1955
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LOUIS GLANZMAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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| Transcriber's Note |
| |
| Extensive search has failed to uncover any evidence of |
| renewal of copyright of this work. |
| |
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ILLUSTRATIONS
_Frontispiece_
Tom shot a hard right to his opponent's stomach 13
Tom swerved the jet car in front of the runaway truck 81
The men inside were tough-looking and steely-eyed 89
Tom saw that the Space Marines were watching the passengers
very closely 137
"He's hanging on to the cleat over the main tube!" 185
"The projectiles blew Devers' ship into rocket dust!" 209
SABOTAGE IN SPACE
CHAPTER 1
"_Bong-g-g! Bong-g-g! Bong-g-g!--_"
With a hollow booming sound reminiscent of old eighteenth-and
nineteenth-century clock towers, the electronic time tone rang out from
the Tower of Galileo, chiming the hour of nine. As the notes
reverberated over the vast expanse of Space Academy, U.S.A., the lights
in the windows of the cadet dormitories began to wink out and the
slidewalks that crisscrossed the campus, connecting the various
buildings, rumbled to a halt. When the last mournful note had rolled
away to die in the distant hills, the school was dark and still. The
only movement to be seen was the slow pacing of the cadet watch
officers, patrolling their beats; the only sound, the measured clicking
of their boots on the metal strips of the slidewalks.
On the north side of the quadrangle near the Tower, a young watch
officer paused in front of one of the dormitories and scanned the
darkened windows of the durasteel and crystal building. Satisfied that
all was in order, he continued on his lonely way. A moment later a
shadowy figure rose out of the bushes opposite the dormitory entrance
and stepped forward quickly and cautiously. Pausing on the slidewalk to
stare after the disappearing watch officer, the figure was illuminated
by the dim light from the entrance hall. He was a young man wearing the
royal-blue uniform of a Space Cadet. Tall and wiry, with square features
topped by a shock of close-cropped blond hair, he stood poised on the
balls of his feet, ready to move quickly should another watch officer
appear.
After a quick glance at his wrist chronometer, the young cadet darted
across the slidewalk toward the transparent crystal portal of the
dormitory. Hesitating only long enough to make certain that the inner
hallway was clear, he slid the portal open, ducked inside, and sprinted
down the hall toward a large black panel on the wall near the foot of
the slidestairs. On the panel, in five long columns, were the name
plates of every cadet quartered in the dormitory and beside each plate
were two words, IN and OUT, with a small tab that fitted over one of the
words.
Out of the one hundred and fifty cadets in the dormitory, one hundred
and forty-nine were marked IN. The slender, blond-haired cadet quickly
made it unanimous, reaching up to the tab next to the name of Roger
Manning and sliding it over to cover the word OUT. With a last final
look around, he raced up the slidestairs, smiling in secret triumph.
In Room 512 on the fifth floor of the dormitory, Tom Corbett and Astro,
the two other cadets who, with Roger Manning, made up the famed
_Polaris_ unit of the Space Cadet Corps, were deep in their studies.
Though the lights-out order had been given over the dormitory
loud-speaker system, the desk lamp burned brightly and there was a
blanket thrown over the window. The boys of the _Polaris_ unit weren't
alone in their disobedience. All over the dormitory, lights were on and
cadets were studying secretly. But they all felt fairly safe, for the
cadet watch officers on each floor were anxious to study themselves and
turned a blind eye. Even the Solar Guard officer of the day, in charge
of the entire dormitory, was sympathetic to their efforts and made a
great deal of unnecessary noise while on his evening rounds.
His brown curly hair falling over his forehead, Tom Corbett frowned in
concentration as he kept the earphones of his study machine clamped
tightly to his ears and listened to a recorded lecture on astrophysics
as it unreeled from the spinning study spool. As command cadet of the
_Polaris_ unit, Tom was required to know more than merely his particular
duty as pilot of a rocket ship. He had to be familiar with every phase
of space travel, with a working knowledge of the duties of all his unit
mates.
Astro, the power-deck officer of the unit, paced back and forth between
the bunks like a huge, hulking bear, muttering to himself as he tried to
memorize the table of reaction times for rocket motors. Though the huge
Venusian cadet was a genius at all mechanical tasks, and able to work
with tools the way a surgeon worked with instruments, he had great
difficulty in learning the theories and scientific reasons for all the
things he did instinctively. Suddenly Astro stopped, looked at his
chronometer, then turned to Tom.
"Hey, Tom!" he called. "Where's that jerk, Manning?"
"Huh?" replied Tom, lifting one of the earphones from his ears. "What
did you say, Astro?"
"Where's Manning?" reiterated Astro. "It's ten minutes after lights
out."
"He was going to get those study spools for us, wasn't he?" mused Tom.
"He should've been back by now," grunted the Venusian. "The library
closed an hour ago. Besides, he couldn't have gotten those spools. Every
other cadet in the Academy is after them."
"Well, he's a pretty resourceful joker," sighed Tom, turning back to the
study machine. "When he goes after something, he gets it by hook or
crook."
"It's the crook part that bothers me," grumbled Astro. "Besides, if the
O.D. catches him out of quarters, he'll be doing his studying while he's
polishing up the mess hall."
Suddenly the door to the room burst open and slammed closed. Tom and
Astro whirled to see their missing unit mate lounging against the
doorframe, grinning broadly.
"Roger!"
"Where've you been, blast you?"
Tom and Astro both jumped forward and spoke at the same time. The
blond-haired cadet merely looked at them lazily and then sauntered
forward, pulling six small study spools from his pockets.
"You wanted these study spools, didn't you?" he drawled, giving his unit
mates three apiece. "Be my guest and study like mad."
Tom and Astro quickly read the titles of the spools and then looked at
Roger in amazement. They were the ones the unit needed for their
end-term exams, the ones all the cadets needed.
"Roger," Tom demanded, "how did you get these spools? The library was
out of them this afternoon. Did you take them from another unit's
quarters?"
"I did not!" said Roger stoutly. "And I don't like your insinuations
that I would." He grinned. "Relax! We have them and we can breeze
through them in the morning and have them back where they belong by noon
tomorrow."
"Where they belong!" Tom exclaimed. "Then you have no right to them."
"Listen, hot-shot!" growled Astro. "I want to know where you got these
spools and how."
"Well, if that isn't gratitude for you!" muttered Roger. "I go out and
risk my neck for my dear beloved unit mates and they stand around
arguing instead of buckling down to study."
"This is no joke, Roger," said Tom seriously. "Now for the last time,
will you tell us how you got them?"
Roger thought a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "All right," he
said finally. "When I went down to the library to see if it was our turn
for them yet, I found that we were still twenty-seventh in line."
"Twenty-seventh?" gasped Astro.
"That's right, spaceboy!" snorted Roger. "So I tried to con that little
space doll of a librarian into moving our names up on the list, but just
then an Earthworm cadet came in with an order from Tony Richards of the
_Capella_ unit, an order for the very spools we needed."
"You mean, you took them from an Earthworm?" queried Tom.
"Well, I didn't take them exactly," replied Roger. "I waited for him out
on the quadrangle and I told him he was wanted in the cadet dispatcher's
office right away and that I would take the spools on up to Tony."
"And you brought them here!" howled Astro.
"Yup." Roger grinned. "Do you think that squirt will know who I am? Not
in a million years. And by the time Tony and the others do find out who
has them, we'll be finished. Get it?"
"I get it, all right, you crummy little chiseler," growled Astro. "Tom,
we gotta give these back to Tony."
Tom nodded. "You're right," he said.
"Now wait a minute!" said Roger angrily. "I went to a lot of trouble to
get these things for you--"
"Look, Roger," Tom interrupted, "I would rather have one night with
those spools than a two-week leave in Atom City right now. But the
_Capella_ unit is having a tough time making the Spring passing lists.
They need those spools more than we do."
"Yeah," said Astro. "We could probably take the tests now and pass, but
they really have to study. I'm for getting them back to the _Capella_
unit right now. How about you, Tom?"
The young cadet nodded and turned to Roger who stood there, frowning.
"Roger," said Tom, "both Astro and I really appreciate it. But you
wouldn't want the _Capella_ unit to flunk out of the Academy, would
you?"
Roger gnawed at his thumbnail and then looked at his two unit mates
sheepishly. "You're right, fellas," he said. "It was kind of a dirty
trick. Give me the spools. I'll take them back to Tony right now."
"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Astro. "It's after hours. We're not supposed
to be out of the dorm."
For a second the three boys looked at each other hesitantly. Then, as
though they had telepathically conveyed their individual decisions to
each other, they turned toward the door. Tom opened it and stepped out
into the hall cautiously, then turned back and nodded. Roger and Astro
followed him quickly.
As Roger closed the door behind him, he murmured, "There's no reason for
all of us to go. I was the one who took the spools, so I should bring
them back. Why should you two guys risk getting caught?"
Astro punched him in the shoulder fondly. "We always work together,
don't we?" he declared. "If one's gonna get into trouble, we all
should."
"Let's go," urged Tom in a sharp whisper, and they all raced silently
toward the slidestairs.
Seconds later, the three cadets of the _Polaris_ unit were down in the
main hallway of the dormitory building, tiptoeing toward the front
portal. Pausing only to look into the O.D.'s office to make sure the
officer wouldn't spot them, they reached the portal and ducked out.
Pausing again to scan the immediate area for any watch officers, they
darted across the slidewalk and into the shadows of the shrubbery.
Quickly and soundlessly, they raced across the green lawn of the
quadrangle toward the dormitory where the _Capella_ unit was quartered.
Once they sprawled headlong on the turf and lay still as a watch officer
suddenly appeared out of the darkness at the base of the Tower of
Galileo. But he walked past without seeing them and they continued on
across the quadrangle.
Reaching another clump of shrubbery right opposite the _Capella_ unit's
dormitory, the boys stopped and discussed their final move.
"This is getting ridiculous," whispered Roger. "I shouldn't have let you
two come with me. But I'm going the rest of the way myself."
"We came this far, Roger," asserted Tom. "We'll go the rest of the way
and help you explain."
"And you've got a space-blasting lot to explain."
The three cadets whirled as a familiar voice snarled out of the darkness
behind them. They saw three figures, all in cadet uniforms, wearing the
insigne of the _Capella_ unit. In the forefront was Tony Richards
scowling angrily.
"Tony!" gasped Tom. "What are you doing out here?"
"We were on our way over to your dorm, Corbett," growled Tony Richards.
"We saw you three sneaking across the quadrangle."
"Coming to pay us a visit, fellas?" asked Roger blandly.
"You know blasted well why we were coming," snapped McAvoy, the second
member of the _Capella_ crew.
Davison, the third member of the unit, stepped forward. "Give us back
our study spools," he demanded.
"Take it easy," said Tom in a calm voice. "We were bringing them back to
you."
"I'll bet," snapped McAvoy.
"Relax," growled Astro. "Tom said we were returning them. We admit it
was a dirty trick, but you haven't lost much time. Half an hour maybe."
"Don't try to cover for Manning, Astro," said Tony heatedly. "It's a
shame you two guys are stuck with a bad rocket like Manning in your
unit."
"Bad rocket!" exclaimed Roger.
"Now, wait a minute, Tony," Tom said, advancing toward the
broad-shouldered cadet. "We are returning the spools, and we apologize
for yanking them from the Earthworm. But that doesn't mean we'll listen
to that kind of talk about Roger."
"He stole them, didn't he?" retorted Davison.
Roger stepped forward. "Davy, my boy," he said in a low controlled tone,
"I don't like that remark. I've got a notion to make you eat that word."
"I don't think you can, Manning," replied the angry cadet.
Tom stepped between them quickly. "Listen, fellows, we don't want any
trouble. Here are the spools." He held them out.
"That's what I mean, Corbett," said McAvoy sarcastically. "Manning gets
you in trouble and then you and the big boy have to bail him out."
"We've apologized," retorted Astro angrily. "You're getting the spools
back. So no more cracks about Roger."
"I can take care of myself, Astro," said Roger.
"Here, take the spools and get back to your dorm," growled Tom. He
handed the pile of spools over, but as Tony extended his hands, one of
the spools dropped to the grass. No one made a move to pick it up.
"There are the spools," said Tom icily. "Now beat it."
"Let's go," said Davison, leaning over to pick up the spool. "The air is
beginning to stink around here."
Red-faced, Roger stepped forward and put his foot on the spool just as
Davison reached for it. "That's enough, Davison," he snarled.
"Why, you dirty space crawler--" Davison straightened up and swung
wildly. Roger ducked the blow easily, then spun the heavy-set cadet
around and pushed him back into the bushes.
Tony Richards stepped forward and Astro turned to him threateningly, but
Tom quickly shoved them aside and faced Richards.
"Listen, Tony," he said. "We're all out after hours, and if a watch
officer spots us, we've had it. We don't want any trouble." He glanced
at Davison, who was being restrained by McAvoy. "We apologize. Now get
out of here before we're all logged."
Richards nodded and started to turn to his unit mates when suddenly
Davison jerked free and lunged at Roger. The blond-haired cadet was not
caught unawares. He stepped aside and threw a quick jolting right
straight to the _Capella_ cadet's jaw. Davison staggered back and fell
to the ground. He shook his head, jumped to his feet again, and charged
back with a roar.
Both Tom and Astro and Tony Richards and McAvoy grabbed at their
respective unit mates and tried to restrain them. In the struggle to
keep Roger and Davison apart, Astro accidentally pushed Richards to one
side.
"What in blazes--!" yelled Richards. He suddenly released Davison and
gave Astro a shove that sent the big cadet sprawling. And then, without
warning, McAvoy swung at Tom. The curly-haired cadet saw the blow coming
a fraction of a second too late and caught it on the side of his head.
He fell back into the bushes.
Roger yelled in anger at the sudden attack, and grabbing Davison by the
front of his tunic, slammed a hard right into the cadet's stomach.
Richards grabbed Roger, holding him around the head and neck, as McAvoy
swung at him viciously. Seeing their unit mate pommeled, Tom and Astro
charged back and the battle was on. The two units forgot about the watch
officers and the strong possibility of being caught and slugged it out
in the darkness of the quadrangle. The fight seemed to be the climax of
a long-standing feud. The _Polaris_ crew had first come to grips with
Richards and his unit mates when they were assigned to the old rocket
cruiser _Arcturus_. When the ship was scrapped, the cadets were
transferred to the _Capella_, but the rivalry continued stronger than
before. Time and time again, the two crack units had competed for hours
on the athletic fields, in space flight tests, and in the classroom. The
_Polaris_ unit had constantly come out ahead, often by no more than a
fraction of points, but their superiority was clear, and the _Capella_
unit could not repress its resentment and jealousy.
Tony Richards and Tom had squared off and were boxing with lightninglike
thrusts of their fists, each waiting for an opening. In back of them,
Roger and Davison were simply hammering away at each other's
mid-sections, and Astro and McAvoy were rolling around on the ground
like bears, growling and tugging. It was brute strength against brute
strength.
Tom danced away from Richards' rapierlike left, weaved low, and shot a
hard right to his opponent's stomach that left him gasping. Richards
doubled over and stepped in to bring up a solid right, then hesitated.
Richards was through. The blow to the mid-section had taken all the
fight out of him. Tom refused to pursue his advantage while the other
could not fight back. His anger cooling rapidly, Tom realized that the
whole fight was nothing more than a misunderstanding. As Richards sank
to the grass helpless and gasping for breath, Tom turned to break up the
other two fights. But Roger was just finishing his battle with Davison.
Feinting to the mid-section and pulling Davison's guard down, Roger
hooked his left cleanly to the jaw, following immediately with a
haymaker right. Davison dropped to the turf, out cold.
Meanwhile, Astro had rolled on top of the last cadet of the _Capella_
unit, and with his great strength, clamped McAvoy's arms to his side.
Face to face, the two cadets glared at each other. The muscles tightened
in Astro's arms, and beads of sweat popped out on his face.
"Give up!" demanded the Venusian, tightening his grip.
[Illustration: _Tom shot a hard right to his opponent's stomach_]
Slowly McAvoy sagged under the pressure Astro was applying and his face
began to redden.
"He'll break his back," whispered Roger to Tom.
Tom nodded and stepped forward. "Let him go, Astro. He's finished."
Astro did not let go. His face was white with anger. McAvoy bent further
back. "Give up," demanded Astro.
"Grab him," said Tom to Roger. "Get him off Mac before he breaks his
back."
Tom and Roger jumped to Astro's side and each grabbed one of the
powerful arms encircling McAvoy. It took all their strength to break the
viselike hold the giant Venusian had on the other cadet, but slowly they
pulled the muscular arms back and McAvoy slumped to the grass.
The three victorious cadets paused and looked down at the beaten
_Capella_ crew, then looked at each other.
"Well," sighed Roger, "I suppose that the least we can do now is get
them back to their dorm."
Tom and Astro nodded. As the three boys started forward they were
stopped by a voice behind them--a voice that roared like an atomic
blast.
"_Stand to!_"
Whirling around in surprise for the second time within a space of ten
minutes, Tom, Astro, and Roger saw a menacing sight standing behind
them, his balled fists jammed on his hips, his booted legs widespread,
and his massive head thrust forward. It was Major Lou Connel, more
familiarly known as "Blast-off" Connel, a Senior Line Officer of the
Solar Guard and the sternest disciplinarian in the whole Academy. Behind
him stood a short, thin man, whom none of the boys recognized.
Connel stepped forward slowly and menacingly, glaring at the three boys.
"Out a little late, aren't you, boys?" he asked with a mildness that
sent a chill down their spines.
"Y-yes sir," replied Tom, a slight tremor in his voice.
"On official business, I presume?" The major's voice was still as smooth
as silk.
Tom gulped and then shook his head. "N-no, sir," he quavered.
Connel's eyes widened in mock horror. "Why, Corbett," he exclaimed,
"didn't anyone ever tell you the rules of Space Academy? Or perhaps you
didn't know what time it was?"
Tom bit his lip. He knew that he and his unit mates were caught in a
hopeless trap and that Connel was simply baiting them. "I knew what time
it was, sir," he said. "We're out after hours."
Suddenly there was a movement in the brush behind Tom as McAvoy stumbled
to his feet. Richards also sat up groggily.
"Major!" It was the man behind Connel who spoke. "Who are they?"
As though in answer, Davison stood up too and the three members of the
_Capella_ unit were suddenly and horribly aware of the presence of
Connel. They immediately braced themselves, their faces white with
sudden fear.
"So!" Now the major's voice began to roar again. "Fighting, eh? Well,
now we really have something here."
"Sir," began Richards tremulously, "if you'll let us explain--"
"I'll let you explain all right," thundered Connel. "Out after hours,
fighting, you'll have a great time explaining to an inquiry."
"An inquiry!" Tom exclaimed involuntarily.
"Did you expect anything less?" roared Connel. "You are all under arrest
and confined to quarters."
The six cadets all trembled but said nothing, standing at rigid
attention, eyes straight ahead.
"Return to your quarters immediately."
As one, the cadets wheeled and marched off. Tom, Astro, and Roger walked
across the quadrangle back to their dorm, and the _Capella_ unit took
the slidewalk that led to their quarters. Connel watched them go, a
ferocious scowl on his craggy features.
"Little rough on them, weren't you, Major?" asked the man who stood
beside the Solar Guard officer.
"Rules are meant to be obeyed, Professor Hemmingwell," retorted Connel
stiffly.
"Perhaps you're right," mused the stranger. "But what's this about an
inquiry?"
"A trial, Professor. A trial conducted by the cadets themselves to see
whether or not the accused should be kicked out of the Academy."
"Kicked out?" exclaimed the professor. "You certainly do believe in
discipline."
"These boys are to be Solar Guardsmen," replied Connel shortly. "If they
can't obey orders now, they never will."
"Well, it's all very unimportant really, Major," Hemmingwell said with
a shrug. "We have many more vital things to think about now than mere
cadets. Shall we go? Commander Walters is waiting for us."
As the little man in civilian clothes walked away, Connel stifled a
blistering retort. True, his mission here at the Academy was of great
importance. But cadets were important too. And he was afraid. The
_Polaris_ unit was in grave trouble, grave enough to cause expulsion
from the Academy.
[Illustration]