"It will take weeks to repair it!"
Professor Hemmingwell stood on the main deck of the giant spaceship
staring sadly at the mess of wires and tubes, controls and gauges,
switches and filaments, all shattered and useless.
"When did it happen?" demanded Connel.
"Less than half an hour ago," replied Dave Barret. "Professor
Hemmingwell and I were down at the far end of the hangar. The men had
just left for the day and we were planning the work for tomorrow."
"Then what happened?" demanded Connel. "Wait, don't answer yet!" He
stopped himself and turned to a Space Marine standing nearby. "You! Can
you work an audio recorder?"
"Yes, sir," replied the Marine.
"Then get a machine up here on the double and take down everything
that's said."
"Yes, sir," said the Marine and left the ship. Connel silently began
inspecting the wreckage. It was ten times as serious as the first
sabotage attempt.
Barret, Commander Walters, Professor Hemmingwell, and Captain Strong
watched the major, their teeth clenched, eyes clouded with anger. Where
the destruction of the first unit could have been called an accident,
here was tangible evidence of a deliberate attempt to stop the whole
project. The Space Marine, accompanied by Firehouse Tim Rush, returned
five minutes later with the audio recorder and set it up for operation.
Connel took the small needlelike microphone in his hand and spoke into
it as the reel of sound tape unwound slowly.
"This is a preliminary inquiry into the sabotage of the control deck of
spaceship XX, Operation Space Projectile," he said. "This is Major Lou
Connel, interrogator!" He paused and nodded to Barret who stepped
forward. "My first witness will be Dave Barret." Holding the microphone
close to the young engineer's mouth, Connel said, "Tell us everything
you know of this incident."
Barret spoke slowly and carefully, describing how he and Professor
Hemmingwell had been at the other end of the hangar when the explosion
had occurred. Professor Hemmingwell had immediately run out of the
hangar to inform Commander Walters, leaving Barret alone to check the
damage. "Then you and Commander Walters and the Space Marines showed up,
sir," he concluded. "That's all I know."
"All right," said Connel and turned to the professor. "Your statement,
Professor Hemmingwell."
"It happened just about the way Dave said," Hemmingwell began. "Except
for one thing. I cannot see why there weren't any guards at their posts
this afternoon. We were without any men at the entrances for nearly an
hour. Anyone could have slipped into the hangar and planted the bomb."
"Why weren't the entrances guarded?" snapped Connel, looking directly at
Firehouse Tim Rush.
"Cadets Manning and Astro left their posts without leave, sir," reported
the stocky little spaceman.
Captain Strong took an involuntary step forward, his face drained of all
color. Connel looked at him, steely-eyed. "Did you hear that, Strong?"
he growled.
Strong nodded. "I--I did," he stammered.
"So those two idiots not only stole a rocket scout, but they left their
posts."
Strong could only shake his head in utter disbelief. Commander Walters
looked at him pityingly.
"I knew they had taken the scout," said Walters, his voice hard and
tight. "But I didn't think they were foolish enough to leave their
posts."
"Well, they did, sir," declared Rush. "They left about four hours before
they were to be relieved. I was making the rounds when I discovered that
they were gone. I put two other men on guard right away, but the doors
were unguarded for at least an hour. Anyone could have walked in without
the slightest trouble."
Connel turned back to Walters. "This is the end! Those two cadets are
going up before a general court-martial."
"Commander," protested Strong, "you can't--!"
"Shut up, Steve!" barked Connel. "There's a limit to how long you can
defend your unit. Face it, man, those three boys have gone off their
rockers. They're too cocky. This is the last straw." He turned away
from the young Solar Guard officer and faced the others. "Let's get on
with the interrogation. Firehouse! What have you got to say about this?"
The tough little enlisted guard stepped up and reported clearly and
rapidly and without pause. When he was finished, Connel turned to the
guards that had replaced Roger and Astro and each one repeated the story
told by Firehouse Tim.
Over and over, Connel heard the same story. No one seemed to have been
around the ship when the explosion took place. And it seemed that the
only time when a saboteur could have gotten into the hangar and planted
the bomb was during the hour the doors were unguarded.
Finally, the interrogation was over and Connel declared, "One thing to
remember when you are dealing with sabotage is this: if the saboteur
fails, he might return. If our enemy does not know the extent of the
damage, then he might return and make another attempt. So, not a word
about this to anyone. And that includes your mothers."
"Major, there is one thing I'd like to add," said Barret, stepping
forward.
"What's that?" asked Connel.
"It's about the cadets," said Barret. "I talked to them just before they
blasted off in the scout. They had a lot to say about your taking
Corbett with you on the trip to Mars. They seemed disgruntled and
dissatisfied."
Steve Strong whirled on the young engineer. "What did they say?" he
demanded.
"Simply that they didn't feel that they were getting a fair deal with
Tom being taken off guard duty, since he was actually responsible for
them having it in the first place.
"They said that!" exclaimed Strong. "But how could that--" He suddenly
closed his mouth and turned away, frowning.
"But how could what, Steve?" asked Walters.
"Nothing, sir," said Strong. "You have already reprimanded me too often
as it is for speaking up in their behalf."
Walters lifted his eyebrows. "It appears to me that you're getting a
little touchy!" he barked. "Watch yourself, Steve. Don't let your
feelings for those boys get out of hand."
"Blast it!" exclaimed Professor Hemmingwell. "While you continue talking
about those stupid cadets, you're just wasting my time. There's plenty
of work to do and precious little time to do it in." He turned to
Barret. "Come on, Dave, let's get this mess cleared away."
"Yes, sir," said Dave Barret.
As Hemmingwell and Barret turned their attention to the wrecked control
panel, Connel, Walters, and Strong climbed out of the ship and left the
hangar. On the slidewalk, headed back to the Academy, Commander Walters
looked at Connel inquiringly.
"What now, Lou?" he asked.
"I have an idea, Commander," said Connel. "I'm going to spend the rest
of the night listening to this audiotape over again. Then I'm going to
do a little digging around."
"All right," said Walters. "And I suppose you'll want to talk to Manning
and Astro when they get back."
Connel looked at Captain Strong grimly. "I want to talk to them so
badly, I would crawl on my hands and knees to get to them right now."
Strong flushed angrily but said nothing, and as soon as the three
officers arrived at the Academy grounds, he excused himself. He walked
slowly and thoughtfully along, looking at the dormitories with unseeing
eyes and hearing with deaf ears the noise of the cadets getting ready
for bed. He could not believe that Roger or Astro had abandoned their
posts, or that Tom would run off to disappear on Mars, just for the sake
of disappearing. In all his years at the Academy, Strong had never met
three boys who so exemplified the true spirit of Space Cadets. Something
was wrong somewhere. But what?
Strong paused outside the huge recreation hall, watching the cadets.
Tony Richards and the _Capella_ unit walked by, and returning their
salutes, Strong could only see Tom, Roger, and Astro.
A figure dressed in the black-and-gold uniform of an officer in the
Solar Guard walked toward him. Strong's eyes lighted up with
recognition.
"Joan!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," she said. She had some papers in her hand and held
them out to him.
"What's this?" he asked, glancing at them in the light reflected from
the hall, and then back to the serious face of the brilliant young
physicist, Dr. Joan Dale, who, in spite of being a woman, had been
placed in charge of the Academy laboratories, the largest and most
complete in the entire Solar Alliance.
"Steve," she began, "I was in charge of the psychograph tests taken of
all the workers at the projectile operation after the first mishap--"
"How did you know about the second?" Strong interrupted quickly,
remembering Connel's admonition about keeping the incident quiet.
"I was ordered to go over the graphs again, to look for any possible
clue in a worker's mental make-up that would lead him to a criminal
act." She paused and looked up at him squarely. "Do you suspect me too?"
"I'm sorry, Joan," said the young captain. "But this whole business is
getting me down. Tom, disappearing on Mars, Roger and Astro walking off
guard duty and stealing a scout, and now this latest sabotage attempt."
He sighed and shook his head. "I'm tired I guess."
She smiled. "I understand, Steve, and regardless of what Major Connel
and Commander Walters have said, I'll bet my last credit there's a good
reason for what the boys have done."
Strong looked down at the pretty physicist and smiled. "Thanks, Joan,"
he said. "Now, what about these papers?"
"It's about the report on Pat Troy," she replied. "When we asked him if
he was working with anyone other than the professor, he lied."
She produced a sheet of paper from among those she held and handed it to
Strong. The young captain took it and scanned it quickly. The paper was
ordinary graph paper with a series of small, wavy lines on it in red
ink. Near the bottom of the paper, there was a jagged peak in the wavy
line. "What does this mean?" he asked, pointing to the peak.
"That was his reaction when he was asked if he worked for anyone else."
"Does that mean it's a lie?"
"Yes. All the waves that you see," she continued, pointing to the line,
"represent answers to questions about his personal life. Does he shave
in the morning? Does he brush his teeth at night, and so forth. They're
comparison questions to show his reaction when he tells the truth. That
peak indicates a lie."
"Then," said Strong thoughtfully, "he might be the saboteur."
"Or know who it is," said Joan.
"I've got to get this information to Connel right away!" said Strong.
"Can I have this paper?"
"Yes. I made copies. I was just going to take one to the commander when
I saw you."
"I'll try to locate Major Connel and you go on and tell the commander
what you've found. And Joan--" Strong hesitated.
"Yes?"
"Put in a good word for the cadets, will you?" Strong pleaded. "Both
Connel and Commander Walters are all set to blast them right out of the
service."
"I'll do what I can--" Suddenly Dr. Dale stopped, her eyes widening with
fright. She pointed down the walk behind Strong.
Steve turned around and gasped. Connel was striding toward them grimly,
followed by four guards carrying a stretcher covered by a blanket.
Strong quickly recognized the outline of a human form beneath the
blanket.
"Major," exclaimed Steve, "what--who--?"
"It's getting thicker by the hour, Steve!" said Connel in a low voice.
"This is the first time in the history of the Academy that there has
been what looks like"--he paused and turned to look at the draped body
being carried past them--"an attempt at murder," he finished.
"Murder!" said Strong. "But--"
"Who is it?" demanded Joan.
"A little man who can tell us a great deal if and when he regains
consciousness! Pat Troy!"
[Illustration]