"Carey Rockwell - Tom Corbett Space Cadet 03 - On the Trail of the Space Pirates" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rockwell Carey)

subcommissioner of the exposition and advised of the conveniences provided for the
participants of the fair. Then, finally, as a last worker finished the installation of a
photoelectric cell across the entrance port to count visitors to the ship, Tom, Roger, and
Astro began the dirty job of washing down the giant titanium hull with a special cleaning fluid,
while all around them the activity of the fair buzzed with nervous excitement.
Suddenly the three cadets heard the unmistakable roar of jets in the sky. Automatically,
they looked up and saw a spaceship, nose up, decelerating as it came in for a touchdown
on a clearing across one of the wide spacious streets of the fairgrounds.
"Well, blast my jets!" exclaimed Astro, his eyes clinging to the flaming exhausts as the
ship lowered itself to the ground.
"That craft must be at least fifty years old!"
"I've got a rocket-blasting good idea, Tom," said Roger.
The exit port of the spaceship opened, and the three cadets watched Gus Wallace and
Luther Simms climb down the ladder.
"Hey," yelled Roger, "better be careful with that broken-down old boiler. It might blow
up!"
The two men glared at the grinning Roger but didn't answer.
"Take it easy, Roger," cautioned Tom. "We don't want to start anything that might cause
us and Captain Strong trouble before the fair even opens. So let's leave them alone."
"What are you afraid of?" drawled Roger, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Just a little
fun with those guys won't hurt." He stepped to the side of the clearing and leaned over the
fence separating the two areas.
"Tell me something, spaceman," he yelled to Wallace, who was busy with some gear at
the base of the ship, "you don't expect people to pay to ride that thing, do you?" He smiled
derisively and added, "Got insurance to cover the families?"
"Listen, punk!" sneered Wallace, "get back over to your Solar Guard space toy and
keep your trap shut!"
"Now-now-" jeered Roger, "mustn't get nasty. Remember, we're going to be neighbors.
Never can tell when you might want to borrow some baling wire or chewing gum to keep
your craft together!"
"Look, wise guy, one more crack out of you, and III send you out of this world without a
spaceship!" snarled Wallace through grating teeth.
 "Any time you'd like to try that, you know where I am," Roger snapped back.
"Okay, punk! You asked for it," yelled Wallace. He had been holding a length of chain
and now he swung it at Roger. The cadet ducked easily, hopped over the fence, and before
Wallace knew what was happening, jolted him with three straight lefts and a sharp right
cross. Wallace went down in a heap, out cold.
Luther Simms, who had been watching the affair from one side, now rushed at Roger
with a monkey wrench. With the ferocity of a bull, Astro roared at the small spaceman, who
stopped as if pulled up by a string. Roger spun around, made an exaggerated bow, and
smiling, asked, "Next?"
At this point, aware that things were getting a bit thick, Tom strode across the clearing,
and grabbing the still smiling Roger, pulled him away.
"Are you space happy?" he asked, "You know you goaded him into swinging that chain,
Roger. And that makes you entirely responsible for what just happened!"
"Yeah," growled Astro. "Suppose he had hit you with it, then what?"
Roger, still grinning, glanced over his shoulder and saw Simms helping Wallace to his
feet. He turned to Astro, threw his arm over the big cadet's shoulder, and drawled, "Why,
then you'd have just taken them apart to avenge me! Wouldn't you, pal?"
"Aw, stow it," snapped Tom.