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

"One side, spaceboy!"
A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him to one side. Caught off balance,
Astro fell back on his sleeping unit-mates.
"Hey! What th-" stuttered Astro as he sprawled on top of his friends. The two sleepy
cadets came up howling.
 "Astro! What in blazes do you think you're doing?" roared Tom.
"Why, you space-brained idiot," yelled Roger, "I ought to lay one on your chin!"
There was a tangle of arms and legs and finally the three cadets struggled to their feet.
Astro turned to see who had pushed him.
Two men standing at the end of the car grinned back at him.
"It was those two guys at the end of the car," explained Astro. "They pushed me!" He
lumbered toward them, followed by Tom and Roger.
Stopping squarely in front of them, he demanded, "What's the big idea?"
"Go back to your beauty rest, spaceboy!" jeered the heavier of the two men and turned
to his companion, adding with a snarl, "How do you like his nerve? We not only have to pay
taxes to support these lazy kids and teach them how to be spacemen, but they're
loudmouthed and sassy on top of it!"
The other man, smaller and rat-faced, laughed. "Yeah, we oughta report them to their
little soldier bosses at Space Academy."
Astro suddenly balled his fists and stepped forward, but Tom grabbed his arm and
pulled him back while Roger eased himself between his mates and the two grinning men.
"You know, Tom," he drawled, looking the heavier of the two right in the eye, "the only
thing I don't like about being a Space Cadet is having to be polite to all the people, including
the space crawlers!"
"Why, you little punk," sneered the bigger man, "I oughta wipe up the deck with you!"
Roger smiled thinly. "Don't try it, mister. You wouldn't know what hit you!"
"Come on, Wallace," said the smaller man. "Leave 'em alone and let's go."
Astro took another step forward and roared, "Blast off. Both of you!"
The two men turned quickly and disappeared through the door leading to the next
monorail car.
The three cadets turned and headed back down the aisle to their seats.
"Let's get some sleep," said Tom. "We better be in good shape for that new
assignment when we hit the Academy. No telling what it'll be, where we'll go, or worse yet,
when we'll blast off. And I, for one, want to have a good night's rest under my belt."
"Yeah," agreed Roger, settling himself into the cushions once more. "Wonder what the
orders will be. Got any ideas, Tom?"
"No idea at all, Roger," answered Tom. "The audio-gram just said report back to the
Academy immediately for assignment."
"Hey, Astro!" exclaimed Roger, seeing the Venusian climb back into his seat. "Aren't
you going to eat?"
"I'm not hungry any more," grunted Astro. "Those guys made me lose my appetite."
Tom looked at Roger and winked. "Maybe we'd better tell Captain Strong about this,
Roger."
"Why?"
"Get Astro mad enough and he won't want to eat. The Academy can cut down on its
food bills."
"Ah, rocket off, you guys," growled Astro sleepily.
Tom and Roger smiled at each other, closed their eyes, and in a moment the three
cadets of the Polaris unit were sound asleep.
Suspended from a single gleaming rail that stretched across the western plains like an