"Carey Rockwell - Tom Corbett Space Cadet 04 - The Space Pioneers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rockwell Carey)

Richards."
"Ah, go blast your jets," grumbled Roger. "Come on! Let's show those space crawlers
what this game is all about!"
Rut before the cadet referee could drop his hand, a powerful, low-slung jet car, its
exhaust howling, pulled to a screeching stop at the edge of the field and a scarlet-clad
enlisted Solar Guardsman jumped out and spoke to him. Sensing that it was something
important, the two teams jogged over to surround the messenger.
"What's up, Joe?" asked Roger.
The enlisted spaceman, an Earthworm cadet who had washed out of the Academy but
had re-enlisted in the Solar Guard, smiled. "Orders for the Polaris unit," he said, "from
Captain Strong."
"What about?" asked Roger.
"Report on the double for new assignments," replied the guardsman.
"Jeeeeooooow! Astro roared in jubilation. "At last we can get out of here. I've been
doing so blamed much classroom work, I've forgotten what space looks like."
"Know where we're going, Joe?" asked Tom.
"Uh-uh." Joe shook his head. He turned away, then stopped, and called back, "Want a
lift back to the Tower?"
Before Tom could answer, Richards, the captain of the Arcturus unit spoke up. "How
about finishing the game, Tom? It's been so long since we've had such good competition we
hate to lose you. Come on. Only a few more minutes."
Tom hesitated. It had been a long time since the two units had played together, but
orders were orders. He looked at Roger and Astro. "Well, what about it?"
"Sure," said Roger. "We'll wipe up these space jokers in nothing flat! Come on!"
There was a mock yell of anger from the Arcturus unit and the two teams raced back to
their starting positions. In the remaining minutes of play, the cadets played hard and rough.
First one team would score and then the other. A sizable crowd of cadets had gathered to
watch the game and cheered lustily as the players tore up and down the field. Finally, when
both teams were nearly exhausted, the game was over and the score was eight to seven in
favor of the Polaris unit. Roger had made the final point after Tony Richards had left the
game with a badly bruised hip. A substitute called in from the bystanders, an Earthworm
cadet, had eagerly joined the Arcturus team for the last minutes of play but had been
hopelessly outclassed by the teamwork of the Polaris unit.
Promising a return match soon, Roger, Tom, and Astro hurried to their lockers,
showered, and dressed in their senior cadet uniforms of vivid blue, then raced to the nearest
slidewalk to head toward the main group of buildings that made up Space Academy.
Whisked along on the moving belt of plastic that formed the principle method of
transportation in and around the Academy grounds, Tom turned to his unit mates. "What do
you think it'll be?" he asked.
"You mean the assignment?" asked Roger, answering his own question in the next
breath. "I don't know. But anything to get out of here. I've been on Earth so long that I'm
getting gravity-itis!"
Tom smiled. "It'll sure be nice to get up in the wide, high, and deep again," he said,
glancing up at the cloudless sky.
"Say it again, spaceman," breathed Astro. "One more lesson on the differential
potential between chemical-burning rocket fuels and reactant energy and I'll blast off without
a spaceship!"
Roger and Tom laughed. They both sympathized with the big cadet's inability to cope
with the theory of atomic energy and fuel conservation in spaceships. In charge of the power
deck on the Polaris, Astro earlier had gained firsthand experience in commercial rocket