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

ships as an able spaceman and later had been accepted in the Academy for cadet training.
The son of colonists on Venus, the misty planet, his formal education was limited, and
though he had no equal while on the power deck of a rocket ship, in theory and classroom
study he had to depend on Roger and Tom to help him get passing grades.
The slidewalk moved smoothly and easily toward the gleaming Tower of Galileo, the
largest and most imposing of the structures of Space Academy. Made entirely of clear
crystal mined on Titan, satellite of Saturn, the Tower rose over the smaller buildings like a
giant shimmering jewel. Housing the administration offices of the Solar Guard and the
Space Academy staff, it also contained Galaxy Hall, the museum of space, which attracted
thousands of visitors from every part of the Solar Alliance.
Tom Corbett, his eyes caressing the magnificent gleaming Tower, remembered the first
time he had seen it. While it hadn't been so long in months or years since becoming a
Space Cadet, it seemed as though he had been at the Academy all of his life and that it was
his home. In the struggle to develop into a well-knit dependable rocket team, composed of
an astrogator, power-deck cadet, and a command cadet, Tom had assumed the leadership
of the unit, and the relationship between Astro, Roger Manning, and himself had ripened
until they were more like brothers than three young men who had grown up millions of miles
apart.
As they rode toward the Tower, the three cadets could see the green-clad first-year
Earthworms getting their first taste of cadet life-hours of close-order formations and drills.
The nearer they came to the Tower, the more intense and colorful became the activity as the
crisscrossing slidewalks carried enlisted guardsmen in their red uniforms, and the officers
of the Solar Guard in magnificent black and gold, across the quadrangle to the various
dormitories, laboratories, lecture rooms, mess halls, and research rooms. Space Academy
was a beehive of activity, with the education of thousands of cadets and the operational
mechanics of the Solar Guard going on incessantly, day and night, never stopping in its
avowed task of defending the liberties of the planets, safeguarding the freedom of space,
and upholding the cause of peace throughout the universe.
As their slidewalk glided over the quadrangle, Roger suddenly turned to his unit mates.
"Think we might get assigned to that radar project they're setting up on the Moon?" he
asked. "I have a few ideas-"
Tom laughed. "He can't wait until he gets his hands on that new scanner Dr. Dale just
finished, Astro," he said with a wink.
The big Venusian snorted. "Can you imagine the ego of that guy? Dr. Dale spends
almost a year building that thing, with the help of the leading electronic scientists in the
Alliance, and he can't wait to tell them about a few of his ideas!"
"I didn't mean that," complained Roger. "All I said was-"
"You don't have to say a word, hot-shot," interrupted Astro. "I can read your thoughts as
though they were flashed on a stereo screen!"
"Oh, yeah!" growled Roger. "You should be that telepathic for your exams. Why didn't
you read my thoughts when I beat my brains out trying to explain that thrust problem the other
night?" He turned to Tom, shrugging his shoulders in mock despair. "Honestly, Tom, if I
didn't know that he was the best power jockey in the Academy, I'd say he was the dumbest
thing to leave Venus, including the dinosaurs in the Academy Zoo!"
With a hamlike hand Astro suddenly grabbed for Roger's neck, but the wiry cadet
dashed along the slidewalk out of reach and the big Venusian rumbled after him. Tom
roared with laughter.
As he started to follow his unit mates, one of the passengers on the slidewalk grabbed
Tom by the arm and he turned to see Mike McKenny, Chief Warrant Officer in the enlisted
Solar Guard and the first instructor the Polaris unit had met on their arrival at the Academy.