"Energize the cooling pumps," shouted Tom.
Astro had already started the mighty pumps, their vibrations rocking the
ship, and Tom began counting the seconds.
"Stand by to raise ship. Minus
five--four--three--two--one--_zeeroooooo!_"
Paying scant attention to the crush of sudden acceleration, Tom gave the
ship all the power she could take for the climb out of Tara's
atmosphere, and soon they were rocketing through the airless void of
space. Alfie and Connel hurriedly swept the area with the radar scanner
for the attacking intruder.
"There she is!" roared Connel. "There!" He placed a finger on a white
blip on the scanner. "By the craters of Luna, that's an Earth ship!" The
fear of an outer-space invasion by hostile people from another world had
been in the back of his mind, but he had been reluctant to voice his
fears in front of the cadets. "And she's an old one at that!" he
exclaimed. "Not even armed. I know that class vessel. Corbett!" he
shouted.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Tom.
"Put the ship on automatic flight, attack-approach pattern number three.
Then stand by to send a message to whoever's manning that ship!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" replied Tom.
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