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The Robot Rocket

$4.95

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Carey Rockwell

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English

42,140 Words

EM1100008

The Robot Rocket

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet No.8

"Boy! Is Roger burned up!"

Tom laughed as he carried his space bag to the door of the dormitory room. The Polaris unit had been ordered out on a routine patrol, with T. J. Thistle along as an observer.

"Never have I seen him so dead set on showing anyone up," Tom continued. "You know what he's going to do on that patrol today?"

"What?" asked Astro as he finished packing his space bag.

Tom grinned. "He's going to ask Thistle to take over the radar bridge," Tom said. "He's going to instruct him-get that, instruct him-on the finer points of astrogation."

His bag closed, Astro turned and looked at Tom. "So?"

"Don't you get it? As soon as Thistle makes a wrong move, Roger will be all over him."

Astro nodded. "From some of the remarks Thistle made at the party yesterday, this is going to be the battle of the century," he said. "Do me a favor and leave the intercom key open so I can hear everything."

The cadets picked up their bags and strolled toward the slidestairs. "We're to meet Roger and Thistle at the spaceport," Tom announced as they stepped on the moving duraplast stairway that would take them down to the main level of the dormitory building.

"What are the orders?" asked Astro.

"I haven't picked them up yet," Tom replied. "We'll get them at traffic control, but it's just routine. Out to the asteroid belt and back," Tom added over his shoulder."

"Routine?" Astro grinned. "I can remember the day when a trip out to the asteroid belt was like a deep-space hop."

Tom nodded. "You can say that again, spaceman."

On the main level they waited in line before the sergeant-at-arms desk to sign out. Chief Warrant Officer Mike McKenny sat behind the desk like a well-fed, satisfied bulldog. But no cadet in the Academy was ever fooled by his seemingly complacent appearance. Spaceman McKenny had the reputation of being as harsh as any unit commander. When Tom and Astro stopped before him, McKenny grinned. "Well, the Polaris unit has a Martian visitor, I hear," he said in his familiar foghorn voice.

"Yes, we have, Mike," Tom replied. "And from the looks of him, he's going to give Manning a hard time on the radar bridge."

"From what I hear," drawled a voice in back of them, "Thistle is the hottest astrogator to hit the Academy in the last twenty years!"

As one, Tom and Astro spun around to challenge the attack on Roger. They came face to face with Tony Richards, the command cadet of the Capella crew, consistent rivals for Academy honors.

"I'll bet six desserts," said Astro, glancing at Richards, "that Manning can astrogate rings around that Martian monkey."

"Still sticking together, eh?" commented the Capella cadet. "You'd think that there wasn't another crew in the Academy but you."

Astro grinned and pointed to the trophy case at the other side of the huge lobby, where most of the trophies for inter-unit athletic competition bore the name Polaris. "There's your answer," the burly cadet said. "I still bet six desserts, and on top of that I'm giving two-to-one odds."

"I'll take that!" retorted Richards. "Two-to-one!"

"But that doesn't include Sunday's dessert," Astro quickly amended. "Not the ice cream and pie."

Tom laughed and tugged at Astro's arm. "Come on," he said. "We've got to hit the blue!"

With a parting wave to Tony Richards, they left the dormitory building and jumped on the slidewalk, rolling smoothly past the door. Wide belts of plastic that moved on underground rollers, the slidewalks crisscrossed the Academy, whisking cadets and officers silently and efficiently to all parts of the huge installation. The moving walks were crowded with spacemen dressed in the various colored uniforms of the Solar Guard; the red of the enlisted Solar Guard, black and gold of the Solar Guard officers, green of the Earthworm cadets, and the deep blue of the Senior Cadets. Shifting to an express walk at a junction point, Tom and Astro were being carried along toward the Academy spaceport at a fast clip, when Tom finally turned to Astro and broke the silence. "Feels good, doesn't it?" he said.

"What does?" asked Astro.

"Being a Space Cadet about to blast off."

Astro grinned. "It sure does," he said. "Better than anything I can think of."….

eBook SERIES:  Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Stand By For Mars!          Danger In Deep Space         On The Trail of the Space Pirates

The Space Pioneers      The Revolt On Venus         Treachery In Outer Space

Sabotage In Space                                                      The Robot Rocket

All good things must come to an end, and this eighth volume in the Space Cadet series was the final one. Tom and Astro are separated from Roger for much of this book, but one has to believe that the trio of Polaris cadets were re-united for many more fine and thrilling adventures, that they went on to graduate from the Space Academy with the highest honors, and that side-by-side they lived long and happy lives keeping the spaceways safe as members of The Solar Guard. As Greg Kihn observed, they don't write 'em like that anymore.

"DON'T LET THIS BIG GORILLA GET INTO TROUBLE, TOM," SAID ROGER, LOOKING UP AT ASTRO...!

Science Fiction, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Academy, Action Sci-Fi, Rocket Adventure, Spaceship Drama, Young Boys Thriller, Old Time Fiction

Science Fiction Space Adventure