Danger In Deep Space

Stand by to reduce thrust on main drive rockets...!

eBook DESCRIPTION

Tom Corbett and his friends, Astro and Roger Manning, participate in the most daring undertaking in all space history. While on an experimental trip in the Polaris to test out some new equipment they and Captain Connel learn of a scheme of a pair of notorious space freebooters to steal the rich mineral resources of one of the planet Tara's small satellites. To foil the scheme the members of the Polaris crew themselves land on the satellite with the daring plan to blast it out of Tara's orbit and into Earth's orbit where its valuable mineral wealth may replenish Earth's shortages.

eBook TAGS

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

eBook EXCERPT or SYNOPSIS

EXCERPT:
-Stand by to reduce thrust on main drive rockets!? The tall, broad-shouldered officer in the uniform of the Solar Guard snapped out the order as he watched the telescanner screen and saw the Western Hemisphere of Earth looming larger and larger.
-Aye, aye, Captain Strong,? replied a handsome curly-haired Space Cadet. He turned to the ship's intercom and spoke quickly into the microphone.
-Control deck to power deck. Check in!?
-Power deck, aye,? a bull-throated voice bellowed over the loud-speaker.
-Stand by rockets, Astro! We're coming in for a landing.?
-Standing by!?
The Solar Guard officer turned away from the telescanner and glanced quickly over the illuminated banks of indicators on the control panel. "Is our orbit to Space Academy clear?" he asked the cadet. "Have we been assigned a landing ramp?"
"I'll check topside, sir," answered the cadet, turning back to the intercom. "Control deck to radar deck. Check in!"
"Radar bridge, aye," drawled a lazy voice over the speaker.
"Are we cleared for landing, Roger?"
"Everything clear as glass ahead, Tom," was the calm reply.
"We're steady on orbit and we touch down on ramp seven. Then?" the voice began to quicken with excitement "three weeks' liberty coming up!"
The rumbling voice of the power-deck cadet suddenly broke in over the intercom. "Lay off that space gas, Manning. Just see that this space wagon gets on the ground in one piece. Then you can dream about your leave!"
"Plug your jets, you big Venusian ape man," was the reply, "or I'll turn you inside out!"
"Yeah? You and what fleet of spaceships?"
"Just me, buster, with my bare hands!"
The Solar Guard officer on the control deck smiled at the young cadet beside him as the good-natured argument crackled over the intercom speaker overhead. "Looks like those two will never stop battling, Corbett," he commented dryly.
"Guess they'll never learn, sir," sighed the cadet.
"That's all right. It's when they stop battling that I'll start getting worried," answered the officer. He turned back to the controls. "One hundred thousand feet from Earth's surface! Begin landing procedure!"
As Cadet Tom Corbett snapped orders into the intercom and his unit-mates responded by smooth coordinated action, the giant rocket cruiser Polaris slowly arched through Earth's atmosphere, first nosing up to lose speed and then settling tail first toward its destination, the spaceport at Space Academy, U.S.A.