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he kept tightening the pressure of his mighty hands. Expressions of surprise and then pain
spread across Miles' face and he finally relaxed his grip around Astro's throat. He struggled
to free himself from the viselike grip but it was hopeless.
Astro continued to apply pressure. He forced Miles up from his chest and then up on his
feet, never relenting. Miles' face was now twisted in agony.
They stood on the deck, face to face, for almost a minute in silent struggle. There
seemed to be no end to the power in the cadet's hands.
Suddenly Ross Miles slumped to his knees and sprawled on the deck as Astro let him
go. The black-clad spaceman had fainted.
* * *
"They got a couple of hard bumps, but they'll be all right," announced the medical officer,
straightening up. "But that man outside, Ross Miles, is going to stand trial with a broken
wrist!" He turned to Strong. "What do you feed these cadets?"
Strong smiled and replied, "These are special types we train to take care of space
rats!"
Tom and Roger lay stretched out on emergency cots l set up on the control deck of the
Polaris.
They grinned weakly at Astro, who hovered over them solicitously.
"This is the first time we've ever wound up an assignmerit on our backs, you big
Venusian hick!" said Roger. "And I suppose I'll have to thank you for saving my life!"
Astro grinned. "Wasn't much to save, Roger."
"Listen you!" Roger rose on one elbow, but the medical officer pressed him gently back
on the cot.
"Did you ever find out how Bill Sticoon's ship was sabotaged, Captain Strong?" asked
Tom.
"We sure did, Tom," said Strong. "One of Brett's confederates slugged the Solar Guard
officer in charge of monitoring the race on Deimos and took his place. If it hadn't been for a
brash stereo reporter that kept taking pictures of everything and everyone, the impersonator
wouldn't have been caught."
"And to think that I wanted to give that reporter a few lumps!" Tom exclaimed.
"Did you find out anything about the crash of Gigi Duarte's ship, sir?" asked Roger.
"Yes. Ross confessed that he was in Luna City and planted a time bomb on Gigi's ship
when the French Chicken came in for refueling."
"Say," exclaimed Roger, "I just happened to think! With Miles disqualified, Kit wins the
race!"
Seated in the pilot's chair, Kit turned to Roger and waved a paper. "Here's the contract,
Roger. Signed, sealed, and with only the crystal to be delivered."
"There's only one thing bothering me now," sighed Tom.
"What's that, Tom?" asked Strong.
"Do you think I could get a three-day pass before we go back to class at the Academy?"
Strong and Kit looked at each other, puzzled. "With sick leave, you'll have plenty of
time," said Strong. "Why a three-day pass especially?"
Tom settled deeper into the cot. "Well, sir," he said, grinning, "I figure it'll take just about
three days for Astro and Roger to argue it out about who did the most to catch Ross and
Quent Miles. And I don't want to have to listen to it!"
THE END
Treachery in Outer Space by Carey Rockwell
No. 6 of the 8-book Tom Corbett series.
Version History: 1.0. Scanned and proofed in December 2002. If you do an additional
scan for typos, please have the courtesy to the person who spent the time to scan and proof,
and leave in such things as the book summary at the beginning, the version history, and The
End even if you personally don t care about them. Some of us readers want to have a
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complete file and the book really is at an end just as in the dead-tree version. (Some
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