"Junior gets his kick in the pants in ten minutes, sir," replied Tom.
"Fine," said Connel. "That gives me just enough time to notify Space Academy to get ready to receive Junior's signal. You know what to do?"
"I don't have to do anything, sir," answered Tom, nodding to the solar clock over his head. "In nine minutes and twenty seconds, the reactor units go off automatically at one-second intervals."
Roger and Astro entered the control deck and came to attention. Connel returned their salute and put them at ease.
"All right, our work here is done," said Connel. "No point in hanging around any longer. Tom, you can blast off immediately."
"Yes, sir," replied Tom.
Connel climbed the ladder to the radar bridge to contact Space Academy. Astro, Roger, Shinny, and Alfie went to their posts and began quick preparations for the blast-off. One by one, they checked in to Tom on the control deck.
"Power deck, ready to blast off!" reported Astro.
"Radar bridge, all set. Clear trajectory forward and up," said Roger.
"Energize the cooling pumps!" bawled Tom into the intercom.