"Roger! Have you finished the beacon?" demanded Tom over the intercom.
"I need another five minutes!" answered Roger. "I have to set the signal to send out the SOS."
"Will it send out anything?" asked Tom.
The Polaris rocked again from a second explosion.
"I don't know, Tom," yelled Roger. "I haven't even tested it!"
A third explosion jarred the rocket cruiser and the curly-haired cadet knew that the air lock must have been demolished by now.
"Bring down what you've got, Roger!" he yelled. "We'll just have to take a chance that it'll work. And grab yourself a space suit on the way down. When they blast through the inner portal of the lock, we'll need 'em!"
"Right!" replied Roger. "Be down there in a second."
Astro and Tom hurriedly donned space suits and waited for Roger to bring the beacon. In a moment the blond-haired cadet appeared with the hurriedly contrived beacon. Tom quickly placed it between the two hulls and sealed the hole in the inner hull.
A fourth explosion rocked the ship and the three cadets knew that by now the air lock had been blasted away. They put on their space helmets and climbed the ladder to the upper deck.