"Listen, you big bum!" began Roger angrily, then stopped and grinned. "O.K., Captain Strong, I'll keep on the ball."
"You'd better," Astro interrupted, "or I'll stand you on your head!"
With a pat on the back, Strong left them. Just as he was about to leave the tunnel, Roger called after him:
"Have you heard anything about Tom, sir?"
"Not a word," replied Strong grimly. "So far as I know, he's still on Mars."
"A—a fugitive?" asked Astro.
"Yes, Astro. The Solar Guard is still looking for him."
Strong watched the two cadets turn back to their work dejectedly, and then, sighing with weariness, he headed back to the slidewalk. In the morning he would check the reports of the Security Section for word of Tom. Then he squared his shoulders determinedly. He would check them now!
He could not go to bed yet. Not while Tom was still missing and while Astro and Roger were on the work gang. He would not sleep until they were free and the Polaris unit was together again out in space!