"You guys make it sound like I was cheating," snapped Roger.
"Well," said Tom, "it sure isn't giving the Arcturus guys a break."
The whistle blew for them to return to the goal line.
"Well," asked Roger, "do we freeze or don't we?"
"I don't want to. But majority always rules in this unit, Roger." Tom glanced at Astro. "How about it, Astro?"
"We can beat 'em fair and square. We play all out!" answered Astro.
Roger didn't say anything. He moved to one side and took his position for the dash down field.
The whistle blew again and the crowd roared as the two teams charged toward the ball. The cadets were eager to see if the Arcturus crew could tie the score or if the crew of the Polaris would increase its lead. But after a few moments of play, their cries of encouragement subsided into rumbles of discontent. In its eagerness to score, the Arcturus unit kept making errors and lost the ball constantly but the crew of the Polaris failed to capitalize. The second period ended with the score unchanged.
As he slumped to the ground for the rest period, Astro turned on Roger bitterly. "What's the idea, Manning? You're dogging it!"
"You play your game, Astro," replied Roger calmly, "I'll play mine."