"Anything you say, you bigmouthed squirt!" roared Astro.
"Hey—knock it off!" yelled Tom, jumping between them and grabbing Astro's arm. "If you guys don't lay off each other, you're going to be thrown out of the Academy, and I'll be thrown out with you! I'll be blasted if I'll suffer for your mistakes!"
"That's a very interesting statement, Corbett!" A deep voice purred from the doorway and the three boys whirled to see Captain Strong walk into the room, his black and gold uniform fitting snugly across the shoulders betraying their latent strength. "Stand to—all of you!"
As the boys quickly snapped to attention, Strong eyed them slowly and then moved casually around the room. He picked up a book, looked out of the window port, pushed a boot to one side and, finally, removed Tom's sweat-stained uniform from a chair and sat down. The cadets held their rigid poses, backs stiff, eyes looking straight ahead.
"Corbett?" snapped Strong.
"Yes, sir?"
"What was the meaning of that little speech I heard a moment ago?"
"I—ah—don't quite understand what you mean, sir," stumbled Tom.
"I think you do," said Strong. "I want to know what provoked you to make such a statement."
"I'd rather not answer that, sir."