"Stand by to blast," called Tom. "Standard space speed!"
Instantly the Polaris shot toward Earth in a long, curving arc. Moments later, when the huge round ball of the mother planet loomed large on the scanner screen, Roger's voice reported over the intercom, "Academy spaceport control gives us approach orbit 074 for touchdown on Ramp Twelve, Tom."
"074 Ramp Twelve," repeated Tom. "Got it!"
"Twelve!" roared Astro suddenly over the intercom. "Couldn't you make it closer to the Academy than that, Manning? We'll have to walk two miles to the nearest slidewalk!"
"Too bad, Astro," retorted Roger, "but I guess if I had to carry around as much useless muscle and bone as you do, I'd complain too!"
"I'm just not as lucky as you, Manning," snapped Astro quickly. "I don't have all that space gas to float me around."
"Knock it off, fellows," interjected Tom firmly. "We're going into our approach."
Lying on his acceleration cushion, Strong looked over at Tony Richards of the Arcturus unit and winked. Richards winked and smiled back. "They never stop, do they, sir?"
"When they do," replied Strong, "I'll send all three of them to sick bay for examination."