"Why, you clumsy—" Brett roared, raising his gun menacingly.
Astro stepped in front of Tom. "I'll get it," he cried. "Don't shoot!"
"Go on then," snarled Brett. "Go down with him, Miles. I'll stay here with Corbett."
"You go down with him," sneered Miles. "I've been up and down that ladder fifty times while you sat up here doing nothing."
"Is that so?" cried Brett angrily, turning to face the black-clad spaceman. This gave Tom the opportunity he was waiting for. He pulled the small charge of explosives from his tunic and held it in front of him.
"All right, you two!" he shouted. "Drop those paralo-ray guns. This is the booby trap you planted in the tunnel. You fire those ray guns and we all go up together."
Brett jumped back. Miles took a half step forward and stopped. "You haven't got the nerve," he sneered.
"Shoot and you'll find out," said Tom. "Go ahead! Shoot, if you've got the guts. Get down the ladder, Astro," he said. "They won't fire as long as I've got this in my hand."
Brett had begun to shake with fear but Miles brought his ray gun up slowly. He aimed it at Astro who was starting down the ladder, his head and shoulders still showing in the open air-lock portal. Tom saw what Miles was going to do. "Jump, Astro!" he shouted.
Astro jumped at the exact instant Miles fired. "Rush him," cried Miles. Brett made a headlong dash for Tom, but the cadet side-stepped at the last moment and Brett fell headlong out of the ship, wailing in sudden terror as he fell to the ground.