"Let's go," said Davison, leaning over to pick up the spool. "The air is
beginning to stink around here."

Red-faced, Roger stepped forward and put his foot on the spool just as
Davison reached for it. "That's enough, Davison," he snarled.

"Why, you dirty space crawler--" Davison straightened up and swung
wildly. Roger ducked the blow easily, then spun the heavy-set cadet
around and pushed him back into the bushes.

Tony Richards stepped forward and Astro turned to him threateningly, but
Tom quickly shoved them aside and faced Richards.

"Listen, Tony," he said. "We're all out after hours, and if a watch
officer spots us, we've had it. We don't want any trouble." He glanced
at Davison, who was being restrained by McAvoy. "We apologize. Now get
out of here before we're all logged."

Richards nodded and started to turn to his unit mates when suddenly
Davison jerked free and lunged at Roger. The blond-haired cadet was not
caught unawares. He stepped aside and threw a quick jolting right
straight to the _Capella_ cadet's jaw. Davison staggered back and fell
to the ground. He shook his head, jumped to his feet again, and charged
back with a roar.

Both Tom and Astro and Tony Richards and McAvoy grabbed at their
respective unit mates and tried to restrain them. In the struggle to
keep Roger and Davison apart, Astro accidentally pushed Richards to one
side.