"Yeow!" bawled Astro in his famous bull-like bellow. "Thanks, sir.
Thanks a million!" He turned and wrenched open the sick-bay door, almost
splintering it in his enthusiasm. Tom was just sitting up on the side of
the bed.

"Hiya, Astro!" called Tom with a weak grin. "The sawbones tells me I owe
you a brand-new shiny credit piece for saving my life."

His enthusiasm at high pitch, Astro was nevertheless unable to do more
than smile broadly at his unit mate. "Only reason I did it," he said.

"All right, here you are." Tom handed over a coin. "That's all I thought
my chances were worth."

At that moment the Solar Guard major in command of the Deimos spaceport
entered, followed by Kit Barnard and Sid. After greeting Tom with
enthusiasm that matched Astro's, Kit and Sid stood to one side quietly
and listened while Tom gave his preliminary report to the major who
held a recorder microphone in front of him.

[Illustration: _"Yeow!" bawled Astro. "Thanks, sir. Thanks a
million!"_]

"I heard a terrific noise on the power deck as soon as we blasted off,"
Tom began. "And Captain Sticoon ordered me to go below and check on it.
I saw the trouble right away. The lead baffles around the reactant
chambers had become loose and the reactant was spilling out, starting to
wildcat. I called Bill over the intercom right away and he ordered me to
get into a space suit and wait for him in the air lock. I heard him shut