that could be removed had been taken out of the ship.

"Is this legal?" asked Roger incredulously.

"I'm afraid it is, Roger," said Tom. "But we're going to make sure that
everything that's supposed to be in a spaceship is in this one."

"When I blast off, I don't intend carrying any passengers," growled
Miles behind them. "If you're going to inspect, then inspect and stop
gabbing."

"Let's go," said Tom grimly.

The three boys split up and began crawling around in the network of
exposed supporting beams and struts that took the place of decks and
bulkheads. It did not take them long to determine that Quent Miles' ship
was in perfect condition for blast-off. With but a few minutes to spare,
they returned to face Miles at the air lock.

"O.K., you're cleared," Tom announced.

"But it'll take more than a light ship to win this race," said Roger,
and unable to restrain himself, he added, "You're bucking the best space
busters in the universe!"

"One of them"--Quent held up his finger--"is dead."

"Yeah," growled Astro, "but there are plenty more just as good as Gigi
Duarte."