The intercom buzzer sounded in the ship and Quent snapped, "Beat it!
I've got a race to win." He pushed the three cadets out of the air lock
and slammed the pluglike door closed. From two feet away it was
impossible to spot the seams in the metal covering on the port and the
hull.

"Clear ramp! Clear ramp!" Strong's voice echoed over the spaceport. Tom,
Roger, and Astro scurried down the ladder and broke away from the ramp
in a run. They knew Quent Miles would not hesitate to blast off whether
anyone was within range of his exhaust or not.

"Blast off, minus five, four, three, two, one--_zero!_"

Again the spaceport reverberated to the sound of a ship blasting off.
All eyes watched the weirdly painted black ship shudder under the surge
of power, and then shoot spaceward as if out of a cannon.

"Well, ring me around Saturn," breathed Tom, looking up into the sky
where the black ship had disappeared from view. "Whatever Quent Miles
is, he can sure take acceleration."

"Spaceman," said Astro, taking a deep breath, "you can say that again.
Wow!"

"I hope it broke his blasted neck," said Roger.

* * * * *

"And you saw him messing around here, Sid?" asked Kit Barnard of his
young helper.