"Sounds all right to me," replied the veteran spaceman. "If you think
the companies won't object to having cadets monitor their race for
them."

"They won't have anything to say about it," replied Walters. "I'd trust
those cadets under any circumstances. And the race won't mean a thing
unless we can find the source of trouble on Titan. There won't be any
crystal to haul."

"Fine," grunted Connel. He rose, nodded, and left the room. He was not
being curt, he was being Connel. The problem had been temporarily solved
and there was nothing else he could do. There were other things that
demanded his attention.

"What about me going along too, Commander?" asked Joan.

"Better not, Joan," said Walters. "You're more valuable to us here in
the Academy laboratory."

"Very well, sir," she said. "I have some work to finish, so I'll leave
you now. Good luck, Steve." She shook hands with the young captain and
left.

Walters turned back to Strong. "Well, now that's settled, tell me, what
do you think of the race tomorrow, Steve?"

"If Kit Barnard gets that reactor of his functioning properly, he'll run
away from the other two."

"I don't know," mused Walters. "Wild Bill Sticoon is a hot spaceman. One