"Same thing, sir," replied Astro. "Captain Barnard has followed the
rules of the race exactly."

"Thank you," replied the officer and started to turn away.

"Any word from the _Space Knight_, sir?" Tom asked quickly.

"Nothing, Corbett," the officer replied. "We received the same message
that Captain Miles would attempt to go on through to Ganymede without
stopping here at Deimos for refueling."

"And you've heard nothing from him since, sir?" asked Astro.

"Nothing, why?" The officer looked at both of the boys sharply.
"Anything wrong?"

"No, sir," said Tom. "It's just that Cadet Roger Manning is monitor on
the _Space Knight_ and we haven't been able to talk to him since we
blasted off from Space Academy."

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Cadet Corbett," snapped the
major. "I've heard of Cadet Manning's reluctance to stick to
regulations. I suspect you will be hearing from him soon enough, when
the ship runs out of fuel and starts drifting around in the asteroid
belt. Those individualists always scream for help when they get in
trouble."

"Yes, sir," said Tom stiffly.

"I already have a squadron of ships standing by to go to their