Stand by for Mars! quotes

“I—I’m sorry, sir,” he stammered. “But my boot—it was coming off and—”

“I don’t care if your pants are falling down, an order’s an order!”

The boy gulped and reddened as a nervous titter rippled through the ranks. McKenny spun around and glared. There was immediate silence.

“Corbett, sir. Cadet Candidate Tom Corbett,” answered the boy.

“Wanta be a spaceman, do ya?” asked Mike, pushing his jaw out another inch.

“Been studying long hard hours in primary school, eh? Talked your mother and father deaf in the ears to let you come to Space Academy and be a spaceman! You want to feel those rockets bucking in your back out in the stars? Eh?”

He shook his head slowly. He had heard Space Academy was tough, tougher than any other school in the world, but he didn’t expect the stern discipline to begin so soon.

“This could be the beginning of the end,” drawled a lazy voice in back of Tom, “for some of the more enthusiastic cadets.”

Someone laughed.

“Yeah,” breathed Tom in reply. “It sure is.” He could only stare at the shimmering tower ahead.

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” said Tom at length. “Just get out there and⁠—be free!”

“I know what you mean. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

Mouths open, eyes popping, the cadet candidates stood rooted in their tracks and stared as, in the distance, a long, thin, needlelike ship seemed to balance delicately on a column of flame, then suddenly shoot skyward and disappear.

“Pull in your eyeballs!”

McKenny’s voice crackled over the receding thunder. “You’ll fly one of those firecrackers some day. But right now you’re Earthworms, the lowest form of animal life in the Academy!”

“What color slip did he have?”

“Anything besides green washed out,” replied Mike quickly.

“Now let’s see, you have a replacement for Morgan in this unit. An astrogator.”

The room was still. Down the long hall, the lively chatter of other cadets could be heard as they showered and prepared for dinner. In the distance, the rumble of the slidewalks and test firing of rockets at the spaceport was dim, subdued, powerful.

“The unit is the backbone of the Academy,”

continued Strong. “It was set up to develop three men to handle a Solar Guard rocket cruiser. Three men who could be taught to think, feel and act as one intelligent brain.

“Sorry, Corbett,” said Roger.

“I only bet on sure things.”

“That’s OK with me, Manning,” said Astro, “but I’m afraid you sold yourself a hot rocket, because I’m going to pass!”

“What’s the matter with beautiful girls?” growled Roger.

“They’re official equipment, like a radar scanner. You can’t get along without them!”

Tom and Astro looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Strong felt better.

Any man who would not count himself on a list to survive could be counted on in any emergency.

“We’ll take four women at a time in each jet boat first,” said Strong. “James, you and I will operate the jet boats and ferry the passengers to the Polaris. Tom, you and Roger and Astro get everybody aboard the ship ready to leave.”

“That’s for me,” said Roger. “

I’m the only man in the whole universe that’s ever played to a packed house sitting on top of an atomic bomb!

”

The difference between us is simple. I’m in the Academy for a reason, a special reason. You’re here, like most of the other cadets, because you believe in it. That’s the difference between you, me and Astro. You believe in it. I don’t—

I don’t believe in anything but Roger Manning!

”

The two cadets quickly reported their departments ready, and following the course Roger plotted, Astro soon had the Lady Venus blasting through space, heading for Mars!

Mars, fourth planet in order from the Sun, loomed like a giant red gem against a perfect backdrop of deep-black space.

The Lady Venus, rocketing through the inky blackness, a dull red glow from her three remaining rockets, blasted steadily ahead to the planet that was crisscrossed with wide spacious canals.

Mars, fourth planet in order from the Sun, loomed like a giant red gem against a perfect backdrop of deep-black space.

The Lady Venus, rocketing through the inky blackness, a dull red glow from her three remaining rockets, blasted steadily ahead to the planet that was crisscrossed with wide spacious canals.

“Last time I was on Mars,” said Astro to Tom and Roger over a cup of tea, “was about two years ago. I was bucking rockets on an old tub called the Space Plunger.

“

Whether you like it or not, you poor little waif, you’ve just made yourself a friend.

”

Ten minutes later, when they stopped to adjust their shoulder packs, they looked back. The breeze had obliterated their tracks and the mountain of sand covering the spaceship appeared to be no different from any of the other small dunes on the desert.

The New Sahara desert of Mars had claimed another Earth-ship victim.

“If we can’t see the Lady Venus standing still, and knowing where to look,” said Astro, “how could a man in a rocket scout ever find it?”

The hot sun bore down. The wind kept blowing and Astro, with Roger slung across his back like a sack of potatoes and Tom clinging blindly to his uniform, walked steadily on.

He felt each step would be his last, but with each step he told himself through gritted teeth that he could do ten more⁠—and then ten more⁠—ten more.

He walked, he staggered, and once he fell to the ground, Tom slumping behind him and Roger being tossed limply to the scorching sand. Slowly Astro recovered, helped Tom to his feet, then with the last of his great strength, picked up Roger again.

“Go on,” yelled Roger, “let’s see you drown yourself!”

“Not me, hot-shot,” yelled Astro. “After that walk, all I’d have to do is open my mouth and start drinking.”

Finally tiring of his sport, the big Venusian pulled himself up onto the bank of the canal and quickly dressed. Pulling on his space boots, he turned to Tom and Roger, who were breaking out the last two containers of food.