the room at the backs bent over busy pencils. He did not smile, remembering how, only fifteen years before, he had gone through the same torture, racking his brains trying to adjust the measurements of a magnascope prism. He was joined by a thin handsome young man, Lieutenant Judson Saminsky, and finally, Warrant Officer McKenny. They nodded silently in greeting. It would be over soon. Strong glanced at the clock over the desk. Another ten minutes to go.
The line of boys at the slots grew until more than twenty stood there, each waiting patiently, nervously, for his turn to drop the tube in the slot and receive in return the sealed cylinder that held his fate.
Still at his desk, his face wet with sweat, Astro looked at the question in front of him for the fifteenth time.
“…Estimate the time it would take a 300-ton rocket ship with half-filled tanks, cruising at the most economical speed to make a trip from Titan to Venusport. (a) Estimate size and maximum capacity of fuel tanks. (b) Give estimate of speed ship would utilize.…”
He thought. He slumped in his chair. He stared at the ceiling. He chewed his pencil.…
Five seats away, Tom stacked his examination sheets neatly, twisted them into a cylinder and inserted them in the tube. As he passed the line of desks and headed for the slot, a hand caught his arm. Tom turned to see Roger Manning grinning at him.
“Worried, spaceboy?” asked Roger easily. Tom didn’t answer. He simply withdrew his arm.
“You know,” said Roger, “you’re really a nice kid. It’s a shame you won’t make it. But the rules specifically say ‘no cabbageheads.’”
“No talking!” Dr. Dale called sharply from her desk.
Tom walked away and stood in the line at the slots. He found himself wanting to pass more than anything in the world. “Please,” he breathed, “please, just let me pass—”
A soft gong began to sound. Dr. Dale stood up.
“Time’s up,” she announced. “Please put your papers in the tubes and drop them in the slot.”
Tom turned to see Astro stuffing his papers in the thin cylinder disgustedly. Phil Morgan came up and stood in back of Tom. His face was flushed.
“Everything O.K., Phil?” inquired Tom.
“Easy as free falling in space,” replied the other cadet, his soft Georgian drawl full of confidence. “How about you?”
“I’m just hoping against hope.”
The few remaining stragglers hurried up to the line.
“Think Astro’ll make it?” asked Phil.
“I don’t know,” answered Tom, “I saw him sweating over there like a man facing death.”
“I guess he is—in a way.”
Astro took his place in line and shrugged his shoulders when Tom leaned forward to give him a questioning look.
“Go ahead, Tom,” urged Phil. Tom turned and dropped his tube into the green-bordered slot and waited. He stared straight at the wall in front of him, hardly daring to breathe. Presently, the tube was returned in the red slot. He took it, turned it over in his hands and walked slowly back to his desk.
“You’re washed out, cabbagehead!” Manning’s whisper followed him. “Let’s see if you can take it without bawling!”
Tom’s face burned and he fought an impulse to answer Manning with a stiff belt in the jaw. But he kept walking, reached his desk and sat down.
Astro, the last to return to his desk, held the tube out in front of him as if it were alive. The room was silent as Dr. Dale rose from her desk.
“All right now, boys,” she announced. “Inside the tubes you will find colored slips of paper. Those of you who have red slips will remain here. Those who find green slips will return to their quarters. Blue will go with Captain Strong, orange with Lieutenant Saminsky, and purple with Warrant Officer McKenny. Now—please open the tubes.”
There was a tinkling of metal caps and then the slight rustle of paper as each boy withdrew the contents of the tube before him.
Tom took a deep breath and felt inside for the paper. He held his breath and pulled it out. It was green. He didn’t know what it meant. He looked around. Phil was signaling to him, holding up a blue slip. Tom’s heart skipped a beat. Whatever the colors meant, he and Phil were apart. He quickly turned around and caught Astro’s eye. The big Venusian held up a green slip. Tom’s heart then nearly stopped beating. Phil, who had breezed through with such confidence, held a blue slip, and Astro, who hadn’t even finished the test, held up the same color that he had. It could only mean one thing. Failure. He felt the tears welling in his eyes, but had no strength left to fight them back.
He looked up, his eyes meeting the insolent stare of Roger Manning who was half turned in his seat. Remembering the caustic warning of the confident cadet, Tom fought back the flood in his eyes and glared back.
What would he tell his mother? And his father? And Billy, his brother, five years younger than himself, whom he had promised to bring a flask of water from the Grand Canal on Mars. And his sister! Tom remembered the shining pride in her eyes when she kissed him good-bye at the Stratoport as he left for Atom City.
From the front of the room, McKenny’s rasping voice jarred him back to the present.
“Cadets—staaaaaaaand to!”
There was a shuffle of feet as the boys rose as one.
“All the purple slips follow me,” he roared and turned toward the door. The cadets with purple slips marched after him.
Lieutenant Saminsky stepped briskly to the front of the room.
“Cadets with orange slips will please come with me,” he said casually, and another group of cadets left the room.
From the rear of the room Captain Strong snapped out an order.
“Blue slips will come with me!”
He turned smartly and followed the last of Lieutenant Saminsky’s cadets out of the room.
Tom looked around. The room was nearly empty now. He looked over at Astro and saw his big friend slumped moodily over against his desk. Then, suddenly, he noticed Roger Manning. The arrogant cadet was not smiling any longer. He was staring straight ahead. Before him on the desk, Tom could see a green slip. So he had failed too, thought Tom grimly. It was poor solace for the misery he felt.
Dr. Dale stepped forward again.
“Will the cadets holding green slips return to their quarters. Those with red slips will remain in their seats,” she announced.
Tom found himself moving with difficulty. As he walked through the door, Astro joined him. A look more eloquent than words passed between them and they made their way silently up the slidestairs back to their quarters.
Lying in his bunk, hands under his head, eyes staring into space, Tom asked, “What happens now?”
Sprawled on his bunk, Astro didn’t answer right away. He merely gulped and swallowed hard.
“I—I don’t know,” he finally stammered. “I just don’t know.”
“What’ll you do?”
“It’s back to the hold of a Venusport freighter, I guess. I don’t know.” Astro paused and looked at Tom. “What’ll you do?”
“Go home,” said Tom simply. “Go home and—and find a job.”
“Ever think about the enlisted Solar Guard? Look at McKenny—”
“Yeah—but—”
“I know how you feel,” sighed Astro. “Being in the enlisted section—is like—well, being a passenger—almost.”
The door was suddenly