Part 22 (1/2)

”That was some play, Manning,” said Astro, when they were lined up waiting for the next period to begin.

”You asked for it,” snapped Roger, ”you were yapping at me to play, and now look what's happened!”

”Listen, you loudmouthed punk!” said Astro, advancing toward the smaller cadet, but just then the whistle blew and the three boys ran out onto the field.

The _Arcturus_ crew swept down the field quickly, heading for the ball and seemingly ignoring the _Polaris_ unit. But Schohari slipped and fell on the gra.s.s which gave Tom a clear shot at the ball. He caught it with the side of his boot and pa.s.sed it toward Roger. But Allen, at full speed, came in and intercepted, sending the ball in a crazy succession of twists, turns and bounces. The crowd came to its feet as all six cadets made desperate attempts to clear the skittering ball with none of them so much as touching it. This was the part of mercuryball that pleased the spectator. Finally, Schohari managed to get a toe on it and he sent it down field, but Astro had moved out to play defense. He stopped the ball on his shoulder and dropped it to the ground. Steadying it there, he waited until Tom was in the clear and kicked it forty yards to the mid-field stripe.

The crowd came to its feet, sensing this final drive might mean victory for the _Polaris_ crew. The boys of the _Arcturus_ swarmed in--trying to keep Tom from scoring. With a tremendous burst of speed, Tom reached the ball ahead of Schohari, and with the strength of desperation, he slammed his foot against it. The whistle blew ending the game as the ball rose in an arc down the field and fell short of the goal by ten feet. There was a groan from the crowd.

But suddenly the ball, still reacting to the mercury inside, spun like a top, rolled sideways, and as if it were being blown by a breeze, rolled toward the goal line and stopped six inches inside the white chalk line.

There was a moment's pause as the crowd and the players, stunned by the play, grasped what had happened. Then swelling into a roar, there was one word chanted over and over--”_Polaris--Polaris--Polaris_....”

The _Polaris_ unit had reached the finals of the Academy tournament.

During the intermission Charlie Wolcheck, unit commander of the _Capella_ crew, walked over to the refreshment unit behind the grandstand where Steve Strong, Dr. Dale and Commander Walters were drinking Martian water and eating s.p.a.ceburgers.

”Afternoon, Commander,” saluted Wolcheck. ”h.e.l.lo, Joan, Steve. Looks as though your boys on the _Polaris_ are going to meet their match this afternoon. I've got to admit they're good, but with Tony Richards feeding pa.s.ses to Al Davison and with the blocking of Scott McAvoy--”

The young officer broke off with a grin.

”I don't know, Charlie,” Commander Walters said with a wink to Dr. Dale.

”From the looks of Cadet Astro, if he ever gets his foot on the ball, your _Capella_ unit will have to go after it with a jet boat.”

”Why, Commander,” replied Wolcheck, laughing good-naturedly, ”Tony Richards is one of the finest booters I've ever seen. Saw him make a goal from the sixty-yard line from a standstill.”

Steve Strong waved a Martian water pop bottle at young Wolcheck in a gesture of friendly derision.

”Did you happen to see the play in the first period?” he boasted.

”Manning took a perfect pa.s.s from Astro and scored. You're finished, Wolcheck, you and your _Capella_ unit won't even come close.”

”From what I hear and see, Manning seems to be a little sore that he can't make all the scores himself,” grinned Wolcheck slyly. ”He wants to be the whole show!”

Strong reddened and turned to put the empty bottle on the counter, using it as an excuse to hide his feelings from the commander and Joan. So Wolcheck had observed Manning's att.i.tude and play on the field too.

Before Strong could reply, a bugle sounded from the field and the group of Solar Guard officers returned to their seats for the final game of the tournament between the _Capella_ and the _Polaris_ units.

Out on the field Mike made his usual speech about playing fair and gave the cadets the routine instructions of the game, reminding them that they were s.p.a.cemen first, unit-members second, and individuals third and last. The six boys shook hands and jogged down the field to take up their positions.

”How about concentrating on the pa.s.ses Richards is going to feed to Davison,” Tom asked his unit-mates. ”Never mind blocking out Richards and McAvoy.”

”Yeah,” agreed Astro, ”play for the ball. Sounds good to me.”

”How about it, Roger?” asked Tom.

”Just play the game,” said Roger. And then added sarcastically, ”And don't forget to give them every chance to score. Let's play fair and square, the way we did with the _Arcturus_ unit.”

”If you feel that way, Manning,” answered Astro coldly, ”you can quit right now! We'll handle the _Capella_ guys ourselves!”