Part 4 (1/2)
The girl behind the counter ran her finger down a pa.s.senger manifest, nodded, and then suddenly frowned. She turned back to Tom and said, ”I'm sorry, Cadet, but your reservations have been pre-empted by a priority listing.”
”Priority!” roared Roger. ”But I made those reservations two weeks ago.
If there was a change, why didn't you tell us before?”
”I'm sorry, sir,” said the girl patiently, ”but according to the manifest, the priority call just came in a few hours ago. Someone contacted s.p.a.ce Academy, but you had already left.”
”Well, is there another s.h.i.+p for Venusport today?”
”Yes,” she replied and picked up another manifest. Glancing at it quickly, she shook her head. ”There are no open reservations,” she said.
”I'm afraid the next flight for Venusport with open reservations isn't for four days.”
”Blast my jets!” growled Roger disgustedly. ”Four days!” He sat down on his gear and scowled. Astro leaned against the desk and stared gloomily at the floor. At that moment a young man with a thin face and a strained intense look pushed Tom to one side with a curt ”Excuse me!” and stepped up to the desk.
”You're holding three reservations on the _Venus Lark_,” he spoke quickly. ”Priority number four-seven-six, S.D.”
Tom, Roger, and Astro looked at him closely. They saw him nervously pay for his tickets and then walk away quickly without another look at the ticket girl.
”Were those our seats, miss?” asked Tom. The girl nodded.
The three cadets stared after the young man who had b.u.mped them off their s.h.i.+p.
”The symbol S.D. on the priority stands for Solar Delegate,” said Roger.
”Maybe he's a messenger.”
The young man was joined by two other men also dressed in Venusian clothing, and after a few words, they all turned and stepped onto the slidewalk rolling out to the giant pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p preparing to blast off.
”This is the most rocket-blasting bit of luck in the universe!” growled Roger. ”Four days!”
”Cheer up, Roger,” said Tom. ”We can spend the four days in Atom City.
Maybe Liddy Tamal is here. We can follow Captain Strong's suggestion.”
”Even she doesn't make four days delay sound exciting,” interrupted Roger. ”Come on. We might as well go back to town or we won't even get a room.”
He picked up his gear and walked back to the jet cab-stand. Astro and Tom followed the blond-haired cadet glumly.
The stand was empty, but a jet cab was just pulling up to the platform with a pa.s.senger. As the boys walked over to wait at the door, it opened and a familiar figure in a black-and-gold uniform stepped out.
”Captain Strong!”
[Ill.u.s.tration]
”Corbett!” exclaimed Strong. ”What are you doing here? I thought you were aboard the _Venus Lark_.”
”We were b.u.mped out of our reservation by an S.D. priority,” said Astro.
”And we can't get out of here for another four days,” added Roger glumly.
Strong sympathized. ”That's rough, Astro.” He looked at the three dour faces and then said, ”Would you consider getting a free ride to Venus?”