"
"Confuse them!" exclaimed Connel.
"Yes, sir," said Tom. "It's a theory Roger and I worked out together. No
gyro is perfect, and if you can get it bouncing back and forth in
extreme turns, it will be thrown out of balance. Then all we have to do
is make the torpedo miss once and it won't come back."
"Heaven help us all!" was Connel's groaning reply.
"On the ball, Tom!" cried Roger. "She's closing in on us!"
"I see her," replied Tom calmly. "Hang on, everybody. I'm going to turn
this ship inside out!"
Jerking the controls, Tom threw the ship into a mad, whirling spin,
subjecting the vessel to the most severe strain tests it would ever
undergo. The hull groaned and creaked, and badly fitted equipment tore
loose and clattered across the deck. Suddenly the young cadet leveled
the ship.
"Nose braking rockets, Astro!" he called.
"Braking rockets, aye!" acknowledged the Venusian over the intercom.
On the power deck, Astro jammed the forward drive closed and slammed
open the nose rockets. The ship trembled, bucked, and finally came to a
shuddering stop before it started a reverse course, accelerating
quickly.
"Here it comes!" yelled Roger.
As Connel and Tom watched tensely, the space torpedo loomed large and
menacing on the scanner, and then, as they held their breaths, it
whistled past the silvery hull of the ship, with less than two feet to
spare!
Sighing deeply, Tom brought the ship back to level flight.
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