Kalmus’ face grew taut. “I guess that’s the chance that all of us will have to take.” He headed for the door. “Come with me, please.” He led them down the long companionways to Hangar 7 on the outer rim of the station. Supplies were being loaded here through the station air lock into a globular nonatmospheric ship that was anchored by its magnetic grapples to the side of the station. Tony Kalmus waved his hand at the activity and smiled at the surprised faces of Rock and Shep. “There’s our ship,” he told them. “Meet the _Dog Star_, fellows. She’s all ready to go treasure hunting!” The little space ship _Dog Star_ was on its way into deep space with its crew of eleven. The ex-cadets had sent messages home telling of their departure. But Kalmus had been in such a hurry to leave that they did not even have time to wait for replies. Nor had Rock had time to check on Kalmus’ references back on Earth. Rock could appreciate the need for haste, however. Unless they left when they did, Venus would have moved out of its most favorable position, and it would have required much more expenditure of fuel to overtake her later. It would be several weeks before the _Dog Star_ approached the misty planet and—it was hoped—the twenty-year orbit of the ghost ship _Northern Cross_. “Well, we’re on our way, fellows,” Rock remarked to his young friends who were gathered with him in the navigation room looking out one of the ports. “I wonder what the stars have in store for us?” “Maybe we should have brought along an astrologer,” Hugh said with a chuckle. “I have more faith in our own abilities, Hugh,” Rock said. “The Cadet Board doesn’t think we’ve got what it takes to be spacemen. We can prove them either right or wrong. It’s strictly up to us.” Now that the detailed task of getting the ship underway was over, the time seemed ripe for the pooling of information that would give the travelers the exact location of the _Northern Cross_. Kalmus and his three companions joined Rock’s party in the navigation room, Kalmus having brought along his own precious scrap from the record of the _Sagittarius_. With the ship on autopilot, its course having been computed on the electronic brain, the eleven gathered around the navigator’s table on which were laid out sky charts and the important bits of paper. The men and youths were able to stand about in this manner because of magnetically charged shoes which clung to the floor. Without them, the travelers would have hung weightless in the zero-gravity. The atomic power rockets had already cut their thrust after reaching required velocity, and the ship was now in free flight. Rock fitted the torn fragments together on a white sheet of paper as Kalmus, breathing hard, leaned over his shoulder. Rock tore off some transparent tape and carefully stuck the whole together.