Roger laughed. "He's joking, sir. I was about to clean him out in a game of checkers." Logan sat wearily on the side of the nearest bunk. "I wish all I had to lose was a game of checkers." He quickly filled in the details of the meeting between Vidac and the farmers. Tom had awakened by this time and heard the last of the older man's story. He turned to his unit mates. "Well, it looks as though we're right back where we started," he said. "And here I thought Vidac was O.K. after the way he worked during the past ten days setting up Roald City." "I've been talking to some of the other men," said Logan bitterly. "They feel the same way I do. Something's got to be done about this!" "But what?" asked Roger. "And how?" chimed in Astro. "Force, by the stars!" yelled Logan. "And when I say force, I mean throwing Vidac and Hardy and his crew out!" "You can't do a thing like that, sir," said Tom. "It would be playing right into their hands. Remember, Vidac and Hardy represent the Solar Alliance here on Roald. If you tried force, you would be charged with rebellion against the Solar Alliance!" "Well," snorted Logan, "what have _you_ got in mind?" "When the enemy is in full control, Mr. Logan," said Tom quietly, "the best thing to do is draw back and regroup, then wait for the right moment to attack. Vidac wants you to revolt now. He's expecting it, I'm sure. But if we wait, he can't get away with making you mortgage your land holdings or your profits. Somewhere along the line he'll slip up, and when he does, that's when we start operating!" Meanwhile, in his luxurious office in the Administration Building, Vidac sat behind a massive desk, talking to Tad Winters. "Now that the land boundaries have been established, and the colonists have their little pieces of dirt," he said, "we can go right to work. I've told the farmers that they'll have to sign over half of their profits to get chemicals to farm with. They're already talking about revolt, which is just what I want them to do. Let them rebel. We can throw them into the brig, send them back to Earth, and take over their property in the name of the City of Roald!" "Which is you," said Tad Winters with a smile. "That's the smartest idea you've ever had, boss!" "In a short while," continued Vidac, "the entire satellite will be mine. Ships, houses--and--" Suddenly the door opened and Ed Bush hurried into the room. "Boss!--boss!" he shouted breathlessly. "Logan is spilling everything to the Space Cadets!" "What?" cried Vidac. "How did that happen?" "He came to the _Polaris_," whined Bush. "Said he had some books and stuff he wanted to return, so I let him aboard. Luckily I followed him and listened outside the door." "What did they talk about?" demanded Vidac. "Logan told them about the meeting with the farmers the other night. He wanted to get the colonists together to start a rebellion, but Corbett convinced him it would be the wrong thing to do."