Based on
Robert Heinlein's novel
SPACE CADET published in
1948, "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" was something of a
multimedia phenomenon from 1950-55.
Books,
comics, and all manner of
radio and
TV versions were produced in great abundance during this period. This futuristic property was used to
educate and encourage young minds to get interested in
space travel and science.
According to the
Enterprise Mission site and
Richard C. Hoagland, it appears that it was used for something more -- to educate and encourage young minds about the reality of the
Exploding Planet Hypothesis, the
Face on Mars,
artifacts on the
Moon, and
Hyperdimensional Physics. For there, buried in a series of View Master slides created in
1955, four years before "
Brookings," is virtually the entire history of the
Cydonia investigation in one form or another. The story begins with the Space Cadets examing an alien artifact.
The story, found on the
Viewmaster slides, is as follows:
Found by a
miner in the
Asteroid Belt, this
tetrahedral pyramid is inscribed with
Egyptian style hieroglyphs and floats 2 inches above any surface upon which it is placed. Earth's best scientists are at a loss to explain how the pyramid is
defying gravity. Captain Strong explains that Earth's scientists think that the asteroids are remnants of an exploded planet between
Mars and
Jupiter, and that this tetrahedral artifact is a piece of technology from an
advanced civilization which flourished there millions of years ago. The Space Cadet team is assigned to investigate, and they decide to start on the Moon, where many years before a similar tetrahedral pyramid was found on the
dark side. So, off to the Moon they go in their rocket ship, the
Polaris.
Upon arriving on the Moon, our crew locates the mysterious
pyramid and notices that it is missing its
capstone. Deducing that the pyramid found in the Asteroid Belt might be the missing capstone, they place it upon the stone tetrahedral pyramid. The capstone seems to jump out of Tom's hand and lock in place. As it does so, the now reassembled tetrahedral pyramid turns transparent and reveals a globe of the planet Mars contained inside. There is a red mark on the globe, indicating a signpost of some type. This marker, curiously, is tangential to a key "
tetrahedral lattitude" -- 19.5 degrees. Deciding they are supposed to follow the lead, the crew heads back to the ship to head to Mars to investigate.
Meanwhile, a
rival group to the
Solar Guard has discovered that the crew of the "Polaris" are looking for an ancient artifact that can give them (and Earth) advanced
anti-gravity technology. So, spies are dispatched to assure that
Interplanetary Crime gets "the Secret" first.
Upon arriving at the
Martian colony of
Marsport, Tom meets with
Dr. Joan Dale, and explains that the globe they found indicates there are ruins on Mars at the junctions of canals 7 and 19. Dr. Dale shows him a partial map that was discovered years before. She tells him it is of an archeological site near the canal junctions where there was once a pyramid over 1,000 feet high but that is now in ruin. As they make plans to head there, an Interplanetary Crime spy decides to follow them.
When they arrive at the site, amid Egyptian style
obelisks and under a
terraformed blue Martian sky, Tom and Dr. Dale discover yet another ancient artifact. This time it is a sculpted Face of a
feline-like creature. Between the paws of the creature, they discover an image of a
shattered planet whose fragments form into a belt of Asteroids. Below that is a
strange numbering system. Taking this to be an indication that they need to go back to the Asteroid Belt where the original capstone was found, they return to Marsport to try and determine what the numbers mean.
Using the massive Solarguard mainframe computer, Dr. Dale figures out that the numbers are coordinates for an asteroid discovered in 1993 and named XKG-385fr. However, agents for the Interplanetary Crime unit kidnap her and head off for the asteroid to get the secret to anti-gravity devices.
In hot pursuit, Tom and the Polaris follow the IC ship and discover that they have landed on a small asteroid. Landing, they find an
entrance to the interior of the asteroid. Upon entering, a
fist fight ensues and the Spaceguard boys win the day. They discover some
projection equipment and watch and learn about
the race that built this asteroid as a "
time tomb." Eventually, they take their discoveries back to Earth and conduct experiments on anti-gravity technology, in secret.
The information was provided by the
Enterprise Mission website at
http://www.enterprisemission.com and has been edited for clarification