The pressure of three continued. Joe's with the of over so long a period. Six for fourteen had been a ordeal. Three for minutes up to something nearly as bad. Joe's to fatigue, and a man's doesn't tired. It more and more difficult to see clearly.
But he had work to do. Important work. The take-off were solid-fuel jobs, like those which the Platform. They were wire-wound with a very special refractory, with and in them. The solid fuel at so many second. The away and was at a rate—save for one small point. The was not all alike. Some parts of it away faster, a pattern of which like a on a rifle, or like an muffler. The set up in the and produced the of a motor's throat. But the themselves and were astern, so that the solid-fuel had always the of gas-throated motors; and yet every of was reaction-mass to be astern, and the melted and were away with a in to the ship. Every of every of was used for drive. No or or after they to be useful.
But solid-fuel can't be to with as a team. Minute in burning-rates do to out. But now and again they each other and if will a ship off course. Gyros can't such effects. So Joe had to watch his and to the voice him and the ship against as the Earth away him.
He against the of to live, and with and to keep the ship on its hair-line course. He heavily. The of his such a that it that his whole with it. He had to do with hands that and arms that of and a that had an weight of almost a of a ton.
And this on and on and on for what centuries.
Then the voice in the said thickly: "Everything is in the clear. In ten you can your rockets. Shall I count?"
Joe panted, "Count!"
The voice said, "Seven ... six ... five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... cut!"
Joe pressed the release. The small, of the take-off off toward emptiness. They themselves as they went, and they an of fifty once they were of all but their own substance. They had to be one longer than another. It was also the only way to stop by solid-fuel rockets. They couldn't be extinguished. They had to be released.
From heaviness, there was no weight at all in the ship. Joe's twice with the the weight had called for, though weight had ended. It to him that his would open those two heart-beats. Then he limply, resting.
There was a stillness, for a time. The four of them panted. Haney was off than Joe, but the Chief was hit. Mike's small had taken the best of all, and he would use the later in that were designed by nature to be the of space for their and less kindred.
The of the steady, was good, but the new was pleasant. They had no weight. It as if they and the ship about them were together an which must have a bottom. Actually, they were up. But they a physical, apprehension—a from an impact.
They had the sensation, but it was not the for being understood. Joe and his slowly. He and hastily. But the persisted. He himself from his seat. He up—and to the of the cabin. But there was of no ceiling. Every way was up and every way was down. His itself in a hard knot, in the of somebody in free fall.
He himself from the and at a hand-line there for just this to something. In his absorption, he did not notice which way his went. He noticed that his companions, with to him, were and at him with wooden, on their faces.
He to laugh, and instead. He over to the quartz-glass ports. He did not put his hand into the sunlight, but the over those which direct sunshine. Some clear. Through one of them he saw the Earth at arm's length off. Not up, not down. Simply out from where he was. It all the space that the showed. It was a of white, and which would be clouds, and the there was a dark color which would be the ocean. Yet it to very, very slowly past the window.
He saw a the clouds, and it moved from the of his of view. He what it was.
"We've just about the Atlantic," he said in a astonishment. But it was true the ship had not been nearly as much as an hour. "Africa's just into below. We ought to be about 1,200 miles high and still fast. That was the calculation."
He looked again, and then himself across to the opposite porthole. He saw the of space, which was not it was a of jewels. They were in number and in brightness, and somehow of more than one noticed from Earth.
He the Chief grunt, and Haney gulp. He was that his were in mid-air with no particular relationship to anything. He saw the Chief very cautiously, on to the arms of his seat.
"Better not look at the sun," said Joe, "even though I've put on the glare-shields."
The Chief nodded. The glare-shields would keep out most of the and a very great of the the sun gave off. But so, to look at the sun directly might easily result in a which result in blindness.
The Joe's chair clattered. It had by the weight of its at three gravities. Now it unintelligibly, with no weight at all. Mike a and took the message.
"Communications says says we're right on course, Joe," he reported nonchalantly, "and our speed's okay. We'll maximum in an hour and thirty-six minutes. We ought to be calculated of the Platform then."
"Good," said Joe abstractedly.
He his at the Earth. They were moving at an speed and height. It had been by just four beings them. The which was the of Africa with slowness toward the center of what he see.
Joe to his seat. He not walk, of course. He floated. He himself with a air of confidence. He misjudged. He was past his chair when he down—and that his body—and wildly. He of the as he by, then on and himself a somersault. He up in a position with the of his on the of the chair, his arms in a position to him there, and his the of the a good five away.
Haney looked greenish, but he said hoarsely:
"Joe, don't make me laugh—not when my like this!"
The of was daunting. Joe himself about very slowly, with his in kicks. He was hard when he himself into the chair and in once more.
"I'll take Communications," he told Mike as he settled his headphones.
Reluctantly, Mike over.
"Kenmore to Communications," he said briefly. "We have ended our take-off acceleration. You have our and velocity. Our read—"
He over the bank of him, the of each. In a sense, this of a ship out to the Platform had some of the of a bomb. Calculations were useful, but were necessary. He had to report every detail of the condition of his ship and every instrument-reading anything might go wrong, and at any instant. Anything that be fatal. So every of data and every action needed to be on record. Then, if something happened, the next ship to attempt this might avoid the same catastrophe.
Time passed. A of time. The of continued. They what it was, but they had to keep of its to it. Joe that if his mind on something else, it to panic and the of falling. But the of the Space Platform—now out in space for more than Joe had been quarter-hours—reported that one got used to it, in time. When awake, at least. Asleep was another matter.
They were 1,600 miles high and still going out and up. The Earth as through the was still an monstrous, mass, with clouds above which were its and land. They might have looked for cities, but they would be in a telescope. Their now was to wait until their into with that of the Platform and they their rendezvous. The was up them, and was only a quarter-circle about Earth them. Their speed in miles second was, at the moment, than that of the Platform. But they were climbing. They as they climbed. When their path that of the Platform, the two should be equal.
Major Holt's voice came on the Communicator.
"Joe," he said harshly, "I have very news. A message came from Central Intelligence minutes of your take-off. I—ah—with Sally I had been your progress. I did not the message until now. But Central Intelligence has that more than ten days ago the—ah—enemies of our Space Exploration Project—" on a tight to the small spaceship, Major Holt did not name the nation was most to space by but itself—"completed at least one of the Platform's with a pay-load that be an bomb. It is that more than one was completed. All were to an unknown station."
"Not so good," said Joe.
Mike had left his post when Joe took over. Now he a through the air of the cabin. The no of the the others had displayed—but he'd been a of a team he to work at the Shed. He himself to a stop at a hand-hold, at the nearly Chief and Haney.
Major Holt said in the headphones: "It's than that. Radar may have told the country in question that you are on the way up. In that case, if it's possible to blast the Platform your with for its defense, they'll blast."
"I don't like that idea," said Joe dourly. "Anything we can do?"
Major Holt laughed bitterly. "Hardly!" he said. "And do you that if you can't your you can't to Earth?"
"Yes," said Joe. "Naturally!"
It was true. The purpose of the and the and the ship's own take-off had been to give it a speed at which it would to a of 4,000 miles—the of the Space Platform—and there. It would need no power to 4,000 miles out from Earth. But it would take power to come down. The take-off had been to drive the ship with all its until it that needed velocity. There were landing to the now to slow it so that it land. But just as the take-off had been designed to a ship, the landing-rockets had been designed to land an empty one.
The more weight the ship carried, the more power it needed to out to the Platform. And the more power it needed to come again.
If Joe and his couldn't of their cargo—and they only in the ship-lock of the Platform—they'd out in emptiness.
The Major said bitterly: "This is all most irregular, but—here's Sally."
Then Sally's voice in the Joe wore. He was that Mike wasn't acting as officer at the moment to overhear. But Mike was like a pin-wheel in the middle of the air of the cabin. He was the others that in the a will in, a was than a full-sized man. Joe said:
"Yes, Sally?"
She said unsteadily. "I'm not going to waste your time talking to you, Joe. I think you've got to out something. I haven't the idea what it is, but I think you can do it. Try, will you?"
"I'm we're going to have to trust to luck," Joe ruefully. "We weren't for anything like this."
"No!" said Sally fiercely. "If I were with you, you wouldn't think of to luck!"
"I wouldn't want to," Joe. "I'd responsible. But just the same—"
"You're now!" said Sally, as as before. "If the Platform's smashed, the that can it will be to our in war! But if you can the Platform and arm it for defense, there won't be any war! Half the world would be praying for you, Joe, if it knew! I can't do anything else, so I'm going to start on that right now. But you try, Joe! You me?"
"I'll try," said Joe humbly. "Thanks, Sally."
He a like a sob, and the were silent. Joe himself very carefully. It can be to be the object of an murder, but it can also be very thrilling. One can play up to a picture of doom. It is possible to be one's own audience and one's own of danger. But when other on one, one has the not to but to do something practical.
Joe said somberly: "Mike, how long we ought to the Platform?"
Mike out a small hand, a hand-hold, and his to the master chronometer.
"Forty minutes, fifty seconds. Why?"
Joe said wrily, "There are some in enemy hands which can the Platform. They were to ten days ago. You what comes next."
Mike's and angry. Haney growled, "They the Platform we to it."
"Uh-uh!" said Mike instantly. "They the Platform when we to it! They us up together. Where'll we be at contact-time, Joe?"
"Over the Indian Ocean, south of the Bay of Bengal, to be exact," said Joe. "But we'll be moving fast. The of it is that it's going to take time to in the and our and them in the Platform's launching-tubes. I'd an hour. One bomb should of us above the Bay of Bengal, but we won't be set to a in defense until we're nearly over America again."
The Chief said sourly, "Yeah. Sitting all the way across the Pacific!"
"We'll check with the Platform," said Joe. "See if you can them direct, Mike, will you?"
Then something to him. Mike to his board. He to work the computer which in turn would the tight-beam to the the computer out, He a and said sharply, "Calling Space Platform! Pelican One calling Space Platform! Come in, Space Platform!..." He paused. "Calling Space Platform...."
Joe had a slide-rule going on another problem. He looked up, his peculiar.
"A solid-fuel can start off at ten acceleration," he said quietly, "and as its away it can go up a higher than that. But 4,000 miles is a long way to go up. If it isn't yet—"
Mike into a microphone: "Right!" To Joe he said, "Space Platform on the wire."
Joe an in his headphones. "I've just had word from the Shed," he carefully, "that there may be some up from Earth to us as we meet. You're still higher than we are, and they ought to be starting. Can you up anything with your radar?"
The voice from the Platform said: "We have something up. There are four out from near the sunset-line in the Pacific. Assuming solid-fuel like we used and you used, they are on a course."
"Are you doing anything about them?" asked Joe absurdly.
The voice said caustically: "Unfortunately, we've nothing to do anything with." It paused. "You, of course, can use the landing-rockets you still possess. If you fire them immediately, you will pass our meeting-place some hundreds of miles ahead of us. You will go on out to space. You may set up an forty-five hundred or five thousand miles out, and wait there for rescue."
Joe said briefly: "We've air for only four days. That's no good. It'll be a month the next ship can be and take off. There are four up, you say?"
"Yes." The voice changed. It spoke away from the microphone. "What's that?" Then it returned to Joe. "The four were sent up at the same from four sites. Probably as many at the of a hundred-mile square, so an accident to one wouldn't set off the others. They'll as they nearer to us."
"I think," said Joe, "that we need some luck."
"I think," said the voice, "that we've out of it."
There was a click. Joe again. The three members of his were looking at him.
"Somebody's out from Earth," said Joe carefully. "They'll together where we meet the Platform, and there just when we do."
The Chief rumbled. Haney his together. Mike's one of hatred.
Joe's mind to the major's curious, almost talk in his that morning, when he'd spoken of a to all the of men. The of at the Platform was, of course, the work of men acting deliberately. But they were—unconsciously—trying to their own best hopes. For freedom, certainly, or not they being free. But the Platform and the space project in meant past for everybody, in time. To send ships into space for necessary but with energy was a purpose every man should want to help forward. To peace on Earth was surely an no man or combat. And the of space travel was millions of other planets, other suns, open to by humanity. That should surely fire every being with enthusiasm. But something—and the more one about it the more and it to be—made it necessary to against men in order to them.
Joe again. It would have been to be in this against and and blindness. Especially since this particular to be lost. One send an eloquent, message to Earth saying that the four of them did not their into space, though they were to be killed by the of their country. It have been a very gesture. But Joe to have a job to do. Pretty were not a part of it. He had no idea how to do it. So he said sickishly:
"The Platform told me we fire our landing-rockets as additional take-off and out of the way. Of we've got of our own on board, but we can't or them. Absolutely the only thing we can choose to do or not do is fire those rockets. I'm open to if can think of a way to make them useful."
There was silence. Joe's was good enough. When one can't do what he wants, one to make what he can do produce the results he wants. But it didn't look too promising here. They fire the now, or later, or—
An idea came out of the blue. It wasn't a good idea, but it was the only one possible under the circumstances. There was just one possibility. He told the others what it was. Mike's flamed. The Chief profoundly. Haney said with some skepticism, "It's all we've got. We've got to use it."
"I need some calculations. Spread. Best time of firing. That of thing. But I'm about calling in the clear. A to the Platform will and might be up by the enemy."
The Chief suddenly. "I've got a for that, Joe. There's a of mine in the Shed. Get Charley Red Fox to the phone, guy, and we'll talk privately!"
The small on upward. It pointed in the direction of its motion. The which at its take-off had in its bow-ports, now from behind. The plates of the ship brightly. Below it the Earth. Above and about it on every hand were a of stars. Even the moon was visible as the of against the night of space.
The ship steeply. It was meeting the Platform after only a of Earth, while the Platform had for three full revolutions. Earth was now 3,000 miles and appeared as the most of possible solid objects. It away and away to at its horizons, and it moved visibly as the on.
Invisible through emptiness. They for thousands of miles, as they traveled, and then the shape of the Platform. They from it. Some of them to Earth, where and of powers to make of the syllables. They failed.
There was a in operation now, from to Platform to Earth and again. In the ship Chief Bender, Mohawk and extraordinary, talked to the Shed and to one Charley Red Fox. They talked in Mohawk, which is an Algonquin Indian language, agglutinative, complicated, and not to be learned in ten easy lessons. It was not a language which were likely to know as a of course. But it was a language by which be asked for, so that a very might be with the best possible of success.
Naturally, none of this appeared in the look of things. The small ship on and on. It an of 3,500 miles. The Earth was visibly away. Behind the ship the Atlantic with its cloud-formations was to the very of its being. Ahead, the of night appeared India. And above, the Platform appeared as a of light, quarter-illuminated by the sun above it.
Spaceship and Platform moved on toward a meeting place. The ship moved a faster, it was climbing. The would match when they met. The small torpedo-shaped ship and the metal with a in emptiness, while the most of possible objects all the them. They were 200 miles apart. It that the Platform the ship. It did. They were only 50 miles and still in.
By that time the of Earth's surface was nearly at the center of the planet, and night more than a of its disk.
By that time, too, to the through the of the supply-ship the enemy had visible. They were a thin of of white which to in nothingness. The and preposterously. It just be to be into from four points, two a little ahead of the others. They came out from Earth at a which until one saw with what the rocket-fumes out to the threads. Then one at a three-or four-stage series, so that what appeared to be would be half-ton with an of 10,000 miles hour and more up.
The in a line at the two metal in emptiness. One was small and streamlined, with landing-rockets to its and with that had no possible out of air. The other was large and to look at, but very, very in its progress through the heavens. They toward a rendezvous. The from Earth came to them at the of their intersection.
The little slowly. Its had pointed at the stars. Now it downward. Its direction of movement did not change, of course. In the of air, it without any effect. It was in a of on a course, though presently the would an orbit. But it pointed nose-down toward the Earth as it to onward.
The great and the small were 20 miles apart. An radar-bowl moved on the little ship. Tight-beam the two craft. The toward them.
The ship and the Platform were 10 miles apart. The were now ahead of the that them.
The ship and the Platform were two miles apart. The upward.... There were minute in their courses. They converged....
Flames from the ship. Its landing-rockets white-hot and more thick and than the of the bombs. The little ship toward the monsters. And then——
The which were to let the ship to Earth free—flung themselves at the which came with to the meeting of the two Earth spacecraft.
The landing-rockets at or better. They were a group of which to group themselves more closely as they dwindled. They upon the things. They were unguided, of necessity, but the had to be with fuses. No be so as to the best moment for at 4,000 miles' distance. So the had to be to when near anything which their waves. They had to be designed to be by anything in space.
And the landing-rockets among them.
They did not all at once. That was impossible. But no the delay. Four close-packed of pure fire into being the Platform and Earth. Each was than the sun. For the of an there was no night where night had on the Earth. For thousands of miles the Earth brightly.
Then there was a twisting, of gases, which were away by and to be.
Then there were just two in the void. One was the great, clumsy, Platform, in size to anything close by. The other was the small which had to it and for it and it against the from Earth.
The little ship now had a motion away from the Platform, to the instant's by its they were released.
It about in emptiness. Its steering-rockets smoke. It to out its away from the Platform, and to swim slowly and very toward it.