Time passed. Hours, then days. Things to happen. Trucks appeared, with of white powder. The was very mixed with water and over the now of a space ship. It came off again in of white plaster, which were numbered and set to in warm that were with almost speed. More trucks arrived, such objects as of turnings, a helium-cooling plant from a gaswell—it metal to the point where it to at a blow—and fuel tanks, dynamos, and machinery.
Ten days after Mike's of as a material for space ship construction, the parts of the of the were assembled. They were a for the of a space ship. There were more plaster for a second to be out now, but meanwhile vehicles like mixed and and in and the here and there in the mold. Then men to the object with iron wire. Presently that iron wire slightly, and the whole and and hotter. And after a time it was allowed to cool.
But that did not a of activity. The plaster had been while the was out. The process—including the heating—was in action while were being to the Shed. But other were being by metal-concrete the was taken down.
When the plaster came off, there was a long, gleaming, frosty-sheened metal waiting for the fittings. It was a of one of the two shot-down space craft, for out some six ahead of schedule. Next day there was a second metal hull, still too to touch. The day after that there was another.
Then they to be out at the of two a day, and all the of the Shed with the work on them. Drills and and hammered. Small rumbled. Disk cut metal like by the method of at 20,000 minute. Convoys of rolled out from Bootstrap at change-shift time, and there were again Security men at every doorway, moving about.
But it still didn't look too good. There is no way to arithmetic, and a definitely problem still remained. Ten days after the of the new program, Joe and Sally looked from a high up in the outward-curving of the Shed. Acres of dark them. There was a that and the skins of the fifty-story-high dome. It to the Communications Room at the very top of the Shed itself.
Where Joe and Sally looked down, the was 300 below. Welding glittered. Rivet chattered. Trucks came in the with materials, and there was already a of eighty-foot hulls. There were eleven of them already uncovered, and small trucks ran up to their to the fitting-out such as air and and and motors, and and boards. Exit doors were being fitted. The last two to be were being with portable x-ray outfits, in search of flaws. And there were still other white molds, which were other in of formation—the metal still into the in form, or being down, or being to solidity.
Joe on the gallery-railing and said unhappily, "I can't help worrying, though the Platform hasn't been at since we landed."
That wasn't an of what he was thinking. He was about the of the Platform would have liked to know about. Sally these too. But top isn't talked about by the people who know it, unless they are at work on it. At all other times one to himself that he doesn't know it. That is the only possible way to avoid leaks.
The top was that it was still to supply the Platform. Ships be than had been of before, but so long as any ship that up be on the way down, the supply of the Platform was impractical. But the ships were being regardless, against the time when a way to them again was of. As of the moment it hadn't been of yet.
But the ships was genius, nobody but Americans anything so foolish. The of the Platform and of the United States that full-scale production of ships by some new method was in progress. The couldn't be hidden. But nobody in a country where material were ships a way to use them was known. So the Platform's were that the United States had something new and very remarkable, and their with if they didn't out what it was.
They didn't out. The of the enemy nations knew, of course, that if a new—say—space-drive had been invented, they would very soon have to their tune. So there were no more on the Platform. It overhead, sending and solar-constant and weather maps, while about it a screen of garbage and cans.
But Joe and Sally looked where the ships were being while the problem of how to use them was debated.
"It's a nut to crack," said Joe dourly.
It him. Ships going up had to have crews. Crews had to come again they had to at the Platform, not them there. Getting a ship up to was than it again.
"The Navy's been on light missiles," said Sally.
"No good," Joe.
It wasn't. He'd been asked for advice. Could a space ship and its way to ground with them? The answer was that it could. But used to one's way would have to be up first. And they would as much as all the a ship carry. A ship that couldn't cargo. Cargo at the Platform was the thing desired.
"All that's needed," said Sally, Joe's face, "is a touch of genius. There's been now. Burning your free with landing-rocket flames——"
"Haney's idea," Joe dispiritedly.
"And making more ships in a with metal-concrete——"
"Mike did that," said Joe ruefully.
"But you the garbage-screen for the Platform," Sally.
"Sanford had a wisecrack," said Joe. "And it just that it that he hadn't noticed." He grimaced. "You say something like that, now...."
Sally looked at him with soft eyes. It wasn't his job, this worrying. The top-level of the were with it. They were trying from to notions. But there wasn't anything promising yet.
"What's needed," said Sally regretfully, "is a way for ships to go up to the Platform and not have to come back."
"Sure!" said Joe ironically. Then he said, "Let's go down!"
They started the long, which the two skins of the Shed's wall. It was empty, this long, curving, corridor. It was private. In a place like the Shed, with activity going on all around, and at Major Holt's where Sally and Joe was a guest, there wasn't often a for them to talk in any of privacy.
But Joe on, scowling. Sally with him. If she to a little at first, he didn't notice. Presently she her and to try to make him notice that nobody else to be around. They a complete of the Shed its wall, Joe ahead without words.
Then he stopped abruptly. His was unbelieving. Sally almost into him.
"What's the matter?"
"You had it, Sally!" he said amazedly. "You did it! You said it!"
"What?"
"The touch of genius!" He almost babbled. "Ships that can go up to the Platform and not have to come back! Sally, you did it! You did it!"
She him helplessly. He took her by the as if to shake her into comprehension. But he her instead.
"Come on!" he said urgently. "I've got to tell the gang!"
He her hand and set off at a for the of the ramp. And Sally, with on her face, was in his wake.
He was still her after him when he the Chief and Haney and Mike in the room at Security where they were self-confined, their return to Earth too publicly known. Mike was up and with his hands his back, as a Napoleon and talking bitterly. The Chief was in a chair. Haney sat his with a air.
Joe the door. Mike without a pause: "I tell you, if they'll only use little like me, the and and can be cut by tons! Even the can be smaller and less! Four of us in a smaller cabin, less and air and water—we'll save in cabin-weight alone! Why can't you big see it?"
"We see it, Mike," Haney said mildly. "You're right. But people won't do it. It's not fair, but they won't."
Joe said, beaming, "Besides, Mike, it'd up our gang! And Sally's just the answer! The answer is for ships to go up to the Platform and not come back!"
He at them. The Chief his eyebrows. Haney his to stare. Joe said exuberantly: "They've been talking about ships with to with. Too heavy, of course. But—if we missiles, why couldn't we drones?"
The three of them at him. Sally said, startled, "But—but, Joe, I didn't——"
"We've got of hulls!" said Joe. Somehow he still looked at what he'd of Sally's perfectly comment. "Mike's for that! Make—say—six of 'em into drones—space barges. Remote-controlled ships. Control them from one ship—the tug! We'll that! Take 'em up to the Platform like a barges. The tow-line will be radio beams. We'll have a space-tow up, and not to the back! There won't be any landing rockets! They'll cargo! That's the answer! A space a to the Platform!"
"But, Joe," Sally, "I didn't think of——"
The Chief himself up. Haney's voice cut through what the Chief was about to say. Haney said drily: "Sally, if Joe hadn't you for that up, I would. Makes me dumb."
Mike swallowed. Then he said loyally, "Yeah. Me too. I'd've a two-ton possible—maybe. But this up. What the major say?"
"I—haven't talked to him. I'd better, right away." Joe grinned. "I wanted to tell you first."
The Chief grunted. "Good idea. But everything!" He in his pocket. "The is easy enough, Joe. Cut out the and air and you save something." He in another pocket. "Leave off the landing rockets, and you save more. Count in the you take anyhow"—— he another pocket still——"and you forty-two of space barge, delivered at the Platform. Six drones—that's 252 in one tow! Here!" He'd what he wanted. It was a handkerchief. He it upon Joe. "Wipe that off, Joe, you go talk to the major. He's Sally's father and he might not like it."
Joe at his face. Sally, her shining, took the from him and the job. She that of in of and embarrassment. When a girl or a woman is proud, she is embarrassed.
She and Joe away, and Sally right into her father's office. In fifteen minutes men to arrive for conferences, by telephone. Within forty-five minutes, orders out to the Shed and stopped the of of in all but one of the hulls. In an hour and a half, top were doing the work of and done without of blueprints. The was to put into practice. Guided-missile were already in production. They be to take of drones.
Within twelve hours there were truck-loads of new of at the Shed. Some were Air Force and some were Ordnance, and some were Quartermaster. These were not parts of space ships. They were for the Platform.
And, just forty-eight hours after Joe and Sally looked upon the of the Shed, there were seven in and the of landing the Shed. They came with from their to the south, and they with on the the door.
By the time the had been in, one by one, and had themselves to the cages, Joe and Haney and the Chief and Mike had into the of the one ship which was not a drone. There were now seven in all to be toward the sky. A great had been out and rolled to make an in the of the Shed. Nearly as many pushpots, it seemed, were in this as in the take-off of the Platform itself.
The test take-off set the to the Shed. The noise was the most and that had been on Earth since the of the Platform.
But this was not so impressive. It was definitely untidy, imprecise, and unmilitary. There were seven eighty-foot in by clustering, bellowing, groups of objects that looked like over-sized black beetles. One of the seven had eyes. The others were blind—but they were with radio antennae. The ship with had small basket-type from its plating.
The seven objects rose one by one and and out to the open air. At 40 and 50 above the ground, they into some of formation, with much and and maneuvering.
Then, without preliminary, they started up. They rose swiftly. The noise of their going from a to a howl, and from a to a noise, and then to a faint, faint, ever-dwindling hum.
Presently that out, too.
