The others got the space into the platform's lock and did to it, in the way of loading, that its intended, while Joe was calling Earth for calculations. The result was infuriating. The Moonship had taken off for the Moon on the other of the Platform's orbit, when it had a of more than 12,000 miles an hour in the direction it to go. The Platform and of the space was now on the of the Platform's orbit. And of they now had a of more than 12,000 miles hour away from the direction in which it was urgently necessary for the space to go. They wait for two hours to take off, said Earth, or waste the time and fuel they'd need to away to the of waiting.
"But we can't wait!" Joe. Then he snapped. "Look here! Suppose we take off from here, at Earth, make a near-graze, and let its our course! Like a path! Figure that! That's what we've got to do!"
He off his magnetic-soled shoes and to the airlock. Over his he an order for the radar-duty man to anything from Earth to him there. He to Haney and Mike in over it was possible to on an or two of mass. He stopped it. They would.
"Everything's loaded?" he demanded. "Okay! Space suits! All set? Let's out of this lock and start blasting!"
He them into the space tug. He in himself. He closed the entrance port. The plastic of the lock out, fast, and the jetted. The space came out of the lock. It about. It for Earth and of rocket-trail spread out it. It dived.
Naturally! When a ship from the Platform wanted to Earth for atmosphere-deceleration, it was more to away from it. Now that it was the most urgent of all possible to away from Earth, in the opposite direction to the space tug's present motion, it was logical to toward it. The ship would toward Earth, and Earth's would help its in the of speed. But the still its speed. So it would not actually the Earth, but would be past its disk, though for Earth's mid-bulge. Yet Earth would continue to pull. As the space past, its path would be by the of gravity. At the nearest possible approach to Earth, the would fire its for maximum acceleration. And it would around Earth's no more than 500 miles high—just the presence of air—and come out of that a good hour ahead of the Platform for a position, and with a than be had in any other way. Traced on paper, the of the would be a tight parabola.
The ship dived. And it that it had left the Platform and in Earth's shadow, so that the look and of was that of an into oblivion. There was the of a of pure the nose of the space tug. She started for it at four acceleration, and Joe got his to his ears and while he waited for the and he had to have.
He got them. When the four-gravity out, the tug's the ship's nose to a position. They themselves into the chairs and Joe a six-g blast. They came out of that, and he another. The three gave the ship a speed of a mile and a a second, and Earth's added to it steadily. The Earth itself was them most of a 4,000-mile fall, which added to the speed their up.
Down on Earth, radar-bowls dizzily, for them to them of position and data for their guidance. Back on the Platform, members of the their own computations. When the four in the Space were half-way to Earth, they were traveling than any had before, relative to the Earth or the Platform itself. When they were a thousand miles from Earth, it was they would clear its edge. Joe and an to fire a of Mark Tens to speed the ship still more. When they to the release-point and away past the ports, the Chief and Haney up from their chairs and their way aft.
"Going to the firing-frames," the Chief.
They vanished. The space take from its and set them its for firing. No other ship could.
Haney and the Chief came back. There was in the ship, save for a small, voice in Joe's headphones.
"We'll pass Earth 600 miles high," said Joe in a voice. "Maybe closer. I'm going to try to make it 450. We'll be over enemy territory, but I they us. We'll be than six miles a second. If we wanted to, we some more and velocity. But we want to stop, later. We'll it out."
Silence. Stillness. Speed. Out the to Earthward there was purest blackness. On the other side, a of stars. But the and and until it the itself, and of that was, was blackness. Half was stars.
Then there was a sound. A sound. It was a moan. It was a howl. It was a shriek.... And then it was a thin again. Then it was not.
"We touched air," said Joe calmly, "at six and a miles second. Pretty thin, though. At that, we may have left a meteor-trail for the to admire."
Nobody said anything at all. In a little while there was light ahead. There was brightness. Instantly, it seemed, they were out of night and there was a of clouds past below—but they were 800 miles up now—and Joe's and he said:
"Now we can give a touch of course-correction, and maybe a of speed...."
Rockets and and the hull. The Earth away and away and presently it was behind. And they were on after the Moonship which was very, very, very on them.
It was actually many hours they it. They couldn't to overtake it gradually, they had to have time to work in after contact. But it cost fuel, and they hadn't too much. So they compromised, and came up the Moonship at than 2,000 second in speed—they approached it as fast as most rifle-bullets travel—and all was out by the of the they for deceleration.
Then the space came close to the Moonship. Mike out on the of the tug's hull, with the Chief also in space equipment, paying out Mike's safety-line. Mike across two hundred yards of with light-years of him. His metal on the Moonship's hull.
Then the vision-screen on the up. Lieutenant Commander Brown looked out of it, grim. Joe on his own transmitter. He nodded.
"Mr. Kenmore," said Brown evenly, "I did not you I was not that be made. How many can you take to the Platform?"
Joe at him.
"I haven't any idea," he said. "But I'm going to on and use our to land you."
"I do not think it practicable," said Brown calmly. "I the only result of such a will be the of ships with all hands. I will give you a to return on my order. But since all my can't return, how many can you take? I have ten married men aboard. Six have children. Can you take six? Or all ten?" Then he said without a of emphasis, "Of course, none of them will be officers."
"If I to turn now, I think my would mutiny," Joe said coldly. "I'd to think they wouldn't, anyhow! We're going to on and play this out the way it lies!"
There was a pause. Then Brown spoke again. "Mr. Kenmore, I was you'd say that. Actually—er—not to be quoted, you understand—actually, has always been in the of the Navy. Of course, you're not in the Navy, Kenmore, but right now it looks like the Navy is in your hands. Like a in the hands of a tug. Good luck, Kenmore."
Joe off the screen. "You know," he said, at Mike, "I Brown isn't such a egg after all. Let's go!"
In minutes, the space had a line fast. In an hour, the two space were together, but for the to they the Moonship. Mike returned to the tug. A pair of the big Mark Twenty in emptiness.
The Moonship was by a of its speed. The was perceptible.
There were more burnings. Back on Earth there were measurements. A tight to when it is a hundred thousand miles. It to! When speech is over it, the and reply is perceptible. It's not great—just over a second. But one it. That was used to measure the speed and of the two craft. The didn't look too good.
The space after after rocket. There was no that Joe detect, of course. It would have been like noticing the of single oar-strokes in a miles from shore. But the on Earth a difference. They very, very, very computations. And the did the calculations which of would have needed years to work out. The calculations which not make a mistake said—that it was a toss-up.
The Moon came slowly to the two ships. It slowly, slowly larger. The word from Earth was that the still available in the space tug, and those that should have been but weren't on the Moonship, there must be no more just yet. The two ships must pass together through the neutral-point where the of Earth and Moon out. They must together toward the Moon. Forty miles above the surface such-and-such were to be fired. At twenty miles, such-and-such others. At five miles the Moonship itself must fire its fuel-store. With luck, it was a toss-up. Safety or a smash.
But there was a long time to wait. Joe and his in the space tug. The Chief looked out a port and observed:
"I can see the ring-mountains now. Naked-eye stuff, too! I wonder if saw that before!"
"Not likely," said Joe.
Mike out a port. Haney looked, also.
"How're we going to back, Joe?"
"The Moonship has on board," Joe told him. "Only they can't them in the firing-racks outside. They're away, all shipshape, Navy fashion. After we land, we'll ask for to to the Platform with. It'll be a run. Mostly coasting—falling free. But we'll make it."
"If doesn't when we land," said the Chief.
Joe said uncomfortably: "It won't. Not that somebody won't try." Then he stopped. After a moment he said awkwardly: "Look! It's necessary that we to the stars, or we'll the Earth until we won't be able to human. We'd have to have and and such to keep our numbers down. It—it to me, and I—think it's been said before, that it looks like there's something, somewhere, that's of us humans. It doesn't want us to the stars. It didn't want us to fly. Before that it didn't want us to learn how to disease, or have steam, or—anything that makes men different from the beasts."
Haney his head. He intently.
"Maybe it sounds—superstitious," said Joe uneasily, "but there's always been somebody trying to the of us wanted. As if—as if something and around into men's ears while they slept, them to do to all their own hopes."
The Chief grunted. "Huh! D'you think that's new stuff, Joe?"
"N-no," Joe. "But it's true. Something us. You can make wild guesses. Maybe—things on that know that if we there.... There's something that men and it to make us ourselves."
"Sure," said Haney mildly. "I learned about that in Sunday School, Joe."
"Maybe I that," said Joe helplessly. "But there's something we fight—and there's Something that with us. So I think we're going to the Moonship all right."
Mike said sharply: "You you think this is all out in advance. That we'd be here, we'd here——"
The Chief said impatiently, "It's out so we can do it if we got the innards. We got the chance. We can it. But if we it, it's bad, and somebody else has to have the later. I know what Joe's saying. Us men, we got to to the stars. There's millions of 'em, and we need the they've got around 'em."
Haney said, "Some of them have planets. That's known. Yeah."
"Those ain't going to go on with nobody using 'em," the Chief. "It don't make sense. And in do make sense. All but us humans," he with a grin. "And I like us, anyhow. Joe's right. We'll by this time. And if we don't—some other guys'll have to do the job of landing on the Moon. But it'll be done—as a starter."
"I can see of there. Plain," Mike said quietly.
"What's the say?"
Joe looked. Back at the Platform it had the of the surface of Earth. Here a line was to on the vertical-plane screen. It was the of the surface of the Moon.
"We might as well set," said Joe. "We've got time but we might as well. Space on. I'll up the chain. Steering rockets'll do that. Then we'll take a last look. All outside?"
"Yeah," said Haney. He wrily. "You know, Joe, I know what I know, but still I'm scared."
"Me, too," said Joe.
But there were to do. They took their places. They out the ports. The Moon had a a little while back. Now it appeared to be flattening. Its still away a horizon. The ring-mountains were distinct. There were wide, with colorings. But the mountains....
When the ships were 40 miles high the space valorously, and all the of the Moon's surface was by the clouds of mist. The out.
Haney and the Chief replaced the burned-out rockets. They were gigantic, heavy-bore which they couldn't have on Earth. Now they them into the which them the into position.
The ring-mountains were when they again! They were only 20 miles up, then, and some of the rose four miles from their floors.
The ships were still fast. Joe spoke into his microphone.
"Calling Moonship! Calling——" He stopped and said matter-of-factly, "I we fire our last blast together. Shall I give the word? Right!"
The surface of the Moon came toward them. Craters, cracks, of stone, of ground without or by the of from the sky a hundred thousand years ago. The were unbelievable. There were and and yellows. There were and deep-blues and of in combination.
But Joe couldn't watch that. He his on a very special which was a range-finder. He hadn't used it about the Platform there were too many and such about. It wouldn't be dependable. But it did measure the exact to the nearest solid object.
"Prepare for on a count of five," said Joe quietly. "Five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... fire!"
The space tug's blasted. For the time since they the Moonship, the now had help. The the Moonship's furiously. Out the there was nothing but whitenesses. The and and roared....
The main out. The still boomed. Joe had them on for what good their might do.
"Joe!" said Haney in a tone. "I weight! Not much, but some! And the main are off!"
Joe nodded. He the him. He a control, and the space swayed. It over to the limit of the tow-chain it had to the Moonship. Joe his again.
There was a peculiar, somewhere. Joe cut the and it was possible to look out. There were more noises. The space settled a little and a little. It was still. Then there was no noise at all.
"Yes," said Joe. "We've got some weight. We're on the Moon."
They out of the ship in a procession. About them such as no man had looked on save in dreams. Above their a globe, with a white ice-cap visible. It in mid-sky and was four times the size of the Moon as from Earth. If one still and looked at it, it would be to be revolving, once in some twenty-four hours.
Mike in the in which he walked. Nobody had from the Moonship yet. The four of them were the beings to set on the surface of the Moon. But none of them mentioned the fact, though all were aware of it. Mike up dust. It rose in a liquid-like fashion. There was no air to it. It settled again.
Mike spoke with an odd constraint. "No green cheese," he said absurdly.
"No," Joe. "Let's go over to the Moonship. It looks all right. It couldn't have hard."
They toward the of the ship from Earth, which now was a for the of a with more land-area than all Earth's put together—but not a of water. The Moonship was askew, but it was unharmed. There were at every port in the hull.
The Chief stopped suddenly. A rose from the dust. The Chief it with his space-gloved hand.
"I'm on the Moon!" he said "Tie that, you guys!"
Then he joined the others on their way to the Moonship's main lock.
"Shall we knock?" asked Mike humorously. "I they've got a door-bell!"
But the lock-door was opening to admit them. They inside.
Commander Brown was waiting for them with an out-stretched hand. "Glad to have you aboard." And there was a across his face.
Joe talked with into a microphone. His voice took a little over a second to its destination. Then there was a pause of the same length the of Sally's reply came to him from Earth.
"I've reported to your father," said Joe carefully, "and the Moonship has reported to the Navy. In a of hours Haney and the Chief and Mike and I will be taking off to go to the Platform. We got from the stores of the Moonship."
Sally's voice was clear. It a little, but there was no of to reception.
"Then what, Joe?"
"I'm reports and and of from the Moon," Joe told her. "I'm a mailman. It'll be sixty hours to the Platform—free most of the way—and then we'll and I'll come to Earth to deliver the reports and such."
Pause. One second and a little for his voice to go. Another second and something over for her voice to return.
"And then?"
"That's what I'm trying to out," said Joe. "What day is today?"
"Tuesday," said Sally after the pause. "It's ten o'clock Tuesday at the Shed."
Joe calculations in his mind. Then he said:
"I ought to land on Earth some time next Monday."
Pause.
"Yes?" said Sally.
"I wondered," said Joe. "How about a date that night?" Another pause. Then Sally's voice. She glad.
"It's a date, Joe. And—do you know, I must be the girl in the world to make a date with the Man in the Moon?"
