Joe sat on the of Major Holt’s in the area next to the Shed. It was about eight-thirty, and dark, but there was a moon. And Joe had come to that his personal was only his personal disappointment, and that he hadn’t any right to make a of himself about it. Therefore he didn’t talk about the thing nearest in his mind, but something else that was next nearest or away still. Yet, with the Shed up a full of the sky, and a moon new-risen from the horizon, it was not natural for a man like Joe to speak purely of things.
“It’ll come,” he said yearningly, at the moon. “If the Platform up day after tomorrow, it’s going to take time to up the it ought to have. But still, somebody ought to land on the moon too long.”
He added absorbedly: “Once the Platform is equipped, it won’t take many pay to a ship’s at the Platform, it can on out.”
Mathematically, a ship that the Platform with full fuel should have fuel to the moon and land on it, and take off again and return to the Platform. The mathematical had a flavor. When a is to analysis and the report is in its favor, a dreamer’s is always by a that the report is only part of the dream. Everybody a little when a a of true. Some people take steps to stop right there, so a won’t be by into fact. But Joe said doggedly: “Twenty to up fuel, and the twenty-first ship should be able to and go on out. And then somebody will step out on the moon!”
He was now. He wouldn’t be the one to do it. But somebody would.
“You might try for the service,” said Sally uneasily.
“I will,” said Joe grimly, “but I won’t be too much. After all, there are and and such things, who’ll be to learn to in order to their out of atmosphere.”
Sally said mournfully: “I can’t to say anything to make you better!”
“But you do,” said Joe. He added grandiloquently, “But for your in me, I would not have the to the of life.”
She her foot.
“Stop it!”
“All right.” But he said quietly, “You are a good kid, Sally. You know, it’s not too of me to mourn.”
She a breath.
“That’s better! Now, I want——”
There was a walking the path the trim, that were officers’ at the Shed.
Joe said sharply: “That’s Haney! What’s he doing here?” He called, “Haney!”
Haney’s manner took on purpose. He came across the grass—the around the officers’ the only in twenty miles.
“Hiya,” said Haney uncomfortably. He spoke to Sally. “Hiya. Uh—you want to in on the party, Joe?”
“What kind?”
“The party Mike was talkin’ about,” said Haney. “He’s set it up. He wants me to you and a kinda—uh—undercover tip-off to Major Holt.”
Joe stirred. Sally said hospitably: “Sit down. You’ve noticed that my father gave you full security clearance, so you can go anywhere?”
Haney on the of the porch.
“Yeah. That’s helped with the party. It’s how I got here, as as that goes. Mike’s on top of the world.”
“Shoot it,” said Joe.
“Y’know he’s been about things,” said Haney carefully. “He’s been sayin’ that little like him ought to be the spacemen. There’s a dozen other little been on the Platform too. They can in an’ an’ so on. Useful. He’s had ’em all up on the that the Platform been months ago if it’d been for them, an’ they to the moon an’ while full-sized couldn’t an’ so on. Remember?”
“I remember,” said Sally.
“They’ve all been beefin’ about it,” Haney. “People know how they feel. So today Mike and talked to one or two of ’em. An’ they started actin’ mysterious, passin’ an’ an’ so on. Little guys, actin’ important. Security wouldn’t notice ’em much. Y’don’t take a guy Mike’s size serious, unless you know him. Then he’s the same as else. So the security didn’t pay any attention to him. But some other did. Some special other guys. They saw those little actin’ like they were cookin’ up somethin’ fancy. An’ they bit.”
“Bit?” asked Sally.
“They got curious. So Mike an’ his got confidential. An’ they’re going to have help sabotagin’ the Platform when the next shift changes. The gettin’ for bein’ laughed at, see? They’re their plan is that when the Platform’s sabotaged—not smashed, but just up so it can’t take off—the big will let ’em take a up in a hurry, an’ it in orbit, an’ use it for a Platform until the big Platform can be an’ sent up. Once they’re up there, there’s no use tryin’ to stop the big Platform. So it can go ahead.”
Joe said dubiously: “I think I see....”
“Mike and his of little are bein’ saps—on purpose. If anybody’s goin’ to some fast stuff, next shift change—that’s the time everybody’s got to! Last chance! Mike and his don’t know what’s happen, but they sure know when! They’re invitin’ the to make of ’em. And what’ll happen?”
Joe said drily: “The logical thing would be to sorry for the big who think they’re than Mike.”
“Uh-huh,” said Haney, serious. “Mike’s is there’s a dozen already loaded. They’re goin’ to fire those shifts. The Platform off its an’ maybe dented, and so on. Mike’s say they got the to prove they can go up in a an’ be a Platform, and the big won’t have any choice but to let ’em.”
Sally said: “I don’t think they know how the big thinks.”
Haney and Joe said together, “No!” and Joe added: “Mike’s not crazy! He better! But it’s a good for somebody who doesn’t know Mike.”
Haney said in indignation: “I came out here to ask the Major to help us. The Chief’s gettin’ a together, too. There’s some Indians of his that work here. We can count on them for of stuff. And there’s Joe and me. The point is that Mike’s makes it that at a time we can know in advance. If the Major us a free hand, and then in the last five minutes takes his own measures—so they can’t out ahead of time and off the we want to get—we off all the expert who know the weak in the Platform. For those who know that in the would up all over again.”
Joe said quietly: “But Major Holt has to be told well in about all this! That’s absolute!”
“Yeah,” Haney. “But also he has got to keep quiet—not tell else! There’ve been too many already about too many things. You know that!”
Joe said: “Sally, see if you can your father to come here and talk. Haney’s right. Not in his office. Right here.”
Sally got up and the house. She came with an on her face.
“He’s coming. But I couldn’t very well tell him what was wanted, and—I’m not sure he’s going to be in a mood to listen.”
When the Major he was definitely not in a mood to listen. He was a man, and he was up to the limit by the to the of the Platform’s take-off. He came to his house from a on the of how to make against any possible incidents—and ran into a to them! He exploded. Even if should be to to them into their hands, this was no time for it! And if it were, it would be security business. It should not be in by amateurs!
Joe said grimly: “I don’t to be disrespectful, sir, but there’s a point you’ve missed. It isn’t that you’ll be able to prevent something from being at a time the pick. They’ve got just so much time left, and they’ll use it! But Mike’s plan would offer them a under of which they their own stuff! And that, you know your office leaks! You couldn’t set up a like this through security methods. And for a third fact, this is the one of thing no would from your security organization! We the at the by at a new of for sabotage. Here’s a to catch the who’ll work their off in the next twenty-four hours or so, by using a new of for security!”
Major Holt was not an easy man to along with at any time, and this was the of all times to differ with him. But he did think straight. He at Joe, with anger at being with. But after he had a full minute, the angry slowly away. Then he abruptly.
“There you have a point,” he said curtly. “I don’t like it. But it is a point. It would be the of anything my possibly expect. So I accept the suggestion. Now—let us make the arrangements.”
He settled for a quick, comprehensive, plan. In with Haney, Joe it out. The all-important point was that the Major’s part was to be done in fashion. He would take to his with those of Mike, the Chief, Haney, and Joe. Each action the Major took and each order he gave he would to personally. His would be restricted to the last five minutes or less shift-change time. His orders would be to individuals, and under no would he any order through else. In every instance, his order would be to nothing to its until the time came for obedience.
It was not an easy for the Major to himself to. It ran to every of save one, which was that it was a good idea to the enemy. At the end he said detachedly: “This is irregular. It is as as anything possibly be! But that is why I have to it. It will be at least—unexpected—coming from me!”
Then he without and to Joe and to Haney, and away the walk to where his car waited.
Haney left a moment later to the list of to the Chief and to Mike. And Joe into the Shed to do his part.
There was little in the of the Shed by night. In the there were long of in the roof, which let in a vague, dusky, twilight. At night those were shuttered. This meant that the were a little and the of light and a more abrupt. All other that Joe see were the normal ones to the taking of and the up of tubes. It was clear that the shape of the Platform proper would be when all its were fast in place.
Joe to look at the last pushpots, and they were to be taken over to their own for their test use. There were extras, anyhow, the number needed to the Platform. He himself the that after the Platform was aloft, they would be used to the rockets, too.
Then he moved toward the center of the Shed. A whole level of came and its were together as he watched. Slings the to waiting trucks which would them elsewhere. There were mixing trucks still out their white paste for the of the tubes, and their product up and into the mouths of the wire-wound pipes.
Presently Joe into the of under the Space Platform itself. He came to the temporary stairs he had to remember. He to the two there.
“I want to take another look at that we installed,” he said.
One of the said good-naturedly: “Major Holt said to pass you any time.”
He and along the corridor—it had on the so a man himself along it when there was no weight—and to the engine room. He voices. They were speaking a language. He tensed.
Then the Chief at him amiably. He was in the engine room and with him were no than eight men of his own complexion.
“Here’s some friends of mine,” he explained, and Joe hands with black-haired, dark-skinned men who were named Charley Spotted Dog and Sam Fatbelly and Luther Red Cow and other things. The Chief said exuberantly, “Major Holt told the to let me pass in some Indian friends, so I took my on a of the Platform. None of ’em had been before. And——”
“I you talking Indian,” said Joe.
“You’re some more,” said the Chief. “We’re the party of my in longer’n my respectable!”
Joe it difficult to a smile. The Chief took him off to one side.
“Fella,” he said kindly, “it you, this business, it ain’t organized. That’s what this world needs, Joe. Everything out by an’ such—it’s civilized, but it ain’t human! What be is a of chaos, like me. Quit worryin’ an’ and up that security guy the Major was send to meet you!”
He gave Joe an and his Mohawks, each of whom, Joe noticed suddenly, had on his person a twelve-inch Stillson or a to as a tomahawk. They at him as he departed.
At the of the of narrow steps there was a third security man. He Joe.
“Major Holt told me to you up,” he observed.
Joe walked to one with him. Major Holt had promised to send a first-class man to meet Joe at this place, with orders to take from Joe. Joe said curtly: “You’re to as many Security men as you can, place them more or less out of under the Platform here, and tell them to turn off their walkie-talkies and wait. No what happens, they’re to wait right here until they’re needed, right here!”
He looked around him. The Security man and moved away. This was close timing. Something Joe look up. He saw the nearly overhead. The was there. Haney, though, was with him. There was nothing else in sight. Not yet. But Haney was on the job. Joe saw a Security man step out of in the scaffolding. He saw his own security man speak to another, who toward the Platform’s base.
Minutes passed. Only Joe have noticed, he was for it. There were eight or nine Security men posted call. They had their walkie-talkies off and would be only to his orders if an arose.
Gongs to ring all around the of the Shed. They set up a clanging. This was not an alarm, but the notice of change-of-shift time.
There was a marked in the overhead. A back. Hammerings and stopped. There were the of pipes, to the scaffolds, being taken for removal. A sling-load of pipe touched the and there. The crane’s internal-combustion stopped. Its to the and for the exit. Hoists and men moved across the floor. Other men ladders. The with moving toward the doors through which men out to on the for Bootstrap.
Nothing happened. More long minutes passed. The shift out by the was going through the check-over in the screen room. Joe that Major Holt had, the past five minutes, together a tight-knit of security men to be available for anything that might turn up. The men doing the normal shift-change were in consequence.
The next to the crowded, but the area of the was cleared. One was at the swing-up doors. Its driver ground the insistently.
Suddenly there was a high-pitched away up on the Platform. Then there was a shot. Its in the of the Shed. Joe’s own special security man to him, his tense.
“What about that?”
“Hold everything,” said Joe grimly. “That’s taken of.”
It was. That was Mike’s gang—miniature out of to offer with prepared against their in sabotage. One of the had a gun and fired. But Mike’s had help. Out of small air to make the Platform’s skin to its on every side—provided they space suits—dark-skinned men appeared.
The security man’s walkie-talkie under his a sound. He for it.
“Forget it!” Joe. “That’s not for you! You’ve got your orders! Stay here!”
There was a where men were to out of the Shed. Thick, appeared. There was a explosion. The men and crazily.
The of the caught. It moved toward the door, which opened, up and high. Two trucks came in. They for the Platform. And as they inside, their off and men instead. The by the to shoot.
“That’s what we’ve got to stop!” Joe.
He to run, his pistol out. There was a small army—gathered by his orders—which in the space under the Platform. It to against this well-planned invasion.
The harsh, of a machine gun from high up. Joe what it was. Mike’s whole had been to all to take place at a single instant. Part of the was authority for Haney to in two machine from an watching-post and them to the of the Shed when the attack began.
Those machine were at the trucks. Splinters up from the wood-block floor. Then, abruptly, one of the trucks in a monstrous, of blue-white and a so that it was not but pure concussion. The other over and from the blast, but did not explode. Men jumped from it. There must have been orders, but Joe nothing at all. He only saw men their arms, and others from the and toward him, and he to shoot as he ran to meet them.
Now, belatedly, the of the Shed their alarm, and set up as the rose in pitch. Over by the pistols cracked. Something with a crash not ten from where Joe ran. It was a man’s body, from high up on the that was the most man-made thing in all the world. A among the of other tumult.
A Security man shot, and one of the and slid, his burden—which must be a bomb—rolling ridiculously. There had been two trucks that through the swing-up door. They had for the under the Platform at the exact time when the would be clear, all work had stopped. Under the Platform, the trucks were to have been detonated. At the very least, they would have rent and it horribly. They might have its back. And surely one should have it. But there should not have been machine to shoot. Now the of men from the for the Platform with parts of its cargo. If they their way the Platform, they blast its open, or its or its air and its and turn its air into sieves. Anything that be would the take-off and so the Platform to and more successful attack.
There were more pistol shots. A group of men their way out of the rooms and for the center of the Shed. (Later, it would be they had of their garments, and to set them off.) Somewhere another door opened, and Security men came out with pistols, Major Holt leading them. He had started out to off the truck-borne attack, but he was to be too late. Joe’s were trying to take of that. The men from the rooms were Major Holt’s prey. They were as they ran.
Joe and and he crackling. As he up he into a that as Joe him. And then he was for his life.
This was under the Platform and in the middle of many times confounded. Joe a that a gun. He his had a bomb over one and right now had one hand free for combat. Joe to his enemy with his own pistol, of pushing the against the man’s and the trigger. He a blow, and his hand and the a metal brace. The cut his and his fingers. Despairingly he the pistol from his grasp. Then his up his viciously, but it Joe’s of his groin, and Joe his weight and they to the ground together.
There was all around him. The machine again—there was a of tracer-bullet fire. The men by the to out through the doors. But the marked a line they must not cross. They checked. Once a gun so close by Joe’s that it him. And once somebody over himself and his antagonist, who like an of past belief.
Joe know only his private part in the in the of the base. But there was up on the Platform itself. A Mohawk with a man on one of the tubes. An device in the saboteur’s pocket ignited, and it red-hot and he as it its way out of his garments. The Mohawk the man clear, to crash on the far-distant floor, and then the off. It after the man and and burst, and it was which itself with a of from blocks.
There was by the doors. There was an in the room, and a from the top of the Platform. A to into an air-lock entrance, and he got his and in, but a copper-skinned Indian his still and with the of his hand on that man’s neck. Underneath the Platform was chaos, with pistol and hand-to-hand everywhere. The Joe had valiantly, but four got to the of the steps, where there were two guards. Then there were only two left to up the steps over the guards’ and toward the Platform door, but the Chief appeared a twelve-inch Stillson. He let it go, like a tomahawk, and sixteen steps onto the of the other man. A gun flashed, but then there was only on the floor.
Mike the midget, the Platform, one bloodied, panting, man who somehow had inside. And Mike a from a step, and upon his half-conscious victim, and him again, and then on until somebody who was big to the away.
And all this while, Joe with only one man. It was a struggle, the man had a bomb and he might manage to set it off or it might go off of itself. It was a struggle, the man had the and of a maniac—and the tactics. Joe the hand that the gun upon the floor, and it something and and clear. But that worse. While to kill Joe with the revolver, his had had only five with which to out Joe’s or tear away his ears or his flesh. But with no pistol he had ten, and he like a wild beast. He like an animal. He to pant—thick, that had the quality of hate. And then there was a of bodies—Major Holt’s was very late in the center of the Shed—and then a group all over the pair who and on the ground, and a Joe’s and he teeth in his throat. They into his flesh, and tearing....
Joe used his in a of revulsion—used his as the other man had to use his in the of battle. The man him as an animal would scream, and Joe his free. In he his antagonist’s on the until the man limp....
And then he a voice saying: “Quit it or you your off! Quit it——” And Joe panted: “It’s about time you got here! This man came in on that truck. Watch out for that bomb he’s got on him....”
