"Man, you may need that practice. You'll be good and stiff before you
get out--" He broke off, horrified at the pun.
Scotty roared with glee. "You think you're kidding! That's all
right--the way I see it, I'm getting ten days vacation on the
Government, and plenty of pay besides. And once I get up there, I
won't need much muscle to make my way around, they tell me." He lit a
cigarette, peering down the strip ahead of them. Far ahead he could see
the batteries of searchlights, picking out the tall, shiny spire of the
ship. It stood tall in its scaffolding, pointing like a needle toward
the black star-lit sky. Already the ground below it was swarming with
tiny figures, moving about on the final check-down. My ship, thought
Scotty. I helped to build it. And here's one job where they need a
cocky, loud-mouthed little shrimp more than anything else in the world--
* * * * *
Another jeep swerved in beside them on the strip. Scotty caught a
glimpse of the General and a couple of official-looking civilians.
"Everybody's going to see you off," said Mitch from the back seat.
"Yeah--the whole damned crowd. My big day."
"You sure you got everything down cold?"
Scotty gave him a scornful glance. "You kidding? How could I miss?"
His freckled face broke into a grin from ear to ear, and his eyes were
bright with excitement. "Why I've got nothing to do but crawl in and
zip things up after me. Don't even have to throw the fatal switch--they
take care of everything from outside. I'm telling you, it's a cinch.
Three days to tell myself sea stories--and then I'll crawl out and tell
you boys what Lady Moon _really_ looks like."
A crowd of reporters and photographers were waiting as the jeep sped
up to the huge barbed-wire enclosure surrounding the ship. Scotty stuck
his head out of the jeep and gave them a big grin. The flashbulbs
popped. Then the jeep roared on toward the field shack. Scotty stepped
out, staring up at the tall sleek ship. A little bottom-heavy now,
perhaps, but with the first and second stages disengaged--a beauty of a
ship. He stepped into the field shack, and grinned up at the General.
"Final check go all right?"
The General nodded and smiled. "This is the Secretary of Defense,
Scotty--"
"Well! Guess I'm rating big visitors tonight!" He gave the man's hand a
jaunty shake.
"You're taking a big trip," said the Secretary. "Tell me, Mr.
Johnson--how does it feel to be the first man to go to the Moon?"
"Can't say. I haven't been there yet."
"You'd better get aboard," said the General. "Everything's been checked
down. You'll have half an hour to make your own checks from inside.
How's your weight?"
"Down to 128."
"Fine. That's better than we'd hoped. But don't be afraid to holler if
something doesn't look right--" He extended his hand, gripped Scotty's
tightly. "Good luck, lad. We're with you all the way."
A soldier rode up the gantry with him, high up past the break-lines
of the first and second stages, to the small open port in the final
stage of the rocket. Scotty could feel the eyes on him from below as
he climbed into the port--one lone man to jockey the first manned ship
to the Moon. A big job, a job that really took guts. He grinned, and
slid through into the passenger chamber. Carefully he reached back and
slammed the port shut behind him with a farewell wave to the soldier,
and gave the lock-wheel a spin, until he heard the seal click. Then he
slipped down into the half-sitting, half-reclining couch which nearly
filled the tiny chamber. His heart was pounding in his throat as he
snapped on the radio phone. "Okay, I'm in," he said.
"Got her locked up?" Mitch's voice grated in his earphones.
"Ay, ay."
"Give her a careful check inside there. Then stand by."
Scotty nodded and checked the banks of instruments on the tiny panel
before him. He was the payload on this trip; the ship was little more
than an upholstered tube, with him jammed tight in one end and enough
fuel to land him on the Moon and shoot him off again in behind him.
The other sections, far huger than this little pellet with him in the
middle, would drive him out, break the frightful hold that Earth held
on her subjects. But there was nothing superfluous here, nothing he
did not actually need, and he checked quickly. Then he leaned back and
flipped on the forward televiewer....
The vast black expanse of space, peppered with a thousand bright
pinpoints of light, suddenly appeared on the screen inches from his
face. It took him by surprise; his hand jerked down on the switch
again, and he wiped a line of droplets from his upper lip, and closed
his eyes, his heart pounding against his ribs.