"You mustn't say that, Miss Loring," said Axel. "The only way it could
have been your fault was if you had touched the automatic control
button yourself. Did you? Even by accident?"
"No. No, of course not," she said. "My hands were in my lap. I was
talking into the mike just a moment before. There was no reason to take
over control of the capsule."
Axel nodded. "I was watching you," he said. "That is my recollection.
That leaves only two ways for the accident to have happened. Either
Willy put the ship into automatic himself or there was a malfunctioning
that set it off spontaneously."
Neither theory seemed to fit. In the first place, Willy had
been drilled on what to do before re-entering. One of the first
things--something even a novice would realize--would have been to get
into his harness. Furthermore, Willy had instruments, including a
chronometer, in front of him and he should have known he had to spend
ninety more minutes in space.
Faulty mechanism might have accounted for the accident, but everything
had been tested, checked and double-checked. Dr. Spartan himself had
gone over everything.
"Dr. Spartan would like to talk to you, Miss Loring," Axel went on.
"There will be an inquiry, but he wants to hear your story as soon as
you feel up to it."
Gail moistened her lips. "I'd like to get it over with now," she said.
"Thanks for telling me--everything." She turned back to me. "And
thanks to you, Bill Drake. I feel much better after talking to you."