"Then you _did_ hear us that day?"
"Sure. I heard you. Is there anything wrong in that? I couldn't help
hearing you say you had a weapon that would end the war. If that's what
you've got, trot it out! That's a lot better than dying like rats on a
fool's expedition to the _Moon_!
"Luna! Pah! I, for one, won't have anything to do with it--"
I said hotly, "You damned fool, we can't open that closet. Don't you
realize--?"
"Brian!" snapped Dr. Mallory.
I shut up suddenly. Krassner looked at me, then at the old man
suspiciously. He snarled, "You reminded me once that I had no authority
over your command, O'Shea. Well, now I remind you that you have no
authority over me. I'm pulling out of here. I've had enough of this
insane secrecy and--"
He started for the door. I said only one word.
"Lars!"
Lars Frynge, the towering Swede, had his revolver at Krassner's
midsection. He said amiably, "Ay tank maybe you batter lissen to
Captain, hey?"
Krassner's face purpled. He bellowed, "This is the last straw, O'Shea.
Insulting an officer and an equal! By the gods, I'll--"
He was right. He was an officer and an equal. But I was determined of
one thing. Go with us he would, whether he liked it or not. But in the
meanwhile--
"All right, Lars," I said. "Krassner, I'm sorry. I wasn't just trying
to throw my weight around. But think it over carefully, man. This means
a lot to all of us. You're at liberty to do what you will."
He snorted and strode from the room. Danny Wilson cocked an eyebrow
at me; I nodded. Danny followed him. Maureen said nervously, "He's a
trouble-maker, Brian. I don't think we should trust him out of our
sight."
"That's why Danny left us," I grinned.
"And when we go, we should leave without him."
"That," said Mallory, "is impossible. When we go, there must remain no
one behind to know where we have gone."
* * * * *
And there were five days left in which to finish all that had to be
done before our departure. Those were days of feverish excitement and
activity for all of us. Having been let into the secret, my men were
shown the way to the underground cavern. There they labored, side by
side with Mallory's helpers, to load the cargo, put the last finishing
touches on the _Jefferson_.
We stripped the house; we gathered all forage from the barns and silos
and bins. We rolled cask upon cask of fresh spring water into the
holds. We locked and sealed the holds, one by one.
Danny raised a fuss about that. He had found something new and
wonderful--something I meant to investigate myself as soon as the
opportunity permitted. The joy of reading fiction.
"It--it's swell, Brian!" he told me. "Boy, I wish I'd lived in them
days when magazines was common. You ought to read some of them stories.
Sports and detective stories and--" He looked sort of sheepish. "The
ones I like best are science stories. Gosh, you'd be surprised, Brian.
Them old writers guessed sometimes pretty near what was going to happen.
"There was a guy named Bender, or Binder, or something like that, who
guessed 'way back in '40, at the start of this war, that we'd get into
it. And there was another guy named Clinton who said the same thing--he
was nuts, though. He said the women would bust loose from the men and
set up their own government.
"And those others, they predicted things like the spaceship we'll soon
be riding in. And television, and--"