"I'll be waiting."
"First jump's always the hardest, I hear," spoke up the second aide,
cheerily. Like a great many other execs, the officer boasted no active
space rating, though he did wear the winged moons of an observer.
But Lance and Carolyn were again quite busy, and did not hear.
* * * * *
Inside the shell of the _Cosmos XII_, Lance, sitting flat on his back
against gravity, looked up at the sweep hands on the control deck clocks
and hurried through his pre-jump check list. Tension mounted inside him.
He contacted the Operations people in the bunker over the radio net.
Colonel Sagen's voice came in clear: "Five minutes, Lance."
"I am receiving. Area cleared?"