"The ship you are in," I said, with no need to tell them of each other,
"is not the real _Evening Star_. It will _not_ take you to the stars.
This has been only a _test_ to credit your fitness to pilot the real
interstellar craft of the Star Project. You must return to the Lunar
Satellite. This is a direct order."
The two screens remained blank. Only the windless silence of space
echoed over Johnson's channel, but the tapes later proved that I
actually did hear a whispered laugh from Meyverik.