WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>Chapter thirteen of Space Platform by Murray Leinster. This LibriVox

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<v Speaker 1>recording is in the public domain Space Platform, Chapter thirteen.

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<v Speaker 1>On the day of the take off, there were a

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<v Speaker 1>number of curious side effects from the completion of the

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<v Speaker 1>Space Platform. There was a very small country on the

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<v Speaker 1>other side of the world which determined desperately to risk

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<v Speaker 1>its existence on the success of the platform's flight. It

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<v Speaker 1>had to choose between abject submission to a powerful neighbor

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<v Speaker 1>or the possibility of a revolution in which its neighbor's

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<v Speaker 1>troops would take on the semblance of citizens for street

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<v Speaker 1>fighting purposes. If the Platform got aloft, it could defy

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<v Speaker 1>its neighbor, and in a grim gamble it did. There

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<v Speaker 1>was also a last ditch fight in the United Nations,

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<v Speaker 1>wherein the platform was denounced and a certain block of

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<v Speaker 1>associated countries issued an ultimatum threat to both the international

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<v Speaker 1>organization if the platform went aloft, and again there had

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<v Speaker 1>to be a grim gamble. If the Platform did not

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<v Speaker 1>take the space and so furnish ultimately a guarantee of peace,

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<v Speaker 1>the United Nations would face the alternatives of becoming a

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<v Speaker 1>military alliance for atomic war or something less than an

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<v Speaker 1>international Debating society. Of course, there were less significant results.

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<v Speaker 1>There were already fourteen popular songs ready for broadcast, orchestrated

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<v Speaker 1>and rehearsed with singers ready to saturate the ears of

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<v Speaker 1>the listening public. They ranged from We've got a warship

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<v Speaker 1>in the sky, which was more or less jingoistic, to

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<v Speaker 1>a boy and girl melody entitled We'll have a moon

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<v Speaker 1>just for us two. The latter tune had been stolen

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<v Speaker 1>from a hit of four years before, which in turn

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<v Speaker 1>had been stolen from a head of six years before that,

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<v Speaker 1>and it had been stolen from a still earlier bit

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<v Speaker 1>of bach, so it was a rather pretty melody. And

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<v Speaker 1>of course there was a super colossal motion picture epic

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<v Speaker 1>in color and with musical numbers champing in its film

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<v Speaker 1>cans for simultaneous first run showings at eight different key cities.

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<v Speaker 1>It was titled to the Stars, and three separate endings

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<v Speaker 1>had been filmed, of which the appropriate one would of

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<v Speaker 1>course be used in the eight separate world premieres. One

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<v Speaker 1>ending had the platform failed due to sabotage, and the

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<v Speaker 1>hero played by an actor who had interrupted his seventh

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<v Speaker 1>honeymoon to play the part, splendidly prepared to build it

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<v Speaker 1>all over again. The second ending closed with the platform

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<v Speaker 1>headed for Alpha Centaurus, which was hardly the intention of

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<v Speaker 1>anybody outside of filmdom. The third ending was secret, but

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<v Speaker 1>it was said that hard boiled motion picture executives had

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<v Speaker 1>cried like babies when it was thrown on preview screens. These,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, were merely sidelights. They were not very important.

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<v Speaker 1>In the shed. There work went on at a feverish rate,

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<v Speaker 1>although there was no longer any construction work to be done.

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<v Speaker 1>In theory, therefore, the members of welders and pipe fitters,

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<v Speaker 1>and steel construction, and electrical and other unions should have

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<v Speaker 1>retired gracefully to bootstrap. Members of building maintenance and rigging

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<v Speaker 1>and wrecking and other assorted unions should have been gathered

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<v Speaker 1>together in far cities, screened by security, and brought to

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<v Speaker 1>bootstrap and paid overtime to pull up wood block flooring

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<v Speaker 1>and unbolt and jack out the proper section of the

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<v Speaker 1>shed's eastern wall. But if there had been anything of

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<v Speaker 1>that sort tride, it would have produced bloodshed. The men

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<v Speaker 1>who'd built the platform were going to see it depart

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<v Speaker 1>this earth, or else they'd never have a second chance.

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<v Speaker 1>It would work. The first time, or it wouldn't work

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<v Speaker 1>at all. So the platform was made ready for its

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<v Speaker 1>takeoff by the men who had made it. A gigantic

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<v Speaker 1>section two full gores of the shed's wall was unbolted

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<v Speaker 1>in two pieces, and each piece thrust outward at the

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<v Speaker 1>top and bottom, so that they were offset from the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of the huge half globe. There were hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>wheels at their bottom, which for the first time touched

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<v Speaker 1>the sixteen lines of rails laid with unbelievable solidity around

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<v Speaker 1>the outside of the shed. And then the monstrous sections

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<v Speaker 1>were rolled aside. A vast opening resulted, and morning sunlight

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<v Speaker 1>smote for the first time mankind's very first spacecraft. Joe

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<v Speaker 1>saw the sunlight strike, and his first sensation was of disappointment.

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<v Speaker 1>The normal shape of the platform was ungainly, but now

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<v Speaker 1>it was practically hidden by the solid fuel rocket which

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<v Speaker 1>would consume themselves in their firing. Also, the floor of

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<v Speaker 1>the shed looked strange. It was littered with the clumsy

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<v Speaker 1>shapes of pushpots trucked to this place in an unending

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<v Speaker 1>stream all night long. A very young lieutenant from the

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<v Speaker 1>Pushpot Airfield hunted up Joe and assured him that every

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<v Speaker 1>drop of fuel in every pushpot's tanks had been tested twice,

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<v Speaker 1>once in the storage tanks and again in the pushpots.

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<v Speaker 1>Joe thanked him very politely. There was no longer any scaffolding.

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<v Speaker 1>There were no trucks left except two gigantic cranes, which

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<v Speaker 1>could handle the pushpots like so many toys, and the

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<v Speaker 1>effect of sunlight pouring into the shed seemed strange. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 1>outside there were carpenters hammering professionally upon a hasty grandstand

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<v Speaker 1>of timber. Most of the carpenters would have been handier

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<v Speaker 1>with ribbon guns or welding torches, but it would have

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<v Speaker 1>been indiscreet to comment. As fast as a final timber

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<v Speaker 1>was spiked in place, somebody hastily wound it with very

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<v Speaker 1>tawdry bunting. Men were stringing wires to the grand stand,

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<v Speaker 1>and other men were setting up television and movie cameras.

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<v Speaker 1>Two security men grimly stood by each camera amid a

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<v Speaker 1>glittering miscellany of microphones. Joe was lucky, or perhaps Sally

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<v Speaker 1>pulled wires. Anyhow, the two of them had a vantage

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<v Speaker 1>point for which many other people would have paid astonishing sums.

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<v Speaker 1>They waited where the circular ramp between the two skins

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<v Speaker 1>of the shed was broken by the removal of the doorway.

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<v Speaker 1>They were half way up the curve of the shed's

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<v Speaker 1>roof at the edge of the great opening, and they

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<v Speaker 1>could see everything from the push pipe pilots as they

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<v Speaker 1>were checked into their contraptions, to the sedate arrival of

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<v Speaker 1>the big brass at the grand stand below. There was

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<v Speaker 1>a reverberant humming from the shed. Now it might have

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<v Speaker 1>been the humming of wind blowing across its open section.

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<v Speaker 1>Joe and Sally saw a grim knot of security men

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<v Speaker 1>escorting four crew members to a flight of wooden steps

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<v Speaker 1>that led up to a lower air lock door. Joe

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<v Speaker 1>had reason to remember that door and watched them enter

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<v Speaker 1>and close the air lock behind them. Then the security

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<v Speaker 1>men pulled away the wooden stairs and hauled them completely away.

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<v Speaker 1>There were a very few highly trusted men making final

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<v Speaker 1>inspections of the platform's exterior. One of them was nearly

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<v Speaker 1>on a level with Joe and Sally. Other men were

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<v Speaker 1>already lowering themselves down on ropes that they later jerked free.

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<v Speaker 1>But this last man on top did a very human

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<v Speaker 1>thing when he finished his check up to the last

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<v Speaker 1>least detail. He pulled something out of his hip pocket.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a tobacco can full of black paint. There

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<v Speaker 1>was a brush with it. He painted his name on

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<v Speaker 1>the silvery plates of the platform, C. J. Adams Junior,

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<v Speaker 1>and satisfiedly began his descent to the ground. His name

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<v Speaker 1>would go up with the platform and be visible for

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<v Speaker 1>uncounted generations if all went well. He reached the ground

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<v Speaker 1>and walked away contented. The cranes began their task. Each

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<v Speaker 1>one reached down deliberately and picked up a pushpot. They

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<v Speaker 1>swung the pushpots to vertical positions and presented them precisely

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<v Speaker 1>to the platform side. They clung there ridiculously magnetic grapples.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, Joe and Sally, at the end of the

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<v Speaker 1>corridor in the wall could see the heads of the

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<v Speaker 1>pushpot pilots in their plastic domes. Music blared from behind

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<v Speaker 1>the grandstand. The seats were being filled, but naturally, the

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<v Speaker 1>least important personages were arriving first. There were women in

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<v Speaker 1>costumes to which they had given infinite thought, and nobody

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<v Speaker 1>looked at them except other women. There was khaki. There

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<v Speaker 1>were gray business suits, slide rulemen. These who had done

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<v Speaker 1>the brain work behind the platform's design. Then black broadcloth

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<v Speaker 1>politicians passed question. There was nothing less impressive from a

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<v Speaker 1>height of two hundred feet than a pot bellied man

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<v Speaker 1>in black broadcloth walking on the ground. There were men

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<v Speaker 1>in uniforms which were not of the United States Armed Forces.

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<v Speaker 1>They ran heavily to medals which glittered. There were more arrivals,

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<v Speaker 1>and more and more. The newsreel and TV cameras nosed around.

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<v Speaker 1>The cranes worked methodically. They dipped and deftly picked up

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<v Speaker 1>a thing shaped like the top half of a loaf

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<v Speaker 1>of bread. They swung that metal thing to the platform side.

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<v Speaker 1>Each time it clung fast, like a snail or slug,

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<v Speaker 1>to the surface on which it crawls. Many pushed pots

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<v Speaker 1>clung even to the rocket tubes, the same tubes that

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<v Speaker 1>would presently burn away and vanish. So Joe and Sally

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<v Speaker 1>saw the pushpots in a new aspect, blunt metal slugs

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<v Speaker 1>with gaping mouths, which were their air scoops. The tinny

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<v Speaker 1>music from below cut off. Somebody began an oration. The

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<v Speaker 1>men who had built the platform were not interested in

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<v Speaker 1>fine phrases. But this event was broadcast everywhere, and some

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<v Speaker 1>people might possibly tune to the channels that carried the

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<v Speaker 1>speakers and their orations, rather than the channels that showed

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<v Speaker 1>the huge, bleak, obscured shape of the monster that was

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<v Speaker 1>headed either for empty space or pure disaster. The speaker stopped,

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<v Speaker 1>and another took his place, then another. One man spoke

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<v Speaker 1>for less than a minute, and the stands went wild.

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<v Speaker 1>But the one who followed made splendid gestures. He talked

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<v Speaker 1>and talked and talked. The cranes cleaned up the last

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<v Speaker 1>of the waiting pushpots, and the platform itself was practically invisible.

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<v Speaker 1>The cranes backed off and went away clanking. The orator

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<v Speaker 1>raised his voice. It made small echoes in the vast

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<v Speaker 1>cavern that was the shed. Somebody plucked the speaker's arm.

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<v Speaker 1>He ended abruptly and sat down, wiping his forehead with

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<v Speaker 1>a huge blue handkerchief. There was a roar. A pushpot

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<v Speaker 1>had started its motor. Another roar, another, One by one,

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<v Speaker 1>the multitude of clustering objects added to the din in

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<v Speaker 1>the open, A single jet was appalling. Here. The noise

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<v Speaker 1>became a sound which was no longer a sound. It

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<v Speaker 1>became a tumult, which, by pure volume, ceased to be

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<v Speaker 1>anything one's ears could understand. It reached a peak and

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<v Speaker 1>held there. Then abruptly all the motors slackened in unison

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<v Speaker 1>and then roared more loudly. The group controls within the

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<v Speaker 1>platform were being tested three four, five times. The tumult

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<v Speaker 1>faded to the merely unbearable and went up to full

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<v Speaker 1>volume again. Joe felt Sally plucking at his arm. He

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<v Speaker 1>turned and saw jet planes underbelly, very close, and it

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<v Speaker 1>swept back wings. It was climbing straight up. Then he

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<v Speaker 1>saw another jet plane streaking for the Great Dome's open door.

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<v Speaker 1>It moved with incredible velocity. It jerked upward and climbed

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<v Speaker 1>over the shed's curve and was gone. But there were others,

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<v Speaker 1>and others and others. These were the fighter ships of

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<v Speaker 1>the Jet Plane Guard. For months on end they had

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<v Speaker 1>flown above the shed, protecting it. Now they were going

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<v Speaker 1>aloft to relieve the present watchers. They were rising to

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<v Speaker 1>spread out as an interceptor screen for hundreds of miles

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<v Speaker 1>in every direction, in case somebody should be so foolish

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<v Speaker 1>as to try again the exploit of the night before,

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<v Speaker 1>they would not see the monster in the shed again.

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<v Speaker 1>So in a single line which reached to the horizon,

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<v Speaker 1>they made this roaring run for the one last glimpse,

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<v Speaker 1>which was their right. Joe saw tiny specks come streaking

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<v Speaker 1>down out of the sky to queue up for this

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<v Speaker 1>privileged view of the platform before it rose. Suddenly they

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<v Speaker 1>were gone, and Joe felt that tingling sense of pride

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<v Speaker 1>which never comes from the sensation of sharing in mere

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<v Speaker 1>power or splendor or pompous might, but is so certain

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<v Speaker 1>when the human touch modifies magnificence. And then the roaring

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<v Speaker 1>of the pushpot engines achieved an utterly impossible volume. The

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<v Speaker 1>whole interior of the shed was misty now but shining

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<v Speaker 1>in the morning light, and the platform moved. At first,

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<v Speaker 1>it was a mere stir. It turned ever so slightly

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<v Speaker 1>to one side, pivoting on the ways that had supported

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<v Speaker 1>it during building. It turned back and to the other side.

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<v Speaker 1>The vapor thickened from each jet motor. A blast of

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<v Speaker 1>blue white flame poured down, and the moisturing the earth

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<v Speaker 1>was turning into steam and stray woodblocks into acrid smoke.

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<v Speaker 1>The platform turned precisely and exactly back to its original position,

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<v Speaker 1>and Joe's heart pounded in his throat because he knew

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<v Speaker 1>that the turning had been done with the Gyros, and

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<v Speaker 1>they had been handled by the pilot Gyros, for which

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<v Speaker 1>he was responsible. Then the platform moved again. It lifted

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<v Speaker 1>by inches and swayed forward. It checked and lurched again,

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<v Speaker 1>and went staggering toward the great opening. Before it, a

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<v Speaker 1>part of its base gouged a deep furrow in the

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<v Speaker 1>earthen floor. The noise increased from the incredible to the

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<v Speaker 1>inn conceivable. It seemed as if all the thunder since

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<v Speaker 1>time began had returned to Bellow, because the platform moved,

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<v Speaker 1>and it floated and bumped out of the shed. It

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<v Speaker 1>staggered toward the east. Its keel was perhaps at this

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<v Speaker 1>point as much as three feet above the ground, but

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<v Speaker 1>the jet motors cast up blinding clouds of dust and smoke,

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<v Speaker 1>and even those afoot could not be sure. There was confusion.

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<v Speaker 1>The smoke and vapor splashed out in every possible direction.

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<v Speaker 1>Joe saw frantic movement, and he realized that the uniforms

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<v Speaker 1>and the frock coats were scrambling to escape the fumes.

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<v Speaker 1>The khaki tinted specks, which were men, seemed to run,

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<v Speaker 1>the frock coats ran, The carefully thought out brighter specks,

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<v Speaker 1>which were women ran gasping and choking from the smoke.

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<v Speaker 1>One stout figure toppled, scrambled up, and scuttled frantically for safety.

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<v Speaker 1>But the platform was in motion. Now it was a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred yards behind the shed wall two hundred three. It

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<v Speaker 1>slowly gathered speed. A half mile from the shed, it

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<v Speaker 1>was definitely clear of the ground. It left a trail

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<v Speaker 1>of scorched, burnt desert behind it moved almost swiftly. Now

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<v Speaker 1>two miles from the shed, it was fifteen feet above

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<v Speaker 1>the earth. Three miles and a clear strip of sunlight

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<v Speaker 1>showed beneath it, And it was still accelerating. At four

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<v Speaker 1>miles and five and six it was aloft, climbing with

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<v Speaker 1>seemingly infinite slowness, with all the hundreds of straining, thrusting,

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<v Speaker 1>clumsy pushpots clinging to it and pushing it ever ahead

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<v Speaker 1>and upward. It went smoothly toward the east. It continued

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<v Speaker 1>to gain speed. It did not seem to dip toward

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<v Speaker 1>the horizon at all. It went on and on, dwindling

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<v Speaker 1>from a giant to a spot, and then to a

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00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:03.480
<v Speaker 1>little dark speck in the sky that still went on

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<v Speaker 1>and on until Joe could not pretend to himself that

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<v Speaker 1>he still saw it. Even then there was probably a

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<v Speaker 1>tiny droning noise in the air, but nobody who had

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<v Speaker 1>watched the take off could possibly hear it. Then Joe

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<v Speaker 1>looked at Sallie and she at him, and Joe was

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<v Speaker 1>grinning like an ape with excitement and relief and triumph

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<v Speaker 1>which was at once his own and that of all

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<v Speaker 1>his dreams. Sallie's eyes were shining and exultant. She hugged

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<v Speaker 1>him in purest exuberance, crying that the space platform was up,

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00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:44.400
<v Speaker 1>was up, was up. At sundown, they were waiting on

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<v Speaker 1>the porch of the Major's quarters behind the shed. The

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<v Speaker 1>Major was there, and Hainy and the Chief and Mike

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<v Speaker 1>and Joe. The Major's whole look had changed. He seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to have shrunk, and he looked more tired than any

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<v Speaker 1>man should ever be allowed to get. But his job

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00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:04.240
<v Speaker 1>was done, and the reaction was enough to explain everything.

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<v Speaker 1>He sat in an easy chair with a glass beside him,

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<v Speaker 1>and he looked as if nothing on earth could make

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<v Speaker 1>him move a finger, but nevertheless, he was waiting. Salie

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<v Speaker 1>came out with a tray. She gravely passed around the

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<v Speaker 1>glasses and the cakes that went with them. Then she

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<v Speaker 1>sat down on the porch steps beside Joe. She looked

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<v Speaker 1>at him and nodded in friendly fashion, And Joe was

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<v Speaker 1>inorderately approving of Sallie, but he felt awkward at showing

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<v Speaker 1>it too plainly in her father's presence. Mike said defiantly,

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<v Speaker 1>but it still would have been easier to get up

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<v Speaker 1>there if it had been built for guys like me.

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<v Speaker 1>Nobody contradicted him. He was right, anyhow, every one of

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<v Speaker 1>them felt too much relaxed and relieved to enter into argument.

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<v Speaker 1>Hainy said, dreamily. Everything broke right. Everything they got in

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<v Speaker 1>a jet stream like they expected, and they gave them

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<v Speaker 1>three hundred miles extra east speed. They were eight miles

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<v Speaker 1>up when the pushpots fired their jadoes, and twelve miles

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<v Speaker 1>up when the pushpots let go. They must have near

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<v Speaker 1>broke their pilot's Next when they caught their motors again,

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<v Speaker 1>and the platform's rockets fired just rights, making flames a

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00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:27.079
<v Speaker 1>mile long, and they were going. Then what were they making?

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<v Speaker 1>Who cares, asked the chief peacefully. Plenty six hundred from

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<v Speaker 1>the pushpots, murmured heiny, frowning, and three hundred from the

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00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:40.839
<v Speaker 1>jet stream. And then there was the jadoes that all

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00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:43.680
<v Speaker 1>let go at once, and then there was eight hundred

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<v Speaker 1>from the Earth rotating. They had ten percent of their

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00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:50.440
<v Speaker 1>rockets on fired when they got into their orbit, said

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<v Speaker 1>Mike authoritatively. They were two thousand miles up when they

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<v Speaker 1>passed over India, and now they're four thousand miles up

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<v Speaker 1>and the orbit stable. This is their third round, isn't

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<v Speaker 1>it will be? Said the Chief. Joe and sadly sat

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<v Speaker 1>watching the west. The space platform went around the Earth

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<v Speaker 1>from west to east, like Earth's natural moon, but because

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<v Speaker 1>of its speed, it would rise in the west and

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<v Speaker 1>set in the east six times in every twenty four hours.

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<v Speaker 1>Major Holt spoke suddenly, the austerity had gone out of

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<v Speaker 1>his manner. With his energy, he said quietly, you four,

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<v Speaker 1>you gave me the worst scare I've ever had in

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<v Speaker 1>my life. But do you realize that that sabotage attempt

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00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.079
<v Speaker 1>with the two truckloads of explosive Do you realize that

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00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:45.119
<v Speaker 1>they'd have gotten the platform if it hadn't been for

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00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:49.119
<v Speaker 1>that crazy trick you foreplanned and the precautions we took

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<v Speaker 1>because of it, Joe said, deprecatingly, it was just luck

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<v Speaker 1>that they happened to pick the same time, and that

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<v Speaker 1>Haney was up there with those machine gunners at the

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<v Speaker 1>right moment. It was good luck, but it was luck.

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<v Speaker 1>The Major said effortfully. There are people called accident prones.

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<v Speaker 1>Accidents happen all around them, and nobody knows why. You four,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps Joe especially, are not accident prones. You seem to

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<v Speaker 1>be something antithetical to accidents. I would hesitate to credit

317
00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:29.359
<v Speaker 1>your usefulness to your brains, especially Joe's brains. I have

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00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:34.279
<v Speaker 1>known him too long, but Washington does not look at

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<v Speaker 1>it in exactly the same way. Sally touched Joe warningly,

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<v Speaker 1>but her face was very bright and proud. Joe felt queer.

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<v Speaker 1>Joe said, the Major tiredly was an alternate for membership

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<v Speaker 1>in the platform's crew. But for penicillin or something of

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<v Speaker 1>the sort that made a sick man get well quickly,

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00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.720
<v Speaker 1>Joe would be up there in the platforms or But now,

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<v Speaker 1>his record in the instruction he did take was satisfactory,

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<v Speaker 1>and all four of you were very useful in the

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00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:14.680
<v Speaker 1>last stages of the building of the platform. Again, Joe,

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<v Speaker 1>especially his cooperation with higher authorities, has produced very favorable comments,

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<v Speaker 1>so it has felt that he should have some recognition.

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<v Speaker 1>All of you, of course, but Joe especially so. Joe

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<v Speaker 1>felt himself going white. Joe said, the major is to

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<v Speaker 1>be offered an appointment as skipper of a ferry rocket

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<v Speaker 1>carrying supplies and crew reliefs to the platform. His rocket

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00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:54.880
<v Speaker 1>will carry a crew of four, including himself. His recommendations

335
00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:00.759
<v Speaker 1>for membership in his crew will have considerable weight. There

336
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.039
<v Speaker 1>was a buzzing in Joe's ears. He wanted to cry

337
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:07.480
<v Speaker 1>and to dance, and especially right then, he would have

338
00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.839
<v Speaker 1>liked very much to kiss Sallie. It would have been

339
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<v Speaker 1>the only really appropriate way to express his emotions. Mike said,

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<v Speaker 1>in a fierce, strained voice, Joe, I can do anything

341
00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:22.440
<v Speaker 1>a big elephant of a guy can do, and I

342
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.599
<v Speaker 1>only use a quarter of the grub and air. You've

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<v Speaker 1>got to take me, Joe, You've got to the chief

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<v Speaker 1>said benignly. Hum, I'm going to be in charge of

345
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<v Speaker 1>the engine room and hen you'll b bosun. Let Joe

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<v Speaker 1>try to take off without us, and that don't leave

347
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:43.119
<v Speaker 1>you a rating, Mike, unless you're willin to be just

348
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<v Speaker 1>plain crew. Slowly, Sallie turned her face away from Joe

349
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<v Speaker 1>and looked up. Then they all saw it a telescope,

350
00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.279
<v Speaker 1>maybe would have shown it as the thing they'd worked

351
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<v Speaker 1>on and fought for. But it didn't look like that.

352
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<v Speaker 1>To the naked eye. It was just a tiny speck

353
00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:06.920
<v Speaker 1>of incandescence, gliding with grave deliberation across the sky. It

354
00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:11.839
<v Speaker 1>was a sliver of sunlight moving as they watched. There

355
00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:14.880
<v Speaker 1>were a good many millions of people watching it just then,

356
00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:19.000
<v Speaker 1>as it floated aloft in emptiness. To some, it meant

357
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:22.359
<v Speaker 1>peace and hope, and confidence of a serene old age

358
00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:25.440
<v Speaker 1>and a life worth living for their children and their

359
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:30.440
<v Speaker 1>children's children. To some, it was a fascinating technical achievement.

360
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<v Speaker 1>To a few, it meant that if wars had ended

361
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<v Speaker 1>and turmoil was no longer the norm of life on Earth,

362
00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:42.240
<v Speaker 1>this thing would be their destruction. But it meant something

363
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<v Speaker 1>to everybody in the world, to the people who had

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<v Speaker 1>been unable to do anything to help it except to

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00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:54.240
<v Speaker 1>pray for it. Perhaps it meant most of all, Joe said, quietly,

366
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<v Speaker 1>We'll be going up there to visit it, all of us.

367
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<v Speaker 1>He realized that Sallie's hand was tightly clasped in his.

368
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<v Speaker 1>She said me too, Joe, some day, said Joe, you too.

369
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<v Speaker 1>He stood up to watch more closely, Sallie stood beside him.

370
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<v Speaker 1>The others came to look. They made a group on

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<v Speaker 1>the lawn, as people were grouped everywhere in all the

372
00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:25.200
<v Speaker 1>world to gaze up at it. The Space Platform, A

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<v Speaker 1>tiny sliver of sunshine, an infinitesmal speck of golden light,

374
00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:36.079
<v Speaker 1>moved sedately across the deepening blue toward the east, toward

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<v Speaker 1>the night. The End of Space Platform by Murray Leinster