WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.839 Chapter eleven of Space Platform by Murray Leinster. This LibriVox 2 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:11.119 recording is in the public domain. Space Platform, Chapter eleven. 3 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.560 Joe sat on the porch of Major Holt's quarters, in 4 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.559 the area next to the shed. It was about eight 5 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.839 thirty and dark, but there was a moon, and Joe 6 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.239 had come to realize that his personal disappointment was only 7 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.600 his personal disappointment, and that he hadn't any right to 8 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.560 make a nuisance of himself about it. Therefore, he didn't 9 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:36.719 talk about the thing nearest in his mind, but something 10 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:41.320 else that was next nearest or farther away. Still yet, 11 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.840 with the shed filling up a full quarter of the 12 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:47.399 sky and a gibbous moon new risen from the horizon, 13 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:50.520 it was not natural for a young man like Joe 14 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:57.079 to speak purely of earthly things. It'll come, he said yearningly, 15 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.799 staring at the moon. If the platform gets up day 16 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:04.120 after tomorrow, it's going to take time to ferry up 17 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:08.319 the equipment it ought to have. But still somebody ought 18 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.959 to land on the moon before too long, he added absorbedly. 19 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.120 Once the platform is fully equipped, it won't take many 20 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.400 rocket payloads to refill a ship's tanks at the platform 21 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:24.959 before it can head on out. Mathematically, a rocket ship 22 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.200 that could leave the platform with full fuel tanks should 23 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.480 have fuel to reach the moon and land on it, 24 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.439 and take off again and return to the platform. The 25 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:38.879 mathematical fact had a peculiar nagging flavor. When a dream 26 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:42.120 is subjected to statistical analysis and the report is in 27 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.519 its favor, a dreamer satisfaction is always deluded by a 28 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.319 subconscious feeling that the report is only part of the dream. 29 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.359 Everybody worries a little when a cherished dream shows a 30 00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:58.359 likelihood of coming true. Some people take firm steps to 31 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:02.239 stop things right there, so a romantic day dream won't 32 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:08.360 be spoiled by transmutation into prosaic fact. Bud Joe said doggedly. 33 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.599 Twenty fairy trips to pile up fuel, and the twenty 34 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:15.240 first ship should be able to refuel and go on out, 35 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:20.479 and then somebody will step out on the moon. He 36 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:24.000 was disappointed. Now he wouldn't be the one to do it, 37 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:29.639 but somebody would. You might try for the fairy service, 38 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:36.000 said Sallie uneasily. I will, said Joe grimly, but I 39 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:40.280 won't be hoping too much. After all, there are astronomers 40 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:43.319 and physics, sharks and such things who'll be glad to 41 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.360 learn to run rockets in order to practice their specialties 42 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:51.960 out of atmosphere. Sallie said mournfully. I can't seem to 43 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.560 say anything to make you feel better, but you do, 44 00:02:56.039 --> 00:03:01.199 said Joe. He added grandiloquently, but for your unflagging faith 45 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.639 in me, I would not have the courage to bear 46 00:03:03.639 --> 00:03:07.439 the burdens of every day life. She stamped her foot. 47 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:13.719 Stop it all right, but he said quietly. You are 48 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.039 a good kid, Sallie. You know it's not too bright 49 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.800 of me to mourn. She drew a deep breath. That's 50 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:26.879 better now, I want. There was a gangling figure walking 51 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:30.719 down the concrete path between the trim monotonous cottages that 52 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:36.240 were officers quarters at the shed. Joe said, sharply, that's Hainy. 53 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:41.879 What's he doing here? He called Hainy. Hainey's manner took 54 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:45.520 on purpose. He came across the grass. The lawns around 55 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.080 the officer's quarters contained the only grass in twenty miles. 56 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:57.319 Hiah said heiny uncomfortably. He spoke politely to Sallie, hia Ah, 57 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:00.479 you want to get in on the party, Joe, what 58 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:05.479 kind the party Mike was talking about, said Hainy. He 59 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:08.199 set it up. He wants me to get you and 60 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:14.520 a kind of undercovered tip off to Major Holt. Joe stirred. 61 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:19.160 Sally said, hospitably, sit down. You've noticed that my father 62 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.360 gave you full security clearance, so you can go anywhere. 63 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.920 Hainey perched awkwardly on the edge of the porch. Yeah, 64 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.759 that's helped with the party. It's how I got here. 65 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.439 As far as that goes. Mike's on top of the world. 66 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:38.879 Shoot it, said Joe. You know he's been pretty bitter 67 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:44.160 about things, said Hainy, carefully. He's been saying that little 68 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.600 guys like him ought to be the spaceman. There's half 69 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.639 a dozen other little guys been working on the platform too. 70 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.680 They can get in cracks and buck rivets and so on. Useful. 71 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.839 He's had em all hopped up on the fact that 72 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:02.160 the platform have been finished months ago. If it had 73 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:04.680 been built for them, and they could get to the 74 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:08.240 moon and back while full sized guys couldn't, and so on. 75 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:14.800 Remember I remember, said Sally. They've all been beefing about it, 76 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:20.079 explained Hainey. People know how they feel. So today Mike 77 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.439 went and talked to one or two of them, and 78 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:26.480 they started acting mysterious, passing messages back and forth and 79 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:31.639 so on. Little guys acting important. Security guys wouldn't notice 80 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:35.079 him much. You don't take a guy Mike's size serious 81 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.839 unless you know him. Then he's the same as anybody else. 82 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.480 So the security guys didn't pay any attention to him. 83 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:48.720 But some other guys did, some special other guys they 84 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.439 saw those little fellows acting like they were cooking up 85 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:58.199 something fancy, and they bit bit asked sally. They got curious, 86 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:02.759 So Mike and his gang got confidential, and they're going 87 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.319 to have help sabotage in the platform when the next 88 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:10.120 shift changes. The midget's getting even for being laughed at. See, 89 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:14.040 they're pretending. Their plan is that when the platform sabotaged, 90 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.399 not smashed, but just messed up so it can't take off, 91 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:20.319 the big brass will let them take a ferry rocket 92 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:22.759 up in a hurry and get it in orbit and 93 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.800 use it for a platform until the big platform can 94 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:29.199 be mended and sent up. Once they're up there, there's 95 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:32.319 no use trying to stop the big platform, so it 96 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:38.879 can go ahead. Joe said dubiously. I think I see 97 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:41.480 Mike and his gang of little guys are being SAPs 98 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:45.519 on purpose. If anybody's going to pull some fast stuff 99 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:50.399 next shift change, that's the time everybody's got to last chance. 100 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:53.680 Mike and his gang don't know what's going to happen, 101 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.759 but they sure know when they're inviting the real saboteurs 102 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.279 to make fools of them, and what will have happen. 103 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:05.639 Joe said dryly. The logical thing would be to feel 104 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.560 sorry for the big guys who think they're smarter than Mike. 105 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:14.959 Uh huh, said Hainy, deadly serious. Mike's story is there's 106 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.360 half a dozen rocket tubes already loaded. They're going to 107 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:22.199 fire those rockets between shifts. The platform gets shoved off 108 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.639 its base and may be dented and so on. Mike's 109 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:28.000 gang say they got the figures to prove they can 110 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.519 go up in a ferry rocket and be a platform, 111 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.199 and the big Brass won't have any choice but to 112 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:37.600 let them. Sally said, I don't think they know how 113 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.800 the big brass thinks. Haine and Joe said together no, 114 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:47.439 and Joe added, Mike's not crazy, he knows better. But 115 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:50.319 it's a good story for somebody who doesn't know Mike 116 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.360 Haine said, in indignation. I came out here to ask 117 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.040 the Major to help us the chiefs getting a gang 118 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.680 together too. There's some Indians of his tribe that work here. 119 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.639 We can count on them for plenty of rough stuff, 120 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.720 and there's Joe and me. The point is that Mike 121 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:11.879 Stunt makes it certain that everything busts loose at a 122 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:15.639 time we can know in advance if the Major gives 123 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.160 us a free hand, and then in the last five 124 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:21.240 minutes takes his own measures so they can't leak out 125 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.360 ahead of time and tip off the gangs we want 126 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.120 to get. We ought to knock off all the expert 127 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:30.360 saboteurs who know the weak spots in the platform, for instance, 128 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.279 those who know that thermite in the gyros would mess 129 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:39.240 everything up all over again. Joe said quietly. But Major 130 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:42.080 Holt has to be told well in advance about all this. 131 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:47.799 That's absolute, Yeah, agreed, Heiny. But also he has to 132 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.639 keep quiet not to tell anybody else. They've been too 133 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.879 many leaks already about too many things. You know that, 134 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:59.559 Joe said, Sally, see if you can get your father 135 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:04.320 to come here and talk. Hainy's right, not in his office, right, here. 136 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:08.320 Sally got up and went inside the house. She came 137 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:12.639 back with an uneasy expression on her face. He's coming, 138 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:15.279 but I couldn't very well tell him what was wanted, 139 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.000 and I'm not sure he's going to be in a 140 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:22.320 mood to listen. When the major arrived, he was definitely 141 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:25.360 not in a mood to listen. He was a harried man, 142 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.440 and he was keyed up to the limit by the 143 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.879 multiplied strain due to the imminence of the platform's takeoff. 144 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.279 He came back to his house from a grim conference 145 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.519 on exactly the subject of how to make preparation against 146 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:41.559 any possible sabotage incidents, and ran into a proposal to 147 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:47.480 stimulate them. He practically exploded, even if provocation should be 148 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:50.399 given to saboteurs to lure them into showing their hands, 149 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:53.799 this was no time for it, and if it were, 150 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:57.679 it would be security business. It should not be meddled 151 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:04.080 in by amateurs. Said grimly. I don't mean to be disrespectful, sir, 152 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:07.480 but there's a point you've missed. It isn't thinkable that 153 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:09.960 you'll be able to prevent something from being tried at 154 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:13.240 a time the saboteur's pick. They've got just so much 155 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:17.639 time left, and they'll use it. But Mike's plan would 156 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.480 offer them a diversion under cover of which they could 157 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.039 pull their own stuff. And besides that, you know your 158 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:26.960 office leaks. You could set up a trick like this 159 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.679 through security methods. And for a third fact, this is 160 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.679 the one sort of thing no saboteur would expect from 161 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.960 your security organization. We cocked the saboteurs at the pushpot 162 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.799 field by guessing at a new sort of thinking for sabotage. 163 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.519 Here's a chance to catch the saboteurs who work their 164 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:46.720 heads off in the next twenty four hours or so 165 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:51.840 by using a new sort of thinking for security. Major 166 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.759 Holt was not an easy man to get along with 167 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.320 at any time, and this was the worst of all 168 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.519 times to differ with him. But he did think straight. 169 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:04.120 He stared furiously at Joe growing Crimson with anger at 170 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:08.240 being argued with, But after he had stared a full minute, 171 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:13.000 the angry flush went slowly away. Then he nodded abruptly. 172 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.440 There you have a point, he said curtly. I don't 173 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:20.440 like it, but it is a point. It would be 174 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.360 completely the reverse of anything my antagonist could possibly expect, 175 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:29.720 So I accept the suggestion. Now let us make the arrangements. 176 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:35.080 He settled down for a quick, comprehensive, detailed plan. In 177 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:39.639 careful consultation with Hainy, Joe worked it out. The all 178 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:42.720 important point was that the Major's part was to be 179 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:47.120 done in completely unorthodox fashion. He would take measures to 180 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:50.320 mesh his actions with those of Mike, the Chief, Hainey, 181 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.320 and Joe. Each action the Major took, and each order 182 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:58.519 he gave, he would attend to personally. His actions would 183 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:01.399 be restricted to the last five minutes or less before 184 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:06.240 shift changed time. His orders would be given individually to individuals, 185 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:10.080 and under no circumstances would he transmit any order through 186 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.440 anybody else. In every instance, his order would be devised 187 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.720 to mean nothing intelligible to its recipient until the time 188 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:21.480 came for obedience. It was not an easy scheme for 189 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.720 the Major to bind himself to. It ran counter to 190 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:29.159 every principle of military thinking, save one, which was that 191 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:32.799 it was a good idea to outguess the enemy. At 192 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:38.080 the end, he said, detachedly, this is distinctly irregular. It 193 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:41.960 is as irregular as anything could possibly be. But that 194 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:44.399 is why I have agreed to it. It will be 195 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:50.039 at least unexpected coming from me. Then he smiled without mirth, 196 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.759 and nodded to Joe and to Hainy, and went striding 197 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.519 away down the concrete walk to where his car waited. 198 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.200 Hainey left a moment later to carry the list of 199 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:02.240 arrangements to the chief and to Mike, and Joe went 200 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.919 into the shed to do his part. There was little 201 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:09.200 difference in the appearance of the shed by night. In 202 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:12.159 the daytime, there were long rows of windows in the roof, 203 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:17.039 which led in a vague, dusky, inadequate twilight. At night, 204 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.919 those windows were shuttered. This meant that the shadows were 205 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.000 a little sharper, and the contrasts of light and shade 206 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.000 a trifle more abrupt. All other changes that Joe could 207 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.960 see were the normal ones due to the taking down 208 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:35.159 of scaffolding and the fastening up of rocket tubes. It 209 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.200 was clear that the shape of the platform proper would 210 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:41.440 be obscure when all its rocket tubes were fast in place. 211 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:45.840 Joe went to look at the last pushpots, and they 212 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:47.879 were ready to be taken over to their own field 213 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:52.039 for their flight test before use. There were extras, anyhow, 214 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.639 beyond the number needed to lift the platform. He found 215 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:59.759 himself considering the obvious fact that after the platform was aloft, 216 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:02.440 they would be used to launch the ferry rockets too. 217 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.320 Then he moved toward the center of the shed. A 218 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:09.600 whole level of scaffolding came apart, and its separate elements 219 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:13.639 were bundled together. As he watched, slings lowered the bundles 220 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:17.960 down to waiting trucks which would carry them. Elsewhere, there 221 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:21.080 were mixing trucks still pouring out their white paste for 222 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.200 the lining of the rocket tubes, and their product went 223 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.639 up and vanished into the gaping mouths of the giant 224 00:14:27.799 --> 00:14:32.679 wire wound pipes. Presently, Joe went into the maze of 225 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.679 piers under the space platform itself. He came to the 226 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:40.360 temporary stairs he had reason to remember. He nodded to 227 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:44.120 the two guards there. I want to take another look 228 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.600 at the gadget we installed, he said. One of the 229 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.480 guards said, good naturedly. Major Holt said to pass you 230 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:56.080 any time. He ascended and went along the curious corridor. 231 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:58.960 It had hand grips on the walls so a man 232 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.440 could pull himself along it. When there was no wait, 233 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:06.000 and went to the engine room. He heard voices. They 234 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:11.799 were speaking a completely unintelligible language, he tensed. Then the 235 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:15.039 Chief grinned at him amiably. He was in the engine 236 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.919 room and with him were no fewer than eight men 237 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:22.320 of his own coppery complexion. Here's some friends of mine, 238 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.559 he explained, and Joe shook hands with the black haired, 239 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:29.279 dark skinned men who were named Charlie Spotted Dog, and 240 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:33.879 Sam Fatbelly and Luther red Cow and other exotic things. 241 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:38.120 The chief said exuberantly. Major Hote told the guards to 242 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:40.879 let us pass in some Indian friends. So I took 243 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:43.759 my gang on a guided tour of the platform. None 244 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:47.240 of them had ever been inside before. And I heard 245 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:51.120 you talking Indian, said Joe. You're going to hear some more, 246 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.080 said the chief, with the first war party of my 247 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:58.600 tribe in longer my grandpa would have thought respectable. Joe 248 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.919 found it difficult to restrain a smile. The Chief took 249 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.639 him off to one side. Fella, he said, kindly, it 250 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:10.960 bothers you this business because it ain't organized. That's what 251 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.799 this world needs, Joe. Everything figured out by slide rules 252 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:19.399 and such. It's civilized, but it ain't human. What everybody 253 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:22.240 ought to be is a connoisseur of chaos, like me 254 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:26.159 quit worrying and got outside and pick up that security 255 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.879 guy the Major was going to send to meet you. 256 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.919 He gave Joe an amiable shove and rejoined his fellow Mohawks, 257 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:36.519 each of whom Joe noticed suddenly had somewhere on his 258 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:40.279 person a twelve inch Stilson wrench or a reasonable facsimile 259 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.080 to serve as a substitute tomahawk. They grinned at him 260 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:47.159 as he departed. At the bottom of the flight of 261 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.679 narrow wooden steps, there was a third security man. He 262 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.279 greeted Joe. Major Holt told me to pick you up, 263 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:58.679 he observed. Joe walked to one side with him. Major 264 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:01.240 Holt had promised to send us first class man to 265 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:04.599 meet Joe at this place, with orders to take instructions 266 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.960 from Joe. Joe said, curtly, you're to snag as many 267 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:12.160 security men as you can, place them more or less 268 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:15.200 out of sight under the platform here, and tell them 269 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.559 to turn off their walkie talkies and wait. No matter 270 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.839 what happens, They're to wait right here until they're needed 271 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:27.279 right here. He looked harassedly around him. The security man 272 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:32.559 nodded and moved casually away. This was close timing. Something 273 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:36.640 made Joe look up. He saw the catwalk gallery nearly overhead. 274 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:41.400 The expected guard was there. Hainy, though, was with him. 275 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:45.440 There was nothing else in sight, not yet, but Hainy 276 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:49.200 was on the job. Joe saw a security man step 277 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:52.160 out of sight in the scaffolding. He saw his own 278 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:56.119 assigned security man speak to another who wandered casually toward 279 00:17:56.119 --> 00:18:01.400 the platform's base. Minutes passed. Only Joe could have noticed 280 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.039 because he was watching for it. There were eight or 281 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.000 nine security men posted within call. They had their walkie 282 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:11.759 talkies turned off and would be subject only to his 283 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:16.599 orders if an emergency arose. Gongs began to ring all 284 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.079 around the edge of the shed. They set up a 285 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:23.200 horrendous clanging. This was not an alarm, but simply the 286 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:27.039 notice of change of shift time. There was a marked 287 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:31.519 change in the noises. Overhead. A crane pulled back, hammerings 288 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:35.480 dwindled and stopped. There were sounds of pipes combined to 289 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:40.000 form the scaffolds being taken apart for removal. A sling 290 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.400 load of pipe touched the floor and stayed there. The 291 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:47.559 crane's internal combustion motor stopped. Its operator stepped down to 292 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.319 the floor and headed for the exit hoists descended and 293 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:55.400 men moved across the floor. Other men scrambled down the ladders. 294 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.160 The floor became dotted with figures moving toward the doors, 295 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:00.799 through which men we went now to get on the 296 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:07.400 buses for bootstrap. Nothing happened. More long minutes passed. The 297 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.720 shift brought out by the buses was going through the 298 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:14.119 checkover process in the incoming screen room. Joe knew that 299 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.880 Major Holt had within the past five minutes gathered together 300 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:20.559 a tight knit bunch of armed security men to be 301 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:24.319 available for anything that might turn up. The men doing 302 00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:28.920 the normal shift chain screening were shorthanded. In consequence, the 303 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.119 floor next to the exits became crowded, but the central 304 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.319 area of the floor was cleared. One truck was stalled 305 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.720 at the swing up truck doors. Its driver ground the 306 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:44.640 starter insistently. Suddenly there was a high pitched yell away 307 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.240 up on the platform. Then there was a shot. Its 308 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.440 echoes rang horribly in the resonant interior of the shed. 309 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.880 Joe's own special security man hurried to him, his face tense. 310 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:01.839 What about that hold everything, say Joe grimly. That's taken 311 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:07.920 care of it was that was Mike's gang miniature humans 312 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.200 popping out of hiding to offer battle with missiles carefully 313 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:16.880 prepared beforehand against their alleged associates in sabotage. One of 314 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:20.400 the associates had drawn a gun and fired, but Mike's 315 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.319 gang had help out of small air locks devised to 316 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:27.880 make the platform skin accessible to its crew on every side, 317 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:33.240 provided they were spacesuits. Dark skinned men appeared. The security 318 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.279 man's walkie talkie under his shoulder made a buzzing sound. 319 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:40.720 He reached for it. Forget it, Snap Joe, that's not 320 00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:45.200 for you. You've got your orders. Stay here. There was a 321 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.440 sudden growling uproar where men were crowding to get out 322 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.519 of the shed. Thick billowing smoke appeared. There was a 323 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:57.920 crashing explosion. The men eddied and milled crazily. The motor 324 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:01.160 of the stalled truck caught it moved toward the door, 325 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.839 which opened, swinging up and high. Two trucks came roaring in. 326 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:10.079 They raced for the platform, and as they raced inside, 327 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:14.960 their camouflaged loads clattered off and men showed instead. The 328 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:18.680 guards by the doorway began to shoot. That's what we've 329 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.119 got to stop, snapped Joe. He began to run his 330 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:25.880 pistol out. There was suddenly a small army gathered by 331 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:30.559 his orders, which materialized in the dim space under the platform. 332 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:33.880 It raced to guard against this evidently well planned invasion. 333 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.039 The harsh, tearing rattle of a machine gun sounded from 334 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:42.519 somewhere high up. Joe knew what it was. Mike's whole 335 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.359 scheme had been intended to force all sabotage efforts to 336 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:50.039 take place at a single instant. Part of the preparation 337 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.119 was authority for Haini to drag in two machine guns 338 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:56.200 from an outer watching post and mount them to cover 339 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.240 the interior of the shed. When the general attack began, 340 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.480 those machine guns were shooting at the trucks. Splinters sprang 341 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:08.000 up from the wood block floor. Then abruptly, one of 342 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:11.599 the trucks vanished in a monstrous, actinic flash of blue 343 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:15.200 white flame and a roar so horrible that it was 344 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:19.599 not sound but pure concussion. The other truck keeled over 345 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:23.200 and crashed from the blast, but it did not explode. 346 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.960 Men jumped from it. There must have been screamed orders, 347 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.000 but Joe could hear nothing at all. He only saw 348 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.119 men waving their arms, and others seized things from the 349 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.319 toppled load and rushed toward him, and he began to 350 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:40.559 shoot as he ran to meet them. Now belatedly, the 351 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:44.240 sirens of the shed screamed their alarm, and choppy yapping 352 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:47.960 set up. As the siren whales rose in pitch. Over 353 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.799 by the exit, pistols cracked. Something fell with a ghastly 354 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:55.559 crash not ten feet from where Joe ran. It was 355 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.680 a man's body toppled from somewhere high up on the 356 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:01.880 structure that was the most important man made thing in 357 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:06.240 all the world. A barbaric warhoop sounded among the echoes 358 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:10.200 of other tumult. A security man shot, and one of 359 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:13.920 the running figures toppled and slid his burden, which must 360 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:18.200 certainly be a bomb rolling ridiculously. There had been two 361 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.880 trucks that plunged through the swing updoor. They had raced 362 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.720 for the spaces under the platform at the exact time 363 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:27.920 when the floor would be clear. Because all work had 364 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.000 stopped under the platform, the trucks were to have been detonated. 365 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:35.200 At the very least, they would have rent had torn 366 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:39.119 it horribly, they might have broken its back, and surely 367 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.559 one truck should have made it but there should not 368 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.400 have been machine guns ready trained to shoot. Now, the 369 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:50.000 load of desperate men from the overturned survivor scurried for 370 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:53.559 the platform with parts of its cargo. If they could 371 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.640 fight their way inside the platform, they could blast its 372 00:23:56.680 --> 00:24:00.279 hull open, or demolish its controls, or shatter its air 373 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:03.519 pumps and its gyros and turn its air tanks into sieves. 374 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:07.720 Anything that could be damaged would delay the takeoff and 375 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.559 so expose the platform to further and perhaps more successful attack. 376 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.079 There were more pistol shots. A group of men fought 377 00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:19.799 their way out of the incoming screening rooms and raced 378 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:23.160 for the center of the shed. Later it would be 379 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.960 found they had slabs of explosive inside their garments and 380 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:31.599 detonation caps to set them off. Somewhere another door opened 381 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.680 and security men came out with flickering pistols. Major Holt 382 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:39.000 leading them He had started out to fight off the 383 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.200 truck borne attack, but he was bound to be too late. 384 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:46.119 Joe's followers were trying to take care of that. The 385 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:49.640 scuttling men from the incoming rooms were Major Holt's first prey. 386 00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:54.720 They were shot as they ran. Joe stumbled and fell, 387 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.359 and he heard guns crackling. As he scrambled up. He 388 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:02.000 pitched into a running figure. It snarled as Joe hid him, 389 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:05.960 and then he was fighting for his life. This was 390 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:09.240 under the platform and in the middle of confusion many 391 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:13.079 times confounded. Joe caught a wrist that held a gun. 392 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.599 He knew his assailant had a bomb slung over one shoulder, 393 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.920 and right now had one hand free for combat. Joe 394 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.039 instinctively tried to batter his enemy with his own pistol. 395 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:27.200 Instead of pushing the muzzle against the man's body and 396 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:31.000 pulling the trigger, he struck a flailing blow and his 397 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:34.200 hand and the weapon struck a metal brace. The blow 398 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.759 cut his knuckles and paralyzed his fingers. Despairingly, he felt 399 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:42.799 the pistol slipping from his grasp. Then his assailant brought 400 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:46.720 up his knee viciously, but it hit Joe's thigh instead 401 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.160