Speaker 1: Test rocket by Jack Douglas. It's amazing how much you
Speaker 1: can learn about absolute strangers if you just stopped to
Speaker 1: think about the kind of an animal they'll put in
Speaker 1: a test rocket. Captain Baird stood at the window of
Speaker 1: the laboratory, where the thousand parts of the strange rocket
Speaker 1: lay strewn in careful order. Small groups worked slowly over
Speaker 1: the dismantled parts. The Captain wanted to ask, but something
Speaker 1: stopped him. Behind him, Doctor Johansson sat at his desk,
Speaker 1: his gnarled old hand tight about a whiskey bottle, the
Speaker 1: bottle the doctor always had in his desk but never
Speaker 1: brought out except when he was alone, and waited for
Speaker 1: Captain Baird to ask his question. Captain Baird turned at last.
Speaker 1: They are our markings, Captain Baird asked. It was not
Speaker 1: the question. Captain Baird knew the markings of the rocket
Speaker 1: testing station as well as the doctor did. Yes, the
Speaker 1: doctor said, they are our markings, identical, but not our paint.
Speaker 1: Captain Baird turned back to the window. Ten minutes after launching,
Speaker 1: the giant test rocket had been only a speck on
Speaker 1: the observation screen. Captain Baird had turned away in disgust.
Speaker 1: A mouse, The captain had said, unfortunate a mouse can't
Speaker 1: observe build report my manner getting restless, Johansson, When we
Speaker 1: are ready, Captain, the doctor had said. It was twelve
Speaker 1: hours before the urgent call from Central control brought the
Speaker 1: captain running back to the laboratory. The doctor was there
Speaker 1: before him. Professor Schultz wasted no time. He pointed to
Speaker 1: the instrument panel. A sudden shift. See for yourself. We'll
Speaker 1: miss Mars by a million and a quarter. At least
Speaker 1: two hours later, the shifting course of the test rocket
Speaker 1: was apparent to all of them, and so was their disappointment.
Speaker 1: According to the instruments, the steering shifted a quarter of
Speaker 1: an inch. No reason shows up, Professor Schultz said, fly
Speaker 1: in the metal. Doctor Johnson said, how far can it go?
Speaker 1: Captain Baird asked, Professor Schultz shrugged. Until the fuel runs out,
Speaker 1: which is probably as good as never, or until the
Speaker 1: landing mechanism is activated by a planet sized body. Course.
Speaker 1: Did you plot it, the doctor asked, Of course I did.
Speaker 1: Professor Schultz said, as close as I can calculate, it
Speaker 1: is headed for Alpha Centauri. Captain Baird turned away. The
Speaker 1: doctor watched him, perhaps you will not be quite so
Speaker 1: hasty with your men's lives in the future, Captain, the
Speaker 1: doctor said. Professor Schultz was spinning dials. No contact, the
Speaker 1: professor said, no contact at all. That had been six
Speaker 1: months ago. Three more test rockets have been fired successfully
Speaker 1: before the urgent report came through from Alaskan Observation Post
Speaker 1: number four. A rocket was coming across the pole. The
Speaker 1: strange rocket was tracked and escorted by atomic armed fighters
Speaker 1: all the way to the rocket testing station, where it
Speaker 1: cut its own motors and gently landed in the center
Speaker 1: of a division of atomic armed infantry. The Captain, the doctor,
Speaker 1: and everyone else waited impatiently. There was an air of uneasiness.
Speaker 1: You're sure it's not ours, Captain Baird asked. The doctor
Speaker 1: laughed identical, Yes, but three times the size of ours,
Speaker 1: Perhaps one of the Asian ones. No, it's our design,
Speaker 1: but too large, much, too large. Professor Schultz put their
Speaker 1: thoughts into words, looks like someone copied ours, someone somewhere.
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine, but true. Nevertheless, they waited two weeks,
Speaker 1: nothing happened. Then a radiation shielded team went in to
Speaker 1: examine the rocket. Two more weeks and the strange rocket
Speaker 1: was dismantled and spread over the field of the testing station.
Speaker 1: The rocket was dismantled, and the station had begun to
Speaker 1: talk to itself in whispers and look at the sky.
Speaker 1: Captain Baird stood now at the window and looked out
Speaker 1: at the dismantled rocket. He looked, but his mind was
Speaker 1: not on the parts of the rocket. He could see
Speaker 1: from the window. The materials. They're not ours, the captain asked,
Speaker 1: unknown here the doctor said. The captain nodded. Those were
Speaker 1: our instruments. Yes. The doctor still held the whisky bottle
Speaker 1: in a tight grip. They sent them back, the captain said.
Speaker 1: The doctor crashed the bottle hard against the desktop. Ask it, captain,
Speaker 1: for God's sake. The captain turned to face the doctor directly.
Speaker 1: It was a man, a full grown man, the doctor sighed,
Speaker 1: as if letting the pent up steam of his heart escape. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is a man. It breathes, it eats, it has
Speaker 1: all the attributes of a man. But it is not
Speaker 1: of our planet. It's speech. The captain began. That isn't speech, Captain,
Speaker 1: The doctor broke in, breaking in sharply, it's only sound.
Speaker 1: The doctor stopped. He examined the label of his bottle
Speaker 1: of whiskey, Very carefully good brand of whiskey. He seems
Speaker 1: quite happy in the storeroom. You know, captain, what puzzled
Speaker 1: me at first. He can't read. He can't read anything,
Speaker 1: not even the instruments in that ship. In fact, he
Speaker 1: shows no interest in his rocket at all. The Captain's
Speaker 1: sat down now, he sat at the desk and faced
Speaker 1: the doctor. At least they had the courage to send
Speaker 1: a man, not a mouse, doctor, a man. The doctor
Speaker 1: stared at the captain, his hand squeezing and unsqueezing on
Speaker 1: the whiskey bottle. A man who can't read his own instruments,
Speaker 1: the doctor laughed, Perhaps you too have failed to see
Speaker 1: the point, like that stupid general who sits out there
Speaker 1: waiting for the men from somewhere to invade. Don't you
Speaker 1: think it's a possibility, the doctor nodded. A very good possibility, captain.
Speaker 1: But they will not be men. The doctor seemed to
Speaker 1: pause and lean forward. That rocket, captain, is a test rocket,
Speaker 1: a test rocket, just like ours. Then the Doctor picked
Speaker 1: up his whiskey bottle at last, and poured two glasses,
Speaker 1: perhaps a drink. Captain. The captain was watching the sky
Speaker 1: outside the window, the end