got?”
“Wait a minute, Uncle Don,” the younger partner protested. “Tell me what you want to do —I’ll tell you if I can wangle it.”
“Sorry. I want a prowler circuit around the ship and cabin. Can you do it?”
Art scratched his ear. “Let me see. I’d need photo-electric cells and an ultraviolet light. The rest I can piece together. I’ve got two light meters in my photo kit; I could rig them for the cells, but I don’t know about UV light. If we had a sun lamp, I could filter it. How about an arc? I could jimmy up an arc.”
Cargraves shook his head. “Too uncertain. You’d have to stay up all night nursing it. What else can you do?”
“Mmmm… Well, we could use thermocouples maybe. Then I could use an ordinary floodlight and filter it down to infra-red.”
“How long would it take? Whatever you do, it’s got to be finished by dark, even if it’s only charging the top wire of the fence.”
“Then I’d better do just that,” Art agreed, “if that—Say!”
“Say what?”
“Instead of giving the fence a real charge and depending on shocking anybody that touches it, I’ll just push a volt or two through it and hook it back in through an audio circuit with plenty of gain. I can rig it so that if anybody touches the fence it will howl like a dog. How’s that?”
“That’s better. I want an alarm right now. Get hold of Morrie and both of you work on it.” Cargraves went back to his work, but his mind was not on it. The misgivings which he had felt at the time of the mystery of the missing ‘blunt instrument’ were returning. Now more mysteries—his orderly mind disliked mysteries.
He started to leave the rocket about an hour later to see how Art was making out. His route led him through the hold into the pilot compartment. There he found Morrie. His eyebrows went up. “Hi, sport,” he said. “I thought you were helping Art.”
Morrie looked sheepish. “Oh, that!” he said. “Well, he did say something about it. But I was busy.” He indicated the computer, its cover off.
“Did he tell you I wanted you to help him?”
“Well, yes—but he didn’t need my help. He can do that sort of work just as well alone.”
Cargraves sat down. “Morrie,” he said slowly, “I think we had better have a talk. Have you stopped to think who is going to be second-in-command of this expedition?”
Morrie did not answer. Cargraves went on. “It has to be you, of course. You’re the other pilot. If anything happens to me the other two will have to obey you. You realize that?”
“Art won’t like that.” Morrie’s voice was a mutter.
“Not as things stand now. Art’s got his nose out of joint. You can’t blame him—he was disappointed that he didn’t get to take pilot training, too.”
“But that wasn’t my fault.”
“No, but you’ve got to fix it. You’ve got to behave so that, if the time comes, they’ll want to take your orders. This trip is no picnic. There will be times when our lives may depend on instant obedience. I put it to you bluntly, Morrie—if I had had a choice I would have picked Ross for my second-in-command—he’s less flighty than you are. But you’re it, and you’ve got to live up to it. Otherwise we don’t take off.”
“Oh, we’ve got to take off! We can’t give up now!”
“We’ll make it. The trouble is, Morrie,” he went on, “American boys are brought up loose and easy. That’s fine. I like it that way. But there comes a time when loose and easy isn’t enough, when you have to be willing to obey, and do it wholeheartedly and without argument. See what I’m driving at?”
“You mean you want me to get on back to the shop and help Art.”
“Correct.” He swung the boy around and faced him toward the door, slapped him on the back and said, “Now git!”
Morrie “got.” He paused at the door and flung back over his shoulder, “Don’t worry about me, Doc. I can straighten out and fly right.”
“Roger!” Cargraves
“Wait a minute, Uncle Don,” the younger partner protested. “Tell me what you want to do —I’ll tell you if I can wangle it.”
“Sorry. I want a prowler circuit around the ship and cabin. Can you do it?”
Art scratched his ear. “Let me see. I’d need photo-electric cells and an ultraviolet light. The rest I can piece together. I’ve got two light meters in my photo kit; I could rig them for the cells, but I don’t know about UV light. If we had a sun lamp, I could filter it. How about an arc? I could jimmy up an arc.”
Cargraves shook his head. “Too uncertain. You’d have to stay up all night nursing it. What else can you do?”
“Mmmm… Well, we could use thermocouples maybe. Then I could use an ordinary floodlight and filter it down to infra-red.”
“How long would it take? Whatever you do, it’s got to be finished by dark, even if it’s only charging the top wire of the fence.”
“Then I’d better do just that,” Art agreed, “if that—Say!”
“Say what?”
“Instead of giving the fence a real charge and depending on shocking anybody that touches it, I’ll just push a volt or two through it and hook it back in through an audio circuit with plenty of gain. I can rig it so that if anybody touches the fence it will howl like a dog. How’s that?”
“That’s better. I want an alarm right now. Get hold of Morrie and both of you work on it.” Cargraves went back to his work, but his mind was not on it. The misgivings which he had felt at the time of the mystery of the missing ‘blunt instrument’ were returning. Now more mysteries—his orderly mind disliked mysteries.
He started to leave the rocket about an hour later to see how Art was making out. His route led him through the hold into the pilot compartment. There he found Morrie. His eyebrows went up. “Hi, sport,” he said. “I thought you were helping Art.”
Morrie looked sheepish. “Oh, that!” he said. “Well, he did say something about it. But I was busy.” He indicated the computer, its cover off.
“Did he tell you I wanted you to help him?”
“Well, yes—but he didn’t need my help. He can do that sort of work just as well alone.”
Cargraves sat down. “Morrie,” he said slowly, “I think we had better have a talk. Have you stopped to think who is going to be second-in-command of this expedition?”
Morrie did not answer. Cargraves went on. “It has to be you, of course. You’re the other pilot. If anything happens to me the other two will have to obey you. You realize that?”
“Art won’t like that.” Morrie’s voice was a mutter.
“Not as things stand now. Art’s got his nose out of joint. You can’t blame him—he was disappointed that he didn’t get to take pilot training, too.”
“But that wasn’t my fault.”
“No, but you’ve got to fix it. You’ve got to behave so that, if the time comes, they’ll want to take your orders. This trip is no picnic. There will be times when our lives may depend on instant obedience. I put it to you bluntly, Morrie—if I had had a choice I would have picked Ross for my second-in-command—he’s less flighty than you are. But you’re it, and you’ve got to live up to it. Otherwise we don’t take off.”
“Oh, we’ve got to take off! We can’t give up now!”
“We’ll make it. The trouble is, Morrie,” he went on, “American boys are brought up loose and easy. That’s fine. I like it that way. But there comes a time when loose and easy isn’t enough, when you have to be willing to obey, and do it wholeheartedly and without argument. See what I’m driving at?”
“You mean you want me to get on back to the shop and help Art.”
“Correct.” He swung the boy around and faced him toward the door, slapped him on the back and said, “Now git!”
Morrie “got.” He paused at the door and flung back over his shoulder, “Don’t worry about me, Doc. I can straighten out and fly right.”
“Roger!” Cargraves
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