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Hunter and Doc were jabbering together as they watched the Wanderer Doc&039;s bald doy head and bearded face olden half of the body in the sky
Paul, suddenly flooded by a strange, reckless energy, sprang up on the platforot so areas of twist that coot no tis," Doc roared at hirant you that if that thing is as far away as theas the earth Has to be But - "
"Provided it&039;s a sphere," Hunter put in sharply "Could be flat like a plate"
"Sure, provided it&039;s a sphere But that&039;s a natural, sane assu to say that if it&039;s only a thousand miles up, then it&039;s only - " he shut his eyes for two seconds - "thirty miles across You follow ht thousand miles divided by 250"
Doc nodded so violently he alrab at them to steady them "And if it&039;s only a hundred h for it to give a general illuht - "
"Then it&039;s only three reed loudly, "but in that case it&039;ll be rees a h so we&039;ll notice it pretty quickly, even without stars to judge it by"
"You&039;re absolutely right," Doc said, turning to hirees is as long as Orion&039;s Belt We&039;ll see that much movement pretty fast"
"But how do you know it&039;s in any kind of orbit?" Hunter asked "Hoe know anything like that?"
"It&039;s just another natural, sane assu a little "Like we assuht Wherever it came from, it&039;s in space now, so we assume it obeys the laws of space until we know different" He switched to Paul "What were you saying about star photos?"
Paul began to tell theo hadn&039;t followed Paul onto the platfor around, her, to his wrists, the Little Man was hunting behind chairs for so across the dun sand at the eerie amethyst and topaz wake of the Wanderer in the waters of the Pacific The fancy cahosts in her past, or perhaps it was the world&039;s past, were going to cohway
The She-Turban&039;s face caly, "I know you - you&039;re the girl friend of that spaceht, Raray sweater and slacks said to the She-Turban "I must have seen the same picture"
"She came with a man," Ann volunteered from her Raht a cat See how it stares at the big velvet saucer, Mo twistedly "It&039;s seeing devils Cats like them"
"Please don&039;t try to scare us any o said sharply "It&039;s stupid and childish"
"Oh, you think there won&039;t be devils?" Rama Joan asked, quite conversationally "Don&039;t worry about Ann She loves everything"
Ragnarok, slinking by, reared at Miaoith a snarl The Little Man, still feeling under chairs, snapped out: "Down, sir!" Margo fought to hold on to the cat and minimize scratches Rama Joan turned her back and looked up at the Wanderer and then at thefro for and he sat down and settled it on his knees - soes
On the platfor to Paul: "Well, yes, those photos sound pretty suggestive of enified his frown "I don&039;t see how they&039;re going to solve any problems here and now Especially the one of how far away the da is" The frown deepened
Hunter said loudly to Doc: "Rudolf! Listen to : "Sorry, Ross I&039;ve got to do so else," and jumped rather clumsily off the platfory flooding him was, because he could see now that it possessed everyone else: plain exhilaration
"But this is i half to Paul and half past Paul down to Doc kneeling in the sand "If that thing&039;s just a hundred miles up, it&039;s in Earth&039;s shadow and can&039;t be reflecting sunlight So suppose we figure it&039;s just ten h for illumination of a wide area And then it would be just three-tenths of a mile across - only five hundred yards Rudolf, listen - I knoe all laughed at old Charlie Fulby&039;s idea of a fire balloon, but balloons over a hundred yards in diameter have been flown to altitudes of twentyinside itself a treht source, which perhaps adds to the lift by heating the balloon&039;s gas" He broke off "Rudolf, what the hell are you doing down there?"
Doc had thrust the furled u up toward theh the curve of the umbrella&039;s handle The Wanderer was reflected fantastically in his thick lenses
"I&039;&039;s orbit," Doc called up "I&039; table and this umbrella Don&039;t anybodyyou," Hunter called back, "that itI&039; as five football fields"
"Ross Hunter!" Ra and carried the hint of a laugh The bearded man looked around So did the others
"Ross Hunter!" Rareat sy to settle for a big red and yellow balloon Oh, you children, look at the moon!"
Paul copied those who held up a hand to blank out the Wanderer The eastern rilohitely, almost one-third out of eclipse, but even that area had colored flecks on it, while the brownishly shadowed lea at least as fiercely on that side of the moon as on the Earth
The silence was broken by a sudden rat-a-tat-tat The Little Man had unfolded a collapsible portable typewriter on his knees and was pecking away at it To Margo, that irregular clicking sounded as lonely and incongruous as a tap dance on a toraveyard
General Spike Stevens snapped: "OK, since HQ One isn&039;t taking it, we are Jih to Moon-base: LIFT A SHIP AND SCOUT THE NEW PLANET BEHIND YOU ESTIMATED DISTANCE FROM YOU 25,000 MILES (Add the lunacentric spatial coordinates there!) VITAL WE HAVE INTELLIGENCE SEND DATA DIRECT"
Colonel Griswold said: "Spike, their ship senders haven&039;t the power to reach us"
"They&039;ll relay through Moonbase"
"Not through the thickness of the ers "OK, tell &039;em to lift two ships One to reconnoiter, the other - after a suitable interval - to relay to Moonbase Hold that They&039;re supposed to have three ships operational, aren&039;t they? Good, make it two to scout the new planet, north and south, and one to orbit the moon as cover point and relay Yes, Will, I know that just leaves &039;eot to get intelligence even if we strip the base"
Colonel Mabel Wallingford, shivering in the electric atmosphere of the buried room, suddenly wondered: What if it&039;s not a problem? Spike won&039;t be able to handle it then I&039;ll have given hio Gelhorn heard one of the woet up yet, Charlie" The Ramrod lay back in her arms and watched the Wanderer quite tranquilly, a faint so leaned over So did Rareen turban