Lester Del Rey Step to the Stars

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.""For two cents," Terrence cut in quickly, picking up the lead, "I'd show thema thing or two.Man, I'm tired of smelling generator oil just to keep them in style.Hey, Iwonder if that fresh air would actually work?"He had raised his voice.Phil Ross had been sitting at the opposite end of thehall, and now he came over.It took half an hour of tossing it around, but inthe end the men got up and began putting on their suits.Jim went for thetaxi, and came back to find Nora also dressed to help, daring him by her looksto send her back.But he felt too good over his victory.There was plenty to do.That part of the station was still unfinished.Hugewindows of heavy plastic had to be installed to let in the sunlight, andequipped with shutters to regulate the amount.The inner walls had to be putup, and the whole made airtight.There were the tanks to be coupled to theplumbing, and blowers to be connected to the air ducts.Jim lugged thesupplies in the taxi, saving time by dropping them through the open walls ofthe section.It made it hard work to match speed with the rotating station andhold the taxi in a circular orbit, but it took care of the handling easily.Decision and Rumor157They hardly made a dent in the job during the four hours they worked the firstnight, and Jim had visions of the men giving up before any real progress couldshow.Congress took care of that for him.A bill was intro-duced by one of therepresentatives to take over the station and build it with Army personnel.Hemade it sound attractive as a way of saving time and money, and it took fastwork on the part of the opposing side to get the bill voted down by the narrowmargin of two votes.Jim was pretty sure that the Army didn't want the job, and he knew thatHalpern had fumed when he read of it.But the rumor had spread through thestation that the military branches were trying to get Congress to kick out theworkers and let the Army take over.The next evening there was a biggerturnout for work.It took the men only four days altogether to complete the job, and at the endover half the working force of the station was busy on it, using their owntime without grumbling.It felt like the first days of the station.And Jimhad noticed that it hadn't hurt the rest of the work.The men who worked nights kidded the others about being lazy, and then had topitch in on their regular jobs to keep up with the men they'd been ribbinguntil it was a contest between the overtime and the non-overtime workers.Jim had been doubtful of the algae's ability to func-tion after being frozenPage 69ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsolid for the trip;but the green stuff in the tanks began to form little bubbles after158Step to fheStarsRoss's treatment of it.It wasn't the freshest air in the world, but it wasbetter than the canned stuff.And when they cut off the oxygen bottles, therewas no loss of breathability.They would still need oxygen bottles for a reserve, but the big shipment wasno longernecessary.As they broke up, Jim wondered whether he could get Thorn-dyke tohave some small luxuries sent up.They wouldn't weigh as much as the oxygen,and they'd help keep the men happy.Thorndyke shook his head."Not until the military stock pile is complete, Jim.Come on back here, I want to talk to you."He lead the way past the desks of the other engineers into his small privateoffice."I appreciate what you did on that air plant," he said.He smiled for asecond."Sure, I knew all about it, and we needed the work, too.But don'tplan on any more like it.For one thing, it won't work.The men liked thegame but the next time, it will be work, not fun.They catch on.For another,we can't risk any serious bad relations with the military personnel here.Stopand think a minute.Nora tells me you keep trying to do what Bart would havedone.But didBart ever stir up any hatred?""No, sir." There'd been the kidding of the college men, but that had been infront of their faces, and they'd soon discovered it was just a running gag."Ididn't want to start any hatred.""And it didn't, this time.Or nothing that's serious.Decision and Rumor159Colonel Halpern's informed Earth his men need two radios, and he's going tolend one to our recreation hall.That should patch up any hard feeling.But ifyou drove the point home harder as you'd have to next time it would wind up inenmity between the two groups."Jim stood up to go.Thorndyke motioned him back to the seat."One thing more.Dan Bailey's quitting, and he has asked me to put you in as foreman in hisplace.But-""Dan's quitting?" It shocked Jim.He'd counted on Dan to the bitter end."Why?"Thorndyke sighed."You ask him.I tried to find out why.But he's been hereover six months, so he has the right.Anyhow, Jim, what I wanted to say wasthat I don't think you're ready to be a foreman yet.You're probably the bestman I have no, I mean that but even though the men have a lot of respect foryou, I don't think you're close enough to them.Besides, I need a good taxijockey [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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