Chapter 2

Junior Spaceman Howard Reed entered the commandant’s office eagerly and briskly. His salute was snappy as he announced himself.

Commander Breckenridge looked up at the young spaceman without expression, nodded curtly, and then looked down at the pile of papers neatly stacked in the center of his desk. Without saying a word, the commander fingered down through the pile until he came to a thin sheaf of papers stapled together. This file he withdrew, placed atop the stack, and then he proceeded to read every word of every page as if he were refreshing his memory about some minor incident that had become important only because of the upper-level annoyance it had caused.

When he finished, he looked up and said coldly, “I presume you know why you’re here, Mr. Reed?”

“I can guess, sir—because of my technical suggestion.”

“You are correct.”

“And it’s been accepted?” cried the junior spaceman eagerly.

“It has not!” snapped the superior officer. “In fact—”

“But, sir, I don’t understand—”

“Silence!” said Commander Breckenridge. Almost automatically, his right hand slipped the top drawer open to expose the vial of tri-colored capsules. His hand stopped short of them, dangling into the drawer from the wrist resting on the edge. He looked down at the pills and seemed to be debating whether it would be better to conduct this painful interview as gentlemen should, or to let his righteous anger show.

“Mr. Reed,” he said heavily, “your aptitudes and qualifications were reviewed most carefully by the Bureau of Personnel, and their considered judgment caused your replacement here, in the Bureau of Operations. You were not—and I repeat, not—placed in the Bureau of Research. Is this clear?”

“Yes, sir. But—”

“Mr. Reed, I cannot object to the provisions in the Regulations whereby encouragement is given both the officers and men to proffer suggestions for the betterment of the Service. However, a shoe-maker should stick to his last. The benefit of this program becomes a detriment when any officer or man tries to invade other departments. This works both ways, Mr. Reed. There is not an officer in the whole Bureau of Research who can tell me a single thing about organizing my Bureau of Operations. Conversely, I would be completely stunned if any Operations officer were to come up with something that hasn’t been known to the Bureau of Research for years.”

“Yes, sir. I see your point, sir. But if the Bureau of Research has known about my suggestion for years, why isn’t it being used?”

“Because, Mr. Reed, it will not work!”

“But, sir, it’s got to work!”

“And you feel so firmly convinced of this that you had the temerity to bypass my office?”

“Sir, you yourself make a point of professing to know absolutely nothing about scientific matters.”

“All right, we’ll table this angle for a few minutes. Just what makes this notion of yours so important, Mr. Reed?”

“Sir,” said Reed, “the maximum range for our most efficient spacecraft is only a bit over seventeen light-years to the point of no return. My suggestion deals with a means of extending that range a hundred times. Perhaps more. If it were my decision, sir, anything that even hinted at extending the cruising range would receive a maximum-urgency priority.”

“In other words, you feel that anything we can do to extend our operations is the most important thing in the whole Space Service?”

“Well, sir, perhaps not the most important, but—”

“Your modesty is gratifying. I presume this modesty would prevent you from accepting any more than the Letter of Commendation from the Office of the Secretary?”

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“You don’t? Mr. Reed, was your desire to improve the efficiency of Operations a simple desire to improve the Service—or did you hope that this brilliant suggestion would, perhaps, provide you with a better assignment?”

“I still do not understand.”

“Oh, you don’t? Mr. Reed, why did you join the Space Service in the first place?”

“Because, sir, I hoped that I could be instrumental in helping mankind to spread across the Galaxy.”

“Mr. Reed, have you sand in your shoes?”

“Sir?”

The commander sighed. “You hoped to go along on the voyage, didn’t you?”

“Well, sir, I did have a hope that I’d become a real spaceman.”

“And you’re disappointed?”

Howard Reed’s face was wistful, torn between a desire to confide in his commanding officer and the fear of saying what he knew to be a sharp criticism of the Space Service.

Then Reed realized that he was in a bad pinch anyway, and so he said, “Sir, I’m commissioned as a junior spaceman, but in three years I’ve only made one short test flight—and only to Luna! I am competent to pilot—or at least that’s what the flight simulators say in my checkout tests. I’m a junior spaceman—yet every time I apply for active space duty, I’m refused! Three years I’ve spent in the Service, sir, solving theoretical and hypothetical problems in space operations. But aside from one test flight to the Moon, I have yet to set a foot inside of a spacecraft, let alone stand on the soil of another world!”