"Needed a change, too, I guess. Been breathing fresh air and seeing people too long. Got sick of it." "And John?" "Well ... I suppose I know what you're heading at. This isn't exactly a Jules Verne type trip to the moon, 'for the glory and advancement of science.' 'Least it isn't to me. I got sick of science when I was studying for my _master's_. Sick of seeing what people were doing with it. I thought a few new worlds might ease the tension back on Earth ... before everything gets blown to pieces." "That's what I mean; a few new worlds to explore might slow lousy man in his wild race to the backside of heaven. New frontiers. New excitements. It's bound to tie people closer together in spite of their prejudices." "But the glory! Don't forget the glory!" "The patriotic zeal!" "Yeah, the patriotic zeal! I feel the same way you do. Here we're trying to bring the world closer together and we have to do it in the name of the arms effort of a single nation." "War rocket experiment 282Z." "Well, at least we'll be able to say what we think and we'll be important enough for a while so that people will listen to us." "Yeah, when we get down, they're going to say 'speech!'" "They are that!" "And we are going to speak!" "Heroes for a day!" "Maybe two days!" "And people will listen to us; not just America--the whole damn world. Show people a larger goal, one big enough for the planet, and all the little power goals will fall away fast." "If we can say the right things...." "They'll have to listen to us. The U.S.; Russia; ... all the little countries." "Here she comes--I hear something!" "Atmosphere!" "We're back home!" "Crisis number six. We can't fail now." "Before it's too loud to talk ... listen to me. When we land, don't say anything. We'll all get a good sleep and a bath before we say a word. Right?" "Right!" "Just give 'em the pictures and samples and demand a nap. Everybody ready for the final blasting?" "Here's where I lose another two gallons of blood." "I hope we fall in a lake. I'm thirsty as a horse." "Man, it's hot!" "A hundred-twenty seconds!" "I'm not at all sure I can last this ... that's straight stuff. Be ready to take over mine, too, Wong; just in case." "Hell, you better last!" "Sixty seconds!" "Testing light signals--are they on?" "O.K. here." "Yeah." "Thirty seconds! Got your lights, Mike?" "Yeah." "Mine, too." "This is gonna be awful!" "Ten seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two." "O.K. Here she comes!" "Well, man! man! man! Are we down?" "We sure hit _something_!" "We made it! Oh, God, we made it!" "We're back! Did we get back?" "Where'd we land?" "Ocean. Atlantic." "Well, break the hull. It's awful in here!" "Hang on! You may get a ducking." "Air! Real Air! Whoosh--don't let anyone go and poison this air with cobalt bombs." "Everyone here? Help Joe up, there! Thataboy! how's it go?" "Man, we're really here! Where's the reception committee?"