The Platform was guarded as no object in all history had ever been guarded. It was ironic that it had to be protected so, because it was actually the only hope of escape from atomic war. But that was why some people hated the Platform, and their hatred had made it seem obviously an item of national defense. Ironically that was the reason the money had been provided for its construction. But the greatest irony of all was that its most probable immediate usefulness would be the help it would give in making nuclear experiments that weren't safe enough to make on Earth. That was pure irony. Because if those experiments were successful, they should mean that everybody in the world would in time become rich beyond envy. But Joe couldn't react to the fact. He was drained and empty of emotion because his job was done and he'd lost a very flimsy hope to be one of the Platform's first crew. He didn't really feel better until late that night, when suddenly he realized that life was real and life was earnest, because a panting man was trying to strangle Joe with his bare hands. Joe was hampered in his self-defense because a large number of battling figures trampled over him and his antagonist together. They were underneath the Platform, and Joe expected to be blown to bits any second. 11 Joe sat on the porch of Major Holt's quarters in the area next to the Shed. It was about eight-thirty, and dark, but there was a moon. And Joe had come to realize that his personal disappointment was only his personal disappointment, and that he hadn't any right to make a nuisance of himself about it. Therefore he didn't talk about the thing nearest in his mind, but something else that was next nearest or farther away still. Yet, with the Shed filling up a full quarter of the sky, and a gibbous moon new-risen from the horizon, it was not natural for a young man like Joe to speak purely of earthly things. "It'll come," he said yearningly, staring at the moon. "If the Platform gets up day after tomorrow, it's going to take time to ferry up the equipment it ought to have. But still, somebody ought to land on the moon before too long." He added absorbedly: "Once the Platform is fully equipped, it won't take many rocket pay loads to refill a ship's tanks at the Platform, before it can head on out."