John Gordon motioned to Dr. Albert Hiller, the Orion project officer. Hiller nodded. He spoke quietly, but not one of the hundreds watching missed a single word. "Apparently a fuel-pump bearing froze at the critical moment. With an unstable fuel like boron hydride, that made the difference. Internal pressure was too much for the shell to take." The engineer paused, and the tense, waiting silence became almost too much to bear. Hiller knew what the men were waiting for. "We found no pictures," he said. "We'll continue the examination in the laboratory, of course. But as of this moment we cannot say whether it was the kind of accident that rocketeers always have to expect, or whether someone tampered with the pump. By someone, I mean--the Earthman." CHAPTER IX Ghost Town Clue Rick refused point-blank to go to bed. He wasn't tired, he insisted, and he meant it. Scotty yielded. "Okay. I see your point. It's hard enough to sleep in the daytime anyway, but when you're all keyed up, it's impossible. Didn't lunch make you sleepy at all?" "A little, but that shower and change of clothes woke me up again. Scotty, I'll never forget that horrible instant when I realized that Orion wasn't going to take off. Honest, it was like watching something beautiful die. It..." Hank Leeming, their security officer roommate, came into the bunkroom in time to hear Rick's last comment. Hank was young, usually smiling. He wasn't smiling now. "I was in the blockhouse when the first one blew. I know how you feel, Rick. It makes you want to lay violent hands on the man responsible." The security officer changed the subject abruptly. "Luis Hermosa wants to see the boy who saved his life, and the one who helped." "You mean the fireman who fell in the propellant?" Scotty asked. "That's the one. He's in the infirmary. Can you both go?" Scotty shrugged. "Sure. If he wants us to. But he doesn't owe us anything. Someone else would have dragged him out if we hadn't." "If _you_ hadn't," Rick corrected. "I didn't move fast enough." "Neither did anyone else," Hank pointed out. "Don't be overmodest about it, Scotty. Go and see him." The infirmary, operated by Lomac, was only a block away. Rick and Scotty walked over and checked in at the reception desk. The infirmary clerk directed them to one of the four rooms in the little base hospital. "Go right in." Luis Hermosa was awake. Rick knew he must be in pain from his burns, which were extensive, but his smile gave no evidence of it. It was a warm smile that demanded a smile in return. "This morning there was no chance to give you my thanks," he greeted them. "I asked for you to come so that you may know how I feel." Scotty put a hand gently on one of the bandaged ones. "No thanks are necessary."