One of the men, a little uncertain, acted as if he wished to speak. "Yes?" said the officer. "Didn't they send rockets once without no men in 'em at all?" he asked. "Then, how come they can't do like we wasn't even there?" "My dear fellow," said the officer, perplexed, "to aim and fire a rocket at so near and so large a target as the moon is a simple matter. To guide one around the moon in a precise orbit is a matter entirely different." He paused. "Any more questions?" "No sir," said the men. "Very good." The officer seemed glad there would be no further conversation. "In you go now." The men went into the opening, helped by the officers, like olives being put into a bottle. In a moment the officers had gone and a cover had been placed into the opening and screwed firmly into place. * * * * * There was lead-glass, very heavy, in the windows of all the buildings. The thick cement walls and doors were covered with sheets of lead. Inside the most distant buildings, at the small windows, men stood with black looking glasses over their eyes, watching. Each time a rocket went into space it was exactly thus. The atomic drive was new and not completely perfect. Always there was a chance that something might go wrong. The radiation grids could go haywire, there could be an explosion, or the ship could falter and slip on the way up. So the men waited and watched in their little buildings, with fingers crossed, hoping for the best. Now it was very quiet. The spotlights had been extinguished because every bit of electric power was needed to start the amazing rocket motor. Only enough was spared for lighting, where needed, in the buildings, and for the P.A. system. And over the P.A. system voices spoke. "Trackers ready?" "Trackers ready." "Control station ready?" "Control station ready." "Radio room, report!" "Radio reporting. All tracking and control stations reported or relayed in." There was a pause. Then: "Stand by." The silence seemed to grow even more intense. The ticking of clocks and watches could be heard. The unreal atmosphere of a dream settled over the clustered buildings on the plain. "Activators!" Out on the plain, the rocket came to life. It surged and clattered against its launching rack, nearly leaping, pawing the ground with hot explosive blasts. Now it became a living wild thing, a bound monster surging against its chains, fighting to be free and away. The voice, in a short while, came again, a little strained. "Ready.... Ready.... Ready.... ROCKET AWAY!" The great, gleaming monster lifted up from the plain, bellowing its defiance of space with the voice of ten thousand waterfalls. It rode up from the center of a tremendous flower of glowing dust on a pillar of intense blue flame, slowly gathering speed, like a whale rushing up from the depths of the ocean.