Gaddon moved closer to the soldier, and then suddenly his hand came out of his coat pocket and there was a gun in it.
"Drop your rifle, soldier. Quick!"
The guard stared at the scientist in shocked astonishment.
"What is this, sir? A gag?"
Gaddon motioned with his gun.
"It is no gag! Do as I say--or must I shoot?"
There was an ominous note in Gaddon"s voice. And a strained quality to it that told the guard the man meant what he said. Very slowly the soldier removed the rifle from his shoulder and dropped it to the ground.
Gaddon motioned with his gun.
"Now step back! Move!"
The guard moved slowly back a pace, and then the Englishman stepped forward and kicked the rifle away from the man. Then he motioned around the rocket.
"Now move over around the side of the number one rocket to the far side of number two."
He watched as the guard turned and began to walk slowly around the huge base of the waiting rocket. He followed the soldier.
"I don"t know what this is all about, Dr. Gaddon," the guard protested. "But I can tell you one thing, you"re playing with the United States Government right now. When Dr. Mathieson hears about this--"
"When Dr. Mathieson hears about this, soldier, I"ll be a long way from here--out at the edge of s.p.a.ce itself!"
Gaddon could hear the guard draw in his breath sharply, but the man kept walking around to the far side of the second rocket cradle.
"You can"t mean that you"re going to go up--"
The soldier"s voice broke off uncertainly and Gaddon laughed shortly.
"You are a discerning man, soldier. That is exactly what I intend to do. And I warn you, don"t make a false move or I"ll shoot. My plans are made and I intend to carry them out!"
They had reached the far side of the second rocket now, away from view of the rest of the buildings, out of sight. Away in the distance the faint outlines of the great wire fence circling the testing grounds could be seen, and beyond that, the twinkling lights of Tucson, already visible in the dusk.
"This is far enough," Gaddon said suddenly.
He watched as the soldier halted. Then Gaddon moved up quickly behind the man. Before the soldier sensed what was about to occur, Gaddon"s hand raised over his head and the b.u.t.t of the weapon in his hand crashed against the back of the man"s head.
There was a soft groan in the shadows as the soldier crumpled limply to the ground. In the silence that followed, Gaddon"s tense breathing was the only sound. He looked down at the still body of the unconscious man, then he quickly turned and retraced his footsteps back the way he had come.
When he had reached the far side of the first rocket, he stopped before the metal steps of the cradle leading up to the closed door of the rocket. He looked quickly about him, making sure that n.o.body was in close proximity, then he threw his gun under the rocket beside the rifle of the soldier, and ran up the steps.
A cool breeze sprang up in the western night and whispered softly around Gaddon as he fumbled for a moment with a switch set in the smooth side of the rocket beside the sealed door.
There was a click, finally, and the door slid open.
Gaddon took a last look about him and then quietly slipped through the opening. A moment later there was the sound of the door sliding shut.
Inside the rocket, Gaddon lit a small pocket flash and looked around him. A soft sound struck his ears. The mewing sound of a cat. He turned the flash on the startled animal and a low laughter crept from his throat.
He moved through the large instrument chamber then and sat on the floor beside the cat.
Then the flash went out and his laughter came again ...
"All right, gentlemen, the time has come. In a few minutes an automatic control, synchronized with controls in the rocket will be set off in the main laboratory building. If we want to watch the launching we"ll have to hurry."
Fred Trent listened to the voice of Mathieson, and saw the famed American scientist start out of the central lobby toward the launching site. The gathered newspapermen followed, their voices filled with excitement now that the moment had come.
Trent followed along with them, but felt a peculiar tenseness within him. He had been watching for Gaddon to make his appearance. But as yet the Englishman had not showed up. Was it possible that he wasn"t going to watch the rocket launching? As Trent followed the others out into the gathering night, he frowned to himself. It was certainly strange. And entirely unlike the bl.u.s.tering manner Gaddon had displayed on the drive back from Tucson. Or had the man suddenly realized that he had made a fool of himself and was taking this easy way out?
But that too didn"t seem natural. And Trent found himself edging forward through the ranks of the newsmen, until he had reached the side of Mathieson.
The scientist was talking to one of the journalists as they rounded the corner of the Administration building. Now the rockets were in sight, standing tall and immense in the shadows.
Mathieson held his hand up in a gesture of halt, and the men behind him drew into a compact circle.
Fred turned to Mathieson.
"Dr. Mathieson, isn"t Dr. Gaddon going to be here for the launching?"
The head of the rocket project turned to Trent. Fred could see a suddenly puzzled look in his eyes.
"Yes, that is strange ..." Then he laughed. "I suppose Gaddon is in the laboratory supervising the firing controls. Well, if he wants to miss the show, that"s his fault. He knows the schedule."
Trent accepted the scientist"s words without replying. But he still wasn"t satisfied. What was it that Gaddon had said in the car about the biggest story of the year? What had the man meant? Question after question arose in Trent"s mind as he stood there, and always the queer feeling inside him grew in intensity. He could not place his finger on it, but somehow, he knew that something was wrong.
But then his suspicions were put aside for the moment as he heard Mathieson say: "All right, gentlemen, the time is nearly here. In precisely one minute the rocket will be fired."
The statement was made with a quiet eagerness, and then suddenly the gathered witnesses grew silent.
Trent"s eyes, along with the others, fastened on the looming bulk of the waiting rocket.
And the seconds ticked off in Fred"s mind.
As he counted them, he thought that it seemed impossible that within a very few moments that gigantic hulk of smooth, tapered metal would dislodge itself from the cradle it rested in with a burst of roaring flame. That in another few seconds it would shoot into the blackened sky, and in a few short minutes would reach unbelievable heights in the heavens, to the edge of s.p.a.ce itself before the automatic controls released the instrument section to be returned safely to earth.
And the seconds pa.s.sed.
"Time!"
Trent heard the voice of Mathieson rap the word out sharply.
And then there was a roar of sound from the cradled rocket.
A spear of flame shot from its base, exploding the night into a brilliant display of pyrotechnics.
The roaring grew louder as the tremendous power of the now unleashed rockets took hold of the night air. Fred watched as the flames grew white-hot bright, and then he saw the gigantic rocket shudder in its cradle.
The shudder grew into a spasm of movement, and then slowly, but steadily growing faster, the rocket lifted from its cradle.
Fred"s eyes were fastened on the rocket now, a feeling of awe sweeping through him. He suddenly realized how puny man was against the forces man could unleash. Forces that here were being utilized to scientific ends, but forces that upon a moment"s notice, could in turn be unleashed upon the rest of humanity in a burning, devastating terror of death.
And as the thought flitted across his mind, he saw the rocket gather speed as it left its cradle. It was now rising in a swift, sure arc, lashing into the dark sky like a fury.
And then the terrible speed of the rocket took hold against the forces of gravity and it shot into the heavens, its roaring becoming a fading hiss of sound, the brilliant flash of flame from its exploding tubes, a receding beacon of light that gradually faded to a pinpoint far over their heads.
After the terrific thunder of sound that had accompanied the launching of the rocket, the sudden silence now was almost palpable. The gathered witnesses stood mutely, awe still in their eyes, their ears still ringing with the sound of the takeoff.
Finally the voice of Mathieson broke the quiet night air.
"Well, gentlemen, that"s it. Tomorrow morning we"ll scout the returned section. It should land somewhere in the open country to the south. We"ve computed that pretty carefully. I guess that"s about all for--"
His voice broke off suddenly and Fred Trent heard what must have distracted the scientist.
A man was shouting from the vicinity of the second rocket, and as they looked, a dim figure could be seen staggering away from the side of the other rocket, coming slowly toward them.
"Good Lord!" Mathieson breathed. "What"s that man doing out there? He could have been killed!"
Then suddenly they saw the staggering figure stumble on the ground.
And then Trent and the others were racing across the ground to the side of the fallen man.
When they reached him, Mathieson came forward and knelt beside the figure.
"Why, it"s one of the guards!" he said in shocked surprise.
And it was then that the strange feeling of foreboding hit Fred again. As he knelt beside the groaning guard, it swept over him in a chilling wave. He lifted the man"s head from the ground and the guard opened his eyes. He recognized the face of Mathieson as the scientist looked anxiously in his direction.
"Good heavens, man, what happened? You were ordered to leave five minutes before launching time!"
The guard"s mouth opened as he struggled to a sitting position. The man"s hand reached up and touched the back of his head painfully.
"Sir--Gaddon--Dr. Gaddon attacked me ..."
There was a momentary stunned silence as the soldier"s words sunk in on the gathered men.
"What?" Mathieson"s voice was incredulous.
And as Trent watched the soldier nod his head, the suspicion he had felt suddenly overwhelmed him in a grim realization. Even as the soldier blurted out pain-filled words, Trent knew somehow what he was going to say.
"Gaddon--he pulled a gun on me ... He forced me to the far side of number two--he said he was going up in the rocket--he said he had plans--then he hit me with the gun ... I came to when the rocket went off--I was away from the blasts, luckily ..."
Then the soldier was standing on his feet again, swaying as he fought to clear his fogged senses.
But Trent was no longer aware of the soldier. And he saw that Mathieson was no longer looking at the guard. For a brief instant their eyes met, and Trent saw a stunned look in the scientist"s, then Fred"s gaze swept up into the night. Up into the darkened sky where, miles above them, the hurtling rocket was even now reaching the apex of its flight.
Up where a man rode on a perilous trip into the unknown.
Gaddon hunched in the darkness of the rocket, waiting. He had counted the remaining minutes off, one by one. And he knew that finally the moment was at hand.
It would be too late now to stop him. They had not noticed his absence, and if they had, they would not delay the launching for him. He had taken that fact into consideration.
And now that the moment was close to completion, he felt a glowing sense of triumph within him. He would now show those fools, and especially Mathieson. He would prove conclusively that cosmic rays were what he had said they were--a source of the energy of life, a fountain from which youth and vitality would pour, making his body immortal. He would go down in history as one of the greats of science. A man who had risked his life to prove his theory. A man who would be the first to achieve the goal of the ages, the dream of the philosophers, eternal life.
The triumph would be his. All his!
And the rocket tubes exploded into sound.
Gaddon tensed in the darkness, gripping the safety straps he had attached to himself. Beside him he felt the cat let out a frightened mewing sound as the roar of the exploding rocket power grew. He felt the furry body rubbing against his side, seeking sanctuary against this dread sound.
And then the rocket trembled with sudden movement.
It was slow at first, but then it grew faster, and Gaddon felt a faint intensity of fear in his temples at the shuddering power of that movement.
And then he felt the blood draining from his head, making him faint with dizziness as the rocket accelerated suddenly into a terrible burst of speed.
He could feel it moving swiftly through the atmosphere now, feel the tortured rush of air that whipped against the sides of the projectile in a moaning dirge that mingled with the roar of the exploding rocket fuel.
And as the seconds pa.s.sed, he became accustomed somewhat to the increasing velocity of the projectile, and the dizziness pa.s.sed from his head. Then he became aware of the trembling body of the cat beside him and a soft laughter rose in his throat.
But it died stillborn as the roar of the rockets grew to a thundering hiss now in his ears.
And he felt the cool sweetness of the automatically released oxygen fill the chamber about him and he drank it into his lungs hungrily.
With each second now, he knew the projectile was racing higher into the rarefied atmosphere, heading steadily out to where the air of earth would be almost non-existent.
And a grim smile crossed his face in the darkness, for he knew that shortly the rocket would enter the outermost layers and the cosmic rays would play with all their energies upon the projectile.
And he tensed suddenly.
There was a glow that sprang into being in the chamber about him.
It was dim at first. But it grew steadily in intensity around him, revealing the interior of the chamber in its weird light.
An exultation swept through him then. He knew they had entered the field of the cosmic rays, and that the manifestation of light he saw was a result of those forces of nature.
Beside him the cat mewed plaintively in fear and huddled closer against Gaddon"s body. His eyes watched the tiny creature for a moment and then swept around the large chamber at the ma.s.sed instrument panels that were recording every minute fraction of a second of the flight.