I zippered myself into a jumper, yanked on my boots, clipped my food-capsules to my hip-pocket, for I knew there'd be no food or even thought of food today, we'd just stuff with pills when our stomachs barked, and fell down the two-story vacuum elevator.
On the lawn, all five of the guys were chewing their lips, bouncing around, scowling.
"Last one" said I, passing them at 5000 mph, "to the monorail is a bug-eyed Martian!"
On the monorail, with the cylinder hissing us along to Rocket Port, twenty miles from town a few minutes ride I had bugs in my stomach. A guy fifteen doesn't get to see the big stuff often enough, mostly every week it was the small continental cargo rockets coming and going on schedule. But this was big, among the biggest... The Moon and beyond...
"I'm sick" said Priory, and hit me on the arm.
I hit him back.
"Me, too. Boy, ain't Saturday the best day in the week!?"
Priory and I traded wide, understanding grins. We got along all Condition Go. The other pirates were okay. Sid Rossen, Mac Leslyn, Earl Marnee, they knew how to jump around like all the kids, and they loved the rockets, too, but I had the feeling they wouldn't be doing what Ralph and I would do some day.
Ralph and I wanted the stars for each of us, more than we would want a fistful of clear-cut blue-white diamonds.
-8-
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