couldn't see
that either of them had said anything of any importance at all. But he
was very glad they'd talked together.

The first robot ship came up some eight hours later--two revolutions
after the television call. Mike was ready hours in advance, fidgeting.
The robot ship started up while the Platform was over the middle of the
Pacific. It didn't try to make a spiral approach as all other ships had
done. It came straight up, and it started from the ground. No pushpots.
Its take-off rockets were monsters. They pushed upward at ten gravities
until it was out of atmosphere, and then they stepped up to fifteen.
Much later, the robot turned on its side and fired orbital speed rockets
to match velocity with the Platform.

There were two reasons for the vertical rise, and the high acceleration.
If a robot ship went straight up, it wouldn't pass over enemy territory
until it was high enough to be protected by the Platform. And--it costs
fuel to carry fuel to be burned. So if the rocketship could get up speed
for coasting to orbit in the first couple of hundred miles, it needn't
haul its fuel so far. It was economical to burn one's fuel fast and get
an acceleration that would kill a human crew. Hence robots.

The landing of the first robot ship at the Platform was almost as
matter-of-fact as if it had been done a thousand times before. From the
Platform its dramatic take-off couldn't be seen, of course. It first
appeared aloft as a pip on a radar screen. Then Mike prepared to go out
and hook on to it and tow it in. He was in his space suit and in the
landing lock, though his helmet faceplate was still open. A loudspeaker
boomed suddenly in Brown's voice: "_Evacuate airlock and prepare to take
off!_"

Joe roared: "Hold that!"

Brown's voice, very official, came: "_Withhold execution of that order.
You should not be in the airlock, Mr. Kenmore. You will please make way
for operational procedure._"

"We're checking the space wagon," snapped Joe. "That's operational
procedure!"

The loudspeaker said severely: "_The checking should have been done
earlier!_"

There was silence. Mike and Joe, together, painstakingly checked over
the very many items that had to be made sure. Every rocket had to have
its firing circuit inspected. The tanks' contents and pressure verified.
The air connection to Mike's space suit. The air pressure. The device
that made sure that air going to Mike's space suit was neither as hot
as metal in