aid. "Now you can talk down to
Earth. It'll be relayed, now, but in half an hour you can reach the Shed
direct."

He floated inside. Joe followed cautiously. There was another crew
member on duty there. He sat before a group of radar screens, with thigh
grips across his legs to hold him in his chair. He turned his head and
nodded cheerfully enough.

"Here!" snapped Sanford.

Joe clambered awkwardly to the seat the senior crew member pointed out.
He made his way to it by handholds on the walls. He fumbled into the
chair and threw over the curved thigh grips that would hold him in
place.

Suddenly he was oriented. He had seen this room before--before the
Platform was launched. True, the man at the radar screens was
upside-down with reference to himself, and Sanford had hooked a knee
negligently around the arm of a firmly anchored chair with his body at
right angles to Joe's own, but at least Joe knew where he was and what
he was to do.

"Go ahead and report," said Sanford sardonically. "You might tell them
that you heroically destroyed the rockets that attacked us, and that
your crew behaved splendidly, and that you have landed in the Space
Platform and the situation is well in hand. It isn't, but it will make
nice headlines."

Joe said evenly, "Our arrival's been reported?"

"No," said Sanford, grinning. "Obviously the radar down on
Earth--shipboard ones on this hemisphere, of course--have reported that
the Platform still exists. But we haven't communicated since the bombs
went off. They probably think we had so many punctures that we lost all
our air and are all wiped out. They'll be glad to hear from you that we
aren't."

Joe threw a switch, frowning. This wasn't right. Sanford was the senior
scientist on board and hence in command, because he was best-qualified
to direct the scientific observations the Platform was making. But there
was something specifically wrong.

The communicator hummed. A faint voice sounded. It swelled to loudness.
"Calling Space Platform! _Calling Space Platform!_ CALLING SPACE
PLATFORM!" Joe turned down the volume. He said into the microphone:

"Space Platform calling Earth. Joe Kenmore reporting. We have made
contact with the Platform and completed our landing. Our cargo is now
being unloaded. Our landing rockets had to be expended against
presumably hostile bombs, and we are now unable to return to Earth. The
ship and the Platform, however, are unharmed. I am now waiting for
o