an and Ruiz.

"I've tried my best to abort this big bug, but I can't find anything
amiss."

"That's Granny MacNamara for you," jibed Logan. "Always trying to find
fault." He winked at Ruiz and rubbed his hands together. "Well--tennis,
anyone?"

Mac knew without asking that Logan, for all his apparent indifference,
had painstakingly gone over every phase of the flight, checking
distribution, radar, final instructions from Operations, weather, _et
al_. Ruiz, as usual, watched and took notes as Logan gathered data.

* * * * *

At minus fifteen minutes, the trio was in the dome, checking personal
equipment, while outside, the scaffolding ponderously slid away, section
by section.

There was little time for soliloquies of _to go, or not to go_; within
the quarter-hour, Captain Ruiz and Majors MacNamara and Logan would be
in readiness for the final count-down. With the emergency bail-out
equipment checked, the men busied themselves on another continuity test
of the myriad circuits spread like a human neural system throughout the
ship. All relays, servo systems and instrument leads were in perfect
condition as expected, and the trio was settled comfortably in
acceleration couches with minutes to spare.

Logan contacted Ground Control a few seconds after the minus-three
minute signal, informing all and sundry that Gridley could fire when
ready. MacNamara sighed, thinking that if Logan's humor wasn't exactly
original, it was surely tenacious.

The ship was brought to dim half-life at minus one minute by Logan's
agile fingers, and as the final countdown rasped in his headset, Mac
felt his innards wrestle among themselves.

_Valier_ bellowed her enthusiasm suddenly, lifting her eight
thousand-odd tons from the ground almost instantly. Inside, her
occupants grimaced helplessly as they watched various instruments guide
tiny pointers across calibrated faces. Mac's throat mike threatened to
crush his Adam's apple, weighing five times its usual few ounces. Of his
senses, sound was the one that dominated him; an intolerable, continuous
explosion from the motors racked his mind like tidal waves of formic
acid. He forced himself to overcome the numbness which his brain cast up
to defend itself. Then, as quickly as it had begun, _Valier_ fell
deafeningly silent; that meant Mach 1 was passed.

It was an eternity before stage one separated. The loss of the empty
hulk was hardly felt as _Valier_ str