even find a crew to work
on this project. No sane Launch Monitor he had ever known would even go
near such a bomb, much less work on it.

The General rambled on.

"Now the guidance system, gentlemen, may at first strike you as rather
incredible. However, it worked remarkably well in the original, and
there seems no reason to suppose we cannot force it to repeat. I foresee
some difficulty in finding manufacturers whose shop practices are
flexible enough ... or sloppy enough, if you prefer ... to turn out a
piece of mechanical gear to such low tolerances. However, we will ask
for bids and award to the lowest; that should do it. It always has in
the past at any rate." He paused to allow the chuckles to subside.

Jordan crept quietly out and headed for his office.

Clements was busy supervising the placement of two new file cabinets.
When he saw Jordan's face, he turned directly to his desk, poured a
lemonade and handed it to his chief. Jordan took the glass, paused
thoughtfully, opened a drawer and added a couple shots of gin.

Clements raised his eyebrows encouragingly, but Jordan simply drank and
shook his head dully.

"Horrible," he said. "Horrible, horrible."

He turned and walked slowly back to the conference.

By this time General Criswell had a film showing in progress.

"This, gentlemen," he was saying, "was the famous launch attempt of
December sixth, 1957."

Jordan had never seen the film, and he watched in fascination as the
launch crew scurried about their duties. Propellants and explosives
people appeared, waddling in grotesque acid suits. Liquid oxygen boil
off made a hazy lake in which men walked with apparent unconcern.

Then, from a fixed and apparently unattended camera came a steady,
portentous view of the rocket ... sleek and so incredibly slim that
Jordan wondered why on Earth it didn't simply topple over and be done
with it.

The sound track came to life with sudden, brassy violence. Someone was
counting backward. When he reached zero, the first stage engine burst
into life, the rocket lifted off its platform, slowed, began to tilt
slowly to one side and settled back into the stand. No, it kept right on
going through the stand. The rear section began to crumple. Then there
was a horrible burst of flame which engulfed the lower part of the
rocket and then, with perfectly savage violence, erupted in great
billowing bursts of fire until only the extreme tip of the missile was
visible. The