tok grinned.

Gerry Norton watched them with a smile on his lean, dark face. They were
a good crowd! The _Viking_ was going on the most dangerous journey
mankind had ever attempted, a journey from which no one had ever before
returned alive, but he could not have asked for a better group of
subordinates. They were people of his own choosing, and all but two were
old shipmates. Though he had never sailed with Chester Sand, the Safety
Officer had been highly recommended. Neither had he ever sailed with
Olga Stark before, but he knew her by reputation as an excellent
navigator and when she applied to go he felt he should accept her.

* * * * *

For half an hour Gerry held them together, while he set the watches and
checked assignments and outlined other routine details. Then the meeting
ended, and only Steve Brent remained with him. They walked forward into
the darkened control room, where the only light was the dim glow from
the indicator boards. The Quartermaster on watch stood motionless beside
the steering levers.

Gerry noticed that he had a tendency to rise a couple of inches off the
floor with each step. The pull of Earth was already lessening! He threw
the switch that controlled the attraction-gear, and heard a faint hiss
of shifting gravity plates beneath their feet. The feeling and
impression of normal weight returned.

For a moment Gerry and Steve stood looking out one of the big duralite
windows of the control room. At this level the legions of stars gleamed
with an unreal brilliance in the dead black of the heavens. The Earth
was a vast globe behind them, glowing for a quarter of its surface with
the familiar outlines of the continents still visible. With the
lessening pull, the _Viking_ had increased speed to five thousand, but
she seemed to be standing still in comparison with the vastness of
space.

"Funny thing, Chief," Steve Brent said meditatively, "Olga Stark and
Chester Sand are not supposed to have met before they came aboard this
ship--but I saw them whispering together in that dark corner off
Corridor 6 as I came forward."

"Maybe she's just a fast worker," Gerry said. For a moment the incident
irritated him, but then he shrugged and forgot it. On a purely
scientific and exploratory expedition of this kind, there was no
possible motive for any underhand work.

* * * * *

The days passed in slow progression. The _Viking_ had att