s one rocket the Earthman never had a chance to
sabotage."

Rick nodded. He felt that way, too. The entire rocket had been checked
out by teams of never less than two. Each man checked the other's work
and both had to agree that all was in perfect order before the piece was
accepted and checked off. Each man had to account to a guard before he
could go to work. The system was foolproof. Now only the ultimate steps
remained, the final checks, the fueling, and at the very last, the
placement of the tiny spacemonk in his specially designed carrier.

"Let's go," Gee-Gee said.

They mounted the elevator and were whisked upward to the final stage.
Gee-Gee picked up his walkie-talkie from the rack. "Do you read me,
Dick?"

"Go ahead, Gee-Gee."

"Tell Jerry to go through checkoff."

Rick and Gee-Gee stood on the ramp and looked down at the ridiculously
tiny wings and watched the control surfaces move in response to Jerry's
gentle touch on the controls within the blockhouse. The drone control
was working perfectly. Rick felt a surge of pride. This particular part
of Pegasus was his.

The two went into the confined space in the nose. It was circular, the
structural members rising to a near-peak overhead. A radar unit blocked
out the tip of the nose cone. Under the unit a heavy steel channel ran
down to the side of the drone control. Fixed to the channel by heavy
springs was a tiny chair, complete with straps. The chair was festooned
with wires, unconnected for the moment. The wires terminated in
instruments that would sense every action, every response of the
spacemonk's body. The chair channel was pivoted, so the monk would
always be upright.

At Gee-Gee's order, Jerry Lipton ran through the check procedures again.
This time Rick and Gee-Gee carefully watched the functioning of each
servomotor. Finally Gee-Gee announced that he was satisfied. Next step
was to check the spacemonk's instruments' circuits.

Rick picked up a tiny stethoscope. It would be taped to the monk's body,
held tightly to his heart. He traced the circuit to where it disappeared
into the oscillator switch, then took the walkie-talkie. "Display on?
Checking the stethoscope."

"Go ahead," Earle replied.

Rick held it to his own heart for a few minutes, then tapped on the bell
with his forefinger.

"Looks good on the display," Dick's voice came back. "What did you hit
it with--a hammer?"

"Finger," Rick said. "Let's take a temperature next." He