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But it did measure the exact distance to the nearest solid object. "Prepare for firing on a count of five," said Joe quietly. "Five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... fire!" The space tug's rockets blasted. For the first time since they overtook the Moonship, the tug now had help. The remaining rockets outside the Moonship's hull blasted furiously.
It took four days to get the transfer of supplies properly started. It took eight to finish the job. Affixing fresh rockets to the outside of the Moonship's hull alone called for long hours in space suits. During this time Mike floated nearby in a space wagon. One of the Navy men was a trifle overcourageous. He affected to despise safety lines.
Mike climbed out on the outside of the tug's hull, with the Chief also in space equipment, paying out Mike's safety-line. Mike leaped across two hundred yards of emptiness with light-years of gulf beneath him. His metal soles clanked on the Moonship's hull. Then the vision-screen on the tug lighted up. Lieutenant Commander Brown looked out of it, quietly grim. Joe flicked on his own transmitter.
It would swing out and out, and as the Earth's pull grew weaker with distance the same weight of rockets would move the same mass farther and farther toward the Moon. The Moonship's course would be a sort of slowly flattening curve, receding from Earth and becoming almost a straight line where Earth's and the Moon's gravitational fields cancelled each other.
But a good hour later, when it was considered that they were as far out as they were likely to go, they began to blow up. Specks of flame, like the tiniest of new stars, flickered against the background of space. But Joe and the others were in the Platform by then. They'd brought up mail for the crew. And they were back on duty. The Platform seemed strange with the Moonship's crew aboard.
Joe and his crew in the space tug hauled the Moonship a good five miles from the Platform. The space tug returned to the Platform. A blinker signal came across the five-mile interval. It was a very crisp, formal, Navy-like message. Then the newly-affixed rockets on the Moonship's hull spurted their fumes. The big ship began to move. Not outward from Earth, of course. That was where it was going.
The Chief struck it smartly with his space-gloved hand. "I'm counting coup on the Moon!" he said zestfully "Tie that, you guys!" Then he joined the others on their way to the Moonship's main lock. "Shall we knock?" asked Mike humorously. "I doubt they've got a door-bell!" But the lock-door was opening to admit them. They crowded inside.
But it did invite a reply and Mike sweated as he waited for one. The others had plenty to sweat about. Joe and Haney and the Chief were acting as instructors to the Moonship's crew. They taught practical space navigation. At first they thought they hadn't much to pass on, but they found out otherwise.
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