Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 20, 2025
But a week later they found the colonel's body back east. Somebody'd murdered him." Joe blinked. "It wasn't the colonel who rode as a passenger," said the co-pilot. "It was somebody else. Twenty miles from Bootstrap he'd shot the pilots and taken the controls. That's what they figure, anyhow. He meant to dive into the construction Shed.
It was first a dot and then a vague shape, and then an infinitely graceful dark object which swooped down and landed at the other end of the strip. It came taxiing up alongside the transport ship and stopped. An officer in uniform climbed out, waved his hand, and walked over to the transport. He climbed up the ladder and the pilot and co-pilot followed him. They took their places. The door closed.
I haven't any," said Joe. Then he said, "I do know somebody on the job. There's a Major Holt out there. He might have cleared me. Known my family for years." "Yeah," said the co-pilot drily. "He might. As a matter of fact, he's the senior security officer for the whole job.
He turned away and nodded to the co-pilot, now savagely keeping the ship in wide, sweeping circles, the rims of which barely touched the farthermost corner of the airport on the ground below. "We've authority to jump," he said briefly. "You know where the chutes are. But there is a chance I can belly-land without that grenade blowing. I'm going to try that."
The motor noise dimmed as Joe became absorbed in his anticipation of seeing the Space Platform and having a hand in its building. The co-pilot said sharply: "Hold everything!" Joe jerked his head around. The co-pilot had his hand on the wheel release. His face was tense. "It don't feel right," he said very, very quietly.
The co-pilot lighted a cigarette. Then he drew a paper cup of coffee and handed it to the pilot. The pilot seemed negligently to contemplate some dozens of dials, all of which were duly duplicated on the right-hand, co-pilot's side. The co-pilot glanced at Joe. "Coffee?" "Thanks," said Joe. He took the paper cup. The co-pilot said: "Everything okay with you?" "I'm all right," said Joe.
I taught her how to shoot, and she's a better shot than I am. She was a nice kid when she was little. I got to like her when she fell out of a tree and broke her arm and didn't even whimper. That shows how long ago it was!" He grinned. "She was trying to act grown-up last time I saw her." The co-pilot nodded. There was a brisk chirping sound somewhere.
"You know," said the co-pilot, "there was the devil of a time during the War with sabotage. Down in Brazil there was a field planes used to take off from to fly to Africa. But they'd take off, head out to sea, get a few miles offshore, and then blow up. We must've lost a dozen planes that way! Then it broke.
"But we didn't," insisted Joe. "Not any of it. The plant's been in the same village for eighty years. It started building wagons and plows, and now it turns out machine tools and precision machinery. It's the only factory around, and everybody who works there went to school with everybody else, and so did our fathers, and we know one another!" The co-pilot was unconvinced. "No kidding?"
The three men ran stumblingly. But even as they ran, the co-pilot swore. "We left something!" he panted. Joe heard a crescendo of booming, crackling noises behind. Something else exploded dully. But he should be far enough away by now. He turned to look, and he saw blackening wreckage immersed in roaring flames. The flames were monstrous.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking