United States or Zimbabwe ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
George Hanlon's young hand was shaking as he took the mike, but his voice was steady and crisp. "Admiral Ferguson, sir, this is George Hanlon of the Secret Service. I was detailed to the Simonidean affair. I've just returned from a planet I know both as 'Algon' and as 'Guddu. The planetographers are checking now for its exact location.
I am entirely at your service." There was a moment of incredulity in the young man's eyes, then he straightened, and that depth of character which the men in command had foreseen came to the surface, and he issued crisp orders. "Very well, sir, I'll take you at your word. Please connect me with the planetographers, then get me the High Admiral."
May I talk with your planetographers, please?" The admiral looked at him quizzically. "You haven't been in the SS very long, have you, Hanlon?" "No," the young man looked up in surprise. "This is my first assignment. Why do you ask?" "Because in emergencies such as this you give orders, not ask for permission. Every resource of the entire Corps is yours to command when you feel it necessary."
He picked out several blue-white and red giants he was sure he knew. That was Andromeda off there; that one was undoubtedly Orion no other contained so many 4.0 to 5.2 stars, beside the gigantic Rigel, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix. Good, he could fix all that in his mind well enough to draw it when he got back, and the Corps planetographers certainly would pin-point this system from those directions.
Others were from Grand Fleet, regarding the measures being taken for the fleet rendezvous, and the part the Simonidean sector was to play. Another was from the planetographers, giving the spatial location of Algon, with the note that they had finally found it on a star map, and that a survey ship was being sent there at once. Hanlon punched a stud.
Word Of The Day