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This was a ceremony in which questions and answers never changed. It was supposed to make Planeteer cadets and junior officers feel properly humble, but it didn't work. By tradition, the Planeteers were the cockiest gang that ever blasted through high vacuum. Major Barris shook his head sadly. "You admit you're a simp, Foster. The rest of you are simps, too, but you don't believe it.
"I have to admit prejudice," he warned. "Flip is a pal of mine. But I don’t think you could do better." His curiosity got the best of him and he asked, "Can you tell me what this is all about?" Joe Barris reached over and rubbed Rip’s bald head. "By the time fur grows back on that irradiated dome of yours, I’ll be on my way with Koa, Pederson, and the new recruits.
Barris spoke as though to himself, but Rip turned red as his hair. "Funny how fast a man ages in space," the Planeteer major remarked. "Take Foster. A few weeks ago he was just a cadet, a raw recruit who had never met high vack. Now he's talking like the grandfather of all space. I don't know how the Special Order Squadrons ever got along before he became an officer."
His curiosity got the better of him, and he asked "Can you tell me what this is all about?" Joe Barris reached over and rubbed Rip's bald head. "By the time fur grows back on that irradiated dome of yours, I'll be on my way with Koa, Pederson, and the new recruits. Santos and the rest of your crew will report to Terra base. Flip Villa will join them there.
You’re lieutenants now, and a lieutenant has the thickest skull of any rank, no matter what service he belongs to." Rip realized that Barris had not been joking, no matter how flippant his speech. "Go ahead," he urged. "Finish what you were going to say." "Okay. I’ll make it short. Then you can catch the Terra rocket and take your eight earth-weeks leave.
Major Joe Barris had been their friend, teacher, and senior officer during six long years of training on the space platform. He could no more make a formal speech than he could breathe high vacuum, and they all knew it. Lieutenant Richard Ingalls Peter Foster, whose initials had given him the nickname of "Rip," asked, "Why don’t you sing us a song instead, Joe?"
"That's it." Major Barris smiled. "Remember once I said that when they gave me the job of cleaning up the goopies on Ganymede, I'd ask for you as a platoon leader?" Rip stared. "Don't tell me that's your assignment!" "Almost. Tell me, would you recommend any more of your men for promotion? I'll need a new sergeant and two more corporals." Rip thought it over. "Koa can check me on this.
He looked for an explanation and realized for the first time that they weren't in the sunlight at all. They were in darkness. His searching glance told him they were in the cone of shadow stretching out from behind the asteroid. The thorium rock was between them and the sun! His lips moved soundlessly. Maj. Joe Barris had been right. In a jam, trust your hunch.
Through him Maurice Fitzgerald, the de Barris, and Fitz-Henrys, and their dependents, were soon enlisted in the adventure. The son of Griffith ap Rhys, who may be mentioned along with these knights, his kinsmen, and whom the Irish annalists consider the most important person of the first expedition their pillar of battle also resolved to accompany them, with such forces as he could enlist.
But we're overdue for shipment to somewhere, and if you take eight weeks' leave, we'll be gone by the time you come back to the platform." "I liked serving with all of you, too," Rip replied. "I watched the way you all behaved when the space flap was getting tough, and it made me proud to be a Planeteer." Maj. Joe Barris came in. He was carrying an envelope in his hand. "Hello, Rip.
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