Part 27 (2/2)
”I ahave here, but if it isn't Merlin it's so just as hot We want at it, soonest, and we'll have to dig a couple of hundred feet of rock off it and open a collapsiuet that stuff on a shi+p?”
”Anything been done to that normal-space job we started since I saw it last? Can you find engines for it? And is there anything about those ed by space-radiation or re-entry heat?”
Yves Jacqueer than the interplanetary tiet it, Conn We won't put the things in a shi+p; we'll build a shi+p around them No; that stuff can all be hauled open to space They use things like that at space stations and on asteroids and all sorts of places We'll have to stop work on _Ouroboros_, though”
”Let _Ouroboros_ wait We are going to dig up Merlin, and then everybody is going to be rich and happy, and live happily forever after”
Jacqueer than the usual five and a half ht face” After all, Jacquemont hadn't been cleared yet for the Awful Truth About Merlin, but, like his daughter, he'd been doing so ”I wish I kne much of this Merlin stuff you believe”
”So do I, Yves Maybe after we get this thing open, I'll know”
To give hiin of safety, Jacquemont had estimated the arrival of the equipment at three weeks A week later, he was on-screen to report that the skeleton shi+p--they had christened her _The Thing_, and when Conn saw screen views of her he understood as finished and the collapsiu machines were aboard Evidently nobody on Koshchei had done a stroke of work on anything else
”Sylvie's co with her; so are Jerry Rivas and Anse Dawes and Ham Matsui and Goo to work as soon as she lands and unloads,” Jacqueood; they were all his own people, unconnected with any of the Merlin-hunting factions at Force Command In case trouble started, he could rely on the out some shootin'-irons for the, of course, on what they found when they opened that collapsium can on top of Force Com_ took a hundred and seventy hours toquarters and control cabin were apparently worse than on the _Harriet Barne_ on her second trip to Koschchei Everybody at Force Command was anxious and excited Carl Leibert kept to his quarters h he had to pray the shi+p across space
At the same time, reports of the near co the newscasts, to distract public attention fro collected for her; instead of washi+ng their feet in brandy, next year people would be drinking water Lorenzo Menardes had e over a year old; so had most of the other distillers up and down the Gordon Valley Melon and tobacco planters were talking about breaking new ground and increasing their cultivated acreage for the next year Agricultural h prices So were stills, and tobacco-factory h the Maxwell Plan was really getting started
It was decided to send the hypershi+p to Baldur on her first voyage; that was Wade Lucas's suggestion He was going with her hiraduates from his alma mater, the University of Paris-on-Baldur, and from the other schools there Conn was enthusiastic about that, re around with ato find out what they were supposed to do while they were doing it Poictess of warti how to produce anything
_The Thing_ finally settled onto thefrom an old picture of the construction work on one of the Terran space-stations in the First Century Iravity equipled on safety lines hundreds of feet above the ground, cutting away bea machines, one after the other, floated free on their own contragravity and settled into place
_The Thing_ lifted, still carrying the collapsiurown flat beyond, out of the way
If Yves Jacqueet the equipment loaded and lifted off from Koshchei, Conn had been overoptimistic about the speed hich the top of theaway the rubble hich the pit had been filled, and even the solid rock around it, was easier than getting the stuff out of the way Farm-scows came in from all over, as fast as they and pilots for theet brandy and tobacco to Storisende had caused an acute shortage of vehicles
One by one, thein--Lorenzo Menardes, Morgan Gatworth, Lester Dawes None of theht plenty of enthusias out froress of the work Of all the crowd, he and Conn watched the two steel giants strip away the tableland with apprehension instead of hope No, there was a third Carl Leibert had stopped secluding himself in his quarters; he still talked rapturously about the miracles Merlin would work, but now and then Conn saw hiht he was unobserved His face was the face of a condemned man
The _Ouroboros II_ was finished The whole planet saw, by screen, the shi+p lift out; watched fro away of Koshchei and saw Poictesrow ahead of her Twelve hours before she landed, work at Force Co to Storisende--Sylvie, whose father would coan Gatworth, whose son would be first officer and astrogator, everybody Except Carl Leibert
”Then I'ot to stay here and keep an eye on that snake”
”No, nor oing to go and pray along with him”
Conn stayed, too, and so did Jerry Rivas and Anse Dawes They watched the newscast of the lift-out, a week later It was peaceful and harardless of their attitudes on Merlin, see of a new prosperity for the planet
There were speeches The bands played ”Genji Gartner's Body,” and the ”spaceman's Hyoing aboard, Conn saw his sister Flora clinging to Wade Lucas's arm She was one of the small party ent aboard for a final farewell When she ca her eyes, and Sylvie was co thatthe shi+p itself lift away from Storisende