n
this magazine about a trick they used to use, called skip bombin'.
They'd hang a bomb on the bottom of one of these airplanes, and fly
along the ground, right at what they wanted to hit. Then they'd let the
bomb go and get out of there, and the bomb would sail right on into the
target. You s'pose we could fix this buggy up with an A bomb or an H
bomb we could let go a few hundred miles out? Stick a proximity fuse on
it, and a time fuse, too, in case we missed. Just sittin' half a mile
apart and tradin' shots like we did on that last mission is kinda hard
on mah nerves, and it's startin' to happen too often."

"Nice work if we could get it. I'm not crazy about those broadside
battles myself. You'd think they'd have found something better than
these thirty caliber popguns by now, but the odds say we've got to throw
as many different chunks of iron as we can, to have a chance of hitting
anything, and even then it's twenty to one against us. You wouldn't have
one chance in a thousand of scoring a hit with a bomb at that distance,
even if they didn't spot it and take off. What you'd need would be a
rocket that could chase them, with the bomb for a head. And there's no
way we could carry that size rocket, or fire it if we could. Some day
these crates will come with men's rooms, and we'll have a place to carry
something like that."

"How big would a rocket like that be?"

"Five, six feet, by maybe a foot. Weigh at least three hundred pounds."

It was five minutes before Guns spoke again. "Ah been thinkin', cap'n.
With a little redecoratin', Ah think Ah could get a rocket that size in
here with me. We could weld a rail to one of the gun mounts that would
hold it up to five or six G's. Then after we got away from station, Ah
could take it outside and mount it on the rail."

"Forget it, lad. If they ever caught us pulling a trick like that,
they'd have us on hydroponic duty for the next five years. They just
don't want us playing around with bombs, till the experts get all the
angles figured out, and build ships to handle them. And besides, who do
you think will rig a bomb like that, without anybody finding out? And
where do you think we'd get a bomb in the first place? They don't leave
those things lying around. Kovacs watches them like a mother hen. I
think he counts them twice a day."

"Sorry, cap'n. Ah just figured if you could get hold of a bomb, Ah know
a few of the boys who could rig the thing up for us and keep th