icate with Base.
Request plotting of crash point."

"Done, sir," Joe answered.

"Command post will be established in the radio room. Emergency steering
procedure will be started on command. Man all taxi craft."

It was all on the tapes that were salvaged. Everything was done that
desperate men could humanly do.

* * * * *

At Base, its Commander, General Oglethorpe, was in the communications
and tracking room by the time Joe McCauley had established contact with
Captain West.

He picked up the mike at the table. "Plug me in to the station," he
commanded the Lieutenant.

He got Joe first, but the radio operator put Captain West on as soon as
he arrived in the radio room. "Hello, Frank," said General Oglethorpe in
a quiet voice.

"Yes, Jack--" Captain West answered. "I'm glad you're there. Does it
look pretty bad?"

"Orbital velocity is down two percent. You've been falling for eight
minutes."

"That's pretty bad. I've got all steering stations manned, but only
thirty percent of them are still operable. We're using the taxis to give
a push too. But we haven't been able to dislodge the _Griseda_. Its
inertia takes almost half our available energy."

"Couldn't you get a blast from the _Griseda's_ tubes to put you in
orbit?"

"Adler's got a crew out there working on it. But his controls are gone,
besides his fuel tanks being opened. And even if we could get their
rockets operating it's doubtful we could get the right direction of
thrust. Our hope is in our own rockets, and in breaking the ship away
from the station."

But the closer the massed wreckage dropped toward Earth, the higher were
its requirements for orbital velocity. While the crews worked at their
desperate tasks General Oglethorpe sat with his eyes on the tracking
scope, and the voice of his friend in his ear. He listened to Captain
West's measured commands to the men in the station and to those working
to free the ship. General Oglethorpe heard the repeated reports of
failure to free the _Griseda_. He listened to West's orders to transfer
fuel from the ship to the station as the latter's supply ran low. He
watched the continued deviation of the spot on the tracking scope.

Then he turned as a lieutenant came up behind him with a sheet of
calculations. "Present rate of fall indicates a crash point in the San
Francisco Bay region, sir."

The General gripped the paper, his face tightening. West said, "Did I
hear