The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pushbutton War, by Joseph P. Martino

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Title: Pushbutton War

Author: Joseph P. Martino

Illustrator: Schoenherr

Release Date: January 2, 2008 [EBook #24122]
Last updated: January 22, 2009

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PUSHBUTTON WAR

By JOSEPH P. MARTINO

Illustrated by Schoenherr

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science
Fiction August 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

_In one place, a descendant of the Vikings rode a ship such as Lief
never dreamed of; from another, one of the descendants of the
Caesars, and here an Apache rode a steed such as never roamed the
plains. But they were warriors all._

The hatch swung open, admitting a blast of Arctic air and a man clad in
a heavy, fur-lined parka. He quickly closed the hatch and turned to the
man in the pilot's couch.

"O.K., Harry. I'll take over now. Anything to report?"

"The heading gyro in the autopilot is still drifting. Did you write it
up for Maintenance?"

"Yeah. They said that to replace it they'd have to put the ship in the
hangar, and it's full now with ships going through periodic inspection.
I guess we'll have to wait. They can't just give us another ship,
either. With the hangar full, we must be pretty close to the absolute
minimum for ships on the line and ready to fly."

"O.K. Let me check out with the tower, and she'll be all yours." He
thumbed the intercom button and spoke into the mike: "RI 276 to tower.
Major Lightfoot going off watch."

When the tower acknowledged, he began to disconnect himself from the
ship. With smooth, experienced motions, he disconnected the mike cable,
oxygen hose, air pressure hose, cooling air hose, electrical heating
cable, and dehumidifier hose which connected his flying suit to the
ship. He d