ar outshone the light
reflected from the sun by the Earth overhead.

"Get those cameras going!" the major snapped. He knew that the eight
moon-cats that formed the distant perimeter had been recording steadily,
but he wanted close-ups, if possible.

None of the cameras got much of anything. The blaze didn't last long,
fierce as it was. When it finally died, and the smoke particles settled
slowly to the lunar surface, there was only a blackened spot where the
bulk of a spaceship had been.

"Well ... I ... will ... be--," said Major Valentin Udovichenko.

* * * * *

The TV debate was over. The senator and the President had gone at each
other hot and heavy, hammer and tongs, with the senator clearly emerging
as the victor. But no mention whatever had been made of the Soviet
announcement from Luna.

At four thirty-five the next morning, the telephone rang in the
senator's suite. Cannon had been waiting for it, and he was quick to
answer.

The face that appeared on the screen was that of the President of the
United States. "Your scheme worked, senator," he said without preamble.
There was an aloofness, a coolness in his voice. Which was only natural,
considering the heat of the debate the previous evening.

"I'm glad to hear it, Mr. President," the senator said, with only a hair
less coolness. "What happened?"

"Your surmise that the Soviet officials did not realize the potential of
the new craft was apparently correct," the President said. "General
Thayer had already sent another ship in to rescue the crew of the
disabled vessel, staying low, below the horizon of the Russian radar.
The disabled ship had had some trouble with its drive mechanism; it
would never have deliberately exposed itself to Russian detection.
General Thayer had already asked my permission to destroy the disabled
vessel rather than let the Soviets get their hands on it, and, but for
your suggestion, I would have given him a go-ahead.

"But making a replica of the ship in plastic was less than a two-hour
job. The materials were at hand; a special foam plastic is used as
insulation from the chill of the lunar substrata. The foam plastic was
impregnated with ammonium nitrate and foamed up with pure oxygen; since
it is catalyst-setting, that could be done at low temperatures. The
outside of the form was covered with metallized plastic, also
impregnated with ammonium nitrate. I understand that the thing burned
like