n various areas.

In the spaces between the inner sphere and the outer shell were the
basic storage areas. Here supplies and equipment were being stocked
against all possible emergencies. In the tapering space of the tail
below the sphere was a rocket-launching tube. Stored in the outer shells
were various vehicles for planetary exploration.

Haines came into the control room where the three were standing. He was
wiping his hands on a piece of cloth, and looked tired. "Finally got the
special, sealed-engine jeep stowed away," he said. "I was afraid we
weren't going to get it in time. The Moon-base people had ordered it,
and they're going to holler bloody murder when they find out we
appropriated it."

Lockhart shrugged. "Let 'em yell. It'll be too late when they find out.
How much longer will we need before you finish the loading?"

Haines drew a chair up to the chart table and sat down. "I expect to get
some more stuff tomorrow, and then the two-man rocket plane the next
day. We already have the four-man rocket aboard. That'll do it. The rest
of your men ready?"

Lockhart nodded. "We're just about set. Denning here can take a quick
trip home tomorrow, and we'll be ready the day after."

Burl looked about him quickly. One day, two days, maybe a third--and
then, the plunge into the unknown. Detmar reached upward and drew down a
metal ladder hanging in the curved ceiling of the chamber. "I'm going to
take a look in the engine room," he said. "Want to come along?" he asked
Burl.

Before the young man could say yes, Lockhart shook his head. "No, I
don't want him to. I don't want anyone going up there who doesn't have
to. That stuff is shielded, but you can never be sure."

Burl was disappointed, for he had wanted to see the nuclear generators.
But Detmar shook his head, smiled, and pushed aside a round trap door in
the ceiling. Burl could see that it connected with a similar door a foot
higher. Detmar pushed it open and ascended into the forbidden sphere of
the Zeta-rings. Burl got a glimpse of subdued, bluish light, and then
the trap door shut after the engineer.

Later as they drove out through the valley, Burl looked back at the huge
ship, and now, instead of appearing like an overhanging metal waterfall,
he saw it as a wide-nosed bullet, aiming at the sky, surging against its
bonds--a bullet for humanity's sake.

Chapter 5. _Up the Rope of Space_

Burl's visit home was a curious interlude. Actually,