d him, "I'm going to brag that I was
the very first girl in all the world ever to be kissed in a space ship!"

But before Joe could do anything about the comment, she was out on the
stairs, in plain view and going down. So he followed her.

The Shed was emptying. The bare wood-block floor was dotted with figures
moving steadily toward the security exit. There was no hurry, because
security men were shouting that this was not an alarm but a
precautionary measure, and there was no need for haste. Each security
man had been informed by the miniature walkie-talkie he wore. By it
every guard could be told anything he needed to know, either on the
floor of the Shed, or on the catwalks aloft or even in the Platform
itself.

Trucks lined up in orderly fashion to go out the swing-up doors. Men
came down from the scaffolds after putting their tools in proper
between-shifts positions--for counting and inspection--and other men
were streaming quietly from the pushpot assembly line. Except for the
gigantic object in the middle, and for the fact that every man was in
work clothes, the scene was surprisingly like the central waiting room
of a very large railroad station, with innumerable people moving briskly
here and there.

"No hurry," said Joe, catching the word from a security man as he passed
it on. "I'll go see what my gang found out."

The trio--Haney and Mike and the Chief--were just arriving by the piles
of charred but now uncovered wreckage. Sally flushed ever so slightly
when she saw the Chief eye Joe's ring on her finger.

"Rest of the day off, huh?" said the Chief. "Look! We found most of the
stuff we need. They're gonna give us a shop to work in. We'll move this
stuff there. We're gonna have to weld a false frame on the lathe we
picked, an' then cut out the bed plate to let the gyros fit in between
the chucks. Mount it so the spinning is in the right line."

That would be with the axis of the rotors parallel to the axis of the
earth. Joe nodded.

"We'll be able to get set up in the mornin'," added Haney, "and get
started. You got the parts list off to the plant for your folks to get
busy on?"

Sally said quickly: "He's sending that by facsimile now. Then----"

The Chief beamed in benign mockery. "What you goin' to do after that,
Joe? If we got the rest of the day off----?"

Sally said hurriedly: "We were--he was going off on a picnic with me. To
Red Canyon Lake. Do you really need to talk business--all after