with nothing. The refrigs are in jig
order, and if I know it then you know it. So, if the refrigs are in jig
order, there's only one thing it can be: we're getting too near the
sun!" Boone clamped his mouth shut and stood with thick, muscular arms
crossed over his barrel chest.

* * * * *

A young technician third class said in a strident voice, "You mean you
think maybe we're plunging into the sun, Acky?"

"Well, now, I didn't say that. Did I, boy? But we _are_ too close and if
we are too close there's got to be a reason for it. If we stay too close
too long, O.K. Then we're plunging into the sun. Right now, I dunno."

They all asked Ackerman Boone, who was an unofficial leader among them,
what he was going to do. He rubbed his big fingers against the thick
stubble of beard on his jaw and you could hear the rasping sound it
made. Then he said, "Nothing, until we find out for sure. But I got a
hunch the officers are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of them
politicians we got on board. That's all right with me, men. If they want
to, they got their reasons. But I tell ya this: they ain't going to pull
any wool over Acky Boone's eyes, and that's a fact."

Just then the squawk box called: "Now hear this! Now hear this! Tech/1
Ackerman Boone to Exec's office. Tech/1 Boone to Exec."

"You see?" Boone said, smiling grimly. As yet, no one saw. His face
still set in a grim smile, Ackerman Boone headed above decks.

* * * * *

"That, Mr. President," Vice Admiral T. Shawnley Stapleton said gravely,
"is the problem. We would have come to you sooner, sir, but frankly--"

"I know it, Admiral," the President said quietly. "I could not have
helped you in any way. There was no sense telling me."

"We have one chance, sir, and one only. It's irregular and it will
probably knock the hell out of the _Glory of the Galaxy_, but it may
save our lives. If we throw the ship suddenly into subspace we could
pass right through the sun's position and--"

"I'm no scientist, Admiral, but wouldn't that put tremendous stress not
only on the ship but on all of us aboard?"

"It would, sir. I won't keep anything from you, of course. We'd all be
subjected to a force of twenty-some gravities for a period of several
seconds. Here aboard the _Glory_, we don't have adequate G-equipment.
It's something like the old days of air flight, sir: as soon as
airplanes became reasonably safe