Robert Heinlein - Destination Moon

Or to make orphans of four kids whose old man was "a very domestic type guy" but could be shamed Into coming along?

No, he knew it had been because Jimmy Barnes had been small for his age, clumsy with his fists, no decent

-- clothes-so he had to make more money, boss more men, build faster planes than anyone else. He, James A. Barnes, had reached the Moon because he had never been sure of himself, --

He wondered about Mannie's kids and his stomach was a rock inside him. -- --

He threw off the mood and went to the radio controls, keyed the walkie-talkie circuit and called out, "This is Jim Barnes, kiddies, coming to you by courtesy of 'SLUMP,' the Super soap. Come in, come in, wherever you are!"

"Jim!" Bowles' voice came back. "Come on out."

"Later," Barnes answered. "Where's Doe?"

"Right here," Corley answered. "I was just coming back."

"Good," said Barnes. "Red, I'll leave this switched on. Sing out now and then."

"Sure thing," Bowles agreed.

Barnes went to the desk and -- began toting up mass reserves. An orbit computation is complicated; calculating what it takes to pull free of a planet is simple; he had a rough answer in a few minutes. --

• He ran his hand through his hair. He still needed that haircut-and no barbers on this block. He wondered if it were true that a man's hair continued to grow after his death...

The hatch creaked and Corley climbed into the room. "Whew!" be said. "It's good to get out of that suit. That sun is really hot."

"Wasn't the gas expansion enough to keep you cool?"

"Not cool enough. Those suits are hard to get around

-- in, too, Jim-they need a lot of engineering."

"They'll get it," Barnes answered absently, "but reengineering this ship is more urgent. Not the Corley engine, Doe; the controls. They aren't delicate enough;"

"I know," Corley admitted. "That poor cutoff-we'll have to design a prediction for it into the autopilot, and use a feedback loop."

Barnes nodded. "Yes, sure, after we get -- back-and if we get back." He tossed his fingers at the scientist. "Hum that through."

Corley glanced at it. "I know."

"Red won't find a spot in line-of-sight with home; those mountains are infernally high. But I wanted him out of the way-and Mannie. No use talking to Red, he's going to get a posthumous Congressional Medal if it kills him-and us too."

Corley nodded. "But I'm with him On trying to contact Earth; I need it worse than he does."

"Hastings?"

"Yes. Jim, if we had enough margin, we could blast off and correct after radio contact. We haven't; if we get off at all it will be close."

"I know. I spent our ticket home, when I made that extra blast."

"What good would it have done to have crashed? Forget it; I need Hastings. We need the best orbit possible."

"Fat chance!"

"Maybe not. There's libration, you know."

Barnes looked startled. "Man, am I stupid!" He went on eagerly, "What's the situation now? Is Earth swinging up, or down?"

The Moon's spin is steady, but its orbit speed is not; it moves, fastest when it is closest to Earth. The amount is slight, but it causes the Moon to appear to wobble each • month as if the Man-in-the-Moon were shaking his head. This moves the Earth to-and-fro in the lunar sky some seven degrees.

Corley answered, "It's rising-I think. As to whether it will rise enough-well, I'll have to compute -- Earth's position and then take some star sights."

"Let's get at it. Can I help?"

Before Corley could reply Bowles' voice came over the speaker: "Hey! Jim!"

Barnes keyed the wallcie-talkies. "Yes, Red?"

"We're at the hills south of the ship. They might be high enough. I want to go behind them; there may be an easier place to climb."

On the airless Moon, all radiorequires line-of-sight -- yet Barnes hated to refuse a reasonable request. "Okay -- but don't take any chances."

"Aye aye, Skipper." ' Barnes turned to Corley. "We need the time anyhow." "Yes," Corley agreed. "You know, Jim, this isn't the way I imagined it. I don't mean the Moon itself-just wait until we get some pressurized buildings here and some decent pressure suits. But what I mean is what we find ourselves doing. I expected to cram. every minute with exploring and collecting specimens and gathering new data. Instead I'll beat my brains out simply trying to get us back."

"Well, maybe you'll have time later-too much time."

Corley grudged a smile. "Could be -- "

He sketched out the relative positions of Earth and Moon, consulted tables. Presently he -- looked up. "We're in luck. Earth will rise -- nearly two and a half degrees before she swings back."

"Is that enough?" "We'll see. Dig out the sextant, Jim." Barnes got it and Corley took it to the eastern port. He measured the elevations of three stars above the tops of the mountains. These he plotted on a chart and drew a line for the apparent horizon. Then he plotted Earth's position relative to those stars.

"Finicky business," he complained. "Better check me, Jim.',

"I will. What do you get?"

"Well-if I haven't dropped a decimal point, Earth will be up for a few hours anyway three days from now."

Barnes grinned. "We'll get a ticker-tape parade yet, Doe."

"Maybe. Let's have another look at the ballistic situation first."

Batnes' face sobered. --

Corley worked for an hour, taking Barnes' approximation and turning it into something slightly better. At last he stopped. "I don't know," he fretted. "Maybe Hastings can trim it a little."

"Doe," Barnes answered, "suppose we jettison everything we can? I hate to say it, but there's all that equipment you brought."

"What do you think I've been doing with these weight schedules? Theoretically the ship is stripped."

"Oh. And it's still bad?"

"It's still bad."

Bowles and Traub returned worn out and just short of sun stroke. The Admiral was unhappy; he had not been able to find any way to climb the hills: "I'll go back tomorrow," he said stoutly. "I mean after we've eaten and slept."

"Forget it," advised Barnes.

"What do you mean?"

"We are going to have line-of-sight from here."

"Eh? Repeat that."

"Libration," Barnes told him. "Doe has already calculated it."

Bowles' face showed delighted comprehension. Traub looked puzzled; Barnes explained it. --

"So you see," Barnes went on, 4'we'll have a chance to send a message in about seventy hours."

Bowles stood up, his fatigue forgotten. "That's all we • -- need!" He pounded his palm exultantly.

"Slow down, Red," Barnes advised, "our chances of taking off look worse than ever."

"So?" Bowles shrugged. "It's not important."

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Drop the Nathan Hale act. Have the common' decency to give a thought to Mannie and his four kids.",,

Bowles started to retort, stopped-then went on again' with dignity. "Jim, I didn't mean to annoy you. But I meant what I said. It's not important to get back, as long as our message gets through. Our mistakes will make it easier for the next expedition. -- In a year the United States can have a dozen ships, better ships, on the Moon. Then no country would be-so foolhardy as to attack us. That is important; we aren't."

He went on, "Every man dies; the group goes on. You spoke of Mannie's kids. You have no children, nor has --

Corley. Mannie has-so I know he understands what I mean better than you do."-- He turned to Traub. "Well, --

Mannie?"

Traub looked up, then dropped his eyes. "Red is right, Mr. Barnes," he answered in a low voice, "but I'd like to -- get home."

Barnes bit his lip. "Let's drop it," he said irritably. "Red, you might rustle up some supper."

For three days, Earth time, they labored. Bowles and Barnes stripped the ship-cameras, empty oxygen bottles, their extra clothing, the many scientific instruments Corley had hoped to use-Wilson cloud chamber, Geiger counter, a 12" Schmidt camera and clock, still cameras, 'the autocamera, ultra -- and infra-spectrographs, other instruments. Corley stayed at his desk, computing, checking, computing again-getting the problem in the best possible shape to turn -- over 'to Hastings. Traub overhauled his radio and lined up his directional antenna to the exact orientation at which Earth would appear.