An audacious idea had begun to whirl around in Catherine's head, for it had suddenly occurred to her that she might do more than simply keep up Gary's courage. But to put it into effect, she must go to New York, and she must go without Gary's knowing the real purpose she had in mind.
"It's a grand idea, Katy," said Gary. "You pop along to New York and take a breather from handling all these queer creatures who want to go to Mars. You need a rest probably much more than I do."
When Spencer had departed, Catherine opened all the doors and windows to rid the house of the pestilence which his stogies had left floating in the air, but her heart was unaccountably light. She felt sure that her plan would succeed.
General Braden drew nervously on a cigarette and worried. A call from Catherine Holt seemed to add to the myriad difficulties in which Operation Mars had entwined him.
From the insistence with which Catherine had sought the interview, he anticipated that she was going to attempt to influence him to find some other man than Gary Holt to command the expedition. The mere fact that she felt that way about it half inclined him to accede to her request when she presented it, for he had his doubts about the effectiveness of a leader whose loyalties might be torn between an unwilling wife and even the greatest objective. He wanted every last man of the expedition to be heart and soul in it and not to have the slightest misgiving. Perhaps it might be well to appoint a different leader…
On the other hand, what would be the effect on Congress and the general public?
Might not a change in the command prove a boon to the opponents of the plan in Congress and elsewhere? Rumors of dissension within the directorship of the enterprise would begin to fly; talk of cold feet would become rife. Perhaps the integrity of the whole business might be called into question.
He was engrossed in such thoughts when Catherine was shown in. Rising to meet her, he perceived her with a quizzical glance. There was no doubt that her hair was grayer than when he had last seen it a year ago. He summoned up the courage he always needed to talk to a woman.
"How nice to see you, Katy my dear," was his not entirely sincere greeting. "How's everything in Emerald Bay? And how's your good husband?"
"He's not well, General," answered Catherine with a wan smile.
"Is he really sick? Here it comes, thought Braden. He offered her a chair and seated himself beside her.
Catherine looked at him fixedly. "He's sick at heart, General," she almost whispered. Then the floodgates of her speech almost washed Braden off his feet.
"General, you are what is making him sick! He idolizes you! Everything is held up by Buddhism and Confucionism and all sorts of isms and he can't get through his head why you sit inactive and silent! You, the man who fought like a tiger when people wouldn't believe that men could ride in rockets! You, who really created Lunetta and the space ships, seem to him to have slumped back into a narrow, military mentality when the whole world awaits your open advocacy of Operation Mars! He simply cannot understand how the man who sparked the enthusiasm of all those who are working day and night can sit in silence behind the screen of a soldier's preference for avoiding politics. He feels that it's as much your duty to fight for Operation Mars as it is his to command it. If you want him to get well, you'll get in there and bowl over these oriental objections like a set of ninepins!"
Catherine had risen and was practically pounding her small fists on Braden's desk.
As for the General, he was momentarily incapable of answering. So violent was the reversal of thought within his mind that no words came. The graying woman had turned the tables on him, for he could not but admire the self-sacrificial tenor of her speech, despite the embarrassing situation into which it put him. Her deep loyalty to her husband in coming here to reproach him with remissness aroused unbounded admiration.
"Katy, you're wonderful," he finally brought out. "If that's the way you feel, everything's fine!"
"Everything's fine?" she said, "What do you mean by that?"
"As unjust as it may have been, Katy, I thought you were coming to persuade me to replace Gary with another man, because you wanted to keep him at home. But after what I've heard, I know that you're braver than I. I'm going to match your courage and appear before Congress, although I'd much rather take Gary's place and lead the expedition…"
"General, you can't get one member of this family all worked up over something and then let him stew in his own juice without hearing from the other Holt!" Katy's eyes were moist above the relieved smile with which she looked back through the half-opened door at the astounded Braden.
Not many days later, Braden put on his best suit of civilian clothes and mounted the steps leading to the podium in the Capitol at Greenwich. The hopes of thousands were on his lips as he began his address.
"Gentlemen, as an old soldier obeying the orders of the President, I come before you to give an opinion on Operation Mars.
"I am too much of a realist to attempt to predict what might happen in the event of a surprise attack on us by intelligent enemies from some other planet. The results might well be so fantastic as to be incredible, and I'll leave prognostications of that nature to the authors of dime science fiction.
"But as a military man, I cannot but be concerned with our old Earth's vulnerability to external threat, and we must remember that Lunetta, our most potent concentration of military power, floats unprotected and unarmed in neighboring space. Any interplanetary attacker would be able to reduce that outer bastion with little or no effort, compared to taking effective possession of even the tiniest section of the Earth itself.
"A most venerable military principle states that the best protection for an isolated outpost is good reconnaissance. Should such reconnaissance reveal that there's no menace to our outpost, we may contain our souls in peace. If so, we at least have gained some time in which to devise protective measures.
"Professor Hansen laid before you the cogent reasons why we must be convinced that Mars is inhabited by a race of intelligent creatures, and we may well assume that they are potential enemies until the contrary is ascertained. I'm sure I need not emphasize this simple principle with any fanciful horror stories.
"The history of our planet up to the present has always been that of two or more armed camps. To our great good fortune, all these camps are now united, and conflict can only come from somewhere in space and be directed against each and every one of us, just as we are preparing to enjoy the fruits of our dearly won peace. In my opinion, the future happiness of our good old Earth has too much at stake to neglect any precautions whatsoever against some raid from space.
"That, gentlemen, represents my professional viewpoint. But there are a number of remarks I'd like to make about the general value of Operation Mars, and I offer for them your very serious consideration.
"From my earliest youth, I have despised the Greek proverb which claims that 'War is the father of Events.' Nonetheless, my whole life has been one consecutive revelation of the core of truth that lies within that proverb.
"Since the dawn of time, man has sought wings; but no sooner had they taken their first, faltering strokes than the new-born aircraft was swept into the capacious maw of the military. It required the immense expenditures of money which bred bombers and fighters throughout the whole Earth to evolve the useful and reliable airliner of our present day.
"Let me ask you whether any scientist could dedicate himself to a more fruitful task than to freeing nuclear energy for the liberation of mankind from the yoke of physical labor? Nevertheless, only the dire need for an all-destructive weapon, the atom bomb, could have raised the fantastic sums needed for the nobler concept.