«Yes, but—but if you call much later than that I’d be on my way between home and the office. So here’s what I’ll do. I’ll go to the office early, get there at seven o’clock, say. Then whenever you call I won’t be enroute between the two places.»
Her soft laughter came over the wire. «All right, I’ll call the office then. But you needn’t get there before half past seven; I’m sure the bill won’t be passed any sooner than that. And then only if we can keep it routine and avoid debate.»
«Fine. I’ll be at the office from seven-thirty till I hear from you. Ellen, your voice sounds tired. Are you all right?»
«I am tired. Outside of that, I’m all right.»
«No more headaches?»
«No more headaches. And I’ll rest up now. I’m going to bed early tonight. Tomorrow I’m not going to the Senate. I’ll be in the gallery of the House, watching, until I phone you, and then I’ll take the rest of the day off.»
«And rest?»
«And rest. Oh, maybe I’ll go somewhere in the afternoon, just for relaxation, if the bill goes through in the morning session. Tell you what I’ll do. Go to the zoo and watch the monkeys. After a morning of watching the House of Representatives, that will soothe my nerves. And restore my faith in human nature. Or simian nature, if there’s any difference. Darling, I wish I had your faith in humanity.»
«You have more than I. You’re just overtired. And I won’t keep you any longer. Good night, darling.»
I tried to go to bed early that night, myself, but I was too keyed up, too worried, to get sleepy. After a while I gave up, put on a lounging robe and went up on the roof to use my telescope a while. Jupiter was below the horizon but Saturn was beautiful that night, at just the angle that best shows off the rings. Spectacular Saturn, next out beyond Jupiter, our next step outward after Jupe.
And tomorrow would tell the tale of whether we’d be going to Jupiter soon. Would the bill go through, or would a wheel come off?
No wheel came off.
Ellen’s call came a few minutes before nine o’clock. «All okay, darling,» she said, «it’s going through.»
«Wonderful.»
«A comfortable margin. It’s a roll call vote, still going on. Only about three-fourths of the House has been polled but we’ve got a majority already—a majority of the total number of votes that will be cast, I mean. So it’s really passed already. If you’re interested in the final count I can phone again in about twenty minutes.»
«It doesn’t matter,» I said. «Ellen, you still sound tired. You’d better go home and rest up. Or were you being serious about going to the zoo this afternoon to watch the monkeys?»
«I was about halfway serious when I said it, but I guess I’ll go home and get some sleep instead. I’ve got a dinner-date tonight. It’s time I start lining up my recommendations for the directorship.»
«Who, tonight?»
«Whitlow. William J. Whitlow. He’s my first choice. Does the name mean anything to you?»
«It sounds familiar but I can’t place him. Brief me.»
«Ex-congressman from Wisconsin. Jansen’s own party. He lost out in the last election but it wasn’t his fault; he ran well ahead of his ticket, got more Wisconsin votes than Jansen did. There was that scandal out there, remember, about the dairy interest briberies. Whitlow wasn’t involved but too many of his party were and too many straight ticket votes went against him. In the House two years ago he led the fight for the Alaskan reclamation bill—it had his name on it, the Bums-Whitlow Act. That’s where you probably heard of him.»
«What’s he doing now?»
«One of the undersecretaries of state. That was the best job Jansen could hand him after the election, but it’s not much of a job compared to the directorship of the project, pays about half as much and gets him only a fraction as much publicity. He’ll jump at the Jupiter project. And Jansen will be glad of a chance to move him up; I’m sure of that.»
«Nothing against him that might come up when the Senate has to approve him?»
«Not a thing. He’s kept his nose clean. Dull and almost disgustingly honest. He won’t get a single challenge in the Senate. He’s a natural, Max.»
«Sounds good. But how about conservationist tendencies?»
«I’ve checked his voting record carefully. He’s better than middle of the road. Hasn’t been active in pushing any expansionist bills, but he hasn’t voted against a single rocket or colony bill. That makes him a lot better for the job—more politically acceptable, I mean—than if he was known as a fanatical expansionist.»
«Right. What’s he like personally?»
«Well, a bit stuffy, I’m afraid. But don’t worry; you’ll be able to handle him and he won’t interfere with you. He doesn’t know the first thing about engineering or rockets, not even about construction. He’ll be glad to take the glory and supervise the paper work while you do the real job. I’ll do a good job of selling you to him tonight. No, come to think of it, I won’t mention your name tonight. I’ll just get his irrevocable promise to make the person I name his assistant in exchange for my recommending him for the directorship.»
«Why work it that way?»
«I’ve got a scheme that ought to make it doubly sure. Really Machiavellian. If I hold off on telling him your name until after he’s talked with Jansen about the job, just maybe Jansen will remember some of the things I told him about you and suggest you on his own hook to Whitlow. And a recommendation from Prexy would make Whitlow think he’s in an embarrassing spot because of his promise to me. And then when I recommend the same man Jansen had recommended, just look what it will do to your stock with Whitlow! He’ll be so happy to be able to keep his promise to me and still take Jansen’s advice that you’ll own the project; he’ll be afraid to cross you on anything. And if Jansen doesn’t mention your name, nothing’s lost.»
«Good girl,» I said. «Don’t let him keep you out late tonight.»
«I won’t. Won’t have to. I’ll be offering him a deal he’ll jump at, not trying to sell him something. I won’t even have to be nice to him, let alone try to seduce him.»
«You’d better not. But that reminds me—don’t you think this deserves a celebration? Today’s Friday; I can fix things to be off tomorrow and Sunday. If you sleep all this afternoon, all night tonight and all day tomorrow do you think you’d be rested up enough for a celebration, just the two of us, tomorrow night? I could take a stratojet there tomorrow afternoon and catch one back Sunday afternoon.»
«It sounds wonderful—but Max, let’s wait until we can realty celebrate, until your appointment has been made. If I really push things that could be as soon as next week end, and isn’t that worth waiting for?»
I sighed. «I suppose so. But it’s damned lonesome here, with Klocky gone too. I see M’bassi once in a while, but I can hardly celebrate with him this week end. He won’t drink anything stronger than wine and only a glass or two of that.»
Ellen laughed. «Doesn’t sound very festive, does it, darling? Why don’t you run up to Berkeley tomorrow night and hang one on with Bess and Rory? They’re wonderful people.»
«They are, and I will,» I said.
«Oh, and don’t miss tonight’s papers, Max. We’ve got a really good publicity man and he’s worked out fine press releases on the project. We’ve been holding them back until it went through the House, but he’ll release them this afternoon.»
«I’ll watch for them,» I said. «All right, darling. I won’t keep you talking any longer. I hope I’ll see you next week end then, and keep me posted.»
«I’ll let you know the minute there’s any further news. ‘Bye now.»
I intended to phone Rory that evening to make sure he and Bess would be at home and free the following night and that they’d want me to come up. But Rory beat me to the punch. He phoned me at the office just before quitting time.