To Sail Beyond The Sunset

‘George, this doesn't sound to me like the way to do it. I won't tell Woodrow that - after all, he's a big boy now' - assumed age, thirty-five; true age, fifty-three - ‘but I hope Captain LeCroix stays healthy.'

Another of those long waits in which George pondered something unpleasant - ‘Maureen, this is utter, Blue Star secret. I'm not sure anyone is going to fly that ship.'

‘Trouble?'

‘Sheriff trouble. I don't know how much longer I can hold off our creditors. And we haven't anywhere else to rum. We've pawned our overcoat so to speak.'

‘George, lei me see what I can do.'

He agreed to live in my apartment and look after Princess Polly while I was away - okay with Princess Polly, as she was used to him. I left for Scottsdale in the morning, to see Justin.

‘Look at it this way, Justin. How bad will the Foundation be hurt if you let Harriman Industries collapse?'

‘The Foundation would be hurt. But not fatally. We would be able to resume full subsidy in five years, ten at the outside. Maureen, one thing is certain: a conservator of other people's money must never throw good money after bad.'

Eight million was the most I could squeeze out of him, and I had to guarantee it. Half of it was in CDs some of which had due dates as long as six months away. (Bui a certificate of deposit can always be used in place of cash, although it may cost you points.)

To accomplish that much I had, first, to tell Justin that he would never get another ‘Theodore' tip out of me if he didn't produce the money, and, second, that if he laid the money on the table, I would place beside it a full and complete transcript of those notes I had taken in the middle of the night on 29 June 1918.

In the Broadmoor the next morning George would not accept the money from me but took me to Mr Harriman, who seemed detached, barely able to recognise me, until I said, ‘Mr Harriman, I want to buy some more participation in the Lunar launching.'

‘Eh? I'm sorry, Mrs Johnson; there is no more participation stock for sale. That I know of.'

‘Then let me put it this way. I would like to lend you eight million dollars as a personal loan without security:

Mr Harriman looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. He had grown gaunt since the last time I had seen him and his eyes burned with fanatic fervour - he made me think of those Old Testament prophets.

He studied me, then turned to George. ‘Have you explained to Mrs Johnson what a risk she would be taking?'

George nodded glumly. ‘She knows.'

‘I wonder. Mrs Johnson, I'm cleaned out and Harriman Industries is a hollow shell - that's why I haven't called a directors' meeting lately. I would have to explain to you and to the other directors the risks I've been taking. Mr Strong and I have been trying to hold things together on jawbone and sheer nerve, long enough to get the Pioneer off her pad and into the sky. I haven't given up hope... but, if I take your money and I am forced into bankruptcy and my senior company into receivership, my note to you could not be in a preferred position. You might get three cents on the dollar; you might not get anything.'

‘Mr Harriman, you are not going to be bankrupt and that tall ship out there will fly. Captain LeCroix will land on the Moon and return safely'

He smiled down at me. It's good to know that you have faith in us.'

‘It's not just faith; I'm certain. We can't fail now for the lack of a few pennies. Take the money and use it. Pay it back when you can. Not only will Pioneer fly, you also will send many ships after her. You are manifest destiny in person, sir! You will found Luna City... freeport for the Solar System!'

Later that week George asked me if I wanted to be in the blockhouse during the launching - Mr Harriman had said to invite me. I had already considered it, knowing that I could demand it if I cared to push it.

‘George, that's not the best place to watch the lift-off, is it?'

‘No. But it's the safest. It's where the VIPs will be. The Governor. The President if he shows up. Ambassadors.'

‘Sounds claustrophobic. George, I've never been much interested in the safest place... and the few VIPs I've met struck me as hollow shells, animated by PR men. Where are you going to be?'

‘I don't know yet. Wherever Delos needs me to be.'

‘So I figured. You are going to be too busy to have me hanging on your arm -‘

‘It would be a privilege, dear lady, But -‘

‘- you are needed elsewhere. Where is the best view? If you weren't busy, where would you watch it?'

‘Have you visited the Broadmoor Zoo?'

‘Not yet. I expect to. After the lift-off.'

‘Maureen, there is a parking lot at the zoo. From it you would have a dear view to the east from the spot about fifteen hundred feet higher than Peterson Field. Mr Montgomery has arranged with the Hotel to place some folding chairs there. And a radio link. Television. Coffee. If I weren't busy, that's where I would be.'

‘So that's where I will be.'

Later that day I ran across my son Woodrow in the lobby of the Broadmoor. ‘Hi, Mom! They got me working.'

‘How did they manage that?'

‘I didn't read my contract carefully enough. This is "educational and public communication activity associated with the Moonship" - meaning I have to set this thing up to show people how the ship works, where it will go, and where the diamonds are on the Moon.'

‘Are there diamonds on the Moon?'

‘We'll let you know later. Come here a sec.' He led me away from the crowd in the lobby into a side hall by the barber shop. ‘Mom,' he said quietly, ‘if you want to do it, I think I have enough bulge around here to get you into the blockhouse for the lift-off'

Is that the best place to sec it?'

No, it's probably the worst. It'll be hot as a June bride, because the air conditioning isn't all that good. But it's the safest place and it's where the high brass will be. Visiting royalty. Party chairmen. Mafia chiefs.'

‘Woodrow, where is the best place to watch? Not the safest ‘

‘I would drive up Cheyenne Mountain. There is a big paved parking lot outside the zoo. Come back into the lobby; I want to show you something.'

On a giant (four-foot) globe that made my mouth water, Woodrow showed me the projected path of the Pioneer.

‘Why doesn't it go straight up?'

‘Doesn't work that way. She goes cast and makes use of the Earth's rotation... and unloads all those extra steps. The bottom one, the biggest one, number five, drops in Kansas.'

‘What if it landed on the Prairie Roadway?'

‘I'd join the Foreign Legion... right behind Bob Coster and Mr Ferguson. Honest, it can't, Mom. We start out here, fifty miles south of the road, and where it lands, over here, near Dodge City, is over a hundred miles south of it'

‘What about Dodge City?'

‘There's a little man with a switch, hired solely to push that switch and bring step five down in open country. If he makes a mistake, they tie him to a tree and let wild dogs tear him to pieces. Don't worry, Mom. Step four lands around here, off the coast of South Carolina. Step three lands in the Atlantic north of this narrowest plane where the nose of South America faces the bulge of Africa. Step two lands in the South Atlantic near Capetown. If it goes too far, we'll hear some interesting cussing in Afrikaans. Step one - ah, that's the one. With luck it lands on the Moon. If Bob Coster made a mistake, why, it's back to the old drawing-board.'

It will be no news to anyone that Pioneer lifted off to plan and that Captain Leslie LeCroix landed on Luna and returned safely. I watched from Cheyenne Mountain, the zoo parking lot, with such a fine, horizon-wide view to the east that it seemed to me that I could stand on my tip-toes and sec Kansas City.