The rockets roared faintly even in this sound-proofed cubicle. Then the pounding blood in his ears washed out all other sound. The pounding in his ears grew throatier, louder.
The 9G acceleration blacked him out.
That dive was a little too steep, he was thinking, first time I ever blacked out with somebody on my tail. He jerked his head around to see where the butcher was. And then he remembered.
He looked ahead. The stars were steady white flames in the black pool of space. Ah, there it was! The pale green flame that was Venus.
Somewhere, there, lay Earth's salvation.
Arlington Arden, the metal expert, came into the cubicle then, his blond face pale.
"Some shove, huh?" he opined.
Bairn nodded, his gray eyes watched the orientation chart whose red and green and yellow lights were flickering in the rhythm that showed they were on the mathematically-charted course.
"Think the stuff is really there, Arlie?" Bairn questioned.
"We're staking our lives on it, John."