Dan's shoulders stiffened. "Listen, Rawlins, I'm just as interested as you in breaking Roehm's monopoly on Earth-Venus rockets."
"Get out!"
"I can't get out. Don't forget you have another rocket due in twenty minutes—a passenger rocket."
Rawlins' face went pale. "My God! I'd forgotten." He threw up his hands. "Turn 'em back," he shrieked. "Send 'em back to earth! It's suicide to land on that guide beam."
"I can't send them back to Earth," Dan said quietly. "They haven't enough fuel."
"Then send 'em to one of Roehm's fields. It's an admission of complete defeat, but we can't kill 'em."
Dan swallowed. "You're forgetting that Roehm uses invisible light for landing—not ultra short waves. Anyway, do you think Roehm would miss such a chance to crash one of our rockets?"
Rawlins sat down with a groan. "Where in thunder did I ever get the idea we could bring in a ship through that magnetic murk on ultra short waves?"
Dan lifted his head. "There's nothing the matter with my guide beam. It brought in the experimental rocket yesterday and magnetic conditions were even worse."
"I see." The smile on Rawlins' lined face was cynical. "In other words you're trying to pass the buck to Stevens, your control-room operator."