Edwards stared at him in surprise. "You mean you don't know?" Then he slapped his thigh in disgust. "No, of course you don't. I keep forgetting you couldn't. The Sulky couldn't reach you by radio with the Earth in between. Jerry, we got a beamed message on the Island from her when she went over one time. SOS. She's in trouble right now. Can't get help from her base, and can't wait for negotiations, so she tried calling us direct. Security clamped down on the message at once, but the radio operator's as much space as we are, so he made a dupe copy for the pilots. The day after the blowup at the base, the Sulky ran into a meteoroid big enough to rip out part of her solar boiler. She lost most of the mercury into space, and the rest isn't enough, even when she's patched. She has to operate on batteries right now, and that won't last more than another day or so."
Blane winced at the picture. A station was dependent on power for its existence. Lights, air circulation, water for balance, heat regulation, and even the growing of plants to keep the air breathable depended upon a steady supply of power. Like the Goddard, the Tsiolkovsky used a reflecting trough on top that directed the intense solar radiation onto a pipe filled with mercury which was heated to gaseous form and operated the boiler and generator. It was far cheaper and safer than atomic power.
"The government knew of that when it refused help?" he asked incredulously.
Edwards grunted. "Didn't start their extortion plans until they knew!" Then he grinned slowly. "Funny thing, Jerry, when I checked over the supplies I brought up for you, I found some of the boxes of equipment got mixed up in shipment. They're full of cans of mercury! I left them aboard the ship, figuring you wouldn't need them here."
Blane found his face muscles were trying to frown and smile at the same time, and he caught himself before he could laugh. He went to the door to make sure it was locked, and came back to his desk slowly.
In theory, it was entirely possible to reach the Sulky from the Goddard, and every pilot knew the general orbit. The Sulky and the Goddard each took two hours to circle Earth, with one an hour behind the other. If a ship took off outward with a reasonable use of power it could get into an ellipse around Earth that would take three hours to bring it back to its starting point—and by then, the opposite station would be at that point. The maneuver could be made both ways with the fuel a final stage could carry easily enough.
"You don't have fuel enough," he decided.
"Nope. But you do—out in the blasted lunar ships that are still waiting appropriations."
Blane hadn't had time to think of the lunar ships during the hectic days of commanding the station. But Edwards' statement was true enough. The ships had been nearing completion for the long-desired American exploration of the Moon a year ago when Congress had eliminated appropriations for everything not connected with the current emergency. They still trailed the station a few miles in space. The workers had all returned to Earth, but the fuel still lay in the plastic balloons. The little ferry ship used between the ships and the station was still here, too. It could be used to bring the fuel back easily, since it had been equipped with tanks for moving fuel between supply rockets and the balloons.