"I don't know what the tests were," he said with a trace of impatience. "They tested everything. They say everything's all right. I'm no reaction motor technician! I'm a pilot! They give me a ship and I fly it! I leave the other stuff to the slide-rule boys!"
"Who are plenty good," agreed McCauley, "and since the take-off's scheduled, that's that. We take off at 1200 hours tomorrow."
He had complete confidence in the adequacy of his training in the mock-up back in Dayton, but it did assume that the ship would function according to its design. He'd have preferred to verify the point he'd raised. The record of rocket shoot failures includes at least one rocket that didn't leave the launching pad because a certain valve closed three one-thousandths of a second late. It took two months to repair the damage so the rocket could be tried again. Then it worked perfectly.
Everything might have been—should have been—almost certainly had been—foreseen. But the chance of trouble was certainly greatest in the cut-in and cut-out feature that was necessary if the X-21 was to make its flight successfully.
"I'm sorry," Furness said elaborately, "that I was more concerned about meeting a situation that bothered the brass than guessing at questions you might raise. I told the general we'd be ready to take off. I'll tell him I was mistaken, that you're not ready."
McCauley grew impatient.
"Confound it, man!" he protested. "There are patrol ships taking position! The monitor stations will be alerted! There've been too many shoots called off or postponed! This one can't be postponed! I asked a question. You can't answer it. The answer would almost certainly be that there were plenty of cut-out trials. I withdraw the question. It's canceled! But it wasn't unreasonable to ask!"
Furness bit his lip.
"Just the same," Furness said sourly, "you're not satisfied that I said we'd be ready to go without asking you first. Look here! Would you rather have somebody else fly observer with you?"
"I didn't suggest such a thing," said McCauley angrily, "and it's ridiculous to think of it. No! Forget the whole business!"