The next morning, I showed up at Viking's Testing Area Four with a hot breakfast inside me and my vac suit outside, ready to go sky-climbing with McGuire. McGuire's tall blue spire shone brightly in the sunlight, and looked, as he always did, as though ready to take the leap at any time.
There would be only five of us aboard. Besides myself, there was the short, chubby Ellsworth Felder, head of the robotics staff; the boyish Irwin Brentwood; the tough, taciturn Theodore Videnski; and the lovely Vivian Devereaux.
We made the last-minute checks to make sure everything was ready for the hop to Phobos, and then I took command.
"Plot a one-gee orbit to Phobos, McGuire. Take-off in five minutes."
"Yes, sir," said McGuire. He thought for a minute, then said: "Course plotted, sir."
"Good." I glanced at Brentwood, who had set up his instruments in a semipermanent installation for the trip. "Did you get that, Brentwood?" He nodded.
"All right, McGuire; we're going to be doing a few tests out in space, so, for right now, just follow the curve of the first half—up to five minutes before turnover. I'll let you know what to do then. Warn me at five minutes before turnover; otherwise, just keep going until I give you further orders."
"Yes, sir."
"How much longer until take-off time?"