That General Morrison had not even checked for syk findings annoyed Grant, perhaps. Under the circumstances he was justified: nothing had yet come out, nothing that Bridget had told Grant, anyway. The general could not be aware of this. He assumed it. Maybe that's what upset Grant.
"Then there's this De-Meteor," the general was saying. "I've always been suspicious of that gadget."
An electronics man spoke up. "A Clary man checked them all, even used instrument flight to be certain. I was with him and counter-checked the radar high-speed scanners, the computers, and the course-alteration mechanism. I was convinced myself it would steer the ship out of any situation involving the approach of one or two penetrating meteors."
General Morrison turned to the spatialogist. "What about the incidence of penetrating meteors in the mesosphere?"
"In average fall," the man replied, "fairly low."
"And the probability of encountering three at once along a given atomjet trajectory?"
"From what limited experiments we have made, the odds would be astronomical, I'd say."
The general snorted. "Too great to account for three ships, anyway, is that it?" He soothed his forehead with his big hand. "All right, let's make another check starting tomorrow morning. More robot-flight tests. Let's have ships outside the mesosphere operation range. And I want reports on anything that looks like anything, understand?"
The group emitted a low groan. This was the fourth comprehensive check—grueling, close, meticulous, nerve-racking work.