Bill looked wickedly at Skagarach. Then he pulled a revolver from his belt and stuck it out to me. "Take it, you earned it."
Skagarach smirked; but his gray eyes flashed sullen hate at the big man, and I hoped anew that I could split them and make a rebellion in the ranks of the Neanderthals.
"I am second leader now," said Skagarach loudly, "as Old One is dead. I should have a voice in decisions such as that," and he gestured toward the gun I held. "However, I think Ray has earned it, too. Now let's get to business. We have to let the other musters know at once, so the three-stage rockets will come to Odo as fast as possible," he said, lifting his voice until it was a hoarse bellow. "Everyone quiet. This is a distance job, and difficult."
Bill Cuff watched him impatiently as the fox-face crinkled into furrows of thought. Then he said to me, not bothering to lower his voice, "You might think they'd have radioed for help, or that the scientists would be doing that now. Well, we've got hand-jammers on the LCPs that have been working since we touched the coast." Hand-jammers, invented only this year, tiny boxes that could jam radio, phone, television, in fact any method of communication from one spot to another. Odo was therefore isolated!
"Won't silence be suspicious?" I asked him. "Don't you suppose they'll begin to wonder, over on the mainland?"
"Hell, no. Too dangerous to keep up steady communications to a place that's supposed to be as dead secret as this hunk of rock. You can bet only emergencies would make 'em radio from here." He laughed. "You see, we laid our plans well."
I had just thought of something, something big. I blurted it out before I'd more than recognized it as a possibility. "Here, Bill, for God's sake, how do we know this thing is ready to leave the earth?" I pointed to the metal moon. "How do we know it won't just come apart when we try to lift it?"
"There again," said Cuff, as Skagarach gave him a dirty look and obviously tried to concentrate, "we haven't just presumed, or taken our chances. We've been watching the three-stage rockets—and for two days they've been ready to go in an instant's notice. And two of our fellows reported that they had stand-by orders; they're on the rocket crews," he added smugly.
Skagarach said, "I've established contact with Milo. Now will you clamp your goddam jaws shut!"