Gaddon motioned with his gun.
"Now step back! Move!"
The guard moved slowly back a pace, and then the Englishman stepped forward and kicked the rifle away from the man. Then he motioned around the rocket.
"Now move over around the side of the number one rocket to the far side of number two."
He watched as the guard turned and began to walk slowly around the huge base of the waiting rocket. He followed the soldier.
"I don't know what this is all about, Dr. Gaddon," the guard protested. "But I can tell you one thing, you're playing with the United States Government right now. When Dr. Mathieson hears about this—"
"When Dr. Mathieson hears about this, soldier, I'll be a long way from here—out at the edge of space itself!"
Gaddon could hear the guard draw in his breath sharply, but the man kept walking around to the far side of the second rocket cradle.
"You can't mean that you're going to go up—"
The soldier's voice broke off uncertainly and Gaddon laughed shortly.