"Dr. Mathieson, isn't Dr. Gaddon going to be here for the launching?"
The head of the rocket project turned to Trent. Fred could see a suddenly puzzled look in his eyes.
"Yes, that is strange ..." Then he laughed. "I suppose Gaddon is in the laboratory supervising the firing controls. Well, if he wants to miss the show, that's his fault. He knows the schedule."
Trent accepted the scientist's words without replying. But he still wasn't satisfied. What was it that Gaddon had said in the car about the biggest story of the year? What had the man meant? Question after question arose in Trent's mind as he stood there, and always the queer feeling inside him grew in intensity. He could not place his finger on it, but somehow, he knew that something was wrong.
But then his suspicions were put aside for the moment as he heard Mathieson say:
"All right, gentlemen, the time is nearly here. In precisely one minute the rocket will be fired."
The statement was made with a quiet eagerness, and then suddenly the gathered witnesses grew silent.
Trent's eyes, along with the others, fastened on the looming bulk of the waiting rocket.
And the seconds ticked off in Fred's mind.
As he counted them, he thought that it seemed impossible that within a very few moments that gigantic hulk of smooth, tapered metal would dislodge itself from the cradle it rested in with a burst of roaring flame. That in another few seconds it would shoot into the blackened sky, and in a few short minutes would reach unbelievable heights in the heavens, to the edge of space itself before the automatic controls released the instrument section to be returned safely to earth.