Sally said calmly, "I know just how you feel. You've made me feel that
way." She looked up at the moon. "I thought about you all the time you
were gone, and I--prayed for you, Joe. And now you're back and not even
busy! But you don't---- It would be nice for you to think about me for a
while!"

"I am thinking about you!" said Joe indignantly.

"Now what," said Sally interestedly, "in the world could you be thinking
about me?"

He wanted to scowl at her. But he grinned instead.




7


Time passed. Hours, then days. Things began to happen. Trucks appeared,
loaded down with sacks of white powder. The powder was very messily
mixed with water and smeared lavishly over the now waterproofed wooden
mockup of a space ship. It came off again in sections of white plaster,
which were numbered and set to dry in warm chambers that were
constructed with almost magical speed. More trucks arrived, bearing such
diverse objects as loads of steel turnings, a regenerative
helium-cooling plant from a gaswell--it could cool metal down to the
point where it crumbled to impalpable powder at a blow--and assorted
fuel tanks, dynamos, and electronic machinery.