inspections of your ships." Strong paused and looked around. "Are there
any questions?"

"When will the first ship blast off, Captain Strong?" asked a lean and
leathery-looking spaceman in the back of the room.

"First time trial takes place at 0600 hours tomorrow morning. Each ship
has a designated time. Consult your schedules for the blast-off time of
your ships."

"What if a ship isn't ready?" asked Kit Barnard, who had slipped into
the room unnoticed.

"Any ship unable to blast off at scheduled time," said Strong, finding
it difficult to look at his old friend, "will be eliminated."

There was a sudden murmur in the room and Quent Miles rose quickly.
"That's not much time to prepare our ships," he said. "I don't know
who's going to be first, but I can't even strip my ship by tomorrow
morning, let alone soup up the reactant." His voice was full of
contempt, and he glanced around the room at the other pilots. "Seems to
me we're being treated a little roughly."

There were several cries of agreement.

Strong held up his hand. "Gentlemen, I know it is difficult to prepare a
ship in twelve hours for a race as important as this one," he said. "But
I personally believe that any spaceman who really wants to make it can
make it!"