Unwise Child

or three days the officers and men of the ship had worked as though they were

rators checked and rechecked. The ship was read

evator on his treads and was lifted into the body of the ship. Miss Crannon was waiting for him at the air lock, and Mike the Angel was s

on as Snookums rolled into the

ntralto voice. He rolled up to her a

u in a minute. Do you rem

ed his head and

e tried to

?" Mike growled in

ffered help. That was very nice. L

om asking Snookums if he thought he w

ms and Leda Crannon

do today, hone

said Snookums. "He asked me thirty-eight quest

darling," sai

muttered Mi

mander?" the girl asked,

ly with eyes that were equally blue. "Not a single soli

lorious smile. "I think s

okums on his shiny steel skull.

nookums said: "Eight years, two months, one day, seven hours, thirty-t

least, when he'd had the time to watch) and he'd been bothered by the girl's maternal attitude toward Snookums. She seemed to have wrapped her

ked again at Mike. "If you'll wait just a moment, Comman

rannon. Right now, I have to go to the Power Section to prepare for take-off. We're

enly, and hurried off down

then, he didn't feel like being given an ear-reaming lecture

s was two inches shorter than Mike's six-seven, but he weighed in at two-ninety. As a powerman, he was tops, and he gave the i

ly Officer, Lieutenant Keku. Keku was an absolute giant. Six-

t Keku and Chief Multhaus were seated across a table from each other, each with his right elbow on the table, their

dren?" asked

if the table had shattered. Multhaus had allowed Mike's entrance to d

, Multhaus valiantly trying n

said Multhaus.

. Who usually wi

der. All this beef doesn't help much against a gu

ight, it'd really put brawn into you. Sit down and light up. We've got time befo

e, sir," Multhaus said, ea

garette and then

air and fired up a cigarette. M

ngly. "Just out of curiosity,

lieutenant. "Sounds

apidly. "But you're not Oriental-or at le

al name's Kekuanaoa, but nobody could pronounce it, s

for your size. Kekuanaoa. A branch of th

d sister that weighs as much as you. And my granddad kic

f, sir?" Multhau

-Studebaker into a palm tree at ninety miles an hour.

ee big men filled t

d out his cigarette and stood up. "I'd better get to

nt the PA sys

! Take-off in fifteen minutes

d Mike the Angel, an

ter him, looking

Commander," he said.

ed it from the outside. As far as the exterior observers were concerned, it seemed to lift i

ronic stack that was Snookums' brain. As it rose, electric motors slid back t

d, it went

e ship as it fought its way up against the pull of Earth's gravity and through the Earth's magnetic field, using the fabric of space itself as the fulcrum

ive thing, and emerged at last into relatively empty space. When she reached a velocity of a little over thirty miles per second-relative to the sun, and perpendicular to the solar eclip

look, Multha

s. A computerman second class was punching the readings into

ure took a devil of a beating. And look at the power factor readings!

been done by the strain of Earth's gravitational and magnetic fields. All in all, the Brainchi

t herself from the surface of even a moderate-sized planet like Earth, looked wit

d informed Captain Quill that the s

ntil her nose-and thus the line of thrust along her

er Gabriel," said Captai

l acceleration remained at a cozy one gee, the acceleration in relation to the sun was something fantastic. When the ship reached the velocity of

nchild no faster. They simply settled down to a steady growl and pushed the s

hild was o