«Suppose some extraterrestrials have landed somewhere on Earth and have set up a station that broadcasts a ray that is causing the phenomenon of all children being girl-children. The ray is undetectable; at least thus far we haven’t been able to detect it. They’d be killing off the human race and getting themselves a nice new planet to live on, without having to fire a shot, without taking any risk or losses themselves. True, they’ll have to wait a while for us to die off, but maybe that doesn’t mean anything to them. Maybe they’ve got all the time there is, and aren’t in the slightest hurry.»
Carmody nodded slowly. «It sounds fantastic, but I guess it’s possible. I guess a fantastic situation like this has to have a fantastic explanation. But what do we do about it? How do we even prove it?»
Reeber said, «We fed the possibility into Junior as a working assumption—not as a fact—and asked him how we could check it. He came up with the suggestion that a married couple spend a honeymoon on the Moon—and see if circumstances are any different there.»
«And you want me to pilot them there?»
«Not exactly, Ray. A little more than that—»
Carmody forgot that the President was there. He said, «Good God, you mean you want me to— Then Junior wasn’t crazy, after all!»
Shamefacedly, then, he had to explain about the extracurricular question he’d casually asked Junior and the answer he’d got to it.
Reeber laughed. «Guess we’ll overlook your violation of Rule 17 this time, Ray. That is, if you accept the mission. Now here’s the—»
«Wait,» Carmody said. «I still want to know something. How did Junior know I was going to be picked out? And for that matter, why am I?»
«Junior was asked for the qualifications he’d recommend for the—ah—bridegroom. He recommended a rocket pilot who had already made the trip successfully, even though he was a year or two over the technical retirement age of twenty-five. He recommended that loyalty be considered as an important factor, and that the holding of a governmental position of great trust would answer that. He further recommended that the man be single.»
«Why single? Look, there are four other pilots who’ve made that trip, and they’re all loyal, regardless of what job they’re holding now. I know them all personally. And all of them are married except me. Why not send a man who’s already got a ball and chain?»
«For the simple reason, Ray, that the woman to be sent must be chosen with even more care. You know how tough a Moon landing is; only one woman in a hundred would live through it and still be able to—I mean, there’s almost a negligible chance that the wife of any one of the other four pilots would be the best qualified woman who could possibly be found.»
«Hmmm. Well, I suppose Junior’s got something there. Anyway, I see now how he knew I’d be chosen. Those qualifications fit me exactly. But listen, do I have to stay married to whatever female is Amazonian enough to make the trip? There’s a limit somewhere, isn’t there?»
«Of course. You will be legally married before your departure, but upon your return a divorce will be granted without question if both—or either one—of you wish. The offspring of the union, if any, will be cared for. Whether male or female.»
«Hey, that’s right,» Carmody said. «There’s only an even chance of hitting the jackpot in any case.»
«Other couples will be sent. The first trip is the most difficult and most important one. After that, a base will be established. Sooner or later we’ll get our answer. We’ll have it if even one male child is conceived on the Moon. Not that that will help us find the station that’s sending the rays, or to detect or identify the rays, but we’ll know what’s wrong and can narrow our inquiry. I take it that you accept?»
Carmody sighed. «I guess so. But it seems a long way to go for— Say, who’s the lucky girl?»
Reeber cleared his throat «I think you’d better explain this part to him, Mr. President.»
President Saunderson smiled as Carmody looked toward him. He said, «There is a more important reason, which Mr. Reeber skipped, why we could not choose a man who was already married, Captain. This is being done on an international basis, for very important diplomatic reasons. The experiment is for the benefit of humanity, not any nation or ideology. Your wife will be a Russian.»
«A Commie? You’re kidding me, Mr. President.»
«I am not. Her name is Anna Borisovna. I have not met her, but I am informed that she is a very attractive girl. Her qualifications are quite similar to yours, except, of course, that she has not been to the Moon. No woman has. But she has been a pilot of experimental rockets on short-range flights. And she is a cybernetics technician working on the big machine at Moscow. She is twenty-four. And not, incidentally, an Amazon. As you know, rocket pilots aren’t chosen for bulk. There is an added advantage in her being chosen. She speaks English.»
«You mean I’ve got to talk to her, too?»
Carmody caught the look Reeber flashed at him and he winced.
The President continued: «You will be married to her tomorrow by a beam-televised ceremony. You blast off, both of you, tomorrow night—at different times, of course, since one of you will leave from here, the other from Russia. You will meet on the Moon.»
«It’s a large place, Mr. President.»
«That is taken care of. Major Granham—you know him, I believe?» Carmody nodded. «He will supervise your takeoff and the sending of the supply rockets. You will fly tonight—a plane has been prepared for you—from the airport here to Suffolk Rocket Field. Major Granham will brief you and give you full instructions. Can you be at the airport by seven-thirty?»
Carmody thought and then nodded. It was five-thirty now and there’d be a lot of things for him to do and arrange in two hours, but he could make it if he tried. And hadn’t Junior told him he was going to be busy this evening?
«Only one thing more,» President Saunderson said. «This is strictly confidential, until and unless the mission is successful. We don’t want to raise hopes, either here or in the Eastern Alliance, and then have them smashed.» He smiled. «And if you and your wife have any quarrels on the Moon, we don’t want them to lead to international repercussions. So please—try to get along.» He held out his hand. «That’s all, except thanks.»
Carmody made the airport in time and the plane was waiting for him, complete with pilot. He had figured that he would have to fly it himself, but he realized that it was better this way; he could get a bit of rest before they reached Suffolk Field.
He got a little, but not much. The plane was a hot ship that got him there in less than an hour. A liaison officer was waiting for him and took him immediately to Major Granham’s office.
Granham got down to brass tacks almost before Carmody could seat himself in the offered chair.
He said, «Here’s the picture. Since you got out of the service, we’ve tremendously increased the accuracy of our rockets, manned or otherwise. They’re so accurate that, with proper care, we can hit within a mile of any spot on the Moon that we aim at. We’re picking Hell Crater—it’s a small one, but we’ll put you right in the middle of it. You won’t have to worry about steering; you’ll hit within a mile of the center without having to use your braking rockets for anything except braking.»
«Hell Crater?» Carmody said. «There isn’t any.»
«Our Moon maps have forty-two thousand named craters. Do you know them all? This one, incidentally, was named after a Father Maximilian Hell, S. J., who was once director of the Vienna Observatory in old Austria.»
Carmody grinned. «Now you’re spoiling it. How come it was picked as a honeymoon spot, though? Just because of the name?»