There is a warm feeling about welcoming back into the pages of a sciencefiction magazine the work of a writer who is a legend in the genre. So,here's Binder and a neatly wrapped-up package of a folktale of the future.
The flight into space that madePilot-Capt. Dan Barstow famous.
The flight was listed atGHQ as Project Songbird. It wassponsored by the Space MedicineLabs of the U.S. Air Force. Andits pilot was Captain Dan Barstow.
A hand-picked man, Dan Barstow,chosen for the AF's mostimportant project of the year becausehe and his VX-3 had alreadybroken all previous recordsset by hordes of V-2s, NavyAerobees and anything else thatflew the skyways.
Dan Barstow, first man tocross the sea of air and sightopen, unlimited space. Pioneerflight to infinity. He grinned andhummed to himself as he settleddown for the long jaunt. Toobusy to be either thrilled orscared he considered the thirty-seveninstruments he'd have toread, the twice that many recordsto keep, and the miles ofcamera film to run. He had beenhand-picked and thoroughly conditionedto take it all withoutmore than a ten percent increasein his pulse rate. So he workedas matter-of-factly as if he weredown in the Gs Centrifuge ofthe Space Medicine Labs wherehe had been schooled for this tripfor months.
He kept up a running fire oforal reports through his helmetradio, down to Rough Rock andhis CO. "All Roger, sir ...temperature falling fast but thisrubberoid space suit keeps mecozy, no chills ... Doc Blainewill be happy to hear that!Weightless sensations pretty queerand I feel upside-down as muchas rightside-up, but no bad effects....Taking shots of thesun's corona now with colorfilm ... huh? Oh, yes, sir, it'sbeautiful all right, now that youmention it. But, hell, sir, who'sgot the time for aesthetics now?...Oops, that was a close one!Tenth meteor whizzing past.Makes me think of flak backon those Berlin bombing runs."
Dan couldn't help wincingwhen the meteors peppered downpast. The "flak" of space. Belowhe could see the meteorsflare up brightly as they hit theatmosphere. Most of those nearhis position were small, nonebigger than a baseball, and Dantook comfort in the fact that hisrocket was small too, in the immensityaround him. A directhit would be sheer bad luck, butthe good old law of averages wason his side.
"Yes, Colonel, this tin can I'mriding is holding together okay,"Dan continued to Rough Rock.If he paused even a second in hisreports a top-sergeant's yell fromthe Colonel's throat came backfor him to keep talking. Everybit of information he could transmitto them was a vital revelationin this USAF-Alphaexploration of open space beyondEarth's air cushion, with ceilingunlimited to infinity.
"Cosmic rays, sir? Sure, thereading shot up double on theGeiger ... huh? Naw, I don'tfeel a thing ... like Doc Bairdsuspected, we invented a lot ofOld Wives' Tales in advance, beforegoing into space. I feel fine,so you can put down cosmic rayintensity as a Boogey Man....What's that? Yeah, yeah, sir, thestars shine without winking uphere. What else?... Space isinky black—no deep purples orqueer more-than-blacks like somejetted-up writers dreamed up—justplain old ordinary deadblack. Earth, sir?... Well, itdoes look dish-shaped from uphere, concave.... Sure, I cansee all the way to Europe and—say!Here's something unexpected.I can see that hurricaneoff the coast of Florida.... Yousaid it, sir! Once we installpermanent space station