The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke Read Online Free Page B

be someone very important.
    ‘Well, Mrs Martin,’ he said cheerfully, ‘I’m glad to say you’re all in excellent health and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t leave in the Centaurus when she takes off. I hope all these examinations haven’t scared you. There is really nothing dangerous about space-flight, but we mustn’t take any chances.
    ‘As you know, a spaceship takes off rather quickly and for a few minutes you feel as if you weigh a ton—but if you’re lying down comfortably that won’t do you any harm, as long as you don’t suffer from certain kinds of heart trouble. Then, when you’re out in space, you won’t have any weight at all, which will feel very odd at first. That used to cause space-sickness in the early days, but we can prevent it now. You’ll be given a couple of tablets to swallow just before take-off. So there’s nothing to worry about, and I’m sure you’ll have a pleasant voyage.’
    He looked at his littered desk and sighed deeply. ‘I wish I had time to go up myself. I’ve only been off Earth once in the last two years!’
    ‘Who was that?’ asked Daphne, as the waiting bus whisked them away across the desert.
    ‘That was the Controller of the Space Fleet,’ said her mother.
    ‘What!’ exclaimed Michael. ‘He runs all these spaceships and never gets a chance to fly in them?’
    Mrs Martin smiled. ‘I’m afraid it’s often that way. Daddy says he’s too busy to look through a telescope nowadays!’
    They had now left the built-up area and were racing along a wide road with nothing but desert on either side. About a mile ahead they could see the great streamlined shape of the Centaurus , the spaceship that was to take them to the Moon. The giant rocket was standing vertically on a concrete platform, with cranes and scaffolding grouped around it, and its needle-shaped prow pointing to the sky. Even from this distance it looked enormous—Daphne thought it must be almost as tall as Nelson’s column—and with the sunlight glinting on its metal sides it was a beautiful as well as an impressive sight.
    The closer they came, the larger it seemed to grow, until when they had reached its base they appeared to be standing at the foot of a great curving metal cliff. A tall gantry had been moved up to the side of the rocket, and they were directed into the maze of girders until they came to a tiny lift just big enough to hold the three of them. There was the whirring of motors, the ground began to drop away, and the gleaming walls of the spaceship slid swiftly past.
    It seemed a long way up to the cabin at the nose of the rocket. Daphne paused once on the little gangway leading into the spaceship, and looked down at the ground below and the people standing around, their upturned faces white blobs far beneath. She felt rather giddy, then pulled herself together as she realised she had travelled only the first hundred feet or so of her 240,000-mile journey.
    The pilot and navigator were already waiting for them in the little cabin with its mass of complicated machinery and its thickly padded couches. These were wonderfully comfortable and Michael began to bounce up and down on his until reprimanded.
    ‘Just lie down flat,’ said the pilot. ‘Swallow this pill—you won’t taste it—and take things easy. You’ll feel very heavy when we start, but it won’t hurt and doesn’t last long. One other thing—don’t try to get up until I tell you. Now, we’ve got just ten minutes before we start, so relax.’
    It wasn’t as easy as all that, Daphne found. That ten minutes seemed to last for ever. She explored the little cabin with her eyes, wondering how anyone could ever learn what all those gadgets and controls were for. Just suppose the pilot made a mistake and pressed the wrong button…
    Mother smiled at her reassuringly from the next couch, while Michael was obviously so intrigued by all the machinery that he hated having to lie down at all.
    Daphne gave a jump when