Masters of Space | Page 5

well-built young women. Bud Carroll and
Sylvia Bannister of Sociology sat together. He was almost as big as
Karns; she was a green-eyed redhead whose five-ten and one-fifty
would have looked big except for the arrangement thereof. There were

Bernadine and Hermione van der Moen, the leggy, breasty,
platinum-blonde twins--both of whom were Cowper medalists in
physics. There was Etienne de Vaux, the mathematical wizard; and
Rebecca Eisenstein, the black-haired, flashing-eyed ex-infant-prodigy
theoretical astronomer. There was Beverly Bell, who made
mathematically impossible chemical syntheses--who swam channels
for days on end and computed planetary orbits in her sleekly-coiffured
head.
"First, we'll have a get-together," Hilton said. "Nothing recorded; just
to get acquainted. You all know that our fourteen departments cover
science, from astronomy to zoology."
He paused, again his eyes swept the group. Stella Wing, who would
have been a grand-opera star except for her drive to know everything
about language. Theodora (Teddy) Blake, who would prove gleefully
that she was the world's best model--but was in fact the most brilliantly
promising theoretician who had ever lived.
"No other force like this has ever been assembled," Hilton went on. "In
more ways than one. Sawtelle wanted Jeffers to head this group, instead
of me. Everybody thought he would head it."
"And Hilton wanted Eggleston and got me," Sandra said.
"That's right. And quite a few of you didn't want to come at all, but
were told by the Board to come or else."
The group stirred. Eyes met eyes, and there were smiles.
* * * * *
"I myself think Jeffers should have had the job. I've never handled
anything half this big and I'll need a lot of help. But I'm stuck with it
and you're all stuck with me, so we'll all take it and like it. You've
noticed, of course, the accent on youth. The Navy crew is normal,
except for the commanders being unusually young. But we aren't. None
of us is thirty yet, and none of us has ever been married. You fellows

look like a team of professional athletes, and you girls--well, if I didn't
know better I'd say the Board had screened you for the front row of the
chorus instead of for a top-bracket brain-gang. How they found so
many of you I'll never know."
"Virile men and nubile women!" Etienne de Vaux leered
enthusiastically. "Vive le Board!"
"Nubile! Bravo, Tiny! Quelle delicatesse de nuance!"
"Three rousing cheers for the Board!"
"Keep still, you nitwits! Let me ask a question!" This came from one of
the twins. "Before you give us the deduction, Jarvis--or will it be an
intuition or an induction or a ..."
"Or an inducement," the other twin suggested, helpfully. "Not that you
would need very much of that."
"You keep still, too, Miney. I'm asking, Sir Moderator, if I can give my
deduction first?"
"Sure, Bernadine; go ahead."
"They figured we're going to get completely lost. Then we'll jettison the
Navy, hunt up a planet of our own and start a race to end all human
races. Or would you call this a see-duction instead of a dee-duction?"
This produced a storm of whistles, cheers and jeers that it took several
seconds to quell.
"But seriously, Jarvis," Bernadine went on. "We've all been wondering
and it doesn't make sense. Have you any idea at all of what the Board
actually did have in mind?"
"I believe that the Board selected for mental, not physical, qualities; for
the ability to handle anything unexpected or unusual that comes up, no
matter what it is."

"You think it wasn't double-barreled?" asked Kincaid, the psychologist.
He smiled quizzically. "That all this virility and nubility and glamor is
pure coincidence?"
"No," Hilton said, with an almost imperceptible flick of an eyelid.
"Coincidence is as meaningless as paradox. I think they found out
that--barring freaks--the best minds are in the best bodies."
"Could be. The idea has been propounded before."
"Now let's get to work." Hilton flipped the switch of the recorder.
"Starting with you, Sandy, each of you give a two-minute boil-down.
What you found and what you think."
* * * * *
Something over an hour later the meeting adjourned and Hilton and
Sandra strolled toward the control room.
"I don't know whether you convinced Alexander Q. Kincaid or not, but
you didn't quite convince me," Sandra said.
"Nor him, either."
"Oh?" Sandra's eyebrows
"No. He grabbed the out I offered him. I didn't fool Teddy Blake or
Temple Bells, either. You four are all, though, I think."
"Temple? You think she's so smart?"
"I don't think so, no. Don't fool yourself, chick. Temple Bells looks and
acts sweet and innocent and virginal. Maybe--probably--she is. But she
isn't showing a fraction of the stuff she's really got. She's heavy artillery,
Sandy. And I mean