<h2 id="c2"><br/><i>GIB TAKES A SPACE TEST</i></h2>
<p>Gib Bromfield was nine, and
the thing he wanted to do most was to make a
flight into space. A colony on the Moon had
already been started for scientific research, and
a huge man-made space platform circled the
Earth once every twenty-four hours.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_29">29</div>
<p>“I want to go back to the Moon with you,
Father,” Gib would plead every time Mr.
Bromfield came home on a furlough.</p>
<p>“I’m afraid you’re still a little young, Gib,”
his father would reply. “Some day you will be
able to go out into space with me, but not yet.”</p>
<p>Mr. Bromfield was a construction engineer,
and he was helping to build a big spaceport on
the Moon. He came home to see his family
every six months. Each time he returned, Gib
couldn’t wait to meet him at the front door of
their prefabricated home.</p>
<p>Gib would shake hands with him like a man
and take his bags from him. Then he would
step back and admire the tall, handsome man
in the glossy black boots and gray uniform of
the Space Service. By this time, Mother usually
came running up, followed by Sandra, Gib’s
little sister.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_30">30</div>
<p>On Mr. Bromfield’s latest visit, Gib waited
until the usual family talk had subsided before
he started asking his father about his recent
adventures. After Father had brought him
up to date, Gib asked the same question he always
asked:</p>
<p>“Father, my I go back with you this time for
a short visit—just a short one?”</p>
<p>Mr. Bromfield smiled and rumpled Gib’s
blond hair. “It’s not the time element, Gib,”
he said patiently. “It’s the rigors of space itself,
which are much rougher than Captain
Rocket on TV would have us believe.”</p>
<p>Gib’s face fell. He had hoped that this time
his father would give in and let him go back.
Mr. Bromfield could see that his son was disappointed.
He stared at Gib thoughtfully for
a moment, then spoke again.</p>
<p>“All right, Gib, I’ll put you through S.Q.T.
If you pass it and still want to go spaceward,
I’ll take you.”</p>
<p>“Gee, do you mean that?” Gib burst out.</p>
<p>He was so excited he didn’t know what to
do. Gib had never had any doubt that he would
pass the S.Q.T.—the Space Qualification Test—that
all those who go spaceward must take.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_31">31</div>
<p>Mr. Bromfield went immediately to the
video-phone and put through a call to S.Q.T.,
having them place Gib’s name on the space
test list.</p>
<p>“Thanks, Father!” Gib said excitedly. “At
last I’ll be going spaceward!”</p>
<p>“We’ll see,” Mr. Bromfield replied soberly.</p>
<p>Gib spent the next afternoon on the first
part of the test, which was a complete physical
examination.</p>
<p>“It didn’t hurt the tiniest bit,” Gib joked
with his father that night. “If all the parts of
the test are as easy as this first one, I won’t
have any trouble.”</p>
<p>Mr. Bromfield did not say anything, but he
smiled to himself as though he knew something
that Gib did not know.</p>
<p>Gib and his father took the elevated expressway
to the S.Q.T. center early the next morning
in their atom-powered Johnson Superjet.
The final portions of Gib’s test would be covered
today.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_32">32</div>
<p>The first part was familiarity with the space
suit. In company with about fifty other candidates,
Gib was given a supply of clothing.
Then everyone was shown how to zip up
their thickly insulated suits in front. Next, an
attendant snapped metal cylinders to their
shoulders and screwed the flexible tubing into
valves on their suits. Last to be put on were
helmets of light metal that had a darkened
glass in front so that the wearer could look
out.</p>
<p>“Now, all of you turn the little black knob
on your chests,” the tester said. His voice
sounded muffled to Gib because of the helmet
he wore.</p>
<p>Gib turned his knob and felt his suit blowing
up like a balloon as air flowed in from the
oxygen tanks.</p>
<p>“This is how you would be dressed for a
walk on the Moon,” the tester told them.
“Now I want all of you to walk into the next
room.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_33">33</div>
<p>As Gib went into the room with the others,
he was thinking how easy the test had been up
until now. And what fun it was taking the very
tests that Captain Rocket himself must have
taken at one time! He thought his father was
surely mistaken for having doubted his ability
to pass the S.Q.T.</p>
<p>The tester left the room and shut the door.
In a few moments Gib began to have a strange
sensation. He was feeling lighter and lighter,
and the others with him were beginning to
float right off the floor!</p>
<p>Gib struggled frantically as he felt himself
go off balance. Each movement he made, however,
shot him off at swift, crazy angles. He
felt himself sweating with fear, and for the
first time he was believing that maybe the
S.Q.T. wasn’t going to be so easy after all.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_34">34</div>
<p>It seemed as if he had the strength of a
Samson, but it was a strength he could not
control. A simple kick sent him hurtling across
the room toward the wall! He tried to brake
himself, but nothing he did would stop him.
He crashed headlong into the wall. It shook
him up a little, but he was not hurt. He saw
that the wall was thickly padded.</p>
<p>After about fifteen minutes of helplessness,
Gib felt himself getting heavier again and saw
his companions drop to the floor in normal
position. The tester came in with some doctors.
The doctors looked over each candidate
and asked many questions. Gib was still dazed
and wasn’t sure of the answers he gave.</p>
<p>When the doctors were through, the tester
explained what had happened: “This room
was de-gravitized, which means the Earth’s
gravity in here was cut off by mechanical
means. It’s the same condition you will find
in a space ship when the gravity plates are
turned off. From the looks of some of you, this
experience was something of a shock. But the
final test will be even rougher. Anybody who
wants to drop out now may do so.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_35">35</div>
<p>Gib saw that about a third of the candidates
had had enough. Gib was still giddy himself
and started to join them. He was disappointed
in the harshness of “zero-gravity.” It had always
looked so simple to him the way that Captain
Rocket “swam” about in his rocket flyer.</p>
<p>Gib did not want his father to think him a
quitter, though, and decided to stick out the
test to the end. When his turn came, he was
led into a huge room by himself and up to a
queer-looking machine. It resembled one of
the thrill rides at a carnival, the one that whirls
you round and round like a ball on the end of
a string. Gib entered a tiny cabin at the end
of the large swinging arm and sat down in a
thick foam-rubber reclining chair.</p>
<p>As he was strapped down, the tester said to
him, “This is called the ‘Centrifuge,’ son, and
it simulates the blast-off from Earth in a rocket
ship. You appear to be a little young to be
taking it, so if you’ve had enough just yank
that lever in front of you and we’ll stop the
machine.”</p>
<p>“I—I will,” Gib replied, getting scared already.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_36">36</div>
<p>He got more scared as all sorts of instruments
were strapped to him. The tester explained
that these were to record his reactions.
As the door was closed on him. Gib had a
trapped feeling. Then he composed himself
and waited for the worst, telling himself that a
spaceman must be brave.</p>
<p>Presently he felt the cabin begin to move,
slowly at first. This much was fun, Gib
thought, just like the carnival ride. As the
cabin picked up speed, it was even more thrilling.
But then as the speed increased still more,
Gib began to lose his enjoyment.</p>
<p>Faster and faster he went, and Gib was
crushed deeply into the chair cushion. He felt
his cheeks draw back from his teeth, the corners
of his eyes making him squint. There was
heavy pressure on his chest, as if an elephant
were standing on him. His breath hung in his
throat and he saw strange colors and darting
forms before his eyes.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_37">37</div>
<p>He stood the agonizing effect as long as he
could, and then his frightfully heavy hand
crept unsteadily toward the lever in front of
him and jerked it.</p>
<p>The cabin began losing speed and finally
stopped. Gib saw a blurred image open the
door and offer his hand. As he stumbled out,
his head feeling big as a watermelon, Gib
vaguely remembered hearing the tester say:</p>
<p>“You needn’t feel badly about this, son. You
almost lasted it out. Come back in another
year or two and then I think you’ll be able to
pass.”</p>
<p>Gib still wasn’t quite himself as he met his
father in the waiting room. He was quivering
all over, and his dad wouldn’t quite come into
focus.</p>
<p>“I flunked the test, Father,” Gib told him.</p>
<p>“It sounds to me as if you’re glad you did,”
Mr. Bromfield replied, with a chuckle. “I was
afraid it might be too rough for you, son, but
I knew there was no other way to show you
that space travel isn’t as easy as the comic
books make out.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_38">38</div>
<p>“I’ll try again next year,” Gib said, “or the
year after that, anyway. That’s what the tester
told me.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure you’ll be ready then,” Mr. Bromfield
replied. “Now, what do you say we go
home? Captain Rocket is almost due on TV.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_39">39</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/chapter.jpg" alt="" width-obs="400" height-obs="27" /></div>
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