General Sherwood broke into a boyish smile. "Yes, sir, that is exactly what I mean."
Smiling back at him, the Secretary said, "Well, it seems to me that the important thing here is that America's industri- al power is brought into space in a meaningful way. The President will like that. It's about time that industry really moved into space."
He's buying it! Kinsman's heart leaped. He's bought it!
"I think you're perfectly right about that," said Ellery Marcot. "Perfectly right."
"What I'd like to know," the Secretary said, with a nod toward one of his civilians, "is why our hired geniuses and university consultants never brought the whole ball of wax together the way the Major has, here."
The aide flushed. "Well, it's one thing to be sitting out in left field . . ."
"Relax, George," the Secretary said, making a patting motion with his free hand. "Relax. I was only tweaking you,"
He got up from his leather-backed chair. "A very good presentation. Major. Good thinking. I'll speak to the Presi- dent about it at tomorrow morning's briefing."
Kinsman could only say, "Thank you, sir." It was so weak that he wondered if the Secretary heard him.
Turning to General Sherwood, the Secretary asked, "Jim, see that my people get copies of those slides and all the backup material, will you?"
Sherwood rose, beaming. "Certainly, Mr. Secretary. Be glad to."
They all filed out of the conference room, leaving Kinsman standing there rooted to the spot. We did it, he told himself. Then he corrected. No, you did it. Don't blame anyone else.
He walked slowly out of the conference room. The others had already started back toward their own offices. All except Marcot, who was standing by the window talking with Murdock. The Colonel had been waiting in the anteroom all through Kinsman's presentation. He must've walked off the soles of his shoes, pacing up and down, thought Kinsman. Murdock looked rumpled, exhausted; hands clasped behind 246 his back, the expression on his face halfway between eager anticipation and utter dread as he talked with Marcot.
Frank Colt jounced into the anteroom, the slim pile of slides clamped under one arm. He gave Kinsman a big grin and a thumbs-up sign.
Marcot came up to Kinsman, with Colonel Murdock trailing behind him. For once there was no cigarette in the Deputy Secretary's mouth.
"Major, you've done an impressive job. For the first time since I've been here I feel we have a logical, cost-effective program that not only meets the nation's defense needs, but will promote the civilian economy in a major way, as well."
"Thank you, sir."
"You pulled it all together into a coherent whole. That's exactly what we needed." Marcot jammed both his hands into his jacket pockets.
Feeling awkward and a bit foolish, Kinsman merely repeated, "Thank you, sir."
Marcot pulled out a fresh cigarette and lit it. "But we're not out of the woods yet." He blew a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. "Not by a long shot."
"What do you mean?" Colt asked.
"There's still the Congress. They'll have to approve an even bigger Aerospace Force appropriation than we started with, to get this larger program going. We'll still have to face McGrath and his ilk."
It still boils down to that. Kinsman said to himself. He had almost allowed himself to forget Neal in the past hectic week.
Murdock patted Kinsman on the shoulder and said, "We're on top of that situation, aren't you, Chet? You're getting to McGrath."
"I've been trying . . ."
