'Too bad.'

'That's not the worst. Even if there were no competition, we'd be too late. There wouldn't be anything there when we arrive.'

'That's ridiculous. I'm sure I'd have heard if Congress had repealed the law of gravitation.'

'I'm serious. The situation isn't stable – I can't give details now. Will you be in for the rest of the evening?'

'Yes,' Floyd answered, realizing with some pleasure that it must now be well after midnight in Washington.

'Good. You'll have a package delivered within the hour. Call me back as soon as you've had the time to study it.'

'Won't it be rather late by then?'

'Yes, it will be. But we've wasted too much time already. I don't want to lose any more.'

Millson was true to his word. Exactly an hour later a large sealed envelope was delivered by an Air Force colonel, no less, who sat patiently chatting with Caroline while Floyd read its contents. 'I'm afraid I'll have to take it away when you've finished,' the high-ranking messenger boy said apologetically.

'I'm glad to hear it,' Floyd answered, as he settled down in his favourite reading hammock.

There were two documents, the first very short. It was stamped TOP SECRET, though the TOP had been crossed out and the modification endorsed by three signatures, all completely illegible. Obviously an extract from some much longer report, it had been heavily censored and was full of blanks, which made it most annoying to read. Fortunately, its conclusions could be summed up in one sentence: The Russians would reach Discovery long before its rightful owners could do so. As Floyd already knew this, he turned quickly to the second document – though not before noticing with satisfaction that this time they'd managed to get the name right. As usual, Dimitri had been perfectly accurate. The next manned expedition to Jupiter would travel aboard spacecraft Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.