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most of your space will be taken up by a load of dirt.”
    â€œNo, no. The plants will grow in water to which certain chemicals have been added that will give the plants all they need to feed on.”
    â€œGosh,” Danny murmured. “I never thought a spaceship would be a flying back yard. And what’s that thing sticking out of the top of the hull?”
    â€œThat’s a solar battery. Since we only need a small amount of current for charging the antigravity paint, we are going to draw it from the sun. That way we’ll never run out of electricity, and there’ll be no danger of our suddenly falling back to earth, or onto the Moon.”
    â€œThe Moon?”
    â€œYes, Danny. After a couple of test flights, the first trip will be to the Moon and back—nonstop.”
    Danny drew a deep breath. Then the question which had been simmering inside him for a long time popped out: “I—I don’t suppose,” he said, “you’d want to take a—a boy along on your trip?”
    The Professor had been lighting his pipe. He began to cough and choke. When he could catch his breath, he said, “Danny, my boy! You don’t think I’m going on that first flight, do you?”
    â€œAren’t you?”
    â€œNo indeed. I’m a physicist, not a test pilot. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do in an emergency.” He shook his head. “I must say, I wouldn’t mind going. But the government has decided that the first flight will be piloted by a man who is an expert in the field. He’s a rocket pilot named Joseph Beach, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.”
    â€œOh,” Danny said in a subdued voice. “And I guess he wouldn’t want a copilot, huh?”
    â€œHe’ll have a copilot. A major named Albert Baum.”
    Danny shook his head sadly.
    The Professor put an arm around his shoulders. “Some day, my boy,” he said. “Just be patient.”
    â€œAll right,” said Danny, making the best of it. “Anyway, I should at least get through junior high school first.”
    It began to look as if Danny would not only get through junior high but be an honor student as well. To keep his mind off his problems, he concentrated on schoolwork with more energy than ever before. And one day in class even Miss Arnold commented on it.
    â€œYou certainly have come a long way in the last few months, Danny,” she said. “You have been very steady and attentive, and this last theme you wrote on ‘My Favorite Pet’ was one of the best in the class. Only, I have one question to ask. Do you really have a pet firefly?”
    There was no reply. Miss Arnold looked more closely at Danny. His eyes were fixed on the blackboard, and they were glazed as if he were in a trance.
    â€œDaniel Dunn!” Miss Arnold said sharply. Danny jumped. “Huh? What?” he gasped.
    Miss Arnold frowned. “Danny,” she said, “I’m afraid you weren’t listening to me.”
    Danny gulped. With a sinking heart he said, “No, ma’am.”
    â€œYou were daydreaming again, weren’t you?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œAbout space flight?”
    Silently he nodded. He had the best excuse in the world, but he couldn’t give it, for in truth secrecy had been his watchword. Keeping the secret was his first thought each morning and his last at night.
    Miss Arnold was looking angry. “Really, Danny, you don’t leave me any alternative but to punish you. I was just telling you how much better you have been behaving, and you didn’t even hear me because you were back in outer space. This time I think we’ll have to make it three hundred sentences. You will please write, ‘Space flight is a hundred years away.’ ”
    â€œHey!” All the secrecy Danny had bottled up exploded out of him at these words. “But it isn’t. It’s tomorrow