"What's happened this time?"
"Manning." He paused. "It seems to be all Manning!"
"You mean he's the more aggressive of the three?"
"No--not necessarily. Corbett shows signs of being a number-one
spaceman. And that big cadet, Astro"--Strong flashed a white smile that
contrasted with his deep space tan--"I don't think he could make a
manual mistake on the power deck if he tried. You know, I actually saw
him put an auxiliary rocket motor together blindfolded!"
The pretty scientist smiled. "I could have told you that after one look
at his classification tests."
"How?"
"On questions concerning the power-deck operations, he was letter
perfect--"
"And on the others? Astrogation and control deck?"
"He just skimmed by. But even where the problem involved fuel, power,
supply of energy, he offered some very practical answer to the problem."
She smiled. "Astro is as much an artist on that power deck as Liddy
Tamal doing Juliet in the stereos."
"Yes," mused Strong. "And Corbett is the same on the control deck. Good
instinctive intelligence. That boy soaks up knowledge like a sponge."
"Facile mind--quick to grasp the essentials." She smiled again. "Seems
to me I remember a few years back when a young lieutenant successfully
put down a mutiny in space, and at his promotion to captain, the
citation included the fact that he was quick to grasp the essentials.
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