240,000 MILES STRAIGHT UP A NOVELET BY L. RON HUBBARD [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Thrilling Wonder Stories December 1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] CHAPTER I Left at the Post The party was wild. The night was gay. And the "Angel" was very, very drunk. But who wouldn't have got drunk on such an occasion? The Angel was about to head man's first attempt to conquer space and within a few short hours he would be boring space to the Moon, 240,000 miles straight up. He had tried to stay sober but this, being without precedent in the Angel's career, was entirely too great a strain. "Don't dare take another grink—well—jush one more—hic!" The Angel was First Lieutenant Cannon Gray of the United States Army Air Forces, Engineers. He was five feet two inches tall and he had golden curly hair and a face like a choir boy. Old ladies thought him wonderful and beautiful. His superiors, from the moment he had entered West Point, had found him just about the wickedest, hard drinkingest, go-to-hell splinter of steel they'd ever tried to forge. The army, with a taste of opposites, called him Angel from the first, called it to his face, loved him and was hilarious over his escapades. This was probably the first time in history that Angel had attempted to stay sober. But it was a wonderful party they were giving in his honor (two floors of the Waldorf plus the ballroom) and people kept insisting that he wouldn't get another chance at a drink for months and maybe never and everyone was so pleasant that good resolutions were very hard to hold—especially for a dashing young officer who had never tried to make any before. The occasion was gala and his hand was sore from being pumped by brasshats and newsmen and senators. For at zero four zero eight of the dawning, First Lieutenant Cannon Gray, U.S.A., was taking off for the Moon. It was in all the papers.
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