OPERATION BOOMERANG
BY GEORGE REVELLE
There are all kinds of heroes. And the
irony of it all lies in the fact that the
bravest are those who are unknown and unsung.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, April 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Wade Boeman let his eyes wander up the hull of the huge silver ship. Hethought; if only Tomer were here now! He caught himself and quicklyerased the thought before he remembered more ... things that were betterleft alone, hidden behind the thin veil he had created in his mind.
The quick blink of a signal light from the tower caught the corner ofhis eye. H-hour minus fifteen minutes. The ground crews had clearedthe area. He hadn't noticed. He turned to the huge, blond man standingbeside him.
"Well, Allen. This is it. I've checked everything myself. You shouldhave no trouble. Be sure and strap yourself in tightly and don't forgetto check the gyro. Its the only thing we can't double check from thetower."
"You're all through instructing now, teacher," the blond man said."I can take it from here. And I can't say I'm sorry."
Wade wanted to say then all the little things that had been building upwithin him during the past long months. He bit back the words. It tookmuch effort.
He said: "Good luck, Captain. I really mean it."
Allen gave him a tight smile. "Drop dead, Colonel."
Wade dropped his outstretched hand as the big man ignored him. Ackersonturned his back and began to climb the metal rungs leading up the hullof the ship.
Tomer, Wade thought. If only it could be Tomer instead of Ackerson.
He waited until the blond man entered the hatch before he climbed intothe jeep. He glanced once more at the silver hull of the Starfrost,then he jammed down on the accelerator. Hate was a word Wade seldomused. There was too much of it in the world already. But he wasbeginning to hate Ackerson.
He parked the jeep beside the concrete and steel structure housingOperations. The instant his hand touched the door handle he tried tocease being Wade Boeman the man. He tried to become Colonel Wadon G.Boeman, senior officer in charge of 'Operation Boomerang,' with nopersonal feelings. It didn't come off fully.
The four walls were lined with banks of instruments. Small lightsflickered and died, only to come alive again the next instant. A mancoughed.
He nodded at a communications man, a civilian, as he hurried to thesmall table where the television set was resting. The closed circuitshowed the Starfrost resting alone on the sand with her nose pointedtoward the sky.
He took off his cap, then lighted a cigarette. He checked his wristwatch with the large clock on the wall. He set the sweep second hand tocoincide with the larger one.
"Twelve minutes, Colonel," someone behind Wade said.
He wiped his dry lips as he flicked his eyes in the direction of theMajor in charge of the control panel. The Major gave him a tight smile.Wade nodded. Major Gormely was a good man ... they were all good men.Wade felt proud to be part of the team.
He took in the radar man checking the never-ending sweep of the beam.Frank Piluis, a tall, lanky man of twenty-three. He was checking thescreen, adjusting, as if his own life depended on its operation insteadof a man he hardly knew.
Wade checked his own screen again.
The Starfrost was so s