[Transcriber's note: This etext was produced from _AmazingScience Fiction Stories_ April 1959. Extensive research did notuncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publicationwas renewed. ]

 It's amazing how much you can learn about absolute strangers if you just stop to think about the kind of an animal they'll put in a ... 

TEST ROCKET!

By JACK DOUGLAS

[Illustration: Cover]

Captain Baird stood at the window of the laboratory where thethousand parts of the strange rocket lay strewn in careful order. Small groups worked slowly over the dismantled parts. The captainwanted to ask but something stopped him. Behind him DoctorJohannsen sat at his desk, his gnarled old hand tight about awhiskey bottle, the bottle the doctor always had in his desk butnever brought out except when he was alone, and waited for CaptainBaird to ask his question. Captain Baird turned at last. 

"They are our markings?" Captain Baird asked. It was not thequestion. Captain Baird knew the markings of the Rocket TestingStation as well as the doctor did. 

"Yes, " the doctor said, "they are our markings. Identical. But notour paint. "

Captain Baird turned back to the window. Six months ago it hadhappened. Ten minutes after launching, the giant test rocket hadbeen only a speck on the observation screen. Captain Baird hadturned away in disgust. 

"A mouse!" the captain had said, "unfortunate a mouse can'tobserve, build, report. My men are getting restless, Johannsen. "

"When we are ready, Captain, " the doctor had said. 

It was twelve hours before the urgent call from Central Controlbrought the captain running back to the laboratory. The doctor wasthere before him. Professor Schultz wasted no time, he pointed tothe instrument panel. "A sudden shift, see for yourself. We'llmiss Mars by a million and a quarter at least. "

Two hours later the shift in course of the test rocket wasapparent to all of them and so was their disappointment. 

 * * * * *

"According to the instruments the steering shifted a quarter of aninch. No reason shows up, " Professor Schultz said. 

"Flaw in the metal?" Doctor Johannsen said. 

"How far can it go?" Captain Baird asked. 

Professor Schultz shrugged. "Until the fuel runs out, which isprobably as good as never, or until the landing mechanism isactivated by a planet-sized body. "

"Course? Did you plot it?" The doctor asked. 

"Of course I did, " Professor Schultz said, "as close as I cancalculate it is headed for Alpha Centauri. "

Captain Baird turned away. The doctor watched him. 

"Perhaps you will not be quite so hasty with your men's lives inthe future, Captain?" the doctor said. 

Professor Schultz was spinning dials. "No contact, " the professorsaid, "No contact at all. "

That had been six months ago. Three more test rockets had beenfired successfully before the urgent report came through fromAlaskan Observation Post No. 4. A rocket was coming across thePole. 

The strange rocket was tracked and escorted by atomic armedfighters all the way to the Rocket Testing Station where it cutits own motors and gently landed. In the center of a division ofatomic-armed infantry the captain, the doctor, and everyone else, waited impatiently. There was an air of uneasiness. 

"You're sure it's not ours?" Captain Baird asked. 

The doctor laughed. "Identical, yes, but three times the size ofours. "

"Perhaps one of the Asian ones?"

"No, it's our design, but too large, much too large. "

Professor Schultz put their thoughts into words. "Looks likesomeone copied ours. Someone, somewhere. It's hard to imagine, buttrue nevertheless. "

They waited two weeks. Nothing happened. Then a radiation-shieldedteam went in to examine the rocket. Two more weeks and the strangerocket was dismantled and spread over the field of the testingstation. The rocket was dismantled and the station had begun totalk to itself in whispers and look at the sky. 

Captain Baird stood now at the window and looked out at thedismantled rocket. He looked but his mind was not on the parts ofthe rocket he could see from the window. 

"The materials, they're not ours?" the captain asked. 

"Unknown here, " the doctor said. 

The captain nodded. "Those were our instruments?"

"Yes. " The doctor still held the whiskey bottle in a tight grip. 

"They sent them back, " the captain said. 

 * * * * *

The doctor crashed the bottle hard against the desk top. "Ask it, Captain, for God's sake!!"

The captain turned to face the doctor directly. "It was a man, afull grown man. "

The doctor sighed as if letting the pent-up steam of his heartescape. "Yes, it is a man. It breathes, it eats, it has all theattributes of a man. But it is not of our planet. "

"Its speech ... " the captain began. 

"That isn't speech, Captain, " the doctor broke in, breaking insharply, "It's only sound. " The doctor stopped; he examined thelabel of his bottle of whiskey very carefully. A good brand ofwhiskey. "He seems quite happy in the storeroom. You know, Captain, what puzzled me at first? He can't read. He can't readanything, not even the instruments in that ship. In fact he showsno interest in his rocket at all. "

The captain sat down now. He sat at the desk and faced the doctor. "At least _they_ had the courage to send a man, not a mouse. Doctor, a man. "

The doctor stared at the captain, his hand squeezing andunsqueezing on the whiskey bottle. "A man who can't read his owninstruments?" The doctor laughed. "Perhaps you too have failed tosee the point? Like that stupid general who sits out there waitingfor the men from somewhere to invade?"

"Don't you think it's a possibility?"

The doctor nodded. "A very good possibility, Captain, but theywill not be men. " The doctor seemed to pause and lean forward. "That rocket, Captain, is a test rocket. A test rocket _just likeours_!"

Then the doctor picked up his whiskey bottle at last and pouredtwo glasses. 

"Perhaps a drink, Captain?"

The captain was watching the sky outside the window. 

THE END