“He’ll be seem stars one o’ these days if he don’t stop pullin’ my leg!” the cook snorted.
Under Tom’s supervision, the bale of metal foil was unfolded and formed into a dish-shaped reflector by means of a wire framework. This in turn was connected to a small motor which would rotate the foil so that it faced the sun at all times.
“Keep it aimed away until we have everything set up for the test,” Tom warned his men.
Next he turned his attention to the job of hooking up the energy-conversion cells. These were installed in position near the hub of the space wheel, with conductors leading inside to a transformer in Tom’s laboratory.
As work progressed, Chow happily twirled his lariat and practiced tossing a loop around a knob on the station’s hull. At first he found it difficult to control his toss while encumbered by his bulky space suit. The lack of gravity also made him misjudge his first throws. But soon the old cowpoke was lassoing the target with expert skill.
“Nice going, old-timer!” Bud applauded. “How about giving me a try?”
90 SPACE SOLARTRON
“Why sure, Buddy boy,” said Chow. He chuckled with satisfaction at this chance to get back at the young copilot. Red-faced, Bud failed again and again to rope the knob.
“I reckon that’s not bad for a tenderfoot,” Chow sympathized. “You jest keep right on prac-ticin’ an’ mebbe one o’ these days you’ll get within a dozen yards or so o’ that knob!”
Ted and the other crewmen roared with laughter at Bud’s discomfiture. Soon they too were begging for a chance to toss the lariat.
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