At last, by Monday, Mike was set to go again. His new shield worked perfectly, rebuilt from parts that he'd made a return trip to Antarctica to get. It had been a miracle he'd been able to find another solar panel there. Everyone thought it was a good sign. Mike was tremendously nervous, but he kept most of it inside, not letting it show. Larry, on the other hand, was such a nervous wreck Dr. Cooper threatened to call Horton down from the the lab with a tranquilizer meant just for him. "And I'll make sure you get it right where you sit down!" Cooper pointed out, emphatically, a devilish grin on his handsome face.
Mike couldn't help crack up as Larry turned pale and moved around so he was completely facing Cooper and said, "D-don't worry, Doc, I'll be fine....just fine. Wait and see!" and put his hands in his back pockets. He still couldn't calm down, but Cooper never carried out his threat, either! At least the teasing kept tension down, a bit!
Jeanie was terribly worried, too, but she buried herself in her work, concentrating on readying the completed Transporter for its big moment. They had had a difficult time installing the glass around each individual transport circle, as Mike had instructed. This would stop destruction caused by the feedback from the controls being bombarded with rays from the transport beam. But now the circuits needed checking, knobs and switches calibrated to perfection. Jeanie did say, however, that she felt she could die a thousand deaths before she knew if Mike had completed his job and was home safe and sound! Dr. Cooper seemed the only sane one of the bunch that day.
Mike went to the observatory in the late afternoon, to prepare the shield for use, and wait for the right moment to leave. He had almost two hours to wait until 4:45 p.m..
Larry stopped in after work and talked for quite a while. After he left, Dr. Horton came in carrying an odd-looking helmet, similar to what the astronauts used to wear, and a small tank of oxygen. "What you got there, doc?" Mike asked, touching the smooth material of it gently, curiously.
"It's an astronaut's helmet I got from a friend at NASA. Since we have no idea how long you can stay in space without air I thought I'd ask you if you'd use it. There's a special slot by your mouth through which you can eat some special astronaut's food I also got my hands on." He drew a small silver tube out of his lab coat pocket. It was about the size of a toothpaste container. "See? You just take the cap off, put it in your mouth, and squeeze gently from the bottom. I don't know how it tastes, but it's nutritious. Would you use these so you won't run out of energy and to give your superior peace of mind, son?"
"All right, doc. Here, let me try it on!"
Horton laughed when he saw how Mike looked in the black and white thing. Mike felt  funny in it, too!