The porter held the car door open and Cindy got in. As the door slammed closed, Derek Eden said, "Sorry about the car being cold. I had to call the paper, then make some arrangements for us. I got here just ahead of 19 you.
Cindy shivered, and pulled her coat even tighter. "Wherever we're going, I hope it's warm."
Derek Eden reached across and took her hand. Since the hand was resting on her knee, he held that too. Briefly she felt his fingers move, then he returned his band to the wheel. He said softly, "You'll be warm. I promise."

7

Forty-five minutes before its scheduled departure time of 10 P.m., Trans America Airline Flight Two-The Golden Argosy, Captain Vernon Demerest commanding -was in the final stages of preparation for its five-thou- sand-mile, non-stop journey to Rome.
General preparations for the flight had been under way for months and weeks and days. Others, more immediate, had continued for the past twenty-four hours.
An airline flight from any major terminal is, in effect, like a river joining the sea. Before it reaches the sea, a river is fed by tributaries, originating far back in time and distance, each tributary joined along its length by others, either greater or smaller. At length, at the river's mouth, the river itself is the sum of everything which flowed into it. Translated into aviation terms, the river at the sea is an airliner at its moment of takeoff.
The aircraft for Flight Two was a Boeing 707-320B Intercontinental Jetliner, registered number N-731-TA. It was powered by four Pratt & Wbitney turbofan jet engines, providing a cruising speed of six hundred and five miles per hour. The aircraft's range, at maximum weight, was