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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23153-h.zip b/23153-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e449019 --- /dev/null +++ b/23153-h.zip diff --git a/23153-h/23153-h.htm b/23153-h/23153-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4a524d --- /dev/null +++ b/23153-h/23153-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1323 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Big Bounce, by Walter S. Tevis</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.cap, p.cap2, p.cap3 {text-indent: 0em;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; + padding: 0px 2px 0 0; + line-height: .8em; font-size: 500%; + font-weight: 600; + } + p.cap2:first-letter { + float: left; clear: left; + padding: 0 2px 0 0; + line-height: 1em; font-size: 250%; + font-weight: 600; + } + p.cap3:first-letter {float: left; + line-height: .9em; font-size: 500%; + padding: 0 2px 0 0; + font-weight: 600; + } + + + h4 {text-align: left; text-indent: 3em; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 5em;} + h1.title { + text-align: left; + font-size: 3em; + word-spacing: .2em; + margin: 3em auto 0 auto; + width: 550px; + line-height: 2em;} + h1.pg { + text-align: center; + font-size: 200%; + word-spacing: 0em; + margin: 0 auto 0 auto;} + h1.title span {vertical-align: super;} + + h3 { text-align: center; } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + + sup {font-size: 100%;} + em {font-style: italic; font-weight: 800;} + .block {width: 550px; margin: 0em 0 3em 4em; text-align: left;} + .b {margin-bottom: 3em;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 5%; + font-size: 10px; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + font-style: normal; + letter-spacing: normal; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: right; + color: #999999; + background-color: #ffffff; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .center {text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: 4em auto 4em auto; text-align: center;} + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin: 0em -2.8em 0 0em; padding: 0; text-align: left;} + + .illus {font-weight: 800; margin: 2em auto 2em auto;} + + .tn {margin: 3em auto 3em auto; width: 400px; text-align: center; border: 1px solid; padding: 5px;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Big Bounce, by Walter S. Tevis, +Illustrated by Johnson</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Big Bounce</p> +<p>Author: Walter S. Tevis</p> +<p>Release Date: October 23, 2007 [eBook #23153]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIG BOUNCE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Jacqueline Jeremy,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<h1 class="title"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>THE BIG <span>BOUNCE</span><br /> + +<small>By WALTER S. TEVIS</small><br /></h1> + +<p class="block illus"> +<em>Seeing it in action, anybody would quaver in +alarm: What<br /> +hath Farnsworth overwrought?</em></p> + + +<p class="block illus">Illustrated by JOHNSON</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 3.5em;"> +<img src="images/quote.png" width="8" height="7" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="cap3">LET me show you something,” +Farnsworth said. +He set his near-empty +drink—a Bacardi martini—on the +mantel and waddled out of the +room toward the basement.</p> + +<p>I sat in my big leather chair, +feeling very peaceful with the +world, watching the fire. Whatever +Farnsworth would have to show to-night +would be far more entertaining +than watching T.V.—my custom +on other evenings. Farnsworth, +with his four labs in the house and +his very tricky mind, never failed +to provide my best night of the +week.</p> + +<p>When he returned, after a moment, +he had with him a small box, +about three inches square. He held +this carefully in one hand and +stood by the fireplace dramatically—or +as dramatically as a very +small, very fat man with pink +cheeks can stand by a fireplace of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>the sort that seems to demand a +big man with tweeds, pipe and, +perhaps, a saber wound.</p> + +<p>Anyway, he held the box dramatically +and he said, “Last week, +I was playing around in the chem +lab, trying to make a new kind of +rubber eraser. Did quite well with +the other drafting equipment, you +know, especially the dimensional +curve and the photosensitive ink. +Well, I approached the job by trying +for a material that would absorb +graphite without abrading +paper.”</p> + +<p class="b">I was a little disappointed with +this; it sounded pretty tame. But +I said, “How did it come out?”</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">HE screwed his pudgy face up +thoughtfully. “Synthesized the +material, all right, and it seems to +work, but the interesting thing is +that it has a certain—ah—secondary +property that would make it quite +awkward to use. Interesting property, +though. Unique, I am inclined +to believe.”</p> + +<p>This began to sound more like +it. “And what property is that?” +I poured myself a shot of straight +rum from the bottle sitting on the +table beside me. I did not like +straight rum, but I preferred it to +Farnsworth’s rather imaginative +cocktails.</p> + +<p>“I’ll show you, John,” he said. +He opened the box and I could +see that it was packed with some +kind of batting. He fished in this +and withdrew a gray ball about the +size of a golfball and set the box +on the mantel.</p> + +<p>“And that’s the—eraser?” I +asked.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said. Then he squatted +down, held the ball about a half-inch +from the floor, dropped it.</p> + +<p>It bounced, naturally enough. +Then it bounced again. And again. +Only this was not natural, for on +the second bounce the ball went +higher in the air than on the first, +and on the third bounce higher +still. After a half minute, my eyes +were bugging out and the little ball +was bouncing four feet in the air +and going higher each time.</p> + +<p>I grabbed my glass. “What the +hell!” I said.</p> + +<p>Farnsworth caught the ball in a +pudgy hand and held it. He was +smiling a little sheepishly. “Interesting +effect, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Now wait a minute,” I said, +beginning to think about it. +“What’s the gimmick? What kind +of motor do you have in that +thing?”</p> + +<p>His eyes were wide and a little +hurt. “No gimmick, John. None at +all. Just a very peculiar molecular +structure.”</p> + +<p>“Structure!” I said. “Bouncing +balls just don’t pick up energy out +of nowhere, I don’t care how their +molecules are put together. And +you don’t get energy out without +putting energy in.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” he said, “that’s the really +interesting thing. Of course you’re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +right; energy <i>does</i> go into the ball. +Here, I’ll show you.”</p> + +<p>He let the ball drop again and +it began bouncing, higher and +higher, until it was hitting the +ceiling. Farnsworth reached out to +catch it, but he fumbled and the +thing glanced off his hand, hit +the mantelpiece and zipped across +the room. It banged into the far +wall, richocheted, banked off three +other walls, picking up speed all +the time.</p> + +<p class="b">When it whizzed by me like a +rifle bullet, I began to get worried, +but it hit against one of the +heavy draperies by the window +and this damped its motion enough +so that it fell to the floor.</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">IT started bouncing again immediately, +but Farnsworth +scrambled across the room and +grabbed it. He was perspiring a +little and he began instantly to +transfer the ball from one hand to +another and back again as if it +were hot.</p> + +<p>“Here,” he said, and handed it +to me.</p> + +<p>I almost dropped it.</p> + +<p>“It’s like a ball of ice!” I said. +“Have you been keeping it in the +refrigerator?”</p> + +<p>“No. As a matter of fact, it was +at room temperature a few minutes +ago.”</p> + +<p>“Now wait a minute,” I said. +“I only teach physics in high +school, but I know better than that. +Moving around in warm air doesn’t +make anything cold except by +evaporation.”</p> + +<p>“Well, there’s your input and +output, John,” he said. “The ball +lost heat and took on motion. +Simple conversion.”</p> + +<p>My jaw must have dropped to +my waist. “Do you mean that that +little thing is converting heat to +kinetic energy?”</p> + +<p>“Apparently.”</p> + +<p>“But that’s impossible!”</p> + +<p>He was beginning to smile +thoughtfully. The ball was not as +cold now as it had been and I was +holding it in my lap.</p> + +<p>“A steam engine does it,” he +said, “and a steam turbine. Of +course, they’re not very efficient.”</p> + +<p>“They work mechanically, too, +and only because water expands +when it turns to steam.”</p> + +<p>“This seems to do it differently,” +he said, sipping thoughtfully at his +dark-brown martini. “I don’t know +exactly how—maybe something +piezo-electric about the way its +molecules slide about. I ran some +tests—measured its impact energy +in foot pounds and compared that +with the heat loss in BTUs. +Seemed to be about 98 per cent +efficient, as close as I could tell. +Apparently it converts heat into +bounce very well. Interesting, isn’t +it?”</p> + +<p>“<i>Interesting?</i>” I almost came flying +out of my chair. My mind was +beginning to spin like crazy. “If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +you’re not pulling my leg with +this thing, Farnsworth, you’ve got +something by the tail there that’s +just a little bit bigger than the +discovery of fire.”</p> + +<p>He blushed modestly. “I’d +rather thought that myself,” he admitted.</p> + +<p class="b">“Good Lord, look at the heat +that’s available!” I said, getting +really excited now.</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">FARNSWORTH was still smiling, +very pleased with himself. +“I suppose you could put this +thing in a box, with convection +fins, and let it bounce around inside—”</p> + +<p>“I’m way ahead of you,” I said. +“But that wouldn’t work. All your +kinetic energy would go right back +to heat, on impact—and eventually +that little ball would build up +enough speed to blast its way +through any box you could build.”</p> + +<p>“Then how would you work it?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said, choking down the +rest of my rum, “you’d seal the +ball in a big steel cylinder, attach +the cylinder to a crankshaft and +flywheel, give the thing a shake +to start the ball bouncing back and +forth, and let it run like a gasoline +engine or something. It would +get all the heat it needed from +the air in a normal room. Mount +the apparatus in your house and it +would pump your water, operate +a generator and keep you cool +at the same time!”</p> + +<p>I sat down again, shakily, and +began pouring myself another +drink.</p> + +<p>Farnsworth had taken the ball +from me and was carefully putting +it back in its padded box. He was +visibly showing excitement, too; +I could see that his cheeks were +ruddier and his eyes even brighter +than normal. “But what if you +want the cooling and don’t have +any work to be done?”</p> + +<p>“Simple,” I said. “You just let +the machine turn a flywheel or +lift weights and drop them, or +something like that, outside your +house. You have an air intake inside. +And if, in the winter, you +don’t want to lose heat, you just +mount the thing in an outside +building, attach it to your generator +and use the power to do whatever +you want—heat your house, +say. There’s plenty of heat in the +outside air even in December.”</p> + +<p>“John,” said Farnsworth, “you +are very ingenious. It might work.”</p> + +<p>“Of course it’ll work.” Pictures +were beginning to light up in my +head. “And don’t you realize that +this is the answer to the solar +power problem? Why, mirrors and +selenium are, at best, ten per cent +efficient! Think of big pumping +stations on the Sahara! All that +heat, all that need for power, for +irrigation!” I paused a moment for +effect. “Farnsworth, this can +change the very shape of the +Earth!”</p> + +<p class="b"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>Farnsworth seemed to be lost +in thought. Finally he looked at +me strangely and said, “Perhaps +we had better try to build a +model.”</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">I WAS so excited by the thing +that I couldn’t sleep that night. +I kept dreaming of power stations, +ocean liners, even automobiles, being +operated by balls bouncing +back and forth in cylinders.</p> + +<p>I even worked out a spaceship +in my mind, a bullet-shaped affair +with a huge rubber ball on +its end, gyroscopes to keep it +oriented properly, the ball serving +as solution to that biggest of missile-engineering +problems, excess +heat. You’d build a huge concrete +launching field, supported all the +way down to bedrock, hop in the +ship and start bouncing. Of course +it would be kind of a rough ride....</p> + +<p>In the morning, I called my +superintendent and told him to get +a substitute for the rest of the +week; I was going to be busy.</p> + +<p>Then I started working in the +machine shop in Farnsworth’s +basement, trying to turn out a +working model of a device that, +by means of a crankshaft, oleo +dampers and a reciprocating cylinder, +would pick up some of that +random kinetic energy from the +bouncing ball and do something +useful with it, like turning a drive +shaft. I was just working out a +convection-and-air pump system +for circulating hot air around the +ball when Farnsworth came in.</p> + +<p>He had tucked carefully under +his arm a sphere of about the size +of a basketball and, if he had +made it to my specifications, +weighing thirty-five pounds. He +had a worried frown on his forehead.</p> + +<p>“It looks good,” I said. “What’s +the trouble?”</p> + +<p>“There seems to be a slight +hitch,” he said. “I’ve been testing +for conductivity. It seems to be +quite low.”</p> + +<p>“That’s what I’m working on +now. It’s just a mechanical problem +of pumping enough warm air +back to the ball. We can do it +with no more than a twenty per +cent efficiency loss. In an engine, +that’s nothing.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe you’re right. But this +material conducts heat even less +than rubber does.”</p> + +<p>“The little ball yesterday didn’t +seem to have any trouble,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Naturally not. It had had plenty +of time to warm up before I +started it. And its mass-surface +area relationship was pretty low—the +larger you make a sphere, +of course, the more mass inside in +proportion to the outside area.”</p> + +<p class="b">“You’re right, but I think we +can whip it. We may have to +honeycomb the ball and have part +of the work the machine does operate +a big hot air pump; but we +can work it out.”</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">ALL<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> that day, I worked with +lathe, milling machine and +hacksaw. After clamping the new +big ball securely to a workbench, +Farnsworth pitched in to help me. +But we weren’t able to finish by +nightfall and Farnsworth turned +his spare bedroom over to me for +the night. I was too tired to go +home.</p> + +<p>And too tired to sleep soundly, +too. Farnsworth lived on the edge +of San Francisco, by a big truck +by-pass, and almost all night I +wrestled with the pillow and +sheets, listening half-consciously to +those heavy trucks rumbling by, +and in my mind, always, that little +gray ball, bouncing and bouncing +and bouncing....</p> + +<p>At daybreak, I came abruptly +fully awake with the sound of +crashing echoing in my ears, a battering +sound that seemed to come +from the basement. I grabbed my +coat and pants, rushed out of the +room, almost knocked over Farnsworth, +who was struggling to get +his shoes on out in the hall, and +we scrambled down the two flights +of stairs together.</p> + +<p>The place was a chaos, battered +and bashed equipment everywhere, +and on the floor, overturned +against the far wall, the table that +the ball had been clamped to. The +ball itself was gone.</p> + +<p>I had not been fully asleep all +night, and the sight of that mess, +and what it meant, jolted me immediately +awake. Something, probably +a heavy truck, had started a +tiny oscillation in that ball. And +the ball had been heavy enough +to start the table bouncing with +it until, by dancing that table +around the room, it had literally +torn the clamp off and shaken +itself free. What had happened +afterward was obvious, with the +ball building up velocity with +every successive bounce.</p> + +<p>But where was the ball now?</p> + +<p>Suddenly Farnsworth cried out +hoarsely, “Look!” and I followed +his outstretched, pudgy finger to +where, at one side of the basement, +a window had been broken +open—a small window, but plenty +big enough for something the size +of a basketball to crash through +it.</p> + +<p>There was a little weak light +coming from outdoors. And then +I saw the ball. It was in Farnsworth’s +back yard, bouncing a little +sluggishly on the grass. The grass +would damp it, hold it back, until +we could get to it. Unless....</p> + +<p>I took off up the basement steps +like a streak. Just beyond the back +yard, I had caught a glimpse of +something that frightened me. A +few yards from where I had seen +the ball was the edge of the big +six-lane highway, a broad ribbon +of smooth, hard concrete.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> +<img src="images/gf58045i.jpg" width="448" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>I got through the house to the +back porch, rushed out and was +in the back yard just in time to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +see the ball take its first bounce +onto the concrete. I watched it, +fascinated, when it hit—after the +soft, energy absorbing turf, the +concrete was like a springboard. +Immediately the ball flew high in +the air. I was running across the +yard toward it, praying under my +breath, <i>Fall on that grass next +time</i>.</p> + +<p class="b">It hit before I got to it, and +right on the concrete again, and +this time I saw it go straight up at +least fifty feet.</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">MY mind was suddenly full of +thoughts of dragging mattresses +from the house, or making +a net or something to stop that +hurtling thirty-five pounds; but I +stood where I was, unable to move, +and saw it come down again on +the highway. It went up a hundred feet. +And down again on the +concrete, about fifteen feet further +down the road. In the direction of +the city.</p> + +<p>That time it was two hundred +feet, and when it hit again, it made +a thud that you could have heard +for a quarter of a mile. I could +practically see it flatten out on +the road before it took off upward +again, at twice the speed it had +hit at.</p> + +<p>Suddenly generating an idea, I +whirled and ran back to Farnsworth’s +house. He was standing in +the yard now, shivering from the +morning air, looking at me like a +little lost and badly scared child.</p> + +<p>“Where are your car keys?” I +almost shouted at him.</p> + +<p>“In my pocket.”</p> + +<p>“Come on!”</p> + +<p>I took him by the arm and half +dragged him to the carport. I got +the keys from him, started the car, +and by mangling about seven traffic +laws and three prize rosebushes, +managed to get on the highway, +facing in the direction that the ball +was heading.</p> + +<p>“Look,” I said, trying to drive +down the road and search for the +ball at the same time. “It’s risky, +but if I can get the car under it +and we can hop out in time, it +should crash through the roof. That +ought to slow it down enough for +us to nab it.”</p> + +<p>“But—what about my car?” +Farnsworth bleated.</p> + +<p>“What about that first building—or +first person—it hits in San Francisco?”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” he said. “Hadn’t thought +of that.”</p> + +<p>I slowed the car and stuck my +head out the window. It was +lighter now, but no sign of the +ball. “If it happens to get to town—any +town, for that matter—it’ll +be falling from about ten or twenty +miles. Or forty.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe it’ll go high enough first +so that it’ll burn. Like a meteor.”</p> + +<p>“No chance,” I said. “Built-in +cooling system, remember?”</p> + +<p class="b">Farnsworth formed his mouth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +into an “Oh” and exactly at that +moment there was a resounding +<i>thump</i> and I saw the ball hit in +a field, maybe twenty yards from +the edge of the road, and take off +again. This time it didn’t seem to +double its velocity, and I figured +the ground was soft enough to hold +it back—but it wasn’t slowing +down either, not with a bounce factor +of better than two to one.</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">WITHOUT watching for it to +go up, I drove as quickly as +I could off the road and over—carrying +part of a wire fence with +me—to where it had hit. There was +no mistaking it; there was a depression +about three feet deep, like +a small crater.</p> + +<p>I jumped out of the car and +stared up. It took me a few seconds +to spot it, over my head. One +side caught by the pale and slanting +morning sunlight, it was only +a bright diminishing speck.</p> + +<p>The car motor was running and +I waited until the ball disappeared +for a moment and then reappeared. +I watched for another couple of +seconds until I felt I could make +a decent guess on its direction, hollered +at Farnsworth to get out of +the car—it had just occurred to +me that there was no use risking +his life, too—dove in and drove +a hundred yards or so to the spot +I had anticipated.</p> + +<p>I stuck my head out the window +and up. The ball was the size +of an egg now. I adjusted the car’s +position, jumped out and ran for +my life.</p> + +<p>It hit instantly after—about sixty +feet from the car. And at the +same time, it occurred to me that +what I was trying to do was completely +impossible. Better to hope +that the ball hit a pond, or bounced +out to sea, or landed in a sand +dune. All we could do would be to +follow, and if it ever was damped +down enough, grab it.</p> + +<p>It had hit soft ground and +didn’t double its height that time, +but it had still gone higher. It was +out of sight for almost a lifelong +minute.</p> + +<p>And then—incredibly rotten luck—it +came down, with an ear-shattering +thwack, on the concrete +highway again. I had seen it hit, +and instantly afterward I saw a +crack as wide as a finger open +along the entire width of the road. +And the ball had flown back up +like a rocket.</p> + +<p><i>My God</i>, I was thinking, <i>now it +means business. And on the next +bounce....</i></p> + +<p>It seemed like an incredibly +long time that we craned our +necks, Farnsworth and I, watching +for it to reappear in the sky. And +when it finally did, we could hardly +follow it. It whistled like a +bomb and we saw the gray streak +come plummeting to Earth almost +a quarter of a mile away from +where we were standing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>But we didn’t see it go back up +again.</p> + +<p>For a moment, we stared at each +other silently. Then Farnsworth almost +whispered, “Perhaps it’s +landed in a pond.”</p> + +<p>“Or in the world’s biggest cow-pile,” +I said. “Come on!”</p> + +<p>We could have met our deaths +by rock salt and buckshot that +night, if the farmer who owned that +field had been home. We tore up +everything we came to getting +across it—including cabbages and +rhubarb. But we had to search for +ten minutes, and even then we +didn’t find the ball.</p> + +<p class="b">What we found was a hole in +the ground that could have been +a small-scale meteor crater. It was +a good twenty feet deep. But at +the bottom, no ball.</p> + + + +<p class="cap2">I STARTED wildly at it for a +full minute before I focused my +eyes enough to see, at the bottom, +a thousand little gray fragments.</p> + +<p>And immediately it came to +both of us at the same time. A +poor conductor, the ball had used +up all its available heat on that +final impact. Like a golfball that +has been dipped in liquid air and +dropped, it had smashed into thin +splinters.</p> + +<p>The hole had sloping sides and +I scrambled down in it and picked +up one of the pieces, using my +handkerchief, folded—there was no +telling just how cold it would be.</p> + +<p>It was the stuff, all right. And +colder than an icicle.</p> + +<p>I climbed out. “Let’s go home,” +I said.</p> + +<p>Farnsworth looked at me +thoughtfully. Then he sort of +cocked his head to one side and +asked, “What do you suppose will +happen when those pieces thaw?”</p> + +<p>I stared at him. I began to think +of a thousand tiny slivers whizzing +around erratically, richocheting +off buildings, in downtown San +Francisco and in twenty counties, +and no matter what they hit, moving +and accelerating as long as +there was any heat in the air to +give them energy.</p> + +<p>And then I saw a tool shed, on +the other side of the pasture from +us.</p> + +<p>But Farnsworth was ahead of +me, waddling along, puffing. He +got the shovels out and handed one +to me.</p> + +<p>We didn’t say a word, neither +of us, for hours. It takes a long +time to fill a hole twenty feet deep—especially +when you’re shoveling +very, very carefully and packing +down the dirt very, very hard.</p> + +<h4>—WALTER S. TEVIS</h4> + + +<div class="tn"> +<em>Transcriber's Note:</em> + +<p>The spelling of "richochet" has been retained as in the original.</p> + +<p>This etext was produced from Galaxy February 1958. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that +the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p> +</div> + + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIG BOUNCE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23153-h.txt or 23153-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/1/5/23153">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/5/23153</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Tevis, +Illustrated by Johnson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Big Bounce + + +Author: Walter S. Tevis + + + +Release Date: October 23, 2007 [eBook #23153] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIG BOUNCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Jacqueline Jeremy, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23153-h.htm or 23153-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/1/5/23153/23153-h/23153-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/1/5/23153/23153-h.zip) + + + + + +THE BIG BOUNCE + +by + +WALTER S. TEVIS + +_Seeing it in action, anybody would quaver in +alarm: What hath Farnsworth overwrought?_ + +Illustrated by Johnson + + + + + + + +"Let me show you something," Farnsworth said. He set his near-empty +drink--a Bacardi martini--on the mantel and waddled out of the room +toward the basement. + +I sat in my big leather chair, feeling very peaceful with the world, +watching the fire. Whatever Farnsworth would have to show to-night +would be far more entertaining than watching T.V.--my custom on other +evenings. Farnsworth, with his four labs in the house and his very +tricky mind, never failed to provide my best night of the week. + +When he returned, after a moment, he had with him a small box, about +three inches square. He held this carefully in one hand and stood by +the fireplace dramatically--or as dramatically as a very small, very +fat man with pink cheeks can stand by a fireplace of the sort that +seems to demand a big man with tweeds, pipe and, perhaps, a saber +wound. + +Anyway, he held the box dramatically and he said, "Last week, I was +playing around in the chem lab, trying to make a new kind of rubber +eraser. Did quite well with the other drafting equipment, you know, +especially the dimensional curve and the photosensitive ink. Well, I +approached the job by trying for a material that would absorb graphite +without abrading paper." + +I was a little disappointed with this; it sounded pretty tame. But I +said, "How did it come out?" + + * * * * * + +He screwed his pudgy face up thoughtfully. "Synthesized the material, +all right, and it seems to work, but the interesting thing is that it +has a certain--ah--secondary property that would make it quite awkward +to use. Interesting property, though. Unique, I am inclined to +believe." + +This began to sound more like it. "And what property is that?" I +poured myself a shot of straight rum from the bottle sitting on the +table beside me. I did not like straight rum, but I preferred it to +Farnsworth's rather imaginative cocktails. + +"I'll show you, John," he said. He opened the box and I could see that +it was packed with some kind of batting. He fished in this and +withdrew a gray ball about the size of a golfball and set the box on +the mantel. + +"And that's the--eraser?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said. Then he squatted down, held the ball about a half-inch +from the floor, dropped it. + +It bounced, naturally enough. Then it bounced again. And again. Only +this was not natural, for on the second bounce the ball went higher in +the air than on the first, and on the third bounce higher still. After +a half minute, my eyes were bugging out and the little ball was +bouncing four feet in the air and going higher each time. + +I grabbed my glass. "What the hell!" I said. + +Farnsworth caught the ball in a pudgy hand and held it. He was smiling +a little sheepishly. "Interesting effect, isn't it?" + +"Now wait a minute," I said, beginning to think about it. "What's the +gimmick? What kind of motor do you have in that thing?" + +His eyes were wide and a little hurt. "No gimmick, John. None at all. +Just a very peculiar molecular structure." + +"Structure!" I said. "Bouncing balls just don't pick up energy out of +nowhere, I don't care how their molecules are put together. And you +don't get energy out without putting energy in." + +"Oh," he said, "that's the really interesting thing. Of course you're +right; energy _does_ go into the ball. Here, I'll show you." + +He let the ball drop again and it began bouncing, higher and higher, +until it was hitting the ceiling. Farnsworth reached out to catch it, +but he fumbled and the thing glanced off his hand, hit the mantelpiece +and zipped across the room. It banged into the far wall, richocheted, +banked off three other walls, picking up speed all the time. + +When it whizzed by me like a rifle bullet, I began to get worried, but +it hit against one of the heavy draperies by the window and this +damped its motion enough so that it fell to the floor. + + * * * * * + +It started bouncing again immediately, but Farnsworth scrambled across +the room and grabbed it. He was perspiring a little and he began +instantly to transfer the ball from one hand to another and back again +as if it were hot. + +"Here," he said, and handed it to me. + +I almost dropped it. + +"It's like a ball of ice!" I said. "Have you been keeping it in the +refrigerator?" + +"No. As a matter of fact, it was at room temperature a few minutes +ago." + +"Now wait a minute," I said. "I only teach physics in high school, but +I know better than that. Moving around in warm air doesn't make +anything cold except by evaporation." + +"Well, there's your input and output, John," he said. "The ball lost +heat and took on motion. Simple conversion." + +My jaw must have dropped to my waist. "Do you mean that that little +thing is converting heat to kinetic energy?" + +"Apparently." + +"But that's impossible!" + +He was beginning to smile thoughtfully. The ball was not as cold now +as it had been and I was holding it in my lap. + +"A steam engine does it," he said, "and a steam turbine. Of course, +they're not very efficient." + +"They work mechanically, too, and only because water expands when it +turns to steam." + +"This seems to do it differently," he said, sipping thoughtfully at +his dark-brown martini. "I don't know exactly how--maybe something +piezo-electric about the way its molecules slide about. I ran some +tests--measured its impact energy in foot pounds and compared that +with the heat loss in BTUs. Seemed to be about 98 per cent efficient, +as close as I could tell. Apparently it converts heat into bounce very +well. Interesting, isn't it?" + +"_Interesting?_" I almost came flying out of my chair. My mind was +beginning to spin like crazy. "If you're not pulling my leg with this +thing, Farnsworth, you've got something by the tail there that's just +a little bit bigger than the discovery of fire." + +He blushed modestly. "I'd rather thought that myself," he admitted. + +"Good Lord, look at the heat that's available!" I said, getting really +excited now. + + * * * * * + +Farnsworth was still smiling, very pleased with himself. "I suppose +you could put this thing in a box, with convection fins, and let it +bounce around inside--" + +"I'm way ahead of you," I said. "But that wouldn't work. All your +kinetic energy would go right back to heat, on impact--and eventually +that little ball would build up enough speed to blast its way through +any box you could build." + +"Then how would you work it?" + +"Well," I said, choking down the rest of my rum, "you'd seal the ball +in a big steel cylinder, attach the cylinder to a crankshaft and +flywheel, give the thing a shake to start the ball bouncing back and +forth, and let it run like a gasoline engine or something. It would +get all the heat it needed from the air in a normal room. Mount the +apparatus in your house and it would pump your water, operate a +generator and keep you cool at the same time!" + +I sat down again, shakily, and began pouring myself another drink. + +Farnsworth had taken the ball from me and was carefully putting it +back in its padded box. He was visibly showing excitement, too; I +could see that his cheeks were ruddier and his eyes even brighter than +normal. "But what if you want the cooling and don't have any work to +be done?" + +"Simple," I said. "You just let the machine turn a flywheel or lift +weights and drop them, or something like that, outside your house. You +have an air intake inside. And if, in the winter, you don't want to +lose heat, you just mount the thing in an outside building, attach it +to your generator and use the power to do whatever you want--heat your +house, say. There's plenty of heat in the outside air even in +December." + +"John," said Farnsworth, "you are very ingenious. It might work." + +"Of course it'll work." Pictures were beginning to light up in my +head. "And don't you realize that this is the answer to the solar +power problem? Why, mirrors and selenium are, at best, ten per cent +efficient! Think of big pumping stations on the Sahara! All that heat, +all that need for power, for irrigation!" I paused a moment for +effect. "Farnsworth, this can change the very shape of the Earth!" + +Farnsworth seemed to be lost in thought. Finally he looked at me +strangely and said, "Perhaps we had better try to build a model." + + * * * * * + +I was so excited by the thing that I couldn't sleep that night. I kept +dreaming of power stations, ocean liners, even automobiles, being +operated by balls bouncing back and forth in cylinders. + +I even worked out a spaceship in my mind, a bullet-shaped affair with +a huge rubber ball on its end, gyroscopes to keep it oriented +properly, the ball serving as solution to that biggest of +missile-engineering problems, excess heat. You'd build a huge concrete +launching field, supported all the way down to bedrock, hop in the +ship and start bouncing. Of course it would be kind of a rough +ride.... + +In the morning, I called my superintendent and told him to get a +substitute for the rest of the week; I was going to be busy. + +Then I started working in the machine shop in Farnsworth's basement, +trying to turn out a working model of a device that, by means of a +crankshaft, oleo dampers and a reciprocating cylinder, would pick up +some of that random kinetic energy from the bouncing ball and do +something useful with it, like turning a drive shaft. I was just +working out a convection-and-air pump system for circulating hot air +around the ball when Farnsworth came in. + +He had tucked carefully under his arm a sphere of about the size of a +basketball and, if he had made it to my specifications, weighing +thirty-five pounds. He had a worried frown on his forehead. + +"It looks good," I said. "What's the trouble?" + +"There seems to be a slight hitch," he said. "I've been testing for +conductivity. It seems to be quite low." + +"That's what I'm working on now. It's just a mechanical problem of +pumping enough warm air back to the ball. We can do it with no more +than a twenty per cent efficiency loss. In an engine, that's nothing." + +"Maybe you're right. But this material conducts heat even less than +rubber does." + +"The little ball yesterday didn't seem to have any trouble," I said. + +"Naturally not. It had had plenty of time to warm up before I started +it. And its mass-surface area relationship was pretty low--the larger +you make a sphere, of course, the more mass inside in proportion to +the outside area." + +"You're right, but I think we can whip it. We may have to honeycomb +the ball and have part of the work the machine does operate a big hot +air pump; but we can work it out." + + * * * * * + +All that day, I worked with lathe, milling machine and hacksaw. After +clamping the new big ball securely to a workbench, Farnsworth pitched +in to help me. But we weren't able to finish by nightfall and +Farnsworth turned his spare bedroom over to me for the night. I was +too tired to go home. + +And too tired to sleep soundly, too. Farnsworth lived on the edge of +San Francisco, by a big truck by-pass, and almost all night I wrestled +with the pillow and sheets, listening half-consciously to those heavy +trucks rumbling by, and in my mind, always, that little gray ball, +bouncing and bouncing and bouncing.... + +At daybreak, I came abruptly fully awake with the sound of crashing +echoing in my ears, a battering sound that seemed to come from the +basement. I grabbed my coat and pants, rushed out of the room, almost +knocked over Farnsworth, who was struggling to get his shoes on out in +the hall, and we scrambled down the two flights of stairs together. + +The place was a chaos, battered and bashed equipment everywhere, and +on the floor, overturned against the far wall, the table that the ball +had been clamped to. The ball itself was gone. + +I had not been fully asleep all night, and the sight of that mess, and +what it meant, jolted me immediately awake. Something, probably a +heavy truck, had started a tiny oscillation in that ball. And the ball +had been heavy enough to start the table bouncing with it until, by +dancing that table around the room, it had literally torn the clamp +off and shaken itself free. What had happened afterward was obvious, +with the ball building up velocity with every successive bounce. + +But where was the ball now? + +Suddenly Farnsworth cried out hoarsely, "Look!" and I followed his +outstretched, pudgy finger to where, at one side of the basement, a +window had been broken open--a small window, but plenty big enough for +something the size of a basketball to crash through it. + +There was a little weak light coming from outdoors. And then I saw the +ball. It was in Farnsworth's back yard, bouncing a little sluggishly +on the grass. The grass would damp it, hold it back, until we could +get to it. Unless.... + +I took off up the basement steps like a streak. Just beyond the back +yard, I had caught a glimpse of something that frightened me. A few +yards from where I had seen the ball was the edge of the big six-lane +highway, a broad ribbon of smooth, hard concrete. + +[Illustration] + +I got through the house to the back porch, rushed out and was in the +back yard just in time to see the ball take its first bounce onto +the concrete. I watched it, fascinated, when it hit--after the soft, +energy absorbing turf, the concrete was like a springboard. +Immediately the ball flew high in the air. I was running across the +yard toward it, praying under my breath, _Fall on that grass next +time_. + +It hit before I got to it, and right on the concrete again, and this +time I saw it go straight up at least fifty feet. + + * * * * * + +My mind was suddenly full of thoughts of dragging mattresses from the +house, or making a net or something to stop that hurtling thirty-five +pounds; but I stood where I was, unable to move, and saw it come down +again on the highway. It went up a hundred feet. And down again on the +concrete, about fifteen feet further down the road. In the direction +of the city. + +That time it was two hundred feet, and when it hit again, it made a +thud that you could have heard for a quarter of a mile. I could +practically see it flatten out on the road before it took off upward +again, at twice the speed it had hit at. + +Suddenly generating an idea, I whirled and ran back to Farnsworth's +house. He was standing in the yard now, shivering from the morning +air, looking at me like a little lost and badly scared child. + +"Where are your car keys?" I almost shouted at him. + +"In my pocket." + +"Come on!" + +I took him by the arm and half dragged him to the carport. I got the +keys from him, started the car, and by mangling about seven traffic +laws and three prize rosebushes, managed to get on the highway, facing +in the direction that the ball was heading. + +"Look," I said, trying to drive down the road and search for the ball +at the same time. "It's risky, but if I can get the car under it and +we can hop out in time, it should crash through the roof. That ought +to slow it down enough for us to nab it." + +"But--what about my car?" Farnsworth bleated. + +"What about that first building--or first person--it hits in San +Francisco?" + +"Oh," he said. "Hadn't thought of that." + +I slowed the car and stuck my head out the window. It was lighter now, +but no sign of the ball. "If it happens to get to town--any town, for +that matter--it'll be falling from about ten or twenty miles. Or +forty." + +"Maybe it'll go high enough first so that it'll burn. Like a meteor." + +"No chance," I said. "Built-in cooling system, remember?" + +Farnsworth formed his mouth into an "Oh" and exactly at that moment +there was a resounding _thump_ and I saw the ball hit in a field, +maybe twenty yards from the edge of the road, and take off again. This +time it didn't seem to double its velocity, and I figured the ground +was soft enough to hold it back--but it wasn't slowing down either, +not with a bounce factor of better than two to one. + + * * * * * + +Without watching for it to go up, I drove as quickly as I could off +the road and over--carrying part of a wire fence with me--to where it +had hit. There was no mistaking it; there was a depression about three +feet deep, like a small crater. + +I jumped out of the car and stared up. It took me a few seconds to +spot it, over my head. One side caught by the pale and slanting +morning sunlight, it was only a bright diminishing speck. + +The car motor was running and I waited until the ball disappeared for +a moment and then reappeared. I watched for another couple of seconds +until I felt I could make a decent guess on its direction, hollered at +Farnsworth to get out of the car--it had just occurred to me that +there was no use risking his life, too--dove in and drove a hundred +yards or so to the spot I had anticipated. + +I stuck my head out the window and up. The ball was the size of an egg +now. I adjusted the car's position, jumped out and ran for my life. + +It hit instantly after--about sixty feet from the car. And at the same +time, it occurred to me that what I was trying to do was completely +impossible. Better to hope that the ball hit a pond, or bounced out to +sea, or landed in a sand dune. All we could do would be to follow, and +if it ever was damped down enough, grab it. + +It had hit soft ground and didn't double its height that time, but it +had still gone higher. It was out of sight for almost a lifelong +minute. + +And then--incredibly rotten luck--it came down, with an ear-shattering +thwack, on the concrete highway again. I had seen it hit, and +instantly afterward I saw a crack as wide as a finger open along the +entire width of the road. And the ball had flown back up like a +rocket. + +_My God_, I was thinking, _now it means business. And on the next +bounce...._ + +It seemed like an incredibly long time that we craned our necks, +Farnsworth and I, watching for it to reappear in the sky. And when it +finally did, we could hardly follow it. It whistled like a bomb and we +saw the gray streak come plummeting to Earth almost a quarter of a +mile away from where we were standing. + +But we didn't see it go back up again. + +For a moment, we stared at each other silently. Then Farnsworth almost +whispered, "Perhaps it's landed in a pond." + +"Or in the world's biggest cow-pile," I said. "Come on!" + +We could have met our deaths by rock salt and buckshot that night, if +the farmer who owned that field had been home. We tore up everything +we came to getting across it--including cabbages and rhubarb. But we +had to search for ten minutes, and even then we didn't find the ball. + +What we found was a hole in the ground that could have been a +small-scale meteor crater. It was a good twenty feet deep. But at the +bottom, no ball. + + * * * * * + +I stared wildly at it for a full minute before I focused my eyes +enough to see, at the bottom, a thousand little gray fragments. + +And immediately it came to both of us at the same time. A poor +conductor, the ball had used up all its available heat on that final +impact. Like a golfball that has been dipped in liquid air and +dropped, it had smashed into thin splinters. + +The hole had sloping sides and I scrambled down in it and picked up +one of the pieces, using my handkerchief, folded--there was no telling +just how cold it would be. + +It was the stuff, all right. And colder than an icicle. + +I climbed out. "Let's go home," I said. + +Farnsworth looked at me thoughtfully. Then he sort of cocked his head +to one side and asked, "What do you suppose will happen when those +pieces thaw?" + +I stared at him. I began to think of a thousand tiny slivers whizzing +around erratically, richocheting off buildings, in downtown San +Francisco and in twenty counties, and no matter what they hit, moving +and accelerating as long as there was any heat in the air to give them +energy. + +And then I saw a tool shed, on the other side of the pasture from us. + +But Farnsworth was ahead of me, waddling along, puffing. He got the +shovels out and handed one to me. + +We didn't say a word, neither of us, for hours. It takes a long time +to fill a hole twenty feet deep--especially when you're shoveling +very, very carefully and packing down the dirt very, very hard. + + --WALTER S. TEVIS + + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + |Transcriber's Note: | + | | + |The spelling of "richochet" has been retained as in | + |the original. | + | | + |This etext was produced from Galaxy February 1958. | + |Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that| + |the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIG BOUNCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 23153.txt or 23153.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/1/5/23153 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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