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diff --git a/29133.txt b/29133.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e8f601 --- /dev/null +++ b/29133.txt @@ -0,0 +1,717 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shipwreck in the Sky, by Eando Binder + +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: Shipwreck in the Sky + +Author: Eando Binder + +Release Date: June 15, 2009 [EBook #29133] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHIPWRECK IN THE SKY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _There is a warm feeling about welcoming back into the pages of a + science fiction magazine the work of a writer who is a legend in the + genre. So, here's Binder and a neatly wrapped-up package of a + folktale of the future._ + + + shipwreck + in + the + sky + + _by ... Eando Binder_ + + + The flight into space that made + Pilot-Capt. Dan Barstow famous. + + +The flight was listed at GHQ as _Project Songbird_. It was sponsored by +the Space Medicine Labs of the U.S. Air Force. And its pilot was Captain +Dan Barstow. + +A hand-picked man, Dan Barstow, chosen for the AF's most important +project of the year because he and his VX-3 had already broken all +previous records set by hordes of V-2s, Navy Aerobees and anything else +that flew the skyways. + +Dan Barstow, first man to cross the sea of air and sight open, unlimited +space. Pioneer flight to infinity. He grinned and hummed to himself as +he settled down for the long jaunt. Too busy to be either thrilled or +scared he considered the thirty-seven instruments he'd have to read, the +twice that many records to keep, and the miles of camera film to run. He +had been hand-picked and thoroughly conditioned to take it all without +more than a ten percent increase in his pulse rate. So he worked as +matter-of-factly as if he were down in the Gs Centrifuge of the Space +Medicine Labs where he had been schooled for this trip for months. + +He kept up a running fire of oral reports through his helmet radio, down +to Rough Rock and his CO. "All Roger, sir ... temperature falling fast +but this rubberoid space suit keeps me cozy, no chills ... Doc Blaine +will be happy to hear that! Weightless sensations pretty queer and I +feel upside-down as much as rightside-up, but no bad effects.... Taking +shots of the sun's corona now with color film ... huh? Oh, yes, sir, +it's beautiful all right, now that you mention it. But, hell, sir, who's +got the time for aesthetics now?... Oops, _that_ was a close one! Tenth +meteor whizzing past. Makes me think of flak back on those Berlin +bombing runs." + +Dan couldn't help wincing when the meteors peppered down past. The +"flak" of space. Below he could see the meteors flare up brightly as +they hit the atmosphere. Most of those near his position were small, +none bigger than a baseball, and Dan took comfort in the fact that his +rocket was small too, in the immensity around him. A direct hit would be +sheer bad luck, but the good old law of averages was on his side. + +"Yes, Colonel, this tin can I'm riding is holding together okay," Dan +continued to Rough Rock. If he paused even a second in his reports a +top-sergeant's yell from the Colonel's throat came back for him to keep +talking. Every bit of information he could transmit to them was a vital +revelation in this USAF-Alpha exploration of open space beyond Earth's +air cushion, with ceiling unlimited to infinity. + +"Cosmic rays, sir? Sure, the reading shot up double on the Geiger ... +huh? Naw, I don't feel a thing ... like Doc Baird suspected, we invented +a lot of Old Wives' Tales in _advance_, before going into space. I feel +fine, so you can put down cosmic ray intensity as a Boogey Man.... +What's that? Yeah, yeah, sir, the stars shine without winking up here. +What else?... Space is inky black--no deep purples or queer +more-than-blacks like some jetted-up writers dreamed up--just plain old +ordinary dead black. Earth, sir?... Well, it does look dish-shaped from +up here, concave.... Sure, I can see all the way to Europe and--say! +Here's something unexpected. I can see that hurricane off the coast of +Florida.... You said it, sir! Once we install permanent space stations +up here it will be easy to spot typhoons, volcano eruptions, tidal +waves, earthquakes, what have you, the moment they start. If you ask me, +with a good telescope you could even spot forest fires the minute they +broke out, not to mention a sneak bombing on a target city--uh, sorry, +sir, I forgot." + +Dan broke off and almost retched as his stomach turned a flip-flop to +end all flip-flops. The VX-3 had reached the peak of its trajectory at +over 1000 miles altitude and now turned down, lazily at first. He gulped +oxygen from the emergency tube at his lips and felt better. + +"Turning back on schedule, Rough Rock. Peak altitude 1037 miles. +Everything fine, no danger. This was all a cinch.... HEY! Wait.... +Something not in the books has popped up ... stand by!" + +Dan had felt the rocket swing a bit, strangely, as if gripped by a +strong force. Instead of falling directly down toward Earth with a +slight pitch, it slanted sideways and spun on its long axis. And then +Dan saw what it was.... + +Beneath, intercepting his trajectory, coming around fast over the +curvature of Earth, was a tiny black worldlet, 998 miles above Earth. It +might be an enormous meteor, but Dan felt he was right the first time. +For it wasn't falling like a meteor but swinging parallel to Earth's +surface on even keel. + +He stared at the unexpected discovery, as amazed as if it were a +fire-breathing dragon out of legend. For it was, actually, he realized +in swift, stunned comprehension, more amazing than any legend. + +Dan kept his voice calm. "Hello, Rough Rock.... Listen ... nobody +expected _this_ ... hold your hat, sir, and sit down. I've discovered a +_second moon_ of Earth!... Uhhuh, you heard me right! a second moon! Tie +that, will you?... Sure, it's tiny, less than a mile in diameter I'd +say. Dead black in color. Guess that's why telescopes never spotted it. +Tiny and black, blends into the black backdrop of space. It has terrific +speed. And that little maverick's gravitational field caught my +rocket.... Of course it can't yank me away from Earth gravity, but the +trouble is--yipe! my rocket and that moonlet may be in for a mutual +_collision_ course...." + +Dan's trained eye suddenly saw that grim possibility. Barreling around +Earth in a narrow orbit with a speed of something near or over 12,000 +miles an hour the tiny new moon had, since his ascent, charged directly +into his downward free fall. It was a chance in a thousand for a direct +hit, except for one added factor--the moonlet exerted enough gravity +pull out of its many-million ton bulk to warp the rocket into its path. +And the thousand-to-one odds were thus wiped out, becoming even money. + +"Nip and tuck," reported Dan, answering the excited pleadings and +questions from Rough Rock. "It won't be a head-on crash. I may even miss +entirely.... Oh, Lord! Not with that spire of rock sticking up from +it.... I'm going to hit that ..." + +Dan had heard an atomic bomb blast once and it sounded like a string of +them set off at once as the rocket smashed into the rocky prominence. +The rock splintered. The rocket splintered. But Dan was not there to be +splintered likewise. He had jammed down a button, at the critical +moment, and the rocket's emergency escape-hatch had ejected him a +split-second before the violent impact. + +But Dan blacked out, receiving some of the concussion of the exploding +rocket. When his eyes snapped open he was floating like a feather in +open, airless space. His rubberoid space suit, living up to its rigid +tests, had inflated to its elastic limit. But it held and within its +automatic units began feeding him oxygen, heat and radio-power. He had a +chance, now, because he had been ejected cleanly from the rocket, +without damage to the protective suit. + +The stars wheeled dizzily around him. Dan finally saw the reason why. He +was not just floating as a free agent in space. He was circling the +black moonlet, at perhaps a thousand yards from its pitted surface. + +"Hello, Rough Rock," he called. "Still alive and kicking, sir. Only now, +of all crazy-mad things, _I'm_ a moon of _this_ moon! The collision must +have knocked me clear out of my down-to-Earth orbit.... I must have been +ejected in the same direction as the moonlet's course, in its gravity +field.... I don't know. Let an electronic brain figure it out some +time.... Anyway, now I'm being dragged along in the orbit of the +moonlet--how about _that_? Yes, sir, I'm circling down closer and closer +to the moonlet.... No, don't worry, sir. It was a weak gravity pull, +only a fraction of an Earth-g. So I'm drifting down gently as a +cloud.... Stand by for my landing on Earth's second moon!" + +The bloated figure in the bulging space suit circled the black stony +surface several more times, in a narrowing spiral, and finally landed +with a soft skidding bump that didn't even jar Dan's teeth. He bounced +several times from a diminishing height of fifty-odd feet in grotesque +slow-motion before he finally came to a stop. + +He sat still for a moment, adjusting to the fantastic fact of being +shipwrecked on an unchartered moonlet, crowding down his pulse rate +which might be over ten percent normal now. + +"Okay, Rough Rock, I hear you.... You're telling me, sir?... Obviously, +I'm _marooned_ here. No rocket to leave with. No way to get back to +terra firma ... what? If you'll pardon my saying so, sir, that's a silly +question.... Of course I'm scared! Scared green. Sorry about the rocket, +sir, losing it for you.... Me, sir? Thank you, sir. But stop +apologizing, will you? I know you haven't got any duplicates of the VX-3 +ready, no rescue rocket...." + +Dan listened a moment longer then broke in roughly. "Oh, for Pete's +sake, will you stop crying over me, sir? So I get mine here. I might +have gotten it over Berlin, too. Forget it--sir." + +Dan grinned suddenly. "Look, what have I got to kick about? I'll go out +in a flash of glory--at least one headline will put it that way--and +I'll get credit in the history books as the man who discovered that +Earth has _two_ moons! What more could I ask, really?" + +Dan blushed at the reply from Rough Rock. "Will you lay off please, +Colonel? How else should a man take it? I'm still scared silly inside. +But, look, I've really got something to report now. This little runt +moon makes tracks around Earth in probably two hours minus. If I +remember my Spacenautics right I'm already looking down over the Grand +Canyon, heading west. I'm going to get a pretty terrific bird's-eye view +of the whole world in two more hours, which is just about how much +oxygen I've got left.... Lucky, eh?" + +Dan looked down, watching in fascination the majestic wheeling of the +Earth below him. His little moonlet did not rotate, or rather it rotated +once for each revolution around Earth, as the Moon did, keeping one face +earthward, giving him an uninterrupted view. The Sierras on Earth hove +into clear view and the broad Pacific. There would follow Hawaii, then +Japan, Asia, Europe.... No, he saw he was slanting southwest. It would +be across the equator, past Australia, perhaps near the South Pole, then +up around over the top of the world past Greenland, following that great +circle around the globe. In any case, his was the speediest trip around +the world ever made by man! + +"Before we're out of mutual range, Rough Rock, I'm going to explore this +new moon. Me and Columbus! Stand by for reports." + +Dan did his walking in huge leaps that propelled him fifty feet at a +step with slight effort, due to the extremely feeble gravity of the tiny +body. What did he weigh here? Probably no more than an ounce or two. + +"Nothing much to report, Colonel. It's a dead, airless pip-squeak +planetoid, just a big mile-thick rock, probably. No life, no vegetation, +no people, no nothing. Guess you might call me the Man in the Second +Moon--and the joke's on me! Well, one and three-quarter hours of oxygen +left, by the gauge, or 105 minutes--sounds like more that way.... What's +that, sir? Your voice is getting faint. Any last requests from me? Well, +one favor maybe. Pick up my body some day with another rocket.... Yeah, +it'll stay preserved up here in this deep-freeze of space.... Thanks, +sir.... Can't hear you much now. Going out of range. Give Betty my +fondest. You know, the blonde.... Well, sir--goodbye now." + +Dan was glad that Rough Rock's radio voice faded to a whispery +nothingness. It wasn't easy to stay casual now. There was nothing more +to say, really, and he didn't want to hear any more crying from the CO. +The Old Man had sounded almost hysterical. He wanted just to be alone +with his thoughts now, making his final peace with the universe.... + +He checked the gauge with his watch--ninety minutes of oxygen to zero. +Or, he thought with a grin, eternity minus ninety minutes. + +He was beginning to have trouble breathing. But it was awesomely grand, +watching the sweep of Earth beneath him, the procession of dots that +were islands strung across the Pacific South Seas like a necklace of +green beads. He was still within radio range of ships below at sea. Yet +he didn't contact them. He had nothing to say, like a ghost in the sky. + +Idly, he kept pitching loose stones, watching their rifle-like speed +away from him. Again a phenomenon of the weak gravity of the moonlet. +Actually, he was able to pick up a boulder ten feet across and heave it +away with ease. _We who are about to die amuse ourselves_, he thought. +Then, because a thread of stubborn hope still clung in a corner of his +mind, he got an idea. It had lurked just beyond his mental grasp for +some time now. Something significant.... + +Abruptly, face alight, Dan switched on his radio and contacted a ship +below, asking them to relay him to Rough Rock with their more powerful +transmitter. + +"Ahoy, Rough Rock! Stop adding up my insurance, Colonel! I'm coming +back.... No, sir, I haven't gone out of my head, sir. It's so simple +it's a laugh, sir.... See you in a few hours, sir!" + +And he did. + +Dan grinned when they hauled his dripping form from the sea. Aboard the +search plane they cut him out of the space suit to which was still +attached his emergency twin parachute. But his helmet was gone, ripped +loose, for Dan had been breathing fresh Earth air during the long +parachute descent. + +They stared at him as at a dead man come alive. + +"Impossible to escape?" He chuckled, repeating their babble. "That's +what _I_ thought too, until I remembered those data tables on gravity +and Escape Velocity and such--how, on the Moon, the Escape Velocity is +much less than on Earth. And on that tiny second moon--well, my clue was +when I threw a stone into the air _and it never came back_." + +Dan gulped hot coffee. + +"I got off the moonlet myself then, got up to more than a mile above it +where I was free of its feeble gravity. But I was still in the same +orbit circling Earth. I'd have continued revolving as a human satellite +forever, of course, but for this emergency gadget hooked to my belt." + +Dan held up the metal gun with its empty tank and needle-nose half +burned away. + +"Reaction pistol. Fires hydrazine and oxidizer, ordinary jet-rocket +principle. Aiming it toward the stars, opposite earth, its reactive +blasts shoved me Earthward, thanks to Newton. I needed a speed of about +one-half mile a second. The powerful little jet gun had only my small +mass to shove in free space, without gravity or friction. That broke me +from free-fall _around_ Earth to gravity-fall _toward_ Earth. + +"Then I spiraled down under gravity pull. I reached lung-filling air +density just in time, before my oxygen gave out. One more danger was +that I began heating up like a meteor due to air friction. I flung out a +prayer first, followed by my twin parachutes, designed for extreme +initial shock. They held. Slowed me to a paratrooper's drift the rest of +the way down." + +"Wait," a puzzled pilot objected. "Your story doesn't hang together. +_How_ did you get off that moonlet? How did you get up there, a mile +above it, away from its gravity? There was nobody to throw _you_, like a +stone." + +"I threw myself," said Dan. "First I ran as fast as I could, maybe +halfway around that moonlet, to get a good running start. And then--" + +Dan Barstow's grin then was undoubtedly the biggest grin in history.... + +"Well, then, since the feeble gravity couldn't pull me back again, what +I really did was to _jump clear off that moon_." + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ March 1954. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shipwreck in the Sky, by Eando Binder + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHIPWRECK IN THE SKY *** + +***** This file should be named 29133.txt or 29133.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/3/29133/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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