diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-8.txt | 5821 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 101580 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 709804 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/31116-h.htm | 6005 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 42613 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47533 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_002.jpg | bin | 0 -> 57818 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_003_01.jpg | bin | 0 -> 64732 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_003_02.jpg | bin | 0 -> 17969 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 52631 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40387 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_006.jpg | bin | 0 -> 52144 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_007.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48193 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_008.jpg | bin | 0 -> 24882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_009.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43572 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_010.jpg | bin | 0 -> 46410 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_011.jpg | bin | 0 -> 44331 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_012.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29408 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116-h/images/image_m.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1721 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116.txt | 5821 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 31116.zip | bin | 0 -> 101557 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
24 files changed, 17663 insertions, 0 deletions
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/31116-8.txt b/31116-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd320f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5821 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Where I Wasn't Going, by Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +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: Where I Wasn't Going + +Author: Walt Richmond + Leigh Richmond + +Illustrator: John Schoenherr + +Release Date: January 29, 2010 [EBook #31116] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October and + November 1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + "WHERE I WASN'T GOING" + + + "The Spaceman's Lament" concerned a man who wound up where + he wasn't going ... but the men on Space Station One knew + they weren't going anywhere. Until Confusion set in.... + + + WALT AND LEIGH RICHMOND + + + ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN SCHOENHERR + + + [Illustration] + + + _I studied and worked and learned my trade + I had the life of an earthman made; + But I met a spaceman and got way-laid-- + I went where I wasn't going!_ + + THE SPACEMAN'S LAMENT + + * * * * * + + + + +Making his way from square to square of the big rope hairnet that +served as guidelines on the outer surface of the big wheel, Mike +Blackhawk completed his inspection of the gold-plated plastic hull, +with its alternate dark and shiny squares. + +He had scanned every foot of the curved surface in this first +inspection, familiarizing himself completely with that which other men +had constructed from his drawings, and which he would now take over +in the capacity of chief engineer. + +Mike attached his safety line to a guideline leading to the south +polar lock and kicked off, satisfied that the lab was ready for the +job of turning on the spin with which he would begin his three months +tour of duty aboard. + +The laws of radiation exposure set the three-month deadline to service +aboard the lab, and he had timed his own tour aboard to start as the +ship reached completion, and the delicate job of turning her was ready +to begin. + +U.N. Space Lab One was man's largest project to date in space. It +might not be tremendous in size by earth standards of construction, +but the two hundred thirty-two foot wheel represented sixty-four +million pounds of very careful engineering and assembly that had been +raised from Earth's surface to this thirty-six-hour orbit. + +Many crews had come and gone in the eighteen months since the first +payload had arrived at this orbit--but now the first of the scientists +for whom the lab was built were aboard; and the pick of the crews +selected for the construction job had been shuttled up for the final +testing and spin-out. + +Far off to Mike's left and slightly below him a flicker of flame +caught his eye, and he realized without even looking down that the +retro-rockets of the shuttle on which he had arrived were slowly +putting it out of orbit and tipping it over the edge of the long +gravitic well back to Earth. It would be two weeks before it returned. + +Nearing the lock he grasped the cable with one hand, slowing himself, +turned with the skill of an acrobat, and landed catlike, feet first, +on the stat-magnetic walk around the lock. + +He had gone over, minutely, the inside of the satellite before coming +to its surface. Now there was only one more inspection job before he +turned on the spin. + +Around this south polar hub-lock, which would rotate with the wheel, +was the stationary anchor ring on which rode free both the stat-walk +and the anchor tubes for the smaller satellites that served as distant +components of the mother ship. + +Kept rigid by air pressure, any deviation corrected by pressure tanks +in the stationary ring, the tubes served both to keep the smaller +bodies from drifting too close to Space Lab One, and prevented their +drifting off. + +The anchor tubes were just over one foot in diameter, weighing less +than five ounces to the yard--gray plastic and fiber, air-rigid +fingers pointing away into space--but they could take over two +thousand pounds of compression or tension, far more than needed for +their job, which was to cancel out the light drift motion caused by +crews kicking in or out, or activities aboard. Uncanceled, these +motions might otherwise have caused the baby satellites to come +nudging against the space lab; or to scatter to the stars. + +There had been talk of making them larger, so that they might also +provide passageway for personnel without the necessity for suiting up; +but as yet this had not been done. Perhaps later they would become +the forerunners of space corridors in the growing complex that would +inevitably develop around such a center of man's activities as this +laboratory in its thirty-six hour orbit. + +At the far end of the longest anchor tube, ten miles away and barely +visible from here, was located the unshielded, remote-controlled power +pile that supplied the necessary energy for the operation of the +wheel. Later, it was hoped, experimental research now in progress +would make this massive device unnecessary. Solar energy would make an +ideal replacement; but as yet the research was not complete, and solar +energy had not yet been successfully harnessed for the high power +requirements of the Lab. + +Inside this anchor tube ran the thick coaxial cable that fed +three-phase electric power from the atomic pile to the ship. + +At the far end of the second anchor tube, five miles off in space, was +Project Hot Rod, the latest in the long series of experiments by which +man was attempting to convert the sun's radiant energy to useful +power. + +At the end of the third anchor tube, and comparatively near the ship, +was the dump--a conglomeration of equipment, used and unused booster +rocket cases, oddments of all sorts, some to be installed aboard the +wheel, others to be used as building components of other projects; and +some oddments of materials that no one could have given a logical +reason for keeping at all except that they "might be useful"--all held +loosely together by short guidelines to an anchor ring at the tube's +end. + + * * * * * + +Carefully, Mike checked the servo-motor that would maintain the +stationary position of the ring with clocklike precision against the +drag of bearing friction and the spin of the hub on which it was +mounted; then briefly looked over the network of tubes before entering +the air lock. + +Inside, he stripped off the heavy, complicated armor of an articulated +spacesuit, with its springs designed to compensate for the Bourdon +tube effect of internal air pressure against the vacuum of space, +appearing in the comfortable shorts, T-shirt, and light, knit +moccasins with their thin, plastic soles, that were standard wear for +all personnel. + +He was ready to roll the wheel. + +Feeling as elated as a schoolboy, Mike dove down the central axial +tube of the hub, past the passenger entrances from the rim, the +entrances to the bridge and the gymnasium-shield area, to the +engineering quarters just below the other passenger entrances from the +rim, and the observatory that occupied the north polar section of the +hub. + +The engineering quarters, like all the quarters of the hub, were +thirty-two feet in diameter. Ignoring the ladder up the flat wall, +Mike pushed out of the port in the central axis tunnel and dropped to +the circular floor beside the power console. + +Strapping himself down in the console seat, he flipped the switch +that would connect him with Systems Control Officer Bessandra Khamar +at the console of the ship's big computer, acronymically known as Sad +Cow. + +"Aiee-yiee, Bessie! It's me, Chief Blackhawk!" he said irreverently +into the mike. "Ready to swing this buffalo!" + +Bessie's mike gave its preliminary hum of power, and he could almost +feel her seeking out the words with which to reprimand him. Then, +instead, she laughed. + +"_Varyjat!_ Mike, haven't you learned yet how to talk over an +intercom? Blasting a girl's eardrums at this early hour. It's no way +to maintain beautiful relationships and harmony. I'm still waiting for +my second cup of coffee," she added. + +"Wait an hour, and this cup of coffee you shall have in a cup instead of a +baby bottle," Mike told her cheerfully. "Space One's checked out ready to +roll. Want to tell our preoccupied slipstick and test-tube boys in the rim +before we roll her, or just wait and see what happens? They shouldn't get +too badly scrambled at one-half RPM--that's about .009 gee on the +rim-deck--and I sort of like surprises!" + +"No, you don't" Bessie said severely. "No, you don't. They need an +alert, and I need to finish the programming on Sad Cow to be sure this +thing doesn't wobble enough to shake us all apart. Even at a half RPM, +your seams might not hold with a real wobble, and I don't like the +idea of falling into a vacuum bottle as big as the one out there +without a suit." + +"How much time do you need?" + +"On my mark, make it T minus thirty minutes. That ought to do it. +O.K., here we go." There was a brief pause, then Bessie's voice came +formally over the all-stations annunciator system. + +"Now hear this. Now hear this. All personnel. On my mark it is T minus +thirty minutes to spin-out check. According to program, acceleration +will begin at zero, and the rim is expected to reach .009 gee at +one-half revolutions per minute in the first sixty seconds of +operation. We will hold that spin until balance is complete, when the +spin will slowly be raised to two revolutions per minute, giving .15 +gee on the rim deck. + +"All loose components and materials should be secured. All personnel +are advised to suit up, strap down and hang on. We hope we won't shake +anybody too much. Mark and counting." + +Almost immediately on the announcement came another voice over the com +line. "Hold, hold, hold. We've got eighteen hundred pounds of milling +equipment going down Number Two shaft to the machine shop, and we +can't get it mounted in less than twenty minutes. Repeat, hold the +countdown." + +"The man who dreamed up the countdown was a Brain," Bessie could hear +Mike muttering over his open intercom, "but the man who thought up the +hold was a pure genius." + +"Holding the countdown." It was Bessie's official voice. "It is T +minus thirty and holding. Why are you goons moving that stuff ahead +of schedule and without notifying balance control? What do you think +this is, a rock-bound coast? Think we're settled in to bedrock like +New York City? I should have known," she muttered, forgetting to flip +the switch off, "my horoscope said this would be a shaky sort of day." + +Chad Clark glanced up from his position at the communications console +across the bridge from Bessie, to where her shiny black hair, cut +short, framed the pert Eurasian features of the girl that seemed to be +hanging from the ceiling above him. + +"Is it really legal," he asked, "using such a tremendously complicated +chunk of equipment as the Sacred Cow for casting horrible scopes? +What's mine today, Bessie? Make it a good one, and I won't report you +to U.N. Budget Control!" + +"Offhand, I'd say today was your day to be cautious, quiet and +respectful to your betters, namely me. However," she added in a +conciliatory tone, "since you put it on a Budget Control basis, I'll +ask the Cow to give you a real, mathematicked-out, planets and houses +properly aligned, reading. + +"Hey, Perk!" Her finger flipped the observatory com line switch. "Have +you got the planets lined up in your scopes yet? Where are they? The +Sacred Cow wants to know if they're all where they ought to be." + +Out in the observatory, designed to swing free on the north polar axis +of the big wheel, Dr. P. E. R. Kimball, PhD, FRAS, gave a startled +glance at the intercom speaker. + +"I did not realize that you would wish additional observational data +before the swing began. I am just getting my equipment lined up, in +preparation for the beginnings of the swing, and will be unable to +give you figures of any accuracy for some hours yet. Any reading I +could give you now would be accurate only to within two minutes of +arc--relatively valueless." The voice was cheerful, but very precise. + +"Anything within half an hour of arc right now would be O.K." Bessie's +voice hid a grin. + +"In that case, the astronomical almanac data in the computer's memory +should be more than sufficiently precise for your needs." There was a +dry chuckle. "Horoscopes again?" + + * * * * * + +As Bessie turned back to the control side of her console, she saw a +hand reach past her to pick up a pad of paper and pencil from the +console desk. She glanced around to find Mike leaning over her +shoulder, and grinned at him as she began extracting figures from the +computer's innards for a "plus or minus thirty seconds of arc" +accuracy. + +Mike sketched rapidly as she worked, and she turned as she heard him +mutter a disgusted curse. + +"These are angular readings from our present position," he said in an +annoyed tone. "Get the Cow to rework them into a solar pattern." + +"Yes, sir, Chief Blackhawk, sir. What did you think I was doing?" + +"You're getting them into the proper houses for a horoscope. I want a +solar pattern. Now tell that Sacred Cow that you ride herd on to give +me a polar display pattern on one of the peepholes up there," he said, +glancing at the thirty-six video screens above the console on which +the computer could display practically any information that might be +desired, including telescopic views, computational diagrams, or even +the habitats of the fish swimming in the outer rim channels. + +The display appeared in seconds on the main screen, and Mike growled +as he saw it. + +"Have the Cow advance that pattern two days," he said furiously. Then, +as the new pattern emerged, "I should have known it. It looks like +we're being set up for a solar flare. Right when we're getting +rolling. It might be a while, though. Plenty of time to check out a +few gee swings. But best you rehearse your slipstick jockeys in +emergency procedures." + +"A flare, Mike? Are you sure?" + +"Of course I'm not sure. But those planets sure make the conditions +ripe. Look." And he held his pencil across the screen as a straight +line dividing the pattern neatly through the center. + +"Look at the first six orbits, Jupiter's right on the line. And +Mercury won't be leaving until Jupe crosses that line." The "line" +that Mike had indicated with his pencil across the screen would have, +in the first display shown all but one of the first six planets +already on the same side of the sun and in the new display, two days +later, it showed all six of the planets bunched in the 180° arc with +Earth only a few degrees from the center of that arc. + +"Hadn't thought to check before," he said, "but that's about as +predictable as anything the planets can tell you. We can expect a +flare, and probably a dilly." + +"Why, Mike? If a solar flare were due, U.N. Labs wouldn't have +scheduled us this way. What makes you so sure that means there's a +solar flare coming? I thought they weren't predictable?" + +"It's fairly new research--but fairly old superstition," Mike said. +"You play with horoscopes--but my people have been watching the stars +and predicting for many moons. I remember what they used to say around +the old tribal fires. + +"When the planets line up on one side of the sun, you get trouble from +man and beast and nature. We weren't worried about radio propagation +in those days, but we were worried about seasons, and how we felt, and +when the buffalo would be restless. + +"More recently some of the radio propagation analysts have been +worrying about the magnetic storms that blank out communications on +Earth occasionally when old Sol opens up with a broadside of protons. +Surely plays hell with communications equipment. + +"Yep, there's a flare coming. Whether it's caused by gravitational +pull, when you get the planets to one side of Sol; or whether it's +magnetism--I just don't know." + +"Shucks," she said, "we had a five-planet line-up in 1961; and nothing +happened; nothing at all. The seers--come to think of it, some of them +were Indians, but from India," she added, "not Amerinds--the seers all +predicted major catastrophes and the end of the world and all kinds of +things, and nothing happened." + +"Bessie," Mike's voice was serious. "I remember 1961 as well as you +do. You had several factors that were different then--but you had +solar flares then. Quite spectacular ones. You just weren't out here, +where they make a difference of life or death. + +"Don't let anybody hold us too long getting this station lined up and +counted down and tested out. Because we've got things building up out +there, and we may get that flare, and it may not be two days coming," +he finished. + +With that the Amerind sprang catlike to a hand-hold on the edge of the +central tunnel and vanished back towards the engineering station, from +which he would control the test-spin of the big wheel. + + * * * * * + +Bessandra Khamar, educated in Moscow, traced her ancestry back to one +of the Buryat tribes of southern Siberia, a location that had become +eventually, through the vast vagaries of history, known as the Buryat +Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. + +She was of a proud, clannish people, with Mongolian ancestry and a +Buddhist background which had not been too deeply scarred by the +political pressures from Western Russia. Rebellious of nature, and of +a race of people where women fought beside their men in case of +necessity, she had first left her tribal area to seek education in the +more advanced western provinces with a vague idea of returning to +spread--not western ideologies amongst her people--but perhaps some of +their know-how. This she had found to be a long and involved process; +and more and more, with an increase of education, she had grown away +from her people, the idea of return moving ever backwards and +floundering under the impact of education. + +She had been an able student, though independent and quite +argumentative, with a mind and will of her own that caused a shaking +of heads amongst her fellow students. + +Having sought knowledge in what, to her, were the western provinces of +her own country, she had delved not only into the knowledge of things +scientific, but into the wheres and whyfores of the political +situations that made a delineation between the peoples of Russia and +the other peoples of the world. + +Somehow she had been accepted as part of a trade mission to South +America, and with that first trip out of her own country her horizons +had broadened. Carefully she had nurtured that which pleased others in +such a way that she had been recommended to other, similar tasks. And +eventually she had gone to the U.N. on an extended tour of duty. It +was here for the first time that she had heard of the recruitment of a +staff for the new U.N. Space Lab project, and here she had made a +basic decision: To seek a career, not in her own country or back among +the peoples of her own clan, but in the U.N. itself, where she could +better satisfy the urge to know more of all people. + +[Illustration] + +She had, of course, been educated in a time of change. As a child she +had attended compulsory civilian survival classes, as had nearly every +person in the vast complex of the Soviet Union. She had learned about +atomic weapons; and that other peoples for unknown reasons as far as +she could determine, might declare her very safety and life forfeit to +causes she did not understand. + +Later, as she had made her way westward seeking reasons and causes for +these possible disasters, and more knowledge in general, her country +had undergone what amounted to a revolutionary change. Not only her +country, but the entire world had moved during her lifetime from an +armed camp or set of camps with divided interests and the ability for +total annihilation, towards a seeking of common goals--towards a +seeking of common understandings. + +The catastrophe that had threatened to engulf the entire world and +claim the final conquest had occurred while she was a very junior +student in Moscow, when the two major nations that were leaders--or +had thought themselves to be leaders, so far as atomic weaponry and +such were concerned--had stood almost side by side in horror, and +attempted to halt the conflagration that had been sparked by a single +bomb landed on the mainland of China by Formosa. + +While Russia and the United States had stood forth in the U.N. and +renounced any use of atomic weapons, the short and bitter struggle +which reached its termination in a mere five days had brought the +world staggering to the ultimate brink of atomic war, as the Formosan +Chinese made their final bid for control of mainland China. + +The flare of atomic conflict had been brief and horrible. Where the +bombs had come from had been the subject of acrimonious accusations on +the floor of the U.N. The United States had forsworn knowledge, and +for a time no one had been able to say from whence they had come. +Later, shipping records had proven their source in the Belgian Congo +as raw material, secretly prepared and assembled on Formosa itself, +and it became obvious to the entire world that an atomic weapon was +not something that could be hidden in secrecy from the desires of +desperate men. + + * * * * * + +The Chinese mainland had responded with nuclear weapons of its own; +weapons they, too, had not been known to possess, but had possessed. + +That the rest of the world had not been sucked into the holocaust was +a credit to the statesmen of both sides. That disarmament was agreed +to by all nations was a matter of days only from the parallel but +unilateral decisions of both Russia and the United States, that +disarmament must be accomplished while there was yet time. + +Under the political pressures backed by the human horror of all +nations, the nuclear disarmament act of the U.N. had given to the U.N. +the power of inspection of any country or any manufacturing complex +anywhere in the world; inspection privileges that overrode national +boundaries and considerations of national integrity, and a police +force to back this up--a police force comprised of men from every +nation, the U.N. Security Corps. + +The United Nations, from a weak but hopeful beginning, had now stepped +forth in its own right as an effective world government. There was no +political unity at a lower echelon amongst the states or +sub-governments of the world. To each its own problems. To each its +own ideologies. To each, help according to its needs from the various +bureaus of the U.N. And from each the necessary taxes for the support +of the world organization. + +In Russia the ideology of Marx-Lenin was still present. And in other +countries other ideologies were freely supported. But the world could +no longer afford an outright conflict of ideologies, and U.N. Security +was charged not only with the seeking out and destruction of possible +hoards of atomic weapons, but also with the seeking out and muzzling +of those who expressed an ideology at all costs, even the cost of the +final suicide of war, to their neighbors. + +No hard and fast rules could be drawn to distinguish between a casual +remark made in another country as to one's preference for one's own +country, and an active subversion design to subvert another country to +one's own ideology. But nevertheless, the activity of subversion had +become an illegal act under the meaning of "security." And individual +governments had recalled agents from their neighboring countries--not +only agents, but simple tourists as well. For the stigma of having an +agent arrested in another country and brought to trial at the U.N. was +a stigma that no government felt it could afford. + +Over the world settled a pall. The one place outside of one's own +country, where one's ideology could be spoken of with impunity, was +within the halls of the U.N. Assembly itself, under the aegis of +diplomatic immunity. Here the ideologies could rant and rave against +each other, seeking a rendering of a final decision in men's age-old +arguments; but elsewhere such discussions were _verboten_, and subject +to swift, stiff penalties. + +There were some who thought quietly to themselves that perhaps in the +reaction to horror they had voted too much power to a small group of +men known as Security, but there were others, weary of the insecurity +of world power-politics, who felt that Security was a blessing, and +would for all time protect all men in the freedom of their own +beliefs. The pressures had been great, and the pendulum of political +weight had swung far in an opposite direction. In fact, man had +achieved that which he would deny--in a reach for freedom, he had made +the first turn in the coil that would bind him--in the coil that would +bind the mass of the many to the will of the very few. + + * * * * * + +In school in Moscow, these things touched Bessandra's life only +remotely. The concepts, the talk, the propaganda from Radio Moscow, +these she heard, but they were not her main interests. + +Her main interests were two--one, the fascination which the giant +computer at Moscow University held for her; and two, the students +around her. People, she had noted, had behavior patterns very similar +to the complex computer; not as individual units, though as individual +units they could also be as surprisingly obtuse as the literal-minded +reaction of the computer; but in statistical numbers they had an even +greater tendency to act as the computer did. + +The information fed them and their reactions to it had a logic all its +own; not a logic of logic, but a logic of reaction. And the reaction +could be controlled, she noted, in the same self-corrective manner +that was applied to logic in the interior of the computer--the +feedback system. + +It was obvious that with a statistical group of people, the net result +of action could be effectively channeled by one person in an obscure +position acting as a feedback mechanism to the group, and with +selective properties applied to the feedback. + +At one point she had quietly, and for no other reason than to test +this point to her own satisfaction, sat back and created a riot of the +women students at the University, without once appearing either as the +cause or the head or leader in the revolt. The revolt in itself had +been absolutely senseless, but the result had been achieved with +surprisingly little effort on the part of one individual. + +Computers and people had from that day become her tools, whenever she +decided to bend them to her will. + +Even earlier in her career, she had managed to put her rebellious +nature under strict control, never appearing to be a cause in herself; +never appearing as a leader among the students; merely a quiet student +intent upon the gain of knowledge and oblivious to her surroundings. + +Later as she realized her abilities, she had sought council with +herself and her Buddhist ancestry, to determine what use her knowledge +should serve. And to her there was but one answer: Men were easily +enslaved by their own shortcomings; but men who were free produced +more desirable results; and if she were to use their shortcomings at +all, it must be to bend them in the path of freedom that she might be +surrounded by higher achievements rather than sheeplike activities +which she found to be repugnant. + +Gradually she had achieved skill in the manipulation of people; always +towards the single self-interest of creating a better and more +pleasant world in which she herself could live. + + * * * * * + +In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his troubles. Free +fall conditions that were merely inconvenient to him were proving +near-disastrous to the animals in the cages around him. + +Many and various were the difficulties that he had had with animals +during his career, but never before such trifles that built _peu à +peu_--into mountains. + +Claude Lavalle had originally planned to leave his stock of animals, +which contained sets of a great many of the species of the small +animals of Earth, on their own gravity-bound planet until well after +the spin supplied pseudo-gravity to the ship; but the schedule of the +shuttles' loads had proved such as to make possible the trip either +far in the future, or to put him aboard on this trip, with spin only a +few hours away. + +The cages, with their loads of guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters and +other live animals to be used in the sacrificial rites of biochemical +research were, to put it mildly, a mess. Provision had been made for +feeding and watering the animals under free-fall conditions, but +keeping them sanitary was proving a near-impossible task; and though +the cages were sealed to confine the inevitable upset away from the +remainder of the lab, it was good to hear that the problem was nearly +over as the news of the imminent countdown came over the loud-speaker. + +Meantime, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his difficulties, and he +wished fervently that his assistants could have been sent up on the +shuttle with him. + + * * * * * + +In rim-sector A-10, the FARM (Fluid Agricultural Recirculating Method +control lab, according to the U.N. acronym), Dr. Millie Williams, her +satiny brown skin contrasting to her white T-shirt and shorts, was +also having her troubles. + +The trays of plants, in their beds of sponge plastic and hydroponic +materials, were all sealed against free-fall conditions, but should be +oriented properly for the pseudo-gravity as the great wheel was given +its rotational spin. + +The vats of plankton and algae concentrates were not so important as +to orientation, but should be fed into their rim-river homes as soon +as possible, although this could not be done until the rim spin was +well under control. + +The trays, the plants, the plankton, the algae--even a large +proportion of the equipment in the lab, were all new, experimental +projects, designed to check various features of the food and air +cycles that would later be necessary if men were to send their ships +soaring out through the system. + +The primary purpose of Lab One was a check of the various survival +systems and space ecology programs necessary to equip the future +explorations under actual space conditions. Her job on the FARM would +be very important to the future feeding and air restoration of +spacemen; but more important, the efficient utilization of the wheel +itself, since success in shipboard purification of air and production +of food would free the shuttle to bring up other types of mass. + +At present, the ship's personnel were existing almost entirely on +tanked air, but within two weeks one of the three air-restoration +projects on the satellite--either hers, in which hydroponic plants and +algae were the basic purifiers; or projects in the chem and physics +labs--would have to be already functioning in the job, or extra +shuttles would have to be devoted to air transportation until they +were ready. + +The provision of good fresh vegetables and fresh, springlike air would +almost certainly be up to her department. The other two labs, Dr. +Carmencita Schorlemmer in chemistry, and Dr. Chi Tung in physics, were +both working on the air-restoration problem by different +means--electro-chemistry in the one case; gas dialysis membranes in +the other. + +The work of the physics labs was operating on the differential ability +of various gas molecules to "leak" through plastic membranes under +pressure, causing separation of the various molecular constituents of +the atmosphere; shunting carbon dioxide off in one direction, and +returning oxygen and the inert nitrogen and other gases back to the +surrounding atmosphere. + +This latter method had proved highly satisfactory back on Earth, where +it was separating out fissionable materials in large quantities and +high purities from closely similar isotopes; and would now be tested +for efficiency versus weight in some of the new problems being +encountered in space. + +A fourth method, direct chemical absorption by soda lime, had been +discarded early in the program, although it was still used in +spacesuit air cleaners, and for the duration of the canned air program +under which they were now operating. + +The lab was like that--no problem has a single solution. And it was +the lab's job to evaluate as many solutions as possible so that the +best, under different conditions, might be proved and ready for use in +later programs. + + * * * * * + +Paul Chernov, ordinary spaceman--which meant that he had only a little +more specialized training than the average college graduate--was +working in the dump, surrounded by much of the equipment that remained +to be placed aboard Space Lab One, and trying to identify the +particular object he sought. + +Looking down almost directly over the eastern bulge of the African +coast, he sighted what was probably the ECM lathe he was after, and +kicked towards it, simultaneously pulling his pistol-gripped Rate of +Approach Indicator from the socket in his suit. + +The RAI gun, he sometimes felt, was the real reason he'd become a +spaceman in these tame days. Even if he couldn't be a space pirate, it +gave him the feel. + +Humming to himself, he aimed the search beam from the tiny +gallium-arsenide laser crystal that was the heart of the gun at the +bulky object, and read off the dial at the back of the "barrel" the +two meter/second approach velocity and the twenty-eight meter +distance. + +He could as easily have set the RAI gun to read his velocity and +distance in centimeters or kilometers, and it would have read as well +his rate of retreat, if that had been the factor. + +Paul's RAI gun might be, to others, a highly refined, vastly superior +great-grandson of the older radar that had required much more in the +way of equipment than the tiny bulk of this device, but to him, alone +in his spacesuit, the galaxy spread around him, it was the weapon with +which he had conquered the stars. + +In the distance, off beyond the wheel in a trailing orbit, the huge +spherical shape of Project Hot Rod glowed its characteristic +green--another application of the laser principle, but this one +macroscopic in comparison to the tiny laser rate-of-approach gun. + +Happily, Paul burst into song. + + _"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there + And another yonder showing; + But I've a yen for gravity-- + This is where I wasn't going!"_ + +From the other side of the dump, Tombu's voice bellowed into his ears +over the intercom. "If you're going to audition for the stars, cut +down the volume!" + +Paul grinned and reached for the volume control. + +"O.K., M'Numba, 's m'numba!--I'm a space-yodler from way out. Heave a +line over this way and let's get this ECM lathe aboard." + +Tombu's "last name" M'Numba had delighted Paul from the moment he'd +heard the story of its origin. By the customs of his own country, +Tombu had only a single name. However, when he had first enrolled as a +student in England there had been a lack of comprehension between him +and the rather flustered registrar and, when he had muttered something +about "my number," the registrar had misunderstood and put him down as +M'Numba. Tombu had let it stand. + +Paul Chernov, fine-boned, blond, with an ancestral background of the +Polish aristocracy, and his side-kick, Tombu, black, muscular giant +from the Congo, were one of the strangest combinations of this +international space lab crew. Yet it was perhaps even stranger that +the delicate-looking blond youth was a top machinist, a trade that he +had plied throughout his student days in order to economically support +an insatiable thirst for knowledge. A trade that had led him to this +newest center of man's search for knowledge. + +But perhaps the combination was not so strange, for Tombu, also, was +of the aristocracy--an aristocracy that could perhaps be measured in +terms of years extending far behind the comparable times for any +European aristocracy. + +Tombu was Swahili, a minor king of a minor country which had never +been recognized by the white man when he invaded Africa and set up his +vast protectorates that took no account of the peoples and their +tribal traditions; protectorates that lumped together many hundreds of +individual nations and tribes into something the white man looking at +maps could label "Congo." + +Tombu himself, educated in the white man's schools to the white man's +ways, and probing ever deeper into the white man's knowledge, was only +vaguely aware of his ancestral origin. He counted his kingdom in +negative terms, terms that were no longer applicable in a modern +world. Where national boundaries everywhere were melting further and +further into disuse, it would seem to his mind foolish to lay claim to +a kingship that had been nonexistent for more than one hundred years +over a people that had been scattered to the four winds and ground +together with other peoples in the Belgian Congo protectorate. + +Odd the combination might be; but together the two machinists worked +well, with a mutual respect for each other's abilities and a mutual +understanding that is rare to find among members of different races. + +Quickly they lashed and anchored the crate containing the lathe and +hauled it in towards the main south lock of the big wheel. + + * * * * * + +These were not the only activities in and around the wheel, or other +places in space. Man already had a toehold in space, and that toehold +was gradually growing into a real beachhead. Swarms of satellites in +their short, fast orbits down close to Earth had been performing their +tasks for many years. Astronauts had come and gone, testing, checking, +probing however briefly; bravely clawing their way up the sides of the +long gravitic well that separated Earth from space. + +The moon project that had originally been forecast for immediate +accomplishment had met with delay. As yet there was no base on the +moon, though men had been there, and this was bound to occur. + +But the lab was not here so much as a stepping stone to the moon as it +was to provide information for the future manned trips out towards +Mars and the asteroids; and in towards Venus and the sun. + +Besides research, the big wheel would provide living quarters for men +building other projects; would provide a permanent central for the +network of communications beams that was gradually encompassing man's +world and would eventually spread to the other planets as well. +Cooperating with this master communications central, other satellites, +automatic so far, occupied the same orbit, leading and lagging by one +hundred twenty degrees. + +A twenty-four hour orbit would have been more advantageous from the +point of view of communications, except for the interference that +would have been occasioned by the vast flood of electrons encircling +Earth in the outer Van Allen belt. These electrons, trapped by Earth's +magnetic field from the solar wind of charged particles escaping the +sun, unfortunately occupied the twenty-four hour orbit, and, as their +orbit expanded and contracted under the influence of the shifting +magnetic field and solar flares, could produce tremendous havoc even +in automatic equipment, so that it had been deemed economically +impractical to set up the originally-postulated three satellites in +stationary twenty-four orbits as communications terminals. + +As the next best choice, the thirty-six-hour orbit had been selected. +It gave a slow rate of angular displacement, since the satellite +itself moved ten degrees an hour, while Earth moved 15°, for a +differential rate of only five degrees an hour, making fairly easy +tracking for the various Earth terminals of the communications net; +and making possible a leisurely view of more than ninety per cent of +Earth's surface every seventy-two hours. + +The other two power and communications stations which led and lagged +Space Lab One by 120° each, would combine to command a complete view +of Earth, lacking only a circle within the arctic regions, so that +they could provide power and communications for the entire world--a +fact which had been the political carrot which had united Earth in the +effort to create the labs with their combined technologies. + +The danger of such powerful instruments as Hot Rod, concentrating +megawatt beams of solar energy for relay to earth, and which could +also be one of man's greatest weapons if it fell into unscrupulous +hands, had been carefully played down, and also carefully countered in +the screening by the Security Forces of U.N. of the personnel board. + + * * * * * + +T minus three and counting. + +On the zero signal Mike in the engineer's quarters would change the +now idly-bubbling air jets in the rim-rivers over to the +fully-directional drive jets necessary to spin the fluid in +counter-rotation through the rim tanks. + +The suiting-up and strapping down were probably unnecessary, Mike +thought, but in space you don't take chances. + +"T minus two and counting." Bessie's voice rang over the com circuit +in officially clipped clarity. + +From the physics lab came a rather oddly pitched echo. "Allee allee in +free fallee! Hold it, please, as Confusion would say! Paul forgot to +secure the electrolite for the ECM equipment. Can't have these +five-gallon bottles bouncing around!" + +"And we can't have you bouncing around either, Dr. Chi Tung. Get that +soup under wraps quick. How much time do you need?" came the captain's +voice from his console angled over Bessie's head. + +Clark's voice could be heard murmuring into his Earth-contact phone. +"T minus two. Holding." + +Less than two minutes later, Dr. Chi released the hold by announcing +briefly, "Machine shop and physics department secure." + +"T minus two and counting...." + +"T minus one and counting...." Bessie continued officially. "Fifty, +forty, thirty, twenty...." + +The faint whine of high-speed centrifugal compressors could be heard +through the ship. + +"Ten...." The jets that had previously bubbled almost inaudibly took +on the sound of a percolating coffee pot. + +"... Four, three, two, one, mark." + +The bubbling became a hiss that settled into a soft susurrus of +background noise, as the jets forced air through the river of water in +the circular tanks of the rim. + +The water began to move. By reaction, the wheel took up a slow, +circular motion in the opposite direction. + +Then, gently, the wheel shook itself and settled into a complacently +off-center motion that placed Bessie somewhere near the actual center +of rotation. + +"We're out of balance, Mr. Blackhawk," said the captain, one hand on +the intercom switch. + +"Bessie, ask the Cow what's off balance." It was Mike's voice from +engineering control. "Thought we had this thing trued up like a +watch." + +But the computer had already taken over, and was controlling the flow +of water to the hydrostatic balance tank system, rapidly orienting the +axis of spin against the true axis of the wheel. + +The wobble became a wiggle; the wiggle became the slightest of sways; +and under the computer's gentle ministrations, the sways disappeared +and Space Lab One rolled true. + +Slowly Mike inched the jet power up, and the speed and "gravity" of +the rim rose--from 0.009 to 0.039 to the pre-scheduled 0.15 of a +gravity--two RPM--at which she would remain until a thorough test +schedule over several days had been accomplished. Later tests would +put the rim through check-out tests to as high as 1.59 gee, but +"normal" operation had been fixed at two RPM. + +In the background, the susurrus of the air jets rose slightly to the +soft lullaby-sound that the wheel would always sing as she rolled. + + * * * * * + +New, experimental, her full complement of six hundred scientists and +service personnel so far represented by only one hundred sixty-three +aboard, the big wheel that was Space Lab One rotated majestically at +her hydrodynamically controlled two revolutions per minute. + +She gave nearly half her mass to the water that spun her--huge rivers +of water, pumped through the walls of the wheel's rim, forming a +six-foot barrier between the laboratories within the rim and the +cosmic and solar radiations of outer space. + +Arguments on Earth had raged for months over the necessities--or lack +of them--for the huge mass of water aboard, but the fluid mass served +many purposes better than anything else could serve those purposes. + +As a radiation shield, it provided sufficient safety against cosmic +radiations of space and from solar radiations, except for solar flare +conditions, to provide a margin of safety for the crew over the three +months in which they would do their jobs before being rotated back to +Earth for the fifteen-month recovery period. + +The margin was nearly enough for permanent duty--and there were those +who claimed it was sufficient--but the claim had not been +substantiated, and the three months maximum for tour was mandatory. + +Originally, shielding had not been considered of vital importance, but +experience had proven the necessity. The first construction personnel +had been driven back to Earth after two weeks, dosimeters in the red. +The third crew didn't make it. All five died of radiation exposure +from a solar flare. An original two weeks' limit was raised as more +shielding arrived--three weeks, four, five--now the shadowy edge of +the theoretic ninety-day recovery rate from radiation damage and the +ninety days required to get the maximum safe dosage overlapped--but +safety procedures still dictated that a red dosimeter meant a quick +return to Earth whether the rate of recovery overlapped or not. + +[Illustration] + +The question was still open whether more shielding would be brought up +to make the overlap certain, or whether it would be best to maintain a +personnel rotation policy indefinitely. Some factions on Earth seemed +determined that rotation must remain not only a procedural but an +actual requirement--their voices spoke plainly through the directives +and edicts of U.N. Budget Control--but from what source behind this +bureaucratic smokescreen it would have been difficult to say. + +As a heat sink, the water provided stability of temperature that would +have been difficult to achieve without it. Bathed in the tenuous solar +atmosphere that extends well beyond the orbit of Earth, and with a +temperature over 100,000 C, maintenance of a livable temperature on +board the big wheel was not the straight-forward balancing of +radiation intercepted/radiation outgoing that had been originally +anticipated by early writers on the subject. + +True, the percentage of energy received by convection was small +compared to that received by radiation; but it was also wildly +variable. + +As a biological cultural medium, the hydraulic system provided a basis +for both air restoration and food supplies. When the proper balance of +plankton and algae was achieved, the air jets that gave the ship its +spin would also purify the ship's air, giving it back in a natural +manner the oxygen it was now fed from tanks. + +As a method of controlling and changing the rate of rotation of the +wheel, the rivers of water had already proven themselves; and as a +method of static balancing to compensate for off-center weights, +masses of it could be stopped and held in counterbalance tanks around +the rim, thus assuring that the observatory, in its stationary +position on the hub, would not suddenly take up an oscillatory pattern +of motion as the balance within the wheel was shifted either by moving +equipment or personnel. + + * * * * * + +In effect, the entire ship operated against a zero-M-I calculation +which could be handled effectively only by the computer. The moment of +inertia of the ship must be constantly calculated against the moment +of inertia of the hydraulic mass flowing in the rim. And the +individual counterbalance tanks must constantly shift their load +according to the motions of the crew and their masses of equipment +that were constantly being shifted during installation. For already +the observatory was hard at work, and its time must not be stolen by +inappropriate wobbles of the hub. + +A continuously operating feedback monitor system was capable of +maintaining accuracy to better than .01% both in the mass inertial +field of centrifugal force affecting the rim; and in overall balance +that might otherwise cause wobbles in the hub. + +While such fine control would not be necessary to the individual +comfort of the personnel aboard, it was very necessary to the accuracy +of scientific observation, one major purpose of the lab; and even so, +many of the experimenters would require continuous monitor observation +from the computer to correct their observations against her +instantaneous error curve. + +The mass of water in the rim formed a shell six feet through, +surrounding the laboratories and living quarters--walls, floor and +ceiling--since its first function was that of radiation shielding. + +But the bulk of this water was not a single unit. It was divided into +separate streams, twenty in number, in each of which various +biological reactions could be set up. + +While a few of the rivers were in a nearly chemically pure state, most +of them were already filling with the plankton and algae that would +form the base of the major ecological experiments, some with fresh +water as their medium, others using sea water, complete with its +normal micro-organisms supplemented from the tanks of concentrate +that Dr. Millie Williams had brought aboard. One or two of the rivers +were operating on different cycles to convert human waste to usable +forms so that it might reenter the cycles of food and air. + +Several of the rivers were operating to provide fish and other marine +delicacies as part of the experiment to determine the best way of +converting algae to food in a palatable form. + +Within, the rivers were lighted fluorescently--an apparent anomaly +that was due to the fact that the problems of shielding marine life +from direct sunlight in such a shallow medium had not yet been worked +out; while the opaque plastic that walled the laboratories within the +rivers was a concession to their strength, since the clear plastic +that would have provided aquarium walls for the lab and complete +inspection for a constant and overall check of the ecological +experiments had been overruled by U.N. Budget Control. Portholes at +various spots made the seaquariums visible from any part of the rim, +but in Dr. Millie's laboratory alone were the large panels of clear +plastic that gave a real view into the rivers. + +This ecological maze of rivers and eddies and balance tanks; of air +jets and current and micro-life; of spin-rate-control and shielding, +were all keyed to servo-regulated interdependence that for this +self-contained world replaced the stability achieved in larger +ecologies through survival mechanisms. + + * * * * * + +Within the maze, existing by it and contributing to it, were the +laboratories concerned with other things, but surrounded by the waters +that had made life's beginnings possible on Earth, and the continuance +of life possible in space. Man might some day live in space almost +totally without water, but for now they had brought a bit of the +mother waters with them. + +Sitting in complacent control of these overall complexities that must +be met with automatic accuracy was the Starrett Analogue/Digital +Computer, Optical Wave type 44-63, irreverently referred to by the +acronymically-minded as Sad Cow, though more frequently as the Sacred +Cow, or simply Cow. + +Most of the computer's intricate circuits were hidden behind the +bulkhead in a large compartment between the control center and the +south polar lock; but it was from this console in the control center +that her operation was keyed. + +From this position, every function of the wheel was ordered. + +This was the bridge. + +Spaced equally around its thirty-two-foot ring-shaped floor were the +computer's console where Bessie presided; the com center in charge of +Communications Officer Clark; and the command console where Captain +Naylor Andersen, commanding officer of Space Lab One had his formal, +though seldom-occupied post. + +At the moment, Nails Andersen was present, black cigar clamped firmly +between his teeth; hamlike Norwegian hands maneuvering a pencil, he +was making illegible notes on a scrap of paper--illegible to others +because they were in his own form of shorthand that he had worked out +over the years as he tried to make penciled notes as fast as his +racing mind worked out their details. + +Whether Nails were politician or scientist would be hard to say. +Certainly his rise through the ranks of U.N. Bureaus had been rapid; +certainly in this rise he had been political, with the new brand of +politics that men were learning--world, rather than national politics. +Certainly, also, he was a scientist; and certainly he had used his +political abilities on the behalf of science, pushing and slashing at +red-tape barriers. + +Nails was more than most responsible for the very existence of U.N. +Space Lab One, and Project Hot Rod besides. He was also a sponsor of +many other projects, both those that had been done and those that were +yet to be done. + +The justification of a space project in these times was difficult +indeed; for no longer could nations claim military superiority as a +main reason for pushing forward across the barriers of the inner +marches of space; for spending billions in taxes in experimental +research. For a project to achieve reality now, it must have benefits, +visible benefit, for the majority of mankind. It must have a _raison +d'être_ that had nothing of a military flavor. And occasionally Nails +had been hard put to explain why, to people who did not understand; to +explain his feeling that men must expand or die; that from a crowded +planet there could be only one frontier, and that an expansion outward +into space. + +Of course there were, Nails admitted to himself, other frontiers. The +huge basin of the Amazon had been by-passed and ignored by man, and +quite possibly would be in the future as well. The oceans, covering +seventy-five per cent of Earth's surfaces also presented a challenge +to man, and the possibility of a new frontier of conquest. + +But these did not present the limitless frontier for expansion offered +by space. Men must look upon them as only temporary challenges, and +cherish them as remaining problems, never to be solved for fear of a +loss of the problem itself. + +Yet space was different. Here man's explorations could touch upon +infinities that were beyond comprehension, into that limitless void +man could plunge ever outward for thousands of generations without +ever reaching a final goal or solving a last problem. Here was a +frontier worthy of any man, against which the excess energies of a +warrior spirit might be expended without harm to their fellows. + +To open a crack in this frontier was Nails' supreme goal, because, +once opened, men need never fight again amongst themselves for lack of +a place to go or a thing to do. + + * * * * * + +Space Lab One had been in spin for two days. + +On Earth, TV viewers no longer demanded twenty-four hours of Lab +newscasts, and were returning to their normal cycles of Meet the +Press, the Doctor's Dilemma, and the Lives of Lucy, and other juicier +items of the imagination that, now that their lab was a functioning +reality, seemed far more exciting than the pictures of the +interminably spinning wheel and the interviews with scientists aboard +that had filled their screens during the spin-out trial period. + +On the wheel itself, life was settling into a pattern, with comments +about being able to stand upright becoming old hat. + +In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle's birds and beasts had adapted +themselves to the light gravity; and their biological mentor had +evolved feeding, watering, and cleaning methods that were rapidly +becoming efficient. + +Next door, Dr. Millie Williams' FARM had survived the "take-off" and +the plants, grateful for their new, although partial gravity, were now +stretching themselves towards the overhead fluorescents in a rather +fantastic attempt to imitate the early growing stages of Jack's famous +beanstalk. + +In the machine shop, Paul Chernov carefully inspected the alignment of +the numeric controlled laser microbeam milling and boring machine, +brought it to a focus on a work piece, and pressed an activation +switch that started the last pattern of tiny capillary holes in the +quartz on which he was working. In moments the pattern was completed. + +Gently removing the work piece from its mounting, he turned to the +open double bulkhead that served as an air lock in emergencies and +that separated his shop from the physics lab beyond, where Dr. Y. Chi +Tung, popularly known as Ishie, was busy over a haywire rig, Chief +Engineer Mike Blackhawk and Tombu beside him. + +Reverently, Dr. Chi took the part from Paul's hands. "A thousand +ancestral blessings," he said. "Confusion say the last piece is the +most honored for its ability to complete the gadget, and this is it. + +"Of course," he added, "Confusion didn't say whether it would work or +not." + +"What does the gadget do?" asked Paul. + +"Um-m-m. As the European counterpart of Confusion, Dr. Heisenberg +might have explained it, this is a device to confuse confusion by +aligning certainties and creating uncertainties in the protons of this +innocent block of plastic." The round, saffron-hued Chinese face +looked at Paul solemnly. + +"As the good Dr. Heisenberg stated, there is a principle of confusion +or uncertainty as to the exact whereabouts of things on the atomic +level, which cannot be rendered more exact due to disturbance caused +by the investigation of its whereabouts. My humble attempt is to +secure a sufficiently statistical sample of aligned protons to obtain +data on the distortion of the electron orbits caused by an external +electrostatic field, thus rendering my own uncertainties more +susceptible of analysis in a statistical manner." + +Suddenly he grinned. "It's a take-off," he said, "from the original +experiments in magnetic resonance back in '46. + +"The fields generated in these coils are strong enough to process all +the protons so that their axis of spin is brought into alignment. At +this point, the plastic could be thought of as representing a few +billion tiny gyroscopes all lined up together. + +"Matter of fact," he said in an aside, "if you want a better +explanation of that effect, you might look up the maintenance manual +on the proton gyroscopes that Sad Cow uses. Or the manuals for the +M.R. analyzer in the chem lab. Or the magnetometer we use to keep a +check on Earth's magnetic field. + +"So far, about the same thing. + +"What I'm trying to do is place radio frequency fields and +electrostatic fields in conjunction with the D.C. magnetic field, so +as to check out the effect of stretching the electron orbits of the +hydrogen atoms in predictable patterns. + +"I picked this place for it, because it was as far away from Earth's +field as I could get. And Mike, when I get ready to test this thing, +I'm going to pray to my ancestors and also ask you to turn off as many +magnetic gadgets as you safely can." + +Mike was squatting on his heels by the haywire rig, built into what +looked suspiciously like a chassis extracted from one of the standard +control consoles of the communication department. + +Reaching gingerly in through the haywire mass of cables surrounding +the central components, he pointed to one of the coils and exclaimed +in the tones of a Sherlock Holmes, "Ah-ha, my dear Watson! I have just +located the final clue to my missing magnaswedge. I suppose you know +the duty cycle on those coils is only about 0.01?" + +"Not after I finished with them!" Ishie grinned unrepentant. "Besides, +I don't want to squash anything in the field. I just want a nice, +steady field of a reasonable magnitude. As Confusion would say, he who +squashes small object may unbalance great powers." + + * * * * * + +While he talked, Ishie had been busy inserting the carefully machined +piece of quartz plate that Chernov had brought, into a conglomeration +of glassware that looked like a refugee from the chem lab, and flipped +a switch that caused a glowing coil inside a pyrex boiler to heat a +small quantity of water, which must escape through the carefully +machined capillary holes in the plate he had just installed. Each jet +would pass through two grids, and on towards a condenser arrangement +from which the water would be recirculated into the boiler by a small +pump which was already beginning to churkle to itself. + +"O.K.," Mike said. "I dig the magnetic resonance part. And how you're +using the stolen coils. But what's this gadget?" and he pointed to the +maze of glass and glass tubing. + +"Oh. Permit me to introduce Dr. Ishie's adaptation of a French +invention of some years previous, which permits the development of +high voltages by the application of heat to the evaporation of a fluid +medium such as water--of which we have plenty aboard and you won't +miss the little that I requisitioned--causing these molecules to +separate and pass at high speed through these various grids, providing +electrostatic potentials in their passage which can be added quite +fantastically to produce the necessary D.C. field which...." + +As he spoke, Mike's finger moved nearer a knob-headed bolt that seemed +to be one of the two holding the glass device to its mounting board, +and an inch and a half spark spat forth and interrupted the +dissertation with a loud "Yipe!" + +"Confusion say," Ishie continued as Mike stuck his finger in his +mouth, "he who point finger of suspicion should be careful of lurking +dragons! + +"Anyhow, that's what it does. There are two thousand separate little +grids, each fed by its capillary jet, and each grid provides about +ninety volts." + +Tombu took the opportunity to inquire, "Have you got that RF +field-phase generator under control yet?" He pointed to still another +section of the chassis. + +"Oh, yes." The physicist nodded. "See, I have provided a feedback +circuit to co-ordinate the pick-up signal with the three-phase RF +output. The control must be precise. Can't have it skipping around or +we don't get a good alignment." + +There was a gurgling churkle from the innocent-looking maze as the +"borrowed" aerator pump from the FARM supplies began returning the +condensate back to the boiler. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson stood on the magnetic stat-walk of the south +polar loading lock, gazing along the anchor tube to Project Hot Rod +five miles away. + +"There are no experts in the ability to maneuver properly in free +fall," he told himself, quieting his dissatisfaction with his own +self-conscious efforts at maintaining the military dignity of the +United Nations Security Forces in a medium in which a man inevitably +lost the stances that to him connotated that dignity. + +Awkwardly, he attached the ten-pound electric device affectionately +known to spacemen as the scuttlebug, to the flat ribbon-cable that +would both power and guide him to Hot Rod. + +As the wheels of the scuttlebug clipped over the ribbon-cable, one +above and two below, and made contact with the two electrically +conductive surfaces, he saw the warning light change from green to +red, indicating that the ribbon was now in use, and that no one else +should use it until he had arrived at the far end. + +Seeing that the safety light was now in his favor, he swung his legs +over the seat--a T-bar at the bottom of the rod which swung down from +the drive mechanism--grasped the rod, and pulled the starting trigger. + +The accelerative force of one gee, the maximum of which the scuttlebug +was capable, provided quite a jolt, but settled down very quickly to +almost zero as he picked up speed and reached the maximum of one +hundred twenty miles per hour. + +A very undignified method of travel, he thought. Yet for all that, the +scuttlebugs were light and efficient, and reduced transit time between +outlying projects and the big wheel to a very reasonable time, +compared to that which it would take for a man to jump the distance +under his own power--and, he thought, without wasting the precious +mass that rockets would have required. + +The low voltage power supplied by the two flat sides of the ribbon was +insufficient to have provided lethal contact, even if the person were +there without the insulation of a spacesuit around him, a very +unlikely occurrence. Furthermore, the structure of the cable, with the +flat, flexible insulation between its two conductive surfaces, made it +practically impossible to short it out; and the flanged wheels of the +scuttlebug clipped over it in such a fashion that, once locked, it was +thought to be impossible that they could lose their grip without being +unlocked. + +As Steve gained speed along the ribbon, "his" Project Hot Rod was in +view before him--appearing to be a half moon which looked larger than +the real moon in the background behind it; and seeming to stand in the +vastness of space at a distance from the far end of the long anchor +tube, a narrow band of bright green glowing near its terminator line. + +From the rounded half of the moon, extending sunward, four bright, +narrow traceries seemed to outline a nose that ended in a pale, +globular tracery at its tip, pointing to the sun. + +The narrow traceries were in actuality four anchor tubes, similar to +the one beside which he rode; and mounted in their tip was the +directing mirror that would aim Hot Rod's beam of energy. + + * * * * * + +Project Hot Rod was actually a giant balloon eight thousand feet in +diameter, one-half "silvered" with a greenish reflective surface +inside that reflected only that light that could be utilized by the +ruby rods at its long focal center; and that absorbed the remainder of +the incident solar radiation, dumping it through to its black outside +surface, and on into the vastness of space. This half of the big +balloon was the spherical collector mirror, facing, through the clear +plastic of its other half, the solar disk. + +Well inside the balloon, at the tip of the ruby barrel that was its +heart, were located the boiler tubes that activated the self-centering +inertial orientation servos which must remain operational at all +times. If the big mirror were ever to present its blackened rear +surface to the sun for more than a few minutes, the rise in +temperature would totally destroy the entire project. Therefore, these +servos had been designed as the ultimate in fail-safe, fool-proof +control to maintain the orientation of the mirror always within one +tenth of one degree of the center of Sol. + +Their action was simplicity itself. The black boiler tubes were +shielded in such a way that so long as the aim was dead center on the +sun they received no energy; but let the orientation shift by a +fraction of a degree, and one of these blackened surfaces would begin +to receive reflected energy from the mirror behind it; the liquid +nitrogen within would boil, and escape under pressure through a jet in +such manner as to re-orient the position to the center of the tracking +alignment. + +[Illustration] + +Since the nitrogen gas escaped into the balloon, the automatic +pressure regulator designed to maintain pressure within the balloon +would extract an equal quantity of gas, put it back through the +cooling system on the back side of the mirror, and return it as liquid +to the boiler. + +These jets were so carefully and precisely balanced that there was +virtually no "hunting" in the system. + +The balloon itself was attached to its anchor tube by a one hundred +meter cable that gave free play to these orientation servos. The +anchor point was the exact center of the black outside surface of the +mirror-half of the balloon; and beside that anchor point was the air +lock to the control center, to which Steve was now going. + +From the control room, a column extended up through the axis of the +balloon for thirty-five hundred feet--and most of the surface of this +column was covered with the new type, high power ruby rods, thirty +feet long and one-half inch in diameter, mounted in tubular trays of +reflective material which took up sufficient space to make each rod +occupy two inches of the circumference of the tube on which it was +mounted. + +These ruby rods were the heart of the power system, converting the +random wave fronts of noncoherent light received from the mirror into +a tremendous beam of coherent infrared energy which could be bundled +in such a pattern as to reach Earth's surface in a focal point +adjustable from here to be something between twenty-two feet in +diameter to approximately one mile in diameter. + +[Illustration] + +The banks of rods were so arranged that each of the one hundred +sections comprising the three thousand feet of receptive surface at +the focus of the mirror formed a concentric circle of energy beams; +each circle becoming progressively smaller in diameter, so that the +energy combined into one hundred concentric circles, one within the +other, as it left the rods; but these circles were capable of the +necessary focusing that could bring them all together into a single +small point near Earth's surface. + + * * * * * + +The beam leaving the rods represented three hundred seventy-five +million watts of energy, tightly packaged for delivery to Earth. But +this was only a small fraction of the solar energy arriving at the big +mirror. + +The remainder, the loss, must be dumped by the black surface at the +back; and to account for the loss in the rods themselves, to prevent +their instantaneous slagging into useless globules of aluminum oxide, +their excess loss energy must also be dumped. + +A cooling bath of liquid nitrogen therefore circulated over each rod +and brought the excess heat to the rear of the big lens, where it, +too, could be dumped into the blackness of space beyond. + +For all its size and complexity, Hot Rod was only a trifle over six +per cent efficient; but that six per cent of efficiency arriving on +Earth would be highly welcome to supplement the power sources that +statistics said were being rapidly depleted. + +The spherical shape of the mirror itself, one of the easiest possible +structures to erect in space, had dictated the placement of the rods +through its center since there was no single focal point for the +entire mirror surface. + +But it had also added a complication. From this position, the rods +could have been designed to fire either straight forward or straight +back. + +However, due to the hollow nature of the thirty-five hundred foot +laser barrel; the necessity for access to the rods from inside that +barrel; and the placement of the control booth at its outside end, the +firing could only be forward, straight towards the sun on which the +mirror was focused. + +But to be useful, the beam must be able to track an ever-moving +target. + +This problem had been solved by one of the largest mirror surfaces +that man had ever created--flat to a quarter of a wave-length of +light, and two hundred fifty feet in diameter, the beam director, from +this distance looking as though it were a carelessly tossed +looking-glass from milady's handbag, anchored one diameter forward of +the big power balloon. + +For all its size, this director mirror had very little mass. +Originally it had been planned to be made of glass in much the same +manner as Palomar's 200-inch eye. But this plan had been rejected on +the basis of the weight involved. + +Instead, its structure was a rigid honeycomb of plastic; surfaced by a +layer of fluorocarbon plastic which had been brought to its final +polish in space, and then carefully aluminized to provide a highly +reflective, extremely flat surface. + +This mirror was also cooled by the liquid nitrogen supplied from the +back side of the big mirror. Necessarily so, since even its best +reflectivity still absorbed a sufficient portion of the energy from +the beam it deflected to have rapidly ruined it if it were not +properly cooled. + +The several tons of ruby rods in the barrel, with their clear sapphire +coatings, were far more valuable than any gems of any monarch that had +ever lived on Earth. Synthetic though they were, Steve Elbertson, the +project's military commander, knew they had been shipped here at +fantastic cost and were expected to pay for themselves many thousands +of times over in energy delivered. + + * * * * * + +As yet, the project had had no specific target; nor had it been fully +operational as of midnight yesterday. + +But this "morning" for the first time the terrific energy of the laser +beam would be brought to bear on the Greenland ice cap--three hundred +seventy-five million watts of infrared energy adjusted to a +needle-point expected to be twenty-two feet in diameter at Earth's +surface, delivering one million watts per square foot, that should put +a hole a good way through the several thousand feet of glacier there +in its fifteen minutes of operation, possibly even exposing the bare +rock beneath, and certainly releasing a mighty cloud of steam. + +Focused to this needle sharpness, the rate of energy delivery was many +orders of magnitude higher than that delivered by man's largest +nuclear weapons only a few yards from ground zero. + +Today's test was primarily scheduled as a test of control in aiming +and energy concentration. Careful co-ordination of the project by +ground control was vital, so that no misalignment of the beam could +possibly bring it to bear on any civilized portion of Earth's surface. +For, fantastic as this Project Hot Rod might be as a source of power +for Earth, Major Elbertson knew that it was also the most dangerous +weapon that man had ever devised. + +Therefore, the scientists were never alone in the control booth, +despite the mile-long security records of each. Therefore, he and his +men were in absolute control of the men who controlled the laser. + +Therefore, too, Steve told himself, as the time came when there would +be a question of command between himself and Captain Nails Andersen, +science advisor to the U.N. and commander of Space Lab One, his own +secret orders were that he was to take command--and the rank that +would give him that command was already bestowed, ready for +activation. + +Nails Andersen, Steve reminded himself with amusement, had originated +the laser project; had fought it through against the advice of more +cautious souls; and had, through that project, attained command of the +space lab, and the rank that made that command possible, all in the +name of civilian science. + +But not command of the laser project, Steve told himself. + +Not of the most dangerous military weapon ever devised--dangerous and +military for all that it was a civilian project, developed on the +excuse that it would power Earth, which was rapidly eating itself out +of its power sources. + +Not in command of that, Steve told himself. Nobody but a military man +could properly protect--and if necessary, properly use--such power. + +Those were his secret orders; and he had the papers--and the authority +from Earth--to back him up. And orders to shoot to kill without +hesitation if those orders were questioned. + +Meantime, today's peacetime experiment would bring forcibly to the +attention of Earth both the power for good and the power for +destruction of the laser which he commanded. + +Project Hot Rod was manned twenty-four hours a "day." The new shift of +scientists--the ones who would turn on the powerful--or deadly--beam, +would come aboard in about half an hour. The men who had put the +finishing touches on the project during the past shift would remain +for another hour. His own crew of Security men shifted with the +scientists--but he, himself, shifted at will. + +The immensity around him went unheeded as Steve Elbertson, eyes on +Project Hot Rod, savored the power of the beam that could control +Earth. + + * * * * * + +In the observatory, Perk Kimball and his assistant Jerry Wallace were +having coffee as the various electronic adjuncts to the instruments of +the observatory warmed up. Transistors and other solid state +components that made up the majority of the electronic equipment in +the observatory required no "warm up" in the sense that the older +electron tubes had--but when used in critical equipment, they were +temperature sensitive, and he allowed for time to reach a stable +operating temperature. Then, too, the older electron tubes had not +been entirely replaced. Many of them were still in faithful service. + +The day would not be spent in the observation which was their main job +there, because calibration of many of the instruments remained to be +done, and the observatory was behind schedule, having had a good deal +of its time taken up in the sightings required by the communications +lab and Project Hot Rod. + +Both of the astronomers were heartily sick of spending so much of +their observational time with recalcitrant equipment; and in making +observations of the globe from which they had come. After all, why +should an astronomer be interested in Earth? Though admittedly this +was the first observatory in man's entire history that had had the +opportunity for such a careful scrutiny. + +"This flare business, that our captive Indian was predicting," Jerry +asked. "Think there's anything to it? Or am I just learning rumors +about my profession from lay sources?" + +"A rather presumptuous prediction, though he may be right." Perk's +clipped tone was partly English, partly the hauteur of the +professional. To him, solar phenomena were strictly sourced on the +sun, and if they were to be understood at all, it would be in +reference to the internal dynamics of the sun itself. + +"The torroidal magnetic fields dividing the slowly rotating polar +regions from the more rapid rotation near the solar equator," he said +slowly, rather pedantically, but as though talking to himself, "should +have far more effective control over solar phenomena than the periodic +unbalance created by the off-center gravitic fields when the inner +planets bunch on the same side of their solar orbits. + +"To imply otherwise would be rather like saying that the grain of sand +is responsible for the tides. + +"Yet," he added honestly, "the records compiled by some of the +communications interests that used to be greatly disturbed by the +solar flares' influence on radio communications, seem to indicate that +there is a connection. So there is the possibility, however remote, +that our captive redskin might be right; or rather, that there is a +force involved that makes the two coincidental." + +But even as he talked, an unnoticed needle on the board began an +unusual, wiggling dance, far different from its ordinary, slow +averaging reactions. Twice, without being noticed, it swung rapidly +towards the red line on its meter face; and then on its third approach +the radiation counter swung over the red line and triggered an alarm. + +From only one source in their environment could they expect that level +of X-ray intensity. Without so much as a pause for thought, as the +alarm screamed, barely glancing at the counter, Perk reached for the +intercom switch and intoned the chant that man had learned was the +great emergency of space: "Flare, flare, flare--take cover." + +Simultaneously, he flipped three switches putting the observatory, the +only completely unshielded area within the satellite, on automatic, to +record as much as it could of the progress of the solar flare with its +incomplete equipment, while he and Jerry dove through the open air +lock down the central well to the emergency shield room in the center +of the hub. + +It was a poor system, Perk thought, that hadn't devised sufficient +shielding for the observatory so that they could watch this phenomenon +more directly. "We'll have to work on that problem," he told himself +and since his recommendations would carry much weight after this tour +of duty, he could be sure that any such system that he could devise +would be instrumented. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson, caught in mid-run between the lab and Project +Hot Rod, resisted the temptation to reverse the scuttlebug on the line +and pull himself to a fast stop, as the flare warning from the +observatory came to him over the emergency circuit of his suit, +followed by Bessie's clipped official voice saying: + +"A flare is in progress. Any personnel outside the ship should get in +as rapidly as possible. Personnel in the rim have seven minutes in +which to secure their posts and report to the flare-shield area in the +hub. Spin deceleration will take effect in three minutes; and we are +counting on my mark towards deceleration. Mark, three minutes." + +The Security officer squeezed the trigger of the "bug" tighter in a +vain effort to force it and himself forward at a higher speed. + +The lesser shielding of the Hot Rod control room would not provide a +sufficient safety factor even for the X rays that he knew were already +around him; but he must supervise the security of the shutdown; and he +could only be very thankful that he was already nearly there and would +not have to make the entire round trip under emergency conditions. + +The scuttlebug automatically reversed and began slowing for the end of +its run--tripped by a block signal set in the ribbon cable. As it came +to a stop at the end of the long anchor tube, Steve dismounted and +kicked over the short remaining distance, which was spanned only by a +slack cable to permit the inertial orientation servos of Hot Rod +unhindered freedom to maintain their constant tracking of the solar +disk. + +Passing through the air lock of the control room, he reflected that +his exposure would probably be sufficient to give a touch of nausea in +the first half hour. + +Inside Hot Rod control there was little excitement. The equipment was +being turned off in the standard approved safety procedures necessary +to turn control over to the laser communication beam which would put +the project under Earth control at Thule Base, Greenland, until the +emergency was over. + +This separate, low-power control beam, focused on Thule Base nearly +eighty miles away from the main focus of Hot Rod on its initial +target, carried all of the communications and telemetry necessary for +the close co-ordination between Thule and the project. + +As Elbertson entered, the Hot Rod communications officer was switching +each of the control panels in turn to Earth control, while Dr. +Benjamin Koblensky, project chief, stood directly behind him, +supervising the process. Elbertson took up his post beside Dr. +Koblensky, replacing the Security aide who had had the past shift. +"Suit up," he said to the man briefly. + +As the communications officer completed the turnover, and the other +five scientists in the lab left their posts to suit up, the com +officer glanced up, received a nod from Dr. Koblensky, and said into +his microphone "All circuits have now been placed in telemetry +security operation. On my mark it will be five seconds to control +abandonment. Mark," he said after another nod from Dr. Koblensky. +"Four, three, two, one, release." + +His hand on the master switch, he waited for the green light above it +to assure him that the communications lag had been overcome, and as +the green light came on, pushed the switch and rose from the console. + +Major Elbertson stepped behind him, scanned the switches, inserted his +key into the Security lock, and turned it with a final snap, forcing +a bar home through the handles of all of the switches to prevent their +unauthorized operation by anyone until the official Security key +should again release them. In the meantime, no function could be +initiated within the laser system by anyone other than the Security +control officer at Thule Base on Earth. + +Hot Rod was secured, and its crew were taking turns at the lock to +make the life-saving run back to the flare-shield area in the hub of +Lab One. + +Last man out, three minutes after the original alarm, Steve glanced +carefully around his beloved control booth, entered the now-empty air +lock, and reaching the outside vacuum dove fast and hard toward the +anchor terminal and the scuttlebug that would take him swiftly to the +big wheel and its comparative safety. + + * * * * * + +In the gymnasium that served under emergency conditions as the +flare-shield area of the hub, long since dubbed the "morgue," the +circular nets of hammocks that made it possible to pack six hundred +personnel into an area with a thirty-two foot diameter and a +forty-five foot length, were lowered. They would hardly be packed this +time, since less than one-third of the complement were yet aboard. + +Even so, each person aboard had his assigned hammock space, two and a +half feet wide; two and a half feet below the hammock above; and seven +feet long; and each made his way toward his assigned slot. + +At one end of the morgue was the area where the cages of animals from +Dr. Lavalle's labs were being stored on their assigned flare-shield +shelves; and where Dr. Millie Williams was supervising the +arrangements of the trays and vats of plants that must be protected as +thoroughly as the humans. + +At the other end of the morgue, the medics were setting up their +emergency treatment area, while nearby the culinary crew pulled out +and put in operating condition the emergency feeding equipment. + +The big wheel's soft, susurrus lullaby had already changed to a muted +background roar as her huge pumps drew the shielding waters of the rim +into the great tanks that gave the hub twenty-four feet of shielding +from the expected storm of protons that would soon be raging in the +vacuum outside. + +The ship was withdrawing the hydraulic mass from its rim much as a +person in shock draws body fluids in from the outer limbs to the +central body cavities. The analogy was apt, for until danger passed, +the lab was knocked out, only its automatic functions proceeding as +normal, while its consciousness hovered in interiorized, +self-protective withdrawal. + +On the panel before Bessie the computer's projection of expected +events showed the wave-front of protons approaching the orbit of +Venus, and on the numerical panel directly below this display the +negative count of minutes continued to march before her as the +wave-front approached at half the speed of light. + +The expected diminishment of X rays had not yet occurred. Normally, +there would be a space of time between their diminishment and the +arrival of the first wave of protons; but so far it had not happened. + +Six minutes had passed, and the arriving personnel of Project Hot Rod +came in through the locks from the loading platform, diving through +the central tunnel over Bessie's head and on to the shielded tank +beyond. + +Seven minutes; and from Biology lab came an excited voice. "I need +some help! I've lost a rabbit. I came back for the one I'd been +inoculating but he got away from me, and I can't corner him in this +no-gravity!" + +Bessie wasn't sure what to say, but Captain Andersen spoke into his +intercom. "Dr. Lavalle," he said in a low voice, but with the force of +command, "ninety per cent of your shielding has already been +withdrawn. Abandon the rabbit and report immediately to the hub!" + +The pumps were still laboring to bring in the last nine per cent of +the water that would be brought. The remaining one per cent of the +normal hydraulic mass of the rim had been diverted to a very +small-diameter tube at the extreme inner portion of the rim, and was +now being driven through this tube at frantically higher velocities to +compensate for the removal of the major mass, and to maintain a small +percentage of the original spin, so that the hub would not be totally +in free fall, though the pseudo-gravity of centrifugal force had +already fallen to a mere shadow of a shadow of itself, and some of the +personnel were feeling the combined squeamishness of the Coriolis +effect near the center of the ship, and the lessening of the gravity, +pseudo though it had been, that they had had with them in the rim. + +As the last tardy technician arrived, the medics were already +selecting out the nearly ten per cent of the personnel who had been +exposed to abnormally dangerous quantities of radiation during the +withdrawal procedure, which included, of course, all the personnel +that had been aboard Project Hot Rod at the time of the flare. + +Even as the medics went about injecting carefully controlled dosages +of sulph-hydral anti-radiation drugs, the beginnings of nausea were +evident among those who had been overexposed. However, only the +dosimeters could be relied on to determine whether the nausea was more +from the effects of radiation; the effects of the near-free-fall and +Coriolis experienced in the hub; or perhaps some of it was +psychosomatic, and had no real basis other than the fear engendered by +emergency conditions. + +Major Steve Elbertson was already in such violent throes of nausea +that his attending medic was having difficulty reading his dosimeter +as he made use of the plastic bag attached to his hammock; and he was +obviously, for the moment at least, one of the least dignified of the +persons on board. + +Displays of the various labs in the rim moved restlessly across most +of the thirty-six channels of the computer's video displays, as Bessie +scanned about, searching for dangerously loose equipment or personnel +that might somehow have been left behind. + +[Illustration] + +In the Biology lab, the white rabbit that had escaped was frantically +struggling in the near-zero centrifugal field with literally huge +bounds, seeking some haven wherein his disturbed senses might feel +more at home, and eventually finding a place in an overturned +wastebasket wedged between a chair and a desk, both suction-cupped to +the floor. Frightened and alone, with only his nose poking out of the +burrow beneath the trash of the wastebasket, he blinked back at the +silent camera through which Bessie observed him, and elicited from her +a murmur of pity. + +Seven minutes and forty-five seconds. The digital readout at the +bottom of Bessie's console showed the computer's prediction of fifteen +seconds remaining until the expected flood of protons began to arrive +from the sun. + +As radiation monitors began to pick up the actual arrival of the wave +front, the picture on her console changed to display a new wave front, +only fractionally in advance of the one that the computer had been +displaying as a prediction. + + * * * * * + +The storm of space had broken. + +Captain Andersen's voice came across the small area of the bridge that +separated them. "Check the rosters, please. Are all personnel +secured?" + +Bessie glanced at the thirty-two minor display panels, checking +visually, even as her fingers fed the question to the computer. + +The display of the labs, now that the rabbit was settled into place, +showed no dangerously loose equipment other than a few minor items of +insufficient mass to present a hazard, and no personnel, she noted, as +the Cow displayed a final check-set of figures, indicating that all +personnel were at their assigned, protected stations in the morgue, in +the engineering quarters, and on the bridge. + +"All secure," she told the captain. "Evacuation is complete." + +"Well handled," he said to her, then over the intercom: "This is your +captain. Our evacuation to the flare-shield area is complete. The ship +and personnel are secured for emergency conditions, and were secured +well within the time available. May I congratulate you. + +"The proton storm is now raging outside. You will be confined to your +posts in the shield area for somewhere between sixteen and forty-eight +hours. + +"As soon as it is possible to predict the time limit more accurately, +the information will be given to you." + +As he switched out of the ship's annunciator system, Captain Nails +Andersen leaned back in his chair and stretched in relief, closing his +eyes and running briefly over the details of the evacuation. + +When he opened them again, he found a pinch bottle of coffee at his +elbow, and tasting it, found it sugared and creamed to his preference. +His eyes went across the bridge to the computer console, and lingered +a moment on the slender, dark figure there. + +Amazing, he thought. The dossier, the personal history, her own and +all the others aboard, he had studied carefully before making a +selection of the people who would be in his command for this time. Not +that the decision had been totally his, but his influence had counted +heavily. + +This one he had almost missed. Only by asking for an extra survey of +information had he caught that bit about the riot at Moscow University +that had raged around her ears, apparently without touching or being +influenced by or influencing her own quiet program. + +That they didn't think alike was evident. That this was a competent +sociologist, and not just a computer technician had not at first been +evident. But Nails was well pleased with his decision in the selection +of this particular unit of his command. + +Things would go well in her presence, he felt. Details he might have +struggled with would iron out or disappear, and scarcely come to his +attention at all. + +Very competent, he thought. And attractive, too. + + * * * * * + +In the engineering compartment, Mike was adjusting the power output +from the pile ten miles away, down from the full emergency power that +had been required to pump the more than five hundred thousand cubic +feet of water from the rim to the hub in seven minutes, to a level +more in keeping with the moderate requirements of the lab as it waited +out the storm. + +As he threw the last switch, he became aware of a soft scuffling sound +behind him, and turned to see tiny Dr. Y Chi Tung, single-handedly +manhandling through the double bulkhead the bulky magnetic resonance +device on which he had been working when the flare alarm sounded, and +having the utmost difficulty even though the near free-fall conditions +made his problem package next to weightless. + +The monkeylike form of the erudite physicist, dwarfed by the big +chassis, gave the appearance of a small boy trying to hide an outsize +treasure; but the nonchalant humor that normally poked constant fun at +both his profession as a physicist and the traditions of his Chinese +ancestors, was lacking. + +Dr. Ishie was both breathless and worried. + +"Mike," he gasped. "I was afraid to leave it, unshielded. It might +pick up some residual activity. Radiation, that is. From those +hydrogen hordes outside." He let the object rest for a moment, mopping +his head while he talked. "Can you hide it in here? I'm not really +anxious to have Budget Control know where some of this stuff +went--even though I have honorable intentions of returning the +components later--and the good captain down there on the bridge might +not consider its shielding important, either, if he knew I'd +sabotaged his beautiful evacuation plan to bring my pet along!" The +tone of Ishie's voice indicated his uncertainty as to Mike's +reception. + +The idea of Dr. Y Chi Tung worrying about any components he might have +"requisitioned" seemed almost irreverent to Mike. Budget Control would +gladly have given that eminent physicist a good half of the entire +space station, if he had expressed his needs through the proper +channels--as a matter of fact, anything on board that wasn't actually +essential to the lives of those on the satellite. + + * * * * * + +But Ishie seemed genuinely unaware of his true status, and the high +regard in which he was held. Besides, Mike suspected in him a +constitutional inability to deal through channels. + +Recognizing the true sensitivity that underlay Ishie's constant humor +and ridicule of himself, Mike kept himself from laughing aloud at the +stealth of the man who could have commanded the assistance of the +captain himself in shielding whatever he thought it necessary to +shield. + +Instead, he carefully kept his face solemn while he commented: "It +ought to fit in that rack over there." He pointed to a group of +half-filled racks. "We can slip a fake panel on it. Nobody will be +able to tell it from any of the other control circuits." + +Ishie heaved a deep sigh of relief and grinned his normal grin. +"Confusion say," he declared, "that ninety-six pound weakling who +struggle down shaft with six hundred pound object, even in free fall, +should have stood in bed." + +It took the two of them the better part of half an hour to get the +unit into place; to disguise its presence; and to make proper power +connections. Ishie had objected at first to connecting it up, and Mike +explained his insistence by saying that "If it looks like something +that works, nobody will look at it twice. But if it looks like +something dead, one of my boys is apt to take it apart to see what +it's supposed to be doing." He didn't mention his real reason--a heady +desire to run a few tests on the instrument himself. + +The job done, the two sat back on their heels, admiring their +handiwork like bad boys. + +"Coffee?" asked Mike. + +"Snarl. Honorable ancestor Confusion doesn't even need to tell me what +to do now. My toy is safe. I am going to bed. I have worked without +stopping for two days and now the flare has stopped me. + +"Confusion decide to relent. He tell me now: 'He who drive self like +slave for forty-eight hours is nuts and should be sent to bed.' I +hope," he added, "that the hammocks are soft; but I don't think I +shall notice. I know just where to go for I checked in once to fool +the Sacred Cow before I went to get my beautiful. Now I go back +again." + +And without so much as a thank-you, he staggered out, grasping for +hand-holds to guide himself in a most unspacemanlike manner. + + * * * * * + +Mike craftily sat back, still on his heels beside the object, and +watched until Ishie had disappeared, and then turned his full interest +to the playtoy that fortune had placed in his shop. + +Without hesitation he removed the false front they had so carefully +put in place. He still had a long tour of duty ahead, and it was very +unlikely that he would be interrupted, or, if interrupted, that anyone +would question the object on which he worked. It would be assumed that +this was just another piece of equipment normally under his care. + +Carefully he looked over the circuits, checking in his mind the +function of each. Then he went to his racks and began selecting test +equipment designed to fit in the empty racks around it. Oscilloscope, +signal generator, volt meters and such soon formed a bank around the +original piece of equipment, in positions of maximum access. + +Gingerly he began applying power to the individual circuits, checking +carefully his understanding of each component. + +The magnetic field effect, Ishie had explained; but this three-phase +RF generator--that puzzled him for a while. + +Then he remembered some theory. Brute strength alone would not cause +the protons to tip. Much as a top, spinning off-center on its point, +will swing slowly around that point instead of tipping over, the +spinning protons in the magnetic field would precess, but would not +tip and line up without the application of a rotating secondary +magnetic field at radio frequencies which would make the feat of +lining them up easy. + +There, then, were two of the components that Ishie had built into his +device. A strong magnetic field supplied by the magnaswedge +coils--stolen magnaswedge coils if you please--and a rotating RF field +supplied by the generator below the chassis. + +But this third effect? The DC electric field? That one was new to him. + +In his mind he pictured the tiny gyroscopes all brought into alignment +by the interplay of magnetic forces; and around each proton the tiny, +planetary electrons. + +Yet it was very well to think of the proton nucleus of the hydrogen +atom as a simple top, he reminded himself; but they were more complex +than that. Each orbiting electron must also contribute something to +the effect. + +At that point, Mike remembered, the electron itself would be spinning, +a lighter-weight gyroscope, much as Earth has a lighter weight than +the Sun. The electron, too, had a magnetic field; more powerful than +the proton's field because of its higher rate of spin, despite its +lighter mass. The electron could also be lined up. + +Somewhere in the back of his mind, Mike remembered having read of +another effect. The electron's resonance. Electron para-magnetic +resonance. + +It, too, could be controlled by radio frequencies in a magnetic +field--but the frequencies were different, far up in the microwave +region; about three centimeters as Mike recalled--and he went back to +his supply cabinet to get another piece of equipment, a spare klystron +that actually belonged to the radar department but that was "stored" +in his shop. + +At these frequencies, the three centimeter band of the electromagnetic +spectrum, energy does not flow on wires as it does in the lower +frequency regions. Here plumbing is required. But Mike, amongst other +things, was an expert RF plumber. + +Even experts take time to set up klystrons, and it was three hours +later before Mike was ready with the additional piece of haywire +equipment which carefully piped RF energy into the plastic block. + +This refinement by itself had been done before; but some of the others +that Mike applied during his investigation probably hadn't--at least +not to any such tortured piece of plastic as now existed between the +pole faces of the device. + +To have produced the complete alignment of both the protons and the +electrons within a mass might have been attempted before. To have applied +an electrostatic field in addition to this had perhaps been attempted +before. To have done all three, at the same time to the same piece of +plastic, and then to have added the additional tortures that Mike thought +up as he went along, was perhaps a chance combination, repeatable once in +a million tries, one of those experimental accidents that sometimes +provide more insight into the nature of matter than all of the careful +research devised by multi-million-dollar-powered teams of classical +researchers. + +When the contraption was in full operation, he simply sat on his heels +and watched, studying out in his mind the circuits and their effects. + +The interruption of the magnetic resonance by the electrostatic +field--by the DC--with the RF plumbing--twisted by--each time the +concept came towards the surface, it sank back as he tried to pull it +into consciousness. + +Churkling to itself, the device continued applying its alternate +fields and warps and strains. + +"It's a Confusor out of Confusion by Ishie, who is probably as great a +creator of Confusion as you could ask," Mike told himself, forgetting +his own part in the matter, watching intently, waiting for the concept +to come clear in his mind. + +Presently he went over to his console, to his pads of paper and +pencils, and began sketching rapidly, drawing the interlocking and +repulsing fields, the alignments, mathing out the stresses--in an +attempt to visualize just what it was that the Confusor would now be +doing.... + + * * * * * + +In the Confusor itself, a tiny chunk of plastic, four by four inches +square and one-half inch thick, resting in the middle of the machine +between the carefully aligned pole-faces of the magnet, was subjected +to the cumulatively devised stresses, a weird distortion of its own +stresses and of the inertia that was its existence. + +Each proton and electron within the plastic felt an urge to be where +it wasn't--felt a pseudo-memory, imposed by the outside stresses, of +having been traveling at a high velocity towards the north star, on +which the machine chanced to be oriented; felt the new inertia of that +velocity.... + +Each proton and electron fitted itself more snugly against the north +pole face and pushed with the entire force of its newly-imposed +inertial pattern. + +Forty pounds to the square inch six hundred forty pounds over the +surface of the block, the plastic did its best to assume the motion +that the warped laws of its existence said that it already had. + +It was only one times ten to the minus five of a gravity that the four +by four by half inch piece of carefully machined plastic presented to +the sixty-four million pound mass of Space Lab One. + +But the force was presented almost exactly along the north-south axis +of the hub of the ship, and in space a thrust is cumulative and +momentum derives per second per second. + +The Confusor churkled quietly as the piece of plastic exerted its tiny +mass in a six hundred forty pound attempt to take off towards the +north star. And, since the piece itself was rigidly mounted to its +frame, and the frame to the ship, the giant bulk of five million cubic +feet of water, thirty-two million pounds of mass; and the matching +mass-bulk of the ship itself, responded to the full mosquito-sized +strength of the six hundred forty pound thrust, and was moved--a +fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second; a fraction of a fraction in the second; a fraction.... + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, the com officer had completed transmitting the +captain's detailed report of the evacuation to the hub-shield area +caused by the solar flare. + +On another line, under Bessie's ministrations, the computer was +feeding the data obtained by the incomplete equipment in the +observatory in its automatic operation. + +The captain himself was finishing a plastic-bottle of coffee, while he +wrote up his log. + +It was exactly nine minutes since the Confusor had come into full +operation. + +The fractions of fractions of centimeters had added on the square of +the number of seconds; and the sixty-four million pounds of mass of +Space Lab One has moved over thirteen meters. + +Trailing the wheel ten miles off, was the atomic pile, directly +attached to its anchor tube. + +Tightening, each with a whanging snap too tiny to be remarked within +the mass of the ship, were the cables that attached the various items +of the dump to their anchor finger. + +But still free on the loose one hundred meter cable that attached it +to its anchor, and which had had fifteen meters of slack when the +ship first began its infinitesimal movement, was Project Hot Rod. + +Nine minutes and twenty-three seconds. The velocity of the wheel with +its increasing mass of trailing items, was five point four six +centimeters per second. The nearly four million pound mass of Hot Rod +was slowly being left behind. + +The cable tautened the final fraction of a centimeter. Its tug was not +fast, but was unfortunately applied very close to the center of +gravity of the entire device, since most of Hot Rod's weight was +concentrated in and around the control room. + +Five point four six centimeters per second. Four million pounds of +mass. + +If the shock had been direct, it would have equaled two point eight +million ergs of energy, created by the fractional movement of the +mighty mass of the ship against Hot Rod. + +But the shock was transmitted through the short end of a long lever. +The motion at the beam director mirror, a full diameter out from the +eight thousand foot diameter balloon that was Hot Rod, was multiplied +nearly sixteen thousand times. Hot Rod rolled on its center of +gravity, and its beam-director mirror swung in a huge arc. Sixteen +thousand centimeters per centimeter of original motion. Eight hundred +and seventy-three meters in the first second, before the tracking +servos took over and began to fight back. + + * * * * * + +Hot Rod fought at the end of its tether like a mighty jellyfish hooked +on the end of a line. + +Gradually the swings decreased. Four hundred meters; two hundred +meters; one hundred meters; fifty meters; twenty-five meters--and it +had come back to a nearly stable focus on the sun. + +But the beam director had also been displaced, and vibrated. +Internally, the communications beam to Thule Base had been +interrupted; and the fail-safe had not failed-safely. + +The mighty beam had lashed out. The vibrations of the directing mirror +began placing gigantic spots and sweeps of unresistible energy across +the ice cap of Greenland, in an ever-diminishing Lissajous pattern. + +By the time the servos refocused the communications beam on Thule, +there was no Thule; only a burnt-out crater where it had been. + +Slowly, but surely, the giant balloon settled itself to the task of +burning a hole through the Greenland ice cap at a spot eighty miles +north of that now-burnt-out Thule Base that had originally been +planned as a test of its accuracy; and to the simple task of holding +that focus in spite of the now steady, though infinitesimal +acceleration under which it joined the procession headed by Lab One. + +Now that the waves of action and reaction from the shock energy of its +sudden start had subsided, Hot Rod's accuracy was proving great +indeed; and its beam focus was proving as small as had been +predicted. + +But the instruments that would have measured those facts no longer +existed. + +In the engineering control center of Space Lab One, the Confusor +churkled quietly and continued to pit its mosquito might against its +now nearly seventy-eight million pound antagonist, as the protons and +electrons of the plastic that was center to its forces did their +inertial best to occupy that position in space towards the north star +in which the warped fields around them forced them to belong--the +mosquito strained its six hundred forty pound thrust against its giant +in the per second per second acceleration that was effective only in +the fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second, but that compounded its fractions per second. + + * * * * * + +On the quiet bridge, the captain looked up as the Com Officer said, +"Thule Base, sir," and switched on his mike. + +"Hot Rod has been sabotaged," a frantic voice on the other end of the +beam shouted in his ear without formalities. "She's running wild. Kill +her! Repeat, Hot Rod is wild! Kill Hot Rod! Kill--" the mike went dead +as Captain Andersen switched to the morgue intercom. + +"Hot Rod crew," he said briefly. "Report to the bridge on the double. +Repeat. Hot Rod crew. The bridge. On the double." + +As he switched off the intercom, the communications officer spoke +urgently. "Captain. I've lost contact with Thule base." + +"Keep trying to raise them," Captain Andersen said. He turned to +Bessie. "Give me a display of the Hellmaker," he said; then, almost to +himself, "There's still a flare in progress out there. We've got to +kill it without sending men into that--" + +He cut himself off in midsentence, as the computer displayed both Hot +Rod, swaying gently as she fought out the battle of the focus through +its final moments, and a telescopic view of Greenland, a tiny, glowing +coal of red showing at the center of her focus. + +Through the door nearly catapulted the first of the Project Hot +Rodders, followed almost on his heels by twelve more. + +"Where is Major Elbertson?" + +"In sick bay, sir. He got a big radiation dose--" + +The captain flipped the intercom key. + +"Calling Major Elbertson in sick bay. Report to the bridge on the +double, no matter what your condition. This is the captain speaking." + +The intercom came alive at far end. + +"This is Dr. Green, Captain Andersen. Major Elbertson is unconscious. +He cannot report for duty. He was extremely ill from exposure to +radiation and we have administered sulph-hydral, antispasmodic, and +sedative." + +Nails Andersen turned to the project crew. + +"Which of you are Security officers?" + +Three men stepped forward. + +"Are all the project members here?" + +"No, sir," said one. "Eight of our men are in sick bay." + +"Very well," said the captain. "Now hear this, all of you. There is a +saboteur--maybe more than one, we do not know--among you. There is no +time to find out which of you it is. However, he has managed to leave +Project Hot Rod operational while unattended. You are to turn it off, +and to prevent the saboteur from stopping you. Do you understand?" + +A voice in back--a rather high voice--spoke up. "Of course it's +operational," it said. "We left it operational." + +"You ... WHAT?" + +"We left it operational. It's under Earth control. The control center +at Thule is in charge, sir." + +"Who are you?" the captain asked. + +"Hot Rod communications officer, sir. I turned it over last thing +before we shut down. Under the instructions of Dr. Koblensky. That's +the shutdown procedure." + +"Where's Dr. Koblensky?" + +"Out. Out like a light," said another voice. "He got a good dose. Of +radiation. The medics put him out." + +"Who's senior officer here?" + +"I'm Dr. Johnston." It was a man in front. Rather small, +pedantic-looking. "I'm Dr. Koblensky's ... well, assistant." The word +came hard as though the fact of an assistantship were at the least +distasteful. + +"Who's senior in Security?" + +"I, sir. Chauvenseer." + +"Very well. Dr. Johnston and Chauvens ... sor? ... are in charge. Now +shut down that ruby hellmaker as fast as it can be done." + +"But, captain," Dr. Johnston spoke, "we can't turn it off. We haven't +the authority. We haven't the Security key. And the radiation won't +let up for hours." + +"I have just given you the authority. As for the radiation, that's a +hazard you'll have to take. What's this about a Security key?" The +captain's voice was not gentle. + +"Major Elbertson has the key. He has the only key. Without it, the +station cannot be removed from Earth control. Earth _is_ in control. +They can turn it off, captain." Dr. Johnston's voice took on as firm a +tone of authority as that of the captain. + +"Chau ... Chau ... You!" barked the captain. "Get that key!" He waited +until the Security officer had disappeared through the door, then +turned to the scientist. + + * * * * * + +"Dr. Johnston, Earth is not in control. I do not know why, and there +is no way of finding out. Hot Rod is wild, and _that_," he pointed at +the enlarging red spot that centered the computer display, "is what +your ruby is doing to Earth. + +"You will turn off the project, at gunpoint if necessary," he +continued in a grim voice. "If you turn it off volitionally, you will +be treated for radiation. If you refuse, you will not live to be +treated for anything. Do you understand? How many men do you need to +help you ... and I do mean _you_ ... with the job?" he asked. + +[Illustration] + +Dr. Johnston hesitated only fractionally, and Nails Andersen +mentally put him down on the plus side of the personnel for the +shortness of his com lag. Then he said, "The job will require only two +men for the fastest accomplishment. You realize, captain that you are +probably signing our death warrants--the two of us. But," he added, +glancing only casually at the display on the console, "I can +understand the need to sign that warrant, and I shall not quibble." + +The intercom spoke. "This is Dr. Green, captain. There is no key on +the person of Major Elbertson. We have searched thoroughly, sir. I +understand the need is of an emergency nature. The key is not on his +person. We have taken every possible measure to arouse him, as well, +and have been unsuccessful." + +Andersen flipped his switch. "Let me speak to the Hot Rod Security +officer," he said briefly. + +"Chauvenseer speaking, sir," the man's voice came on. + +"Do you know what the key looks like?" + +"Yes, sir. It looks somewhat like a common Yale key, sir. But I've +never seen another just like it." + +"There is only the one?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Where would he keep it, if not on his person?" + +"I don't know, sir. We came straight to the morgue--the shield area, +from the air lock. I don't believe he stopped off anywhere he could +have put it." + +The captain turned to the second Security officer. "Search Elbertson's +spacesuit," he said. Then to the intercom, "Search his hammock. Search +every spot he went near. That key must be found in minutes. Commandeer +as many men as can help in the search without getting in the way." + +He paused a moment, then flipped another intercom key. + +"Mr. Blackhawk," he said. + +The intercom warmed at the far end. "Yes sir?" Mike's voice was +relaxed. + +"Is there any way to turn off Hot Rod without the Security key?" + +"Why sure, captain." Mike's voice held a grin. "I could pull the power +switch." + +"Pull it. Fast. Hot Rod's out of control." + +Mike's hand flashed to a master switch controlling the power that fed +Hot Rod, and blessing as he did it the fallacy of engineering that had +required external power to power the mighty energy collector. + +In the big balloon now happily following the wheel at the end of its +tether, the still-undamaged power-off fail-safe went into operation. +The mirror surface behind each ruby rod rotated into its shielding +position, dispersing the energy that the huge mirror directed towards +the rods, back into space. + +Hot Rod was secure. + + * * * * * + +Mike received only one further communication from the captain. + +"Mr. Blackhawk," he was asked over the intercom, "is there any way +that you secure the Hot Rod power switch so that it cannot be turned +on without my personal authorization?" + +"Sure, captain, I can--" + +The captain interrupted. "Mr. Blackhawk, I should prefer that you not +tell me or anyone else aboard the method you will use; and that you +make your method as difficult as possible to discover. This I shall +leave," he added dryly, "to your rather ... fertile ... imagination. + +"There is reason to believe that Project Hot Rod was turned on by a +saboteur. Your method must be proof against him, and if he exists, he +will not be stupid." The captain switched off. + +Mike turned to the control panel, and after a few minutes thought +busied himself for some time. + +Then he headed for the bridge where Dr. Johnston, Chauvenseer, and the +captain had dismissed the others and were utilizing every check that +Dr. Johnston could dream up to assure themselves that Hot Rod was +actually turned off and would remain secure at least for the duration +of the flare; and trying as well to find out just what form the +sabotage had taken. + +Without interrupting the others, Mike seated himself at the subsidiary +post at the computer's console on Bessie's right, and got her to brief +him while he examined the close-up display of Hot Rod. + +After a few minutes he reached over and increased the magnification to +its maximum, showing only a small portion of the balloon, then moved +the focus to display the control room entrance as well as part of the +anchor tube and the cable between the two. + +"I think I've found your saboteur, sir," he said. + +The captain was at his side almost instantly. "Where is he?" he asked +briefly. + +"Not he, sir. It. And I'm not sure just where--but look. Hot Rod's +cable is taut. There's thrust on the balloon. That probably means a +puncture and escaping nitrogen. + +"I think," he said, "that the saboteur may have been a meteor that +punctured the balloon, and the nitrogen escaping through the hole it +made is now producing enough thrust to keep that cable taut. Though," +he added thoughtfully, "I don't see why the servos couldn't maintain +the beam to Thule--though obviously, they couldn't." + +"How dangerous is such a puncture?" asked the captain. "How seriously +would Hot Rod be damaged? How soon must it be repaired?" + +"The puncture itself shouldn't be too dangerous. Even if all the +nitrogen's gone, the balloon's in a vacuum and won't collapse--and +that's about the only serious effect a puncture would have. Just a +moment. We'll estimate its size by the thrust it's giving the ship," +he added, and turned to Bessie. + +"Ask the Cow whether we're getting thrust on the ship; and if so, how +much. Wait a minute," he added, "if you ask for thrust on the ship, +she'll say there isn't any because Hot Rod would be pulling us, not +pushing. And if you ask her for the thrust on Hot Rod, she hasn't got +any sensors out there. + +"Hm-m-m. Ask her if we have added any off-orbit velocity; and if so +how much." + + * * * * * + +The computer displayed the answer almost as soon as she received the +question. + +"Well," said Mike, "that's not too large a hole. Ask her how ... let's +see ... how many pounds of thrust that velocity represents. That way +we don't confuse her with whether it's push or pull." + +The Cow displayed the answer, six hundred forty pounds of thrust. + +"O.K.," said Mike. "Thanks." Then to the captain and the scientist and +Security officer who were waiting beside him: "The puncture is +obviously small enough to serve as a jet, rather than to have let the +nitrogen out in one _whoosh_, since that would have given you far more +than six hundred forty pounds of thrust. Therefore, it will probably +be quite simple to patch the hole. + +"Nitrogen is obviously escaping, but it wouldn't be worth a man's life +to send him out into that flare-storm to patch it. We may even have +enough nitrogen aboard to replace what we lose. + +"The best I can figure," he said, "is that the meteor must have hit +the orientation servos and thrown them off for a bit. We'll have to +wait till after the flare to make more than an educated guess, though. + +"We shouldn't be too far off-orbit by the time the flare's over, +either, even with that jet constant. It'll take quite a bit of work, +but we should be able to get her back into position with not too many +hours of lost worktime. + +"Except for Thule, I'd say we got off fairly light. + +"Yes," he added grimly, "it looks like that's what your saboteur was. +Rather an effective saboteur, but you'll have a hard time putting him +up against a firing wall." + +Having satisfied himself as to existing conditions, Mike excused +himself shortly and went back to the engineering quarters, but his +mind was no longer on Ishie's strange device. He glanced rapidly at +the instruments regulating the power flow to the wheel, then stretched +out comfortably on the acceleration couch and in minutes was asleep. + +The captain, Dr. Johnston and Chauvenseer remained on the bridge +another hour, convincing themselves that Mike's analysis was correct, +and dictating a report to Earth, before the captain called in an aide +to take over the bridge, and the three retired. + +In the morgue, Dr. Y Chi Tung, who still slept peacefully as he had +since the moment he reached his hammock, muttered quietly in his +sleep, "Confusion--" + + * * * * * + +Mike snapped awake and glanced guiltily at the clock. Six hours had +passed. + +A situation report from the Cow was the first thing on his agenda any +time that he had been out of contact for any length of time, flare or +not. + +It was not his job to be in constant contact with the complete +situation of the ship and its vast complexities; he was not the +captain. Nor was it in the manuals that he should have access to the +computer's huge memory banks and abilities other than through +"channels"--i.e., Bessie. But the book definition of the information +he needed for his job, and his own criteria, were somewhat different, +and he had built on Earth and installed shortly after he came aboard, +a subcontrol link which put him in direct contact with the placid-Cow. + +His original intention in rigging the link had been to use the +calculator for that occasional math problem which might be more +quickly resolved with her help; but then the criteria of needed +information, curiosity, or both, had got the better of him, and the +secret panel hidden in the legitimate control panels of an engineer's +console was actually quite a complete link, covering all of the Cow's +multiple functions without interfering in any was with Bessie's +control links, or revealing its existence. This linkage gave Mike the +only direct access to the computer's store of information and +abilities other than that of the operator at the control console. + +And Mike's secret pride was the vocoder circuit with which he had +terminated his link, originated because a teletype system similar to +that used at the control console would have been too obvious; and his +nimble fingers got all tangled up on a keyboard anyhow. + +Bessie might speak to the Cow through the teletype link and switches +of her control console, but only Mike had the distinction of being +able to speak directly to the big computer, and get the complacent, +somewhat mooing answers; and only Mike knew of the existence of the +vocoder aboard. + +It had taken some care to get used to the literal-minded conversation +that resulted; but eventually Mike felt he had worked out a +satisfactory communications ability with the overly obvious "cow." + +What he wanted now was a situation report. If he simply asked for +that, however, he'd have received such miles of data that he'd have +been listening for hours. So instead he broke his question down into +the facets that he needed. + +In a few minutes he had elicited the information that the solar flare +was now predicted to be terminated and the major part of the flare +protons past their solar orbital position within another ten hours; +that Earth co-ordinates had shifted, indicating their own orbital +shift to be a trifle over thirty-seven kilometers north in the past +eight hours. + +North? he thought. Hot Rod's pull on a taut cable would be to the +south. + +No. Lab One could be re-oriented to trail the thrusting balloon. But +the lab's servos should have prevented that re-orientation unless the +thrust were really heavy. + +"What is our velocity?" he asked. Temporarily he was baffled by the +placid Cow's literal translation of his request as one for any actual +velocity, since she had replied with a figure very close to their +original orbital speed. "What is our velocity at right angles to +original course?" he inquired. + +And the Cow's reply came: "Two-o-o hundred and fifty-seven point seven +six ce-entimeters per se-econd." + +That should be about right for six hundred forty pounds of thrust for, +say, six and a half hours; and the distance of the orbit shift was +about right. + +But the direction? + +"Is Hot Rod pulling us north?" he asked. + +"No-o-o," came the placid reply. + +"If it's pulling us south, then why--" He stopped himself. Any "why" +required inductive reasoning, and of that the Cow was not capable. +Instead of asking why they were moving north with a south thrust, Mike +broke his question into parts. He'd have to answer the "why" himself, +he knew. + +"Is Hot Rod pulling us south?" he asked. + +"No-o-oo," came the answer. + +This time he was more careful. "In which direction is the thrust on +Hot Rod oriented?" he asked. + +"No-oorth." + +"Then Hot Rod is--" Quickly he stopped and rephrased the statement +which would have had a question in its tone but not its semantics, +into a question that would read semantically. "Is Hot Rod pulling us +north?" + +"No-o-oo," came the reply. + +Carefully. "Is Hot Rod pulling us?" + +"No-o-oo." + +Mike was stumped. Then he figured a literalness in his phrasing. + +"Is Hot Rod pushing or in any other way giving motion to Space Lab +One?" he asked. + +"No-o-oo," came the answer. + +Now Mike _was_ stumped. + +"Is Space Lab One under acceleration?" he asked. + +"Ye-es," said the Cow. + +"Then where in hell is that acceleration coming from?" Mike was +exasperated. + +"We a-are uunder no-o-o acceleration fro-om he-ell," the literal mind +told him. + + * * * * * + +Mike laughed ruefully. No acceleration from hell--well, that was +debatable. But no thrust from the hellmaker was not a debatable point. +The Cow wasn't likely to be wrong, though her appalling literalness +was such that an improperly phrased question might make her seem to +be. + +Computers, he thought, would eventually be the salvation of the human +race, whetting their inventors' brains to higher and higher efforts +towards the understanding of communications. + +Very carefully now he rephrased his question. "From what, and from +what point is the acceleration of Space Lab One originating?" + +"From the co-ontinu-ous thrust o-originating at a po-oint thirteen +fe-et from the a-axial center of the whe-el, in hu-ub section five +no-orth, one hundred twelve degrees fro-om reference ze-ero of the +engine-eering lo-ongitude references sta-ation assigned in the +con-struction ma-anual dealing with relative po-ositions o-of ma-asses +lo-ocated o-on Spa-ace La-ab O-one." + +Mike glanced up at the tube overhead, which represented the axial +passageway down the hub of the wheel. Thirteen feet from the imaginary +center of that tube, and in his own engineering compartment. + +Then his gaze traveled on around the oddly built, circular room with +its thirty-two-foot diameter. The reference to hub section five north +meant this compartment. The degrees reference referred to the +balancing co-ordinates by which the Cow kept the big wheel statically +balanced during rotation. There was a bright stripe of red paint +across the floor which indicated zero degrees; and degrees were +counted counterclockwise from the north pole of the wheel. + +His eyes strayed across the various panels and racks and came to rest +in the one hundred twelve degree area. A number of vacant racks, some +holding the testing equipment he had moved there not too many hours +before--and churkling quietly in its rack near the floor, Ishie's +Confusor of Confusion. + +Mike contemplated the device with awed respect, then phrased another +question for the Cow. + +"Exactly how much thrust is being exerted on that point?" he asked. + +The computer reeled off a string of numbers so fast that he missed +them, and was still going into the far decimal places when Mike said: + +"Whoa! Approximate number of pounds, please." + +"A-approximately six hundred forty. You-u didn't specify the limits +o-of a-accuracy tha-at you-u wanted." The burred tone was still +complacent. + +"Just what acceleration has that given us?" asked Mike, still looking +at the Confusor. "Approximately," he added quickly. + +"Present a-acceleration is a-approximately eight point nine five +ti-imes te-en to the mi-inus third ce-entimeters per se-econd per +se-econd. I ca-an ca-arry that to-o-o several mo-ore de-ecimal +pla-aces if you-u wi-ish." + +"No, thanks, I think you've told me enough." + +Mike stood up. + +This, he thought, needs Ishie. And coffee, he told himself as a second +thought. + +And then as a third thought, he turned back to his secret vocoder +panel, and said: "The information you have just given me is to be +regarded as top secret and not to be discussed except over this +channel and by my direct order. Absolutely nothing that would give any +one a clue to the fact that there is a method of acceleration aboard. +Understood?" + +"Ye-es, Mah-ike." + +"O.K." + +Mike switched off the vocoder, flipped his intercom to the temporary +galley in the morgue, and ordered two breakfasts readied. Then he set +off for the morgue. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +Mike Blackhawk located Dr. Y. Chi Tung's hammock, and nudged the +scientist unceremoniously. The small physicist awoke and attempted to +sit up in one gesture; bumped his head on the hammock above, and laid +back down just as suddenly. + +"Come on down to engineering will you Ishie?" The request was spoken +softly. + +"Hokey, dokey," said Ishie and crawled out of the narrow aperture with +the agility of a monkey. + +Gesturing to the other to follow him, Mike led the way to the galley +first, where the two picked up the readied breakfast and took them to +Mike's quarters. + +The "cups" of coffee were squeeze bottles; the trays were soft +plastic packages, similar to the boil-in-the-bag containers of frozen +food that had been common on Earth for some time. + +Mike hesitated at the entrance to his engineering quarters, +considering whether to shut the bulkhead, but discarded the idea as +being more of an attention-getter than a seal for secrecy. He gestured +Ishie to the bunk, and parked himself at his console. + +"We're in trouble," he said. "You and I together are responsible for +the first space attack on Earth." + +He stopped and waited, owl-eyed, but the small physicist simply +tackled his breakfast with no further comment than a raised eyebrow. + +"We," said Mike solemnly, "wiped out Thule Base last night." + +"As Confusion would say, there's no Thule like a dead Thule. What are +you getting at Mike? You sound serious." + +"You mean you slept through ... you didn't know we ... you didn't hear +the ... yes, I guess you slept! Well...." + +Rapidly Mike sketched the events of the past nine hours, bringing his +story completely up to date, including the information he'd gleaned +from the Cow, but making no reference to his access to the computer's +knowledge. Instead, he attributed the conclusions to himself. + +The physicist sat so still when he had finished that Mike became +seriously concerned. "Thule...." he began, but Ishie started to speak. + +"Mike, it did? It couldn't ... but ... of course, it must have ... the +fields ... six hundred forty pounds of thrust! Only six hundred forty, +yet ... yes, it could, if the thrust were exactly aligned ... thrust ... +Mike, thrust! _Mike, thrust!_ Real thrust! Mike do you know what this +means?" His eyes were alight. His voice was reverent. He sprang from +the bunk and knelt before the rack that held the churkling Confusor. + +"My pretty," he said. "My delicate pretty. What you have done! Mike, +we've got a space drive!" + +"Ishie. Don't you realize? We wiped out Thule!" + +"Thule, schmule--Mike, we've got a space drive!" + +Mike grinned to himself. He needn't have worried. Not about Ishie, any +how. + +But now Ishie was gesturing him over. + +"Mike," he said, "you must show me in detail. In exact detail. What +did you do? What was your procedure?" + +Mike came over and casually reached towards the churkling device, +saying "Why, I--" but Ishie reacted with catlike swiftness, blocking +the man before he could even touch the rack. + +"No, don't touch it! Just _tell_ me what you did!" + +Carefully now, Mike began outlining in detail his inspection of the +device and each step he had taken as he added to its complexities. + +When he had finished, the two sat back on their heels thinking. +Finally, Mike spoke. + +"Ishie, will you please tell me just how does this thing ... this +Confusor ... _get_ that thrust? Just exactly what is involved here?" + +Ishie took his time answering, and when he did his words come slowly. +"Ah, yes. Confusor it is. I was attempting to confound Heisenberg's +statement; but instead I think between us we have confused the issue. + +"Heisenberg said that there was no certainty in our measurement of the +exact orbit of an electron. That the instrument used to measure the +position of the electron must inevitably move the electron; and +the greater the attempt at precise measurements, the greater the error +produced by the measurements. + +"It was my hope," he went on, "to provide greater accuracy of +measurement, by use of statistics over the vast number of electrons in +orbit around the hydrogen atoms within the test mass. But this, +apparently, will not be. + +"Now to see what it is we have done. + +"First, let us make a re-expression of the laws of math-physics. You +understand that I am feeling my way here, for what we have done and +what I thought I was doing are quite different, and I am looking with +hindsight now at math-physics from the point of reality of this +thrust. + +"As I understand it, there's a mutual exclusiveness of particles, +generally expressed by the statement that two particles may not occupy +the same space at the same time. + +"But as I would put it, this means each particle owns its own place. +Now, inertia says that each particle not only owns its own place, but +owns its own temporal memory of where it's going to be unless +something interferes with it. + +"Now let me not confuse you with semantics. When I say 'memory' and +'knowing' I am not implying a sentient condition. I am speaking of the +type of memory and knowing that is a strain in the structure of the +proton or atom. This is ... well, anyhow, not sentient. You will have +to translate for yourself. + +"So to continue, inertia, the way I would put it, says that each +particle not only owns its own place, but owns its own temporal memory +of where it is going unless it is interfered with. + +"In other words, the particle arriving here, now, got here by +remembering in this other sense that it was going from there to there +to there with some inherent sort of memory. This memory can't be +classified as being in relation to anything but the particle itself. +No matter how you move the things around it, as long as the things +around it don't exert an influence on the particle, the particle's +memory of where it's been and where it's going form a continuous +straight line through space and must, therefore, have spatial +co-ordinates against which to form a 'memory' pattern of former and +future action. + +"Now as I understand gravity, it's simply the statement that all +particles in space are covetous, in this same non-sentient sense, of +the position in space of all their neighboring particles. In other +words, it's a contravention or the attempted contravention of the +statement that two particles may not be in the same place at the same +time. It seems that all particles have an urge to try to be in each +other's space. And this desire is modified by the distance that +separates them. + +"This adds up to three rules: + +"1. No two particles may occupy the same space at the same time. + +"2. Even though they can't, they try. + +"3. They all know where they're going, and where they've been without +relation to anything but the spatial co-ordinates around them. + +"That third statement seems to me to knock something of a hole in +Einstein's relativity theory. Unless you wish to grant all these +particles some method of determining their relationship to particles +that are not near them. + +"Communication between particles by any means is apparently limited by +the speed of light, which is a relationship between space and time, +but apparently, from what we know of inertia, if the universe +contained only a single particle, and that particle was in motion, it +would continue to move regardless of the fact that its motion could +not be checked upon in relation to other particles. + +"This indicates to me that the particle has an existence in space +because it is created out of space, and that space must, therefore, +have some very real properties of its own regardless of what is or is +not in it. The very fact that there is a limiting speed to light and +particle motion introduces the concept that space has physical +properties. + +"In order to have an electromagnetic wave, one must have a medium in +which an electric field or a magnetic field may exist. In order to +have matter, which I believe to be a form of electromagnetic field in +stasis, one must have special properties which make the existence of +matter possible. In order to have inertia, one must also have spatial +properties which make the existence of inertia possible. + +"People are fond of pointing out that there's nothing to get hold of +in free space in order to climb the ladder of gravity, or in order to +move between the planets, and that the only possibility of motion of a +vehicle in space is to throw something away, or, in other words, lose +mass in order to gain speed by reaction. Which is simply a statement +that as far as we can tell a force can only be exerted relative to two +points--or between two points or masses. + +"But this does not account for the continuance of motion once started. + +"Inertia says a body will move once started, but it doesn't say why or +how. How does that particle once started gain the knowledge to +continue without some direct control over its spatial framework? That +it will continue, we know. That in the presence of a gravitic field or +a magnetic field or other attractive force at right angles to its +motion, we can create an acceleration which will maintain it in an +exactly circular path called an orbit. But how does it remember, as +soon as that field ceases to exist, where it was going before it was +last influenced? That it will continue in a straight line +indefinitely, without such an influence, we know. That it can be +influenced over a distance by various field effects, we also know. +But what is the mechanism of influence whereby it influences itself to +continue in a straight line? And what handle did we get hold of to +convert that influence of self to our own advantage in moving this +ship?" + + * * * * * + +Mike stared at Ishie with vast respect. + +"I thought you physics boys did it all with math," he said softly, +"and here you've outlined the facts of space that an Indian can feel +in his bones--and you've done it in good, solid English that makes +some sense. + +"In other words," Mike was almost talking to himself as he tried to +reword Ishie's theorizing into his own type of thinking, "the particle +in motion creates a strain in the fabric--the field--of space; and +that fabric must attempt to relieve itself of the strain. A particle +in motion makes it possible for the fabric of space to smooth itself +out behind the particle; and the fabric attempts to smooth itself on +through the area occupied by the particle while it is moving, and so +the fabric of space smoothing itself is a constant thrust behind the +particle's motion, continuing that motion and making the particle scat +to where he wasn't going. + +"When that same particle is stopped," Mike was visualizing the process +to himself, "the force of the attempt to smooth itself out by the +fabric of space exists equally around the particle on all sides; so +that the particle will be held stopped by the attempt of the fabric to +smooth itself until set into motion again by a force greater than that +of inertia--for inertia, then, is the attempt of the fabric of space +to smooth itself. + +"Quite possibly," Mike was speaking very slowly now as he mocked up +and watched the forces of this inertia, "matter itself is created out +of the fabric of space, and in its creation, in the stasis condition +that keeps it existing as a particle rather than dissolving back into +the original fabric, it creates the strain in the fabric--in +space--that will then seek to smooth itself so long as the particle +shall exist. + +"Thus this, then, is inertia--the attempt of the fabric of space to +smooth itself; to get rid of the strain of the particle that has been +created from itself." + +Ishie shook his head. "Not quite," he said, "but you're getting +close." + +Mike shook himself like a dog coming out of water. + +"Oh, well," he said. "Anyway, we've got a space drive--flea sized. Now +the question before the board becomes, just what are we going to do +with it? Turn it over to the captain?" + +"Confusion say," said Ishie, "he who has very little is often most +generous. But he who has huge fortune is very cautious about +dispersing it. Let's first be sure what we've got," he grinned slyly +at Mike, "before we become overgenerous with information." + +Mike heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had been afraid he would have to +argue Ishie into this point of view. + +"Speaking of math, Mike, you're no slouch at it yourself, if you +figured out all those orbit co-ordinates in your head, and arrived at +an exact figure on the amount of thrust. It would be very nice for our +future investigations if we had some method of putting the Cow to work +on this." The little physicist sat back, grinned knowingly, and +continued: "Where's your secret panel, Mike? We've got to keep this +information from going to anybody else." + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, I already--" Mike stopped. "I mean," he floundered, "uh ... how +did you know?" A foolish grin spread over his face. "It's right behind +you," he said. "And I've got it by voice," he said. "Just push the +switch in the corner and talk to it." + + * * * * * + +Ishie turned, glanced at the panel, and went over to the switch, +pushing it. "I wondered how you were concealing the teletype," he +said. "You mean you really talk to it?" + +The Sacred Cow's voice came back. "Reference not understoo-od. +Ple-ease explai-ain." + +"Oy!" said Ishie. "It even sounds like a cow!" + +"Ye-es, si-ir," said the Cow. "A cow is an he-erbivorous ma-ammal, +usua-ally do-omesticated, and fou-ound in mo-ost of the cou-ountries +of Ea-arth. Wha-at specific da-ata did you-u wi-ish? The mi-ilk +su-upply--" + +"Hold it," Mike said, forestalling a long dissertation on the dairy +industry. + +Catching on quickly to the literal-mindedness of the placid computer, +Ishie fired a direct question. + +"What is our current position in relation to the equatorial orbit that +we should be following?" he asked. + +There was a sput from the speaker, very much as though someone had +been caught off guard and almost said something, and then the placid +reply came back. + +"That information is top secret. Please identify yourself as Mike and +I will answer you." + +Ishie groaned, depressed the cutoff switch and turned to Mike. + +"You fixed it," he said. "If a simple question like that gets an +answer like that, how long do you think it will take the captain to +find out something's wrong with the Cow?" + +Mike lunged for the switch, but Ishie held him back. + +"Hold it, Boy. You've made enough electronic mistakes for one day. +This takes some thinking over." + +"We better think fast," said Mike. "The captain'll ask that question +any second now, or a question like it." + +"All right," said Ishie. "First we've got to withdraw your original +order--and you'd better not trust your own memory as to what it was. +You ask the Cow to tell you what order you gave her making certain +information top secret. Then when she tells you exactly what you said, +you tell her to cancel _that_ order." + +Mike did as he was told. + +"Why," said Ishie, "did you give such an order in the first place? +Never mind answering that question," he added, "but it's lucky she +hasn't been refusing to give people the time of day, and referring +them to you. As a matter of fact"--glancing up at the clock on the +wall--"it looks like she has. That clock hasn't moved since I got +here." + +Even as he spoke, the clock whirred, jumped forty-five minutes, and +settled down to its steady, second-by-second spin. + +"Ishie," said Mike, "we figured out a space drive, and that was great. +But if we can figure out how to communicate an idea to a computer, +we're _real_ geniuses." + +Ishie turned on the vocoder. "Please supply us," he told the Cow, +"with a complete recording of your latest conversation with Mike." + +And as the computer started back over the dialogue that has just +occurred between herself and Mike, Ishie interrupted. "Not that," he +said, "I mean the last previous conversation." + +Then he sat back as the Cow unreeled a fifteen minute monologue which +repeated both sides of the conversation including the order to make +everything top secret. + +Having listened through this, Ishie said: "At the point where Mike +asks you about acceleration, you will now erase the rest of the +conversation and substitute this comment from yourself: 'The lab is +being accelerated by an external magneto-ionic effect.' This will be +your only explanation of acceleration applied to the ship. Now please +repeat your conversation with Mike." + +Then he sat back to listen through the recording again. + +This time when it came to the part about acceleration, without +hesitation, the Cow referred blithely to the external magneto-ionic +effect that was causing acceleration. + +When Ishie asked the computer: "How could this effect be canceled?" +and listened to a long syllogistic outline which, if condensed to a +single, understandable sentence meant simply "by reversing the field +in respect to the lab with a magnet on board the lab." + +Ishie heaved a great sigh of relief, and said, "Now, Mike, we can go +to work. For of course," he added, "we must have authority to install +our magnetic coils, and what better authority is there than the Cow? + +"Confusion say it is better to have the voice of authority speak with +your words than to be the voice of authority. + +"Now," he said, "let us see what we have really got here." + + * * * * * + +As they worked, time progressed. The empty racks around the Confusor +slowly filled with more test instruments both borrowed and devised; +and the formerly unoccupied corner of the section of panels took on +more and more the look of a complete installation, in the center of +which the Confusor still churkled quietly, pitting its strength +against the mighty monster to which it was so firmly tied. + +Two hours were spent in testing circuits, each one exhaustively. Then +Ishie turned to Mike. + +"We need still yet another test that we have not provided. A strain +gauge to find out how much thrust a mosquito puts out. There's one in +the physics lab. I'll run get it." + +"You will _not_," said Mike. "Genius you may be, but proton-proof +you're not. We can rig that right here." + +Walking over to the spare parts locker, Mike brought back a complete +readout display panel, a spare from one of the Cow's bridge consoles; +and quickly connected it in to the data link on which the vocoder +operated. Then, carefully instructing the computer as to the required +display, he settled back. + +"That'll do it," he said. "The Cow can tell us all we need to know +right on that panel--about acceleration, lack of it, or change of it +that we may cause by changing the parameters of our experiment. Those +racks were checked out to stand up under eighty gees," he added. +"Typical overspecification. They never said what would happen to the +personnel under those conditions." + +Ishie turned the Confusor off and then back on, and watched the +display gauge rise to the six hundred forty mark, and then show the +fraction above it .12128. Then carefully, ever so infinitesimally, he +adjusted a knob on the device. The readout sank back towards zero, +coming to rest reading 441.3971. + +"We'll have to put a vernier control on this phase circuit," Ishie +said to himself. "It jumped thirty per-cent, and I scarcely breathed +on it." + +After a few more checks on the operation of the phase control, he +turned to the power control for the magnetic field. Carefully, Ishie +lowered the field strength, eye on the readout panel. As the field +strength lowered, the reading increased. + +The indication was that by lowering the field strength only ten per +cent, he had increased the thrust to sixteen hundred pounds--which, +he felt, was close to the tolerance of the machine structure. + +Carefully he increased the field strength again. Faithfully the +reading followed it down the scale. + +Then he had another thought. Running the field strength down and the +pressure up, and again arriving at sixteen hundred pounds, he turned +off the Confusor, waited a few moments, and turned it back on. + +The reading remained zero. + +Apparently, then a decrease in field strength would cause an increase +in thrust; but the original field strength was necessary in order to +initiate the thrust field. + +Carefully he nudged the field strength back up, and suddenly there +were seven hundred ten pounds indicated thrust. + +Thrust could apparently be initiated by a field strength a few per +cent lower, but not much lower, than the original operating point. + + * * * * * + +Captain Naylor Andersen arrived on the bridge with an accusing air, +but feeling refreshed. He had slept longer than he intended--and +though he had asked Bessie to call him when she came back on duty two +hours earlier, he had not been called. + +"You needed the sleep, captain," she told him unrepentant. "I checked +with the Cow. The flare's predicted to continue for another eight +hours. We're simply in standby." + +However, various observatories on Earth had not been asleep. Within +fifteen minutes of the time he reached the bridge, a message from U.N. +Headquarters chattered in over the teletype. + +"Tracking stations report your orbital discontinuity too great to have +been achieved by jet action of nitrogen escaping from Hot Rod. Hot Rod +pressures insufficient to achieve your present apparent acceleration. +Please explain discrepancy between these reports and your own +summation of ten hours previous. Suggest close and continual +observation of Project Hot Rod. Suspect, repeat strongly suspect, +possibility of sabotage. End message." + +Nails Andersen stared at the sheet that the com officer had placed in +his hands. Then he pressed the intercom to the morgue. + +"Dr. Kimball. Please report to the bridge. Dr. P.E.R. Kimball. Please +report to the bridge immediately." + +Then he turned to Bessie. "Ask the Cow for an orbit computation from +the time of the ... er ... meteor last night." + +Under Bessie's practiced, computer-minded fingers, the answer wanted +came quickly--a displayed string of figures, each to three decimal +places, accompanied by a second display on the captain's console +showing the old equatorial orbit across a grid projection of the +Earth's surface to a point of departure over the mid-Atlantic where it +began curving ever farther north, up across the tip of South America, +very slightly off course. + +The captain glanced at the display of Hot Rod and its taut-cable, and +realized with a sickening sense of unreality that no jet action on +Hot Rod could have caused it to lead the station in this northerly +direction; and that instead it was placidly trailing behind. It was +now farther south of the Space Lab than its original position; but +their orbit had been displaced to the north. + +Perk appeared beside the console, but the captain ignored the +astronomer for a moment longer, while he leaned back thinking. + +What could be the answer? A leak in the Space Lab itself? That would +give acceleration; minor, not to have triggered an alarm--it should +have triggered an alarm--but acceleration. Sufficient for the +off-orbit shown? He did a brief calculation in his head. It wouldn't +take much. Very little, for the time that had passed--Very well, then. +He put down a leak in his mind as a possibility. Now, water or air? It +could be either, if his reasoning this far were correct. He looked up. + +"Have the Cow display barometric readings for each section of the rim +and for each compartment in the central hub," he said briefly to +Bessie; and to the astronomer, "Dr. Kimball, take that side seat at +the computer console and check our progress on this orbital +deviation," and he gestured at the display on his screen. + +Perk moved to the post with only a nod. + + * * * * * + +The barometric displays held constant, with only fractional deviations +that might have been imposed by the spin of the big wheel, or error in +the instruments themselves. Balanced against temperature readings, +they worked out to possible fractions of gain or loss so small as to +be insignificant, indicating only the inaccuracies of measurement that +inevitably occur in comparing the readings of a number of instruments. + +The captain had hardly digested the readings displayed by the computer +when Perk looked up with a puzzled frown. + +"The computer records a continuous acceleration over the past eleven +hours and forty-three minutes," he said, "and attributes it," he +looked even more puzzled, "to a magneto-ionic effect?" There was a +definite question in his voice. + +"It's only about six hundred forty pounds," he added. "It must be an +external effect caused by the flare." + +"Please investigate the effect as thoroughly as possible," the captain +told Perk, then dictated a message to the com officer. + +"'To U.N. Headquarters, Earth, from Captain Naylor Andersen, +commanding Space Lab One. Original assumption that disaster was +attributable to meteoric impact on Project Hot Rod appears mistaken. +Investigation indicates we are under acceleration from an external +magneto-ionic effect which is exerting about--'" he called to Perk. +"Did you say six hundred forty pounds?" + +The astronomer nodded, and the captain continued, "'Which is exerting +about six hundred forty pound pressure against this satellite. We are +now working out corrective measures and will inform you immediately +they are prepared. If your observatories can give us any advice, +please message at once. End.'" + +Then the captain depressed his intercom switch to the morgue. "Dr. +Chi. Please report to the bridge. Repeat. Dr. Chi Tung. Please report +to the bridge at once." + +His own intercom hummed, and a voice came on. "Dr. Chi Tung is not in +the morgue. He left with Mr. Blackhawk some time ago." + +The captain frowned, but pushed the engineering room intercom. "Is Dr. +Chi with you, Mr. Blackhawk?" he asked, and when Mike's voice +answered, "Yes, sir," he said, "Will you both report to the bridge at +once, please?" + +When the two arrived, only a little tardily, on the bridge, the +captain addressed Ishie. + +"You heard of the disaster last night?" The physicist nodded. "We +assumed then," the captain told him, "that a meteor had caused the +disturbance. That it had gone through the balloon making a hole +through which the balloon's nitrogen was escaping, making a jet action +and accelerating the ship. + +"It seems, however, that we are under acceleration, and that the +acceleration is too great to be such jet action, since Hot Rod does +not have sufficient pressure. + +"The computer reports that the acceleration is derived from an +external magneto-ionic effect. Would such an effect be a result of a +flare?" he asked. + +"I believe it could, captain. I should have to do a bit of math, +but...." + +"We will assume, then, that the computer is correct," the captain told +him. "Could such an effect have a sufficiently great effect on this +ship to give it as much as six hundred forty pounds of thrust?" + +"Again, I should have to check the math, captain, but I would assume +so." + +"Mr. Blackhawk," the captain turned to his engineer, "could such a +thrust throw Hot Rod off her communications beam and cause last +night's disaster?" + +"I guess I'd have to check by math, too, captain...." Mike appeared to +debate the question. "It would be a very small acceleration at first, +of course," he said, "from six hundred forty pounds of thrust. But Hot +Rod's cable is slack, and the velocity needn't be great to give it +quite a jolt when the slack was taken up. Yes, I feel sure that could +happen, captain." + +[Illustration] + +The captain relaxed a little, and a half-smile played near the corner +of his mouth as he said to Mike, "I believe, then, we may have found +the _real_ saboteur, Mr. Blackhawk." Then to Ishie. "Doctor, I believe +that your field is the one in which the most experience lies towards +finding a means for counteracting the effect that is now influencing +our orbit. I am putting you in charge of the problem. The pull, +according to the computer, is as I said, six hundred forty pounds. Do +you think you can work out a method for counteraction?" + +"I think ... possibly, yes, captain. Let me say, probably yes." + +"Then please do so, and report the method to me. I will then submit it +to the other scientists aboard that may have some selective knowledge +in the field, and to Earth. You may, of course, call on any of the +personnel of the ship for assistance, and possibly Mr. Blackhawk may +be of assistance to you. He is familiar with the equipment aboard. + +"You probably recognize the urgency of the problem so I shall not +attempt to underline that urgency further, other than to say that it +is of the utmost importance," he ended. + + * * * * * + +Five minutes later the two conspirators were back in the engineering +quarters, grinning like Cheshire cats, and mentally rolling up their +sleeves to go to work. They had, to all intents and purposes, carte +blanche to work out the construction of the device they would need for +an enlarged Confusor with a real thrust, even though they would have +to appear to co-operate with a multitude of other interested parties. +Mike and Ishie were both becoming adept students of the mythical Dr. +Confusion, and neither doubted their combined ability to handle that +part of the problem. + +"Now," said Ishie, "Confusion say he who can fly on wings of mosquito +fly better on wings of eagle. How much thrust do we want, Mike?" + +"What are our limits?" asked the practical engineer. + +"Limits, schlimits. We got _power_. Of course," he added, "we _are_ +limited by the acceptable stress limits on the wheel, and ... yes ... +by the stress limits on our plastic, too." + +"The wheel was designed to stand upwards of 1.5 gee maximum spin--but +that's only radial strength," Mike began figuring. "Don't think +anybody ever calculated the stress of pulling the hub loose, endwise. +No reason to, you know, and it wasn't expected to land or anything. +And really, nobody expected it to stand in service more than a 1.5 gee +spin on the rim. They computed these racks to take all kinds of shock, +but the overall structure is rather flimsily built." He paused for +thought. "We could maybe put a tenth of a gee on the axis, but I +better check some of the stress figures against the structural pattern +with the Cow first. We'll have to give some thought to strengthening +things later, if we really want to go into the fantastic possibility +of landing this monster anywhere." + +Consulted, the Sacred Cow computed a potential maximum stress-safety +at the hub of something over two-tenths of a gee, and the two finally +settled on one-tenth as well within the limits. + +"Now the other limit," said Ishie. "This little piece of plastic will +only stand a pressure approaching the point at which it begins to +distort and run out of the field. This stuff is quoted to have a +compression-yield strength of one hundred ten pounds to the square +inch. We probably shouldn't exceed ... hm-m-m ... ninety pounds. Let's +get the Cow to tell us how big a chunk of surface area that +represents." + +The answer was discouraging. Mike rapidly converted the figure in +centimeters to feet, and came up with nearly an eighty-three foot +diameter for a circular surface. + +"Looks like we'll have to put it out on the spokes," he muttered in +disgust, but Ishie shook his head quickly. + +"No need, Mike. Later on we'll need a few thrust points out on the rim +for good aiming, but we don't have to have all this surface area in +one unit or even in one place. Also, we do not need to consider only +the surface of an homogeneous piece of plastic material. + +"This plastic can be cast. Very easily. In it, we can insert +structures that will absorb the strain from many surfaces within, +rather than only on a front surface. + +"I expect some of the glass thread with which the hull of the ship was +made could be inserted with no trouble. Each thread, then, would take +up the strain, and a mass of them distributed through the plastic +could deliver a greatly increased amount of thrust from a volume of +plastic rather than from a surface area." + + * * * * * + +Mike started to object. "To get an absolutely parallel magnetic field, +the gap between the pole faces can't be very wide." + +"Perhaps I wasn't considering pole faces," Ishie answered. "Our +investigation has already shown that once initiated the thrust-effect +works best in a very low magnetic field. + +"Such a low, parallel magnetic field would quite probably be found +inside of a simple solenoid coil." + +"O.K.," Mike answered, "but you have also found that a very high +magnetic field is required to initiate the action. How do you get that +inside a solenoid without an iron core?" + +"As you say, a strong field must _initiate_ the action. Let us try +another experiment, Mike." + +Ishie turned the Confusor off, selected a piece of wire from Mike's +supplies, and wound a ten-turn coil over the large magnetic coils of +the experimental device. + +The leads from this he ran to a pulse-generator that could be +accurately adjusted to supply pulses of anything from a tenth +microsecond to a tenth second. + +Selecting the shortest possible duration, he then set the magnetic +field adjustment on the experimental device to a point just below that +point on which it had turned on previously. + +"Now we see." Turning on the device, he glanced at the display panel +which still showed zero thrust. Then he triggered a single +one-microsecond pulse into the additional ten turns of winding. The +readout display showed zero thrust. He triggered a ten microsecond +pulse. Nothing happened. One hundred microseconds. Nothing. One +thousand microseconds--the display changed, dropping so quickly into +position that the pulse thrust itself was not recorded--but the figure +turned up seven hundred thirty pounds thrust on the display panel. + +"So," said Ishie, "we can initiate thrust with a one thousand +microsecond pulse. Can you design a power supply that would achieve +that field for that time in a solenoid having ... say ... one per cent +as high a field strength as the one we are using here?" + +"O.K.," said Mike. "I get you. Sounds to me like this thing is going +to look like a barrel when we get through with it. + +"I wish," he added, "that we could get one point one gee. And land +this thing on Earth. And have a big parade, with Space Lab One +hovering just overhead to the cheers and the blaring bands and the--" + +"Confusion say, he who would poke hole in hornets nest had best be +prepared with long legs." Ishie grinned. "You don't think anybody +would really appreciate our doing that, do you Mike? Outside of the +people themselves, that is, that aren't directly concerned with man's +_welfare_? We haven't done this in the proper manner of team research +and billions spent in experiments and planned predicted achievements +made with the proper Madison Avenue bow to the financier that made it +possible. You know what they do to wild-haired individualists down +there, don't you?" + +Mike shrugged. "Oh, well," he said, "you're right of course. But it +was a beautiful dream. How do you suppose we can build these and still +keep all the scientists aboard and on Earth happy that they're just +innocent magneto-ionic effect cancelers? Boy, that was a beauty, +Ishie!" + +"Best we have two sets of drawings. The ones for us can be sketchy, +and need not have too much exactitude of design. We know what we're +doing--at least, I hope we do. + +"But let us make a second set of drawings that is somewhat different, +though of a simpler shape and design, on which other scientists aboard +can speculate, and which can be sent to Earth to confuse the +confusion." + + * * * * * + +The two went to work with a will, and as the two sets of drawings +emerged, they were indeed different. The set from which they would +actually work was only mildly described as sketchy. The papers looked +like the notations a man makes for himself to get the figures he will +set into a formalized pattern as it takes shape, before throwing his +penciled figurings into the wastebasket. + +The second set was exact; created with drawing instruments on Mike's +drafting board, and each of the component circuits would have created +an effect that would have interlocked in the whole, but it would take +the most erudite of persons to figure each into its effect, and its +effect into the whole, and the effect of the whole was somewhat that +somebody might someday figure out--but would possibly cancel a +magneto-ionic effect if such existed. The drawings looked extremely +impressive. + +As the second set of drawings neared completion, Ishie glanced at the +clock, then turned to the Cow's vocoder. + +"How soon will Space Lab One reach the northernmost point of her +present orbit and begin a swing to the south?" he asked. + +Mike looked puzzled, but the Cow answered, "In ten minutes, +thirty-seven seconds. At precisely 05:27:53 ship time." + +"I think," said Ishie, "we'd best put a switch on our magnetic field +so that we can reverse the field and the thrust." + +"Why?" asked Mike. + +"Because," Ishie explained, "when we reach the top of our course +northward, then the thrust of the Confusor and Earth's gravity come +into conflict, moving our entire orbit off-center and bringing us +closer to the pole. In not too many orbits, that eccentricity in our +orbit might pull us into the Van Allen belt. We can't afford that. +Now, if we reverse the thrust at the right time, our orbit will be +enlarged and we stay out of troubled spaces." + +Mike was still puzzled. "I don't see how that works," he said. "Why +wouldn't we just go off in a spiral on our present thrust?" + +"The acceleration of Earth is a much greater influence," Ishie tried +to make it clear, "than our little mosquito here. As long as they work +together, things go well. But when Earth dictates that we will now +swing south, be it ever so few degrees south, our mosquito is +overpowered and can only drag us clear to Earth-center on a closing +spiral, which would eventually lead us to crash somewhere in the +southern hemisphere, a good many orbits from now. + +"I hope," he said, "reversing the magnetic field will indeed reverse +our little mosquito's thrust." He moved toward the Confusor. + +"Hold it," said Mike. "The displacement in orbit won't be very much, +at least on the first few go-arounds, will it? and if we switch it +now, somebody'll start getting suspicious of this magneto-ionic +effect. The effect that's doing all this. A sudden reversal might not +be in its character, if it had a character. And anyhow, we don't want +to give another jerk on Hot Rod. We might jerk something loose this +time. We've already wiped out Thule Base--and there's no use adding +scalps to an already full belt." + +"O.K.," said Ishie. "Then now, I think it is time that we presented +our formal drawings to the captain; and I think that when we present +them we will suggest that we start work immediately on construction, +even while he is checking out our drawings through his experts, so +that the project will not be delayed." + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, the captain received the drawings with relief. + +"Thank you, gentlemen. If these prove out, you may have saved the +satellite by the rapidity of your work. Dr. Kimball calculated that +our present acceleration will take us dangerously close to the Van +Allen belt in about three orbits, and I need not tell you what that +would mean." + +Ishie spoke up immediately. "In that case, captain, perhaps Mr. +Blackhawk and I had better start construction on this device +immediately, without waiting for you to complete the check-out. That +may save us invaluable time." + +"Of course," said the captain. "What assistance will you need?" + +"Of the greatest priority," replied Ishie gravely, "is access to the +machine shop. The solar flare should be about wearing itself out." + +"Oh ... of course. It may be." The captain's face was slightly red as +he realized he had not thought to check this point. "Bessie, ask the +computer...." + +"Yes, sir," she answered quickly, and returned shortly. "The computer +says the radiation count is down to ten M.R. above normal." + +"It's a fairly low reading, even if it is above the Cow's normal-safe +mark. That reading could go on for hours, which we may not have," +commented Ishie. "Perhaps we could disregard so narrow a differential...." + +"In your opinion, doctor," the captain asked, "would it be safe to +return the personnel to the rim? Of course, I would have to return the +entire ship to normal conditions in order to give the machine shop or +any other part of the rim its normal six-foot shielding," he added, +"so please consider your answer carefully." + +"I think you would be quite safe to do so, captain. Considering the +fact that otherwise we may go into the Van Allen belt, I think it +should be done without question." + +To himself, Mike chortled gleefully. This grave, pedantic physicist +was about as unlike the co-conspirator with whom he had worked for the +past nearly ten hours as was possible. "The guy's a genius at a lot of +things," he thought to himself. "Puts on the social mock-up expected +of him like you'd put on a suit of clothes--and takes it off just as +completely," he added as an afterthought. + + * * * * * + +The return to the rim was slower than had been the evacuation--but it +was complete within twenty minutes of the decision to return the +satellite to normal. + +In the machine shop, Paul and Tombu, with Ishie and Mike, were +gathering the materials they'd need for the odd construction--Paul +singing to himself as he worked. + + _"I got in the shuttle, thought it went to the Base;_ + _I'd learned my trade; there I'd take my place_ + _Safely on Earth; but I found me in space--_ + _I'd went where I wasn't going!"_ + +"What's that song?" asked Ishie of the spaceman. + +"Oh, that's just 'The Spaceman's Lament.' You make it up as you go +along." His voice grew louder, taking the minor, wailing key at a +volume the others could hear. + + _"I got on the wheel, thought I'd stay for the ride--_ + _I'd found a funny suit in which to hide--_ + _But I went through a closet--and I was outside!_ + _I'd went where I wasn't going!"_ + +Tombu and Mike joined happily in the chorus, bawling it out at the top +of their lungs as they began the work that would make the big +Confusor. + + _"Oh ... there's a sky-trail leading from here to there_ + _And another yonder showing--_ + _But when I get to the end of the run_ + _It'll be where I wasn't going!"_ + +Meanwhile, facsimile copies of the official drawings had been made for +the other interested scientists aboard, and also sent by transfax to +U.N. headquarters for distribution among Earth's top-level scientists. + +They were innocent enough in concept, and sufficiently complex in +design to require a great deal of study by these conservative +individuals who would never risk a hasty guess as to the consequences +of even so simple an action as sneezing at the wrong time. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson awoke with a start, to see a medic's eyes inches +from his own. For a moment, fearing himself under physical attack, he +struck out convulsively, and then as the face withdrew he sat up +slowly. + +He was slightly nauseous; very dizzy; and his instincts told him that +he needed a gallon of coffee as soon as he could get it. Then the +medic's voice penetrated. + +"Please, sir, you must rest. No excitement." + +Almost, he was persuaded. It would be so easy to relax; to give +someone else the responsibility. But the concept of responsibility +brought him struggling up again. + +Hot Rod was a dangerous weapon. He could not act irresponsibly. + +"How long was I out?" he muttered. + +The medic glanced at the clock. "Just over nineteen hours, sir." + +"Wha-at? You dared to keep me off duty that long? I must report for +duty at once." + +"Please, sir. No excitement. You must rest. Just a moment and I'll +call Dr. Green." With that the medic turned and fled. + +As Dr. Green approached, Steve Elbertson was already on his feet, +swaying dizzily, white as a sheet, but perhaps the latter was more +from anger than from anything else. + +"Major Elbertson. You received a severe dose of radiation. You are +under my personal supervision and will return to bed at once." + +"Is the flare over?" Elbertson asked the question, although already +vaguely aware that the ship was again spinning, that he was standing +on the floor fairly firmly, and that, therefore, the emergency must be +over. + +"Yes." + +"In that case, sir, my duty is to my post on Hot Rod." + +"Hot Rod's out of commission and so are you. I cannot be responsible +for the consequences if you do not follow my orders." + +"Explain that, please. About Hot Rod, I mean." + +"Why, it was struck by a meteor shortly after the flare last night. I +think I heard someone say that it burned out Thule Base before they +managed to turn it off." + +Without waiting for more, Elbertson brushed past the doctor and headed +for the bridge. + +The captain was startled by the mad-looking, unshaven scarecrow of an +officer that approached him, demanding in a near-scream, "What +happened? What have you done? What did you DO to Project Hot Rod? No +one should have tampered with it without my direct order! Captain, if +that mechanism has been ruined, I'll have them nail your hide to the +door!" + +"Major!" The captain stood. "This may be a civilian post, but you are +still an officer and I am your superior. Return to your quarters and +clean up. Then report to me properly!" + +For a moment there was seething rebellion on Elbertson's already wild +features. Then, automatonlike, he turned and walked stiffly away +without saluting. + +But the stiffness left him as he passed through the door. Momentarily +he sagged against a wall for support, far weaker than he thought +possible for a man of his youth and what he thought of as his +condition. Making his way almost blindly to Security's quarters in +rim-section B-5, he staggered through the door and on towards the +latrine, shouting at Chauvenseer to "Get out of that sack and give me +a detailed report on events since the flare. Oh, and send somebody for +coffee--lots of coffee." + + * * * * * + +On the bridge the captain flipped the intercom to Dr. Green's station. +"Is Major Elbertson under the influence of any unusual drugs, doctor?" +he asked when he'd reached the medical staff chief. "Anything that +might make his behavior erratic?" + +"Only sedatives, captain. And, oh yes, those new sulph-hydral +anti-radiation shots. We're not too familiar with what they do, though +the reports indicate the worst effect is a mild anoxemia, which +generally results in something of a headache. Of course, that's if the +quantity of the drug was precisely calibrated. They can be fatal," he +added as an afterthought. + +"Would anoxemia cause a change in character, doctor?" + +"It might. It might make one behave either stupidly or +irrationally--temporarily or permanently, depending on the severity of +the effect." + +"Did Major Elbertson seem normal to you when you discharged him from +hospital?" + +"I did not discharge him, captain. I ordered him to remain under my +care. But he seemed greatly upset, and short of force I could not have +kept him from leaving." + +"I see." The captain paused, then asked: "Doctor, please consider +carefully. Would you consider Major Elbertson's condition serious +enough to warrant confining him to bed by force?" + +"Probably not. He should come out of it in a few hours. Exercise may +possibly be good for him, though I doubt if he's capable of much of +it." The doctor chuckled as though at a private joke with himself, +then added, "He's really quite weak physically, you know, even without +the after effects of radiation and drugs." + +"Thank you, doctor." + + * * * * * + +Back in his quarters, Elbertson was refusing to admit to himself the +fact of his own weakness. He had been quite ill in the shower, had +managed to slash himself rather badly with the razor while shaving, +but was now smartly attired in a clean pair of the regulation +coveralls, with the insignia of his rank properly in place--and so +weak he could hardly move. + +The coffee hadn't helped much. + +The briefing had helped even less. The major knew himself guilty of +negligence while on duty. Inadvertently, but as though by his very +hand, certainly through the agency of some saboteur he had failed to +spot, his weapon had been turned on his own troops at Thule, key post +in the plan. + +It was possible that the entire plan had been sabotaged, though that +seemed quite unlikely. Its ramifications were too great. So long as +Hot Rod still existed, was still within their reach, the plan was +operational. + +The nonsense about a magneto-ionic effect he discarded without +hesitation. Obviously it was sabotage, possibly by someone with a plan +of his own, more probably by someone in the pay of one of the big +power companies that would like to see the operation at least +postponed. Obviously--he gave up. + +Nothing would be obvious until he knew in exact detail what had +occurred, what the plans of the enemy would be, where next they would +strike--and who was the enemy. + +But that last, at least, was almost obvious. Who else, but the man who +had carried the political battle, against all odds, that Hot Rod be +created? Who else but Captain Naylor Andersen could possibly have +delivered this sneaking, underhanded attack against himself and his +comrades? + +Who else, he thought, but a man so callous as to order _him_, sick as +he was, as though he were a mere cadet, to leave the bridge. + +Major Elbertson's mind was made up as to the identity of the enemy. + +But he would have to proceed with care, or he would key the plan +before the time was ripe. There must be no great shake-up in +personnel, or undue attention from Earth to the potentials of Project +Hot Rod. + +Perhaps the saboteur's cover-story of a magneto-ionic effect would +serve his ends as well--at least until his comrades on Earth signaled +that the time was ripe. + +Yet now that Hot Rod had proved its power, the time was ripe. It was +that proof on which the plan had waited. And perhaps this very +sabotage would prove to be the "incident" on which the plan hinged.... + +Even as he fought to clear his normally organized mind of the +weariness of his body that now sapped at its strength, the call came. + +Chauvenseer appeared at his side, saluting smartly. "Com Officer +Clark, sir, reports a message from Earth. _The_ message, sir. 'Begin +Operation Ripe Peach.'" + +Major Elbertson pulled himself to a military stance, returning his +aide's salute with complete precision. + +Briefly he considered gathering all his men, all the Security +personnel, and storming the bridge. + +No, obviously the enemy was organized--an unforeseen circumstance. +Obviously the captain was not alone. Obviously _his_ men included at +least some of these slipstick boys--and he would command the loyalty +of them all, since he was somewhat of their ilk himself. + +No, an officer must seek the most advantageous position from which to +deliver his ultimatum. + +He must use Hot Rod itself to control them. If Hot Rod itself were +actually sabotaged, then the plan must wait until he could have it +repaired. He doubted it was hurt. + +The flare had thrown off all original sequences--but perhaps that was +to his advantage. + +To Chauvenseer he snapped: "This is the detail of our immediate +operation. Get four of our best men besides yourself. Have each of +them come separately and unobtrusively to the south polar lock, where +I will meet them. I will bring Smith with me. + +"Have each of the others take his assigned post for Operation Ripe +Peach--but order them to take no action other than to prevent anyone +on board from doing anything unusual that might be an enemy +operation--until I alert them that Operation Ripe Peach is +operational. + +"Their orders will, of course, come on our personal radios, Security +Band 2Z21. + +"Execute!" he ended, saluting smartly. + + * * * * * + +As the Security squad moved, with individual secrecy, towards their +various posts, Captain Andersen was considering that Elbertson would +probably snap out of it as soon as he had had coffee and a shave. The +man had probably been severely affected by the drugs he had been +given. He would make no further reference to the incident of erratic +behavior, unless it continued. + +[Illustration] + +Bessie, having at the moment nothing else to do, was busily plying the +Sacred Cow not only for her own horoscope for the day, but also those +of the several persons of whom she was most fond, while carefully +keeping a shielding bunch of paper work in a place to make it appear +that she was officially busy. The captain's horoscope, she +recognized, didn't look much worse than the rest of them, but was +definitely the worst. One of those mathematical jumbles that somehow +didn't interpret clearly. None of them looked very good today. + +Out on the rim, things were getting back to normal. The labs were +functioning again, most of them according to their assigned, routine +procedures; but in some, heads were drawn together over the absorbing +diagrams supplied by Mike and Ishie. + +Mike and Ishie themselves had already put in twelve hours almost +without a break. Working under stress, neither of them had remembered +to eat. + +There was a cough at the entrance to the machine shop, and Dr. Millie +Williams' soft voice said "May I come in?" + +The two looked up as the slender figure of the dark-skinned biologist +entered the lab, balancing "trays" with plastic bottles atop. + +"If I know you, Dr. Ishie; and you, too, Mike--you haven't eaten," she +said with a smile. "Now, have you?" + +"Millie," said Mike, "you've just reminded me that I'm as hollow as a +deserted bee-stump after the bears get through with it!" + +"Little Millie," said Ishie, looking up at the figure nearly as tiny +as his own, "you must be telepathic as well as beautiful. Confusion +say 'Gee, I'm hungry!'" + +"I'm told that the fate of the satellite depends on you two," Millie +smiled. "I thought I'd just give our fate a little extra chance. Now +drop what you're doing and light into this. + +"After that, if you've got a job for a mere biologist, I've got my lab +readied up where it can last till I get back and--I'm not bad with a +soldering iron. Meantime, why don't you let Paul and Tombu go eat +while you eat?" + +"Good idea," said Mike. "You two. You heard the lady. We gotta give +our fate the benefit of victuals. Scat." + + * * * * * + +As soon as the physicist and the engineer were settled to the plastic +containers of food and coffee she had brought, wolfing them down +hungrily, Millie opened up. + +"While we're alone, I'm going to speak my piece," she said. "You two +will do me the honor of not taking offense if I say that you have the +most brains and the least consciences aboard--and I happen to share +the latter characteristic." + +The two looked up guiltily and waited. + +"Now don't stop eating, for I'm not through talking," she said. "That +magneto-ionic effect canceler you dreamed up would probably cancel the +six hundred forty pound magneto-ionic effect pull you dreamed up--if +such a thing existed. + +"What I want to know ... don't stop eating until you've decided +whether you're going to let me in on your game or not ... is what +really does exist? I might be of some help, you know." + +"But--" Mike and Ishie simultaneously choked over their food, looked +at each other, and then Mike blurted out, "but how could _she_ know?" + +"Don't worry," said Millie. "I'm probably the only one. It takes a +person with little conscience and much imagination--takes a thief to +catch a thief, I mean--yes, I think I mean that quite literally. +Besides, I can help with some of that glassware that disappeared out +of my supplies several days ago. Oh yes, I knew it was gone and where +it went--but I figured any purpose you had was a good one, Ishie. + +"But for how I personally canceled the idea of your magneto-ionic +effect from the flare--it just happens that last night I was curious +while everybody was asleep. When Bessie first came on duty this +morning, I offered to relieve her while she had a cup of coffee, and I +got a half-hour all by myself with the Cow. The captain wasn't up yet. +Her console's so simple anyone with a basic knowledge of computers and +cybernetics could figure her out. + +"Practically the first question I asked--something about our +orbit--the Cow told me that the information was top secret, and to get +it I must go to the proper channel and identify myself as Mike. I +started to intercom you, Mike, to tell you that your machinations were +showing, but Bessie came back about then. I hung around to see what +would happen, and pretty soon Bessie asked the Cow about the same +question--but instead of getting the same answer, the Cow told her +that an external magneto-ionic field was pulling us out of line. + +"So I went up to your engineering place. I rather thought you'd like +to know what the Cow had told me--but Dr. Ishie was there, and so +instead I went about my own business until I could figure things out. + +"Now I couldn't figure things out. But I could figure there's a monkey +wrench somewhere--and since the two of you have been sticking together +like Siamese twins, I know it will be perfectly all right to ask you +in front of Ishie. + +"Now," she finished, "do I get my girlish curiosity satisfied? You +don't have to tell me. I'll just keep on being puzzled quietly and +without indicating the slightest magneto-ionic dubiousness, if you'd +rather. But I might be helpful; and I _would_ like to know." + +"Confusion say," Ishie declared through the side of his mouth, "that +he who inadvertently puts big foot in mouth is apt to get teeth kicked +loose. We are very lucky, Mike, that it was Millie who asked the +question of the Cow at that time. Besides, we've got to tell somebody +sooner or later. We can't just run off by ourselves. + +"Yes, Millie, I think you have a job," he said. "Your help here will +be appreciated, of course. But what we really need is a way of +bridging the gap between ourselves and the rest of the personnel +before it gets too wide. How's your P.R. these days?" + +"That's something I learned in a hard school, public relations," she +answered nonchalantly. "De-segregation was just beginning when I was a +girl back in Georgia. But maybe I'd better know what the gap is." + + * * * * * + +The two began to talk, interrupting each other, incoherently +outlining the Confusor and the various forces it exerted, and +the--what Mike kept calling the inertial fish hook. + +Finally Mike took over. "To put it simply," he said, "our pet didn't +do at all what we expected--it hooked in on inertia and it took us +off. A confusing little Confusor--but Millie--it's a space drive! A +real, honest-to-gosh space drive!" + +Millie gulped. It was far, far more than she had expected. Perhaps +this was another form of disguise like the magneto-ionic.... + +"Are you sure?" Then she answered her own doubts. "Of course you're +telling the truth now. That's not something you two would play games +about." Then in awe--"You've really got it!" + +"But why, then," she said, uncomprehending, "are you hiding it?" But +before they could answer, she answered her own question again. "You'd +have to. Of course. Otherwise it'll be strangled in red tape. +Otherwise nobody'll let you work on it any more, except as head of a +research team stuck off somewhere. Otherwise, Budget Control would +take it over and make a fifteen-year project out of it--and the two of +you will probably have it in practical operation...." + +She looked at the molds and wiring taking form all across the machine +shop. + +"Oh, no! You'll have it in operation--soon!" + +"Yes, soon--and we hope soon enough." Ishie sighed, then grinned +impudently. "There is," he said, "the little matter of the fact +that--in all innocence but nevertheless quite actually--we wiped out +Thule Base. + +"If we don't get the big Confusor in operation very soon, it may be +that we shall spend a good deal of time in Earth's courts proving our +innocence while someone else botches most thoroughly the job of +creating a Confusor that could take us to the stars. And that," he +added mournfully, "neither of us would enjoy. We might not even be +able to prove our innocence, for there would be many very anxious to +prove us sufficiently guilty to keep us out of the way for many years. + +"So you see," he said, "you have a very real P.R. problem. Our +assistants here could work better if they knew what they were doing. +The people aboard the wheel would be most excited by a space drive, +and would give us every aid. + +"But what the law says, it says--and the captain would have no choice +but to put us in irons if he heard, though I think our captain is such +that he would not want to do it. + +"We must tell everyone what we have, for where the wheel takes us, +they will go. But we can't tell them, for if we tell anyone, it will +get back to Earth--and we murdered Thule, according to the law of +Earth. + +"It is a very neat problem," he said. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson arrived first at Project Hot Rod, and trailing +behind him on their scuttlebugs, the other six men. + +As he slipped through the lock and out of his spacesuit, he reached +down the neck of his coveralls and carefully extracted the Security +key in its flat, plastiskin packet, from between his shoulder blades. +At least the villainous captain had not gotten his hands on this, he +thought, and whatever damage had been done to Hot Rod probably could +be quickly repaired. + +He had heard of the hunt for the key, and been silently amused, though +he had volunteered no information to his briefing officer, +Chauvenseer. + +Stepping forward as briskly as a sick rag doll, he fitted the key into +the Security lock and snapped open the bar that prevented Hot Rod's +use. + +As the others entered, he turned to them. Supporting himself against +the edge of the console and managing to look perfectly erect and +capable despite his weakness, he said: "I have instructed each of you +to learn as much as you could of the operation of this device. It is +now necessary that the civilian scientists," he pronounced the +"civilian" as though it were a dirty word, "be relieved of their rule +over this weapon, and that the military take its proper place, as the +masters of the situation. I trust each of you has learned his lessons +carefully, because it is now too late for mistakes--although we have +with us assistance far superior to that of the civilians. + +"Gentlemen," he said, and his voice took on power as he talked, "it is +a pleasure to re-introduce to you a companion whom you have known as +Lathe Smith. + +"This, gentlemen," he said formally, gesturing one of the men forward, +"is the Herr Doktor Heinrich Schmidt, of whom you would have heard +were you familiar with the more erudite of the developments of space +physics. + +"Dr. Schmidt," he added, "it is a pleasure to be able to again accord +you the courtesies and respect that are your due. + +"Now for myself," he continued, "it may surprise you to know that I, +too, have a somewhat more advanced rank than you have suspected." +Deliberately he unpinned the major's insignia that he wore, and +brought out a sealed packet, opened it, and pinned on four stars. + +"Gentlemen," he finished, "may I introduce myself? General Steve +Elbertson, commanding officer of all space forces of the United +Nations Security Forces. + +"Now," he said briskly to his astounded men, his voice crackling with +authority, "take stations. + +"Dr. Schmidt will key in the number one laser bank only. You will +select as your target area that area through which the passenger +spokes of the wheel pass. These will each in turn be your targets if +it becomes necessary to fire. + +"Dr. Schmidt has advised me that, should it become necessary to fire +on the hub, the resultant explosion of the shielding water will wreck +the big wheel. + +"If we should miss and hit the rim, the resultant explosion would +inevitably wreck both the big wheel and Project Hot Rod. + +"Therefore, gentlemen, I caution the most accurate possible aim. + +"And Dr. Schmidt, will you connect the storage power supply you have +readied, please?" + +Quickly then, he slid into the communications officer's seat, as the +Security officers assumed each of the four major posts of the project, +while Chauvenseer took up a stance at his general's right hand, ready +to respond as directed. + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, Captain Nails had been annoyed. Too many queries from +people who really didn't have authority over his satellite. Too many +directives and counter-directives were flooding at him from various +officials on Earth. + +Some one down there even had the temerity to suggest that Security +take over--not officially, just sort of take over. + +If that didn't take the cake, he thought. Trying to put that crumb +Security officer into command, _real_ command, of a scientist? Over +HIS people? Never! + +And just because somebody had a wild idea about sabotage--after all, +the whole thing must be some sort of effect or accident. Why couldn't +they leave people alone long enough to find out what was really going +on? + +And where was Elbertson, anyhow? The man had had plenty of time to +freshen up. Possibly he had caved in some place. The medic had said he +was sick. But even so, I'd best check, he thought. + +Reaching for the intercom switch that would give him a private line to +Security quarters in the rim, his gaze happened to fall on the panel +that still displayed Hot Rod on its taut cable-- + +--And seven figures riding the end of the cable to the air lock. + +Elbertson, of course, he thought furiously. And taking his men out +when the proton level was still too high to go beyond the rim +shielding.... + +Then the captain stopped in mid-thought. This was no idle act of a man +feeling the effects of drugs. + +He switched the intercom quickly to the Hot Rod crew's quarters on the +rim. "Dr. Koblensky!" he almost shouted into the mike. + +"Just a minute, sir," came the answer, and seconds that seemed like +eternities passed before the doctor's calm voice answered, "Dr. +Koblensky speaking." + +"Did you know that seven men were going out to Hot Rod?" + +"Of course not. They mustn't...." + +The captain switched off and changed to the intercom for the machine +shop. "Dr. Ishie. Mr. Blackhawk. To the bridge on the double. _Fast_," +he said. + +It might not be the saboteur, he thought, but the chances looked +grimly real that Earth was right--that the whole thing was sabotage, +and those were the seven saboteurs. While he waited, he checked the +Security quarters for Elbertson. The major was not there, nor was he +in the hospital. + +Elbertson, he thought. I've been blind. + +He decreased the magnification of Hot Rod so that the entire project +showed. + +Mike arrived first, almost skidding to a stop at the captain's +console, Ishie right behind him. + +"The saboteur--seven men that I believe to be saboteurs--are aboard +Hot Rod," the captain told him crisply. "Can they activate it?" + +"Captain, there's no saboteur...." Mike began, but the captain +interrupted. + +"Gentlemen, I'm not asking you to be the judge of that. If they are +saboteurs, is there any way that they can activate Hot Rod?" + +"Oh, they could have storage batteries aboard, I suppose." Mike didn't +even pretend to be excited. + +"Then we will assume they have, Mr. Blackhawk." The tone of the +captain's voice told Mike he'd better darned well believe in those +saboteurs or tell the captain the truth--and that quickly. "Now, +assuming Hot Rod can be activated, we will also assume that their +first aim will be to control the wheel. They would, therefore, aim at +the hub and issue an ultimatum." + +"They might aim at a target on Earth, and issue an ultimatum to us." +Mike would play the game. + +"No. We would refuse such an ultimatum. They would aim at us. Can you +prevent that?" + +Mike thought hard. He'd better come up with an answer to that one, +saboteurs or no. + +"If they shot through the hub, they'd hit our shielding water and +explode the hub-hull. That would wreck the wheel, and they'd need the +wheel. The only place they could safely shoot us would be the +passenger spokes, and that would take some pretty fine target +shooting--with only one laser bank. They could do it though," he said +thoughtfully. + +"Assume, Mr. Blackhawk, that if they couldn't hit the passenger +spokes, they'd be willing to destroy the wheel in order to gain +control. Is there any way to prevent that?" + +Mike stood completely silent for almost a minute. Then he grinned. +"Sure," he said. "If we turned the rim towards Hot Rod, they couldn't +fire into the rim without hitting that shielding--and that would +create an explosion, even from their smallest possible shot, that +would almost inevitably take Hod Rod with it. If we turn the lab so +that only the rim is towards Hot Rod, it's suicide to shoot us." + +"You will swing the rim of the wheel into that alignment as rapidly as +it can possibly be done." The captain's voice practically lifted the +two men off the bridge, and they were on their way to the engineering +quarters with every appearance of the urgency they should have felt if +they had not known who--or rather what--was the real saboteur. + + * * * * * + +Then Mike heard Ishie's soft voice from behind him, slightly +breathless. "At that, you'd better swing the rim and swing her fast, +Mike. The captain sure 'nuff believes in his saboteurs, and it's just +possible they're real." + +O.K., thought Mike, and really moving now he reached the engineering +quarters a good ten strides ahead of his companion. + +As he entered the open bulkhead lock he saw a man that he recognized +as one of the Security personnel, and brushing on past him said, "If +you want to see me, come back later. I'm going to be very busy here +for a while." + +Mike headed for the panel that controlled the air jets and other +devices that spun the wheel. + +The Security man didn't hesitate. Seeing the ship's engineer about to +make important--and possibly subversive--adjustments, he drew his +needle gun and aimed it squarely at Mike's back. "Halt--in the name of +Security!" he barked. + +Slowly Mike swung around, eying the man coldly, and began a question. + +But there was no need. Dr. Chi Tung, having seen what was going on +through the lock before he entered, had held back just long enough for +the Security man to turn fully towards Mike. Now he launched himself +through the lock like a small but well-guided missile, and arriving on +the Security guard's back, had his gun-arm down and half broken before +the man knew what was happening. Had he been alone, it is possible +that the larger man might have won. But Mike had never been fond of +people who pulled guns on him, even if they were only sleepy guns. + +Between the two of them, the Security guard was lucky not to lose his +life in the first two seconds of battle. + +The conflict ended almost before it had begun, with a meaty slap of +Mike's fist connecting with the man's jaw, right below the ear. It +hadn't been a clean punch, Mike thought, but then he wasn't really +used to fighting in this gravity. Anyhow, the man was out. + +And now came the question of what to do with him, but Mike left that +to Ish. + +He turned back to the precession panel a bit more convinced that +perhaps the captain had been right--perhaps there were enemies aboard. + +The precession controls, though operational, had not to date been +required. Carefully, Mike switched the sequence that would put them +into active condition but not operate. That was left to the Cow. + +Turning to the vocoder panel, he directed the Cow to take over control +of the now active precession equipment; to use the sun as a referrant +for the axis of precession, and to move the pole ninety degrees in a +clockwise direction around that axis of precession. + +Under these directions, the big wheel began to turn, not as it had +been turning, but sideways. The operation would take ten minutes, and +the axis of this new turn would be aligned directly on Sol by the +computer. + +The Cow's help in such a maneuver was required, because the precession +could only be accomplished by switching valves between the tanks of +the rim in such a manner that water was switched north on one side of +the wheel, and south on the opposite side of the wheel, and the points +of this switching between the tanks must remain in a stable position +relative to the spin of the wheel. The valves that accomplished this, +seventy-two of them, were spaced at intervals of five degrees around +the rim, but only two out of the seventy-two could be active at any +time; and these must be selected by the computer's controls so that +always the precessive force was properly aligned to produce the +required precession. + +When the precession was finished, the rim of the wheel would be +aligned, still with the sun, but also with Project Hot Rod which had +been to their south. + +As a third thought, Mike switched off the Confuser. + +Having set up the necessary factors, Mike turned back to the problem +of the Security guard, or saboteur, whichever he might be, but found +this problem had already been well taken care of. Not satisfied with +simply tying the man up, Ishie had bound him with wire to somewhat the +resemblance of an Egyptian mummy, and then for added good measure, +given him two sleepy shots with his own needle gun; put electrician +tape across his mouth; and taken from him everything he could possibly +use either as a method of communication or as a weapon. + +At least, Mike thought, Ishie is a thorough workman when he sets his +mind to it. + +Having parked the Security man in a nearby tool locker, with the +feeling that he would keep for a while there, Ishie turned back to +Mike with a grin. + +"Confusion say those who play with firearms should be cautious! Mike, +this convinces me. I've heard snatches of what's going on on Earth, +and it looks like somebody is putting over a fast one down there. +Seems like maybe our own Security boys are part of it. They would be +the ones the captain saw going out to Hot Rod. And that means they've +got a purpose out there. Is good to know they can't shoot us now, at +least in a few minutes now, without getting themselves shot back. But +they can shoot at Earth. Any ideas?" + +"Well ... I thought some time ago that there was a little fallacy +involved in that project when I saw how they hung the beam-director +way out in front on those little old balloon-poles. They've got 'em +bent, and if any one or two of 'em should happen to get punctured, the +other two would move the mirror complete out of the laser beam focus. +Then the only thing they could shoot would be the sun--and I don't +think it'd care. + +"Ishie, you stay here just to keep the home fires burning and make +sure that nobody fiddles with anything we don't want 'em to. All of +the bulkheads leading into this section can be locked from the +inside--a feature I haven't seen fit to point out to other people who +really don't need to know." + + * * * * * + +Walking around the floor, Mike carefully secured the four bulkheads, +two leading back to the morgue; two leading forward to the north pole +end of the hub. And then, jumping catlike upward and grasping the +access ladder to the central axis tube, he carefully bolted that one, +too. + +[Illustration] + +Dropping back to the floor he stepped over to the intercom and +switched in Captain Nails' circuit. + +"Mission accomplished, sir. And you were quite right. One of our +_Security_ servos is off balance. I'm attending to the matter." + +"Thank you, Mr. Blackhawk." The captain's voice was calm, quite unlike +the voice he'd used to them on the bridge. "You would do well to +listen for the ... sound ... of those servos." The captain's voice +stopped but the intercom continued to hum, alive from his end. + +"Ishie," said Mike, "the captain's in trouble, and he's asking us to +listen in on what goes on the bridge. He's left his intercom open. + +"Now I've got a mission to accomplish; and you can't leave here, +because this post's got to be operational. But you can listen and do +whatever the captain tells you. + +"And, Ishie--if anybody takes the bridge away from the captain, you +tell the Cow not to obey any orders or answer any questions unless +they come from here." + +With that, Mike leaned over, loosened an inspection plate in the +floor, and climbed down a ladder through the inspection tube that led +through the six feet of normal-shield water directly beneath the floor +into the seventeen-foot flare-shielding chamber beyond. This was the +tank which surrounded the hub and held all of the waters of the rim +during flare conditions; but was now holding only the air supply +which, during a flare, was pumped to the rim. + +Making his way back towards the center of the hub, Mike considered his +luck in being one of the people most familiar with the entire +structure of the ship. It would be unlikely that enemies operating +aboard would think to cut off the air and water passages, or even keep +them under surveillance. Nevertheless, he would be cautious. + +He must now get to the machine shop, and enter it without triggering +any more of those--he laughed quietly to himself--Security servos. + +The particular tank he was in he had selected carefully. Of the +twenty-one possible combinations, this one he knew would bring him +into the water under the north hall that circled the outer rim. + +In a few strides he reached the three-foot-diameter spoke tube through +which the flood of water would pour during a draw-in action such as +that they had had during the flare; let himself over the side head +first, let go and began falling down the seventy-nine foot length of +the tube, accelerated by the light pseudo-gravity of the spin. Even +so, he spread his legs and arms against the walls of the tube to act +as a brake, so as not to arrive with too much impact at the bottom of +the tube. + +As he hit the water at the bottom, the tube swung around the +circumference of the rim to the point at its far side at which it +entered its particular river. + +The course of his dive carried Mike to the bottom of the curve, and he +started crawling up its far side to where the tunnel entered the +rim-river. There the motion of the fluorescent-lighted water caught +him, and he was swirled quickly to his target, twenty-five feet along, +inspection plate B-36. He grabbed the hand-hold by the plate before he +swirled past, loosened the plate, lifted it only enough to be sure +that the room was empty, and then pushed it off, pulled himself +through, and emerged into the whining dimness of Compressor Room 9, +next to the machine shop. The low whine assaulting his ears was that +created by the air compressors that fed the jets that drove the waters +through the rim. + +Stepping over to the wall locker, Mike took out a dry pair of shorts, +a T-shirt, and moccasins, kept there for the purpose of making changes +after such swimming inspections of the rim tanks. + + * * * * * + +Before entering the machine shop, Mike spotted the Security man +through the open bulkhead--just standing there while Paul and Tombu +grimly worked on; and Millie sat idle, watching. + +Mike entered the machine shop casually, as though intent on business, +brushed past the Security man, and stepped over to the tape-controlled, +laser-activated milling machine as though to inspect its progress. + +Then, as though finding an error, he halted its operation and swung +the laser-head back away from the work piece. + +The head swung free in his hand, attached to the machine but +nevertheless free. Casually, without even looking at the Security man, +he had somehow centered the laser directly on him. Just as casually, +he stepped to one side. + +"The beam from this machine is quite capable of milling the hardest +materials," he said, still casually, as though to himself. "Even a +diamond can't withstand it." + +Now he looked directly at the Security guard. "It's capable," he said +in an even tone, "of milling a hole right through your guts if you +even to much as breathe too deep." + +Then to Chernov, "Move around behind him, out of range of this beam, +and secure the man please. Millie, is there any thing in your +department that will make sure he won't talk for while?" + +"Yes, Mike, but I don't think I'd better go there right now. There +aren't many of them, but these boys seem to be spread out all over." + +Chernov had the gun now; and the personal communicator from the +Security man as well. + +"O.K.," said Mike. "I don't think he can give us much trouble in +there," pointing at the air-lock bulkhead through which he had just +entered. "We can go in and out through the physics lab," he said. +"Best we shut that off now before some more of these boys wander +along." + +When both the lab and the Security man were under control, Paul +Chernov turned to Mike. "That milling-laser," he said. "It's got a +focus of about six inches maximum. How did you fix it so it could burn +the guard at that distance?" + +"I didn't," said Mike briefly. "He already knows that lasers can reach +from here to Earth. Why should I bother to tell him any different?" +Turning to Tombu he handed him the Security man's radio. "See if you +can rig this," he said, "to broadcast everything they say over the +general intercom channel. It's about time we let people know what's +happening." + + * * * * * + +It took Tombu only minutes to hook in the radio. As he turned it on, +Elbertson's voice came over the loud-speaker system. A roll call of +Security men was apparently being completed. The last three man +responded as called. + +The Elbertson's voice, crisp but somewhat labored, came over the +Security beam, booming throughout the ship. "It is obvious that the +renegade scientists and engineer of the wheel have replaced the men +guarding their sectors. + +"As we were informed, the captain had put them in charge. Since they +struck the first blow, it is now up to Security to converge on them +and eliminate them. + +"Jones, Nackolai and Stanziale are detailed to the Dr. Chi mission. +Nilson, Bernard and Cossairt are detailed to get the Indian. The rest +of you will take over where you are posted, and secure all personnel +to their quarters. + +"Clark. Drop your cover and take over control of the bridge. + +"I expect to have Hot Rod operational within five minutes. And Clark. +Instruct the computer to discontinue precession operations that have +been initiated. + +"Take whatever measures are necessary to carry out these +instructions. + +"This is no longer an undercover operation, gentlemen. Security is +taking control. + +"This is war." + + * * * * * + +As the last sentence came over the loud-speaker, Mike sprang to the +intercom. He quickly keyed the direct line to engineering. + +"Ishie," he said, "I gather you're safe?" + +"Yes, Mike. Situation here very secure. I heard announcement of +conflict. You need not tell me to put the Cow under our control. It is +done. She will obey no one else until further instructed from here. I +didn't instruct her to obey only instructions by me, Mike, because we +are all expendable now." + +As he finished speaking, the intercom went dead. Obviously the +communications officer, as his first act, had turned off the central +intercom power system under his control. + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, from the time that Mike and Ishie had left, the picture +of what was occurring had grown more ominous by the minute. + +More than the vague, official messages had been flooding in from +Earth. + +At the captain's command, the communications officer had opened up a +channel for news broadcasts, and put it on the speaker so they could +all hear. + +The news round-ups indicated that various elements and factions in the +world below had had their say--each more vicious than the last. + +From an original rumor of a minor space disaster, it had become a +tremendous accident that had wiped out Thule Base and left a smoking +ruins of Greenland. + +From this it had become--possible sabotage. + +From this, a direct, unprovoked attack by the scientists on Earth +itself. + +Suddenly statesmen were standing forth in the U.N., condemning the +actions of country after country that had made possible the great +wheel; and just as suddenly, word had been announced: + +Earth would be protected. The U.N. would act. + +The U.N., it suddenly was found, controlled the majority of all +weapons on Earth; controlled the majority of all armies, navies, and +all stockpiles of ships and planes and ammunition that it had so +boastingly told everyone that it had scrapped. + +The honeyed phrases of a few years before that there would always be +peace on Earth, and that the U.N. had taken the bite out of war, +changed; and the individual nations were now forgotten. + +Now the U.N. itself was the military power; and now it would be U.N. +telling others what to do. + +Mobilization would be declared. A war footing for the economy. +Everyone must fight back against the insane scientists above with +their inhuman weapon. + +With appalling swiftness, where apparently nothing had been before, a +military force stepped forth in full armor to grind man's hopes for +freedom under an iron heel while waving its fist at the stars. + +At first there had been voices crying out against this monstrous +action, this unbelievable birth, in the U.N. Assembly. But the voices +had become fewer and fewer, weaker and weaker, and in a matter of +hours had been drowned out. + +Amazingly, even now, there were one or two who stood up in an attempt +to stem the tide; but they were ignored, and a ninety-eight per cent +favorable vote was cast. + +The U.N. Security Forces had been granted dictatorial powers. + +For the "duration of the emergency." + +The die was cast, and the yoke fitted, ever so snugly but firmly, +across mankind's back, while he cheered the fitting. + +Captain Nails Andersen sat stunned at his console. + +The communications officer sat back, paying little attention to the +board before him, a light smirk on his face. + +But the smirk dropped from his face suddenly. Rising over the +background chatter of the radio announcements from U.N. Headquarters, +came loudly over the ship general intercom the voice of Major Steve +Elbertson, counting down through the list of Security personnel. + +He, too, sat stunned until, as the voice ended "This is war," he came +to, stood up needle gun in hand, pointed at the captain. + +"I don't know how your slipstick boys cracked our code and picked that +message up," he said, "and I don't really care. As you heard, the +major has ordered me to take command of the bridge. I hereby do so." + +Coming through the bulkhead were two more Security men, each with a +needle gun. His gun unwaveringly pointed at the captain, Com Officer +Clark reached down and flipped the red switch that turned off the +power to all of the ship intercoms. + + * * * * * + +On board Hot Rod, the Security crew was working against an accelerated +time-schedule now. The aiming controls of Hot Rod's big mirror were +infinitely precise--and correspondingly slow. As soon as the storage +power supply had been wired into the big weapon--a precise operation, +requiring both skill and time--the factors had been keyed in that +would bring the mirror in an arc, turning it to bear precisely on that +area of space through which the passenger spokes of the wheel turned; +but the motion of the mirror was infinitesimally slow. + +As the crew of Hot Rod strove to get it into position to fire; and the +computer on the wheel strove to precess the wheel to a position where +firing would be fatal to the firer, it became a race between giant +snails. + +But already the rim of the big wheel had inched slightly ahead in the +race; and the main part of the hub was disappearing behind it. In +spite of Elbertson's orders, the big wheel continued to turn its rim +directly towards the giant balloon with its bulbous nose. + +It was a curious sensation, seeing the big wheel from this angle. +Much the same sensation as that of an ant, staring at the oncoming +wheel of a huge truck. + + * * * * * + +In the machine shop, Mike was rummaging around in one of the tool +lockers. "Any sort of a small telescope," he muttered, almost to +himself. Then "Paul, is there a theodolite or anything like that left +lying around in here?" + +"Yes," said Paul, moving off to a cabinet in another part of the room. +"We needed them when we were putting the wheel together." + +"O.K." Mike turned back to the laser milling machine. "Now can we take +the focusing lens off of this, and rig something to give me a focus at +about 4.5 miles? Or would it need focusing at all? Shooting at that +distance?" + +"Depends on what you shoot, Mike. The unfocused beam can make a black +surface very hot very quick. But from a mirror surface, it would just +bounce, unless it's carefully focused." + +"It ought to take care of the plastic at least, then." + +"Go right through it. You gonna laser Hot Rod?" + +"No. Just the anchor tubes that hold the mirror; and maybe a slash +through the nitrogen tank at the back. Here, make me a bracket to fit +these two things together, so I can see what I'm aiming at." He handed +the theodolite telescope and the laser milling-head to Paul. + +"How much of the machine do I have to take to power that +milling-head?" he asked Tombu. + +"Oh, most of it's just control circuits. This box on the back is the +power supply. Plugs right in to ship's power." + +"Hey!" Mike called over to Paul now busy constructing a bracket. "Make +that bracket to hold this power supply, too. Oh, and round me up about +sixty feet of extension cord, Tombu." + +"But, Mike, how are you going to get out there?" Millie's voice was +concerned. "They've probably got men all over the place out here on +the rim. If you try to go through the corridor towards an emergency +lock, they'll have you sure with their needle guns. You heard +Elbertson delegate three men to kill you!" + +"I expect I can find a place where they aren't." And picking up the +Security radio from the intercom bench, he turned it on and spoke into +it. + +"Elbertson, this is Mike Blackhawk. You now have twenty minutes to +surrender," and he cut off. + +Mike turned to Tombu. "Get me some plastic wrapping material. +Preferably a plastic bag. I've got to make this stuff waterproof." + +When the power supply, telescope, milling head and extension cord were +rigged and carefully wrapped in plastic to make a waterproof package, +he attached them with a shoulder rope. + +"Too bad we didn't make a lock in the wall right here," he muttered. +"But I don't suppose the Security guards will be guarding those empty +labs over in the R-12 sector. Guess I'm going for a swim now." And +with that, Mike reached down and carefully removed the inspection +plate from one of the floor tanks, and lowered himself over the edge +into the racing waters. + +Hanging there with one hand, he carefully pulled his plastic bag into +position beside and slightly behind his body, and let go. Instantly he +was sucked away into the subdued blue fluorescent-lighted glow of the +waters of the rim. + +"Glad they figured these planktons need light," he thought to himself. +"I'd have a time finding where I'm going in the dark." + +Forty-five seconds later, he reached up and snatched at a passing +hand-hold, next to a plate marked with the numbers of the lab he +sought. + +Wrenching the handle of the inspection plate and pushing it free, he +climbed out into the deserted lab; made his way out into the corridor, +his unwieldy package hanging to his shoulder and runlets of water +making a trail behind him--and stepped into the nearby emergency lock. + +In the lock he quickly donned one of the emergency spacesuits that +hung there, gathered up his bundle again, and stepped out on the +catwalk of the inner part of the rim, under the brilliant night sky at +the moment, but turning towards its "sunrise." He opened his plastic +package. + +"Major Elbertson," he said, turning on the Security radio, "you now +have five minutes to surrender." + +Attaching his suit to the guideline nearby, part of the rim's +"hairnet," he crept out over the inside edge of the rim. From this +position he had a full view of the glowing bubble that was Hot Rod for +the few seconds until the movement of the rim took him past the +"sunrise" point and turned him sunwards. + +Last time Mike had been out on the rim, the wheel had not been +turning. There'd been no reference of up and down, other than the rim +itself as an oddly curved floor. Now he felt disoriented. The wheel +was spinning, the hub, therefore, seemed "up." And from the edge of +the rim where he clung to its hairnet, all directions were down. + + * * * * * + +The stars seemed to sweep beneath his feet and over his head; and +though it was a slow pattern, only twice as fast as the crawl of a +second hand around the face of a clock, it was, nevertheless, +disorienting. + +Bracing himself carefully into the net, with his back wedged firmly +against the rim, he adjusted his bizarre "gun" to rest on his knees so +that he could sight in the direction that was, to his body's senses, +straight down. + +Not at all, he thought, like trying to shoot fish in a barrel. More +like being the fish and trying to shoot the people outside the barrel. + +Back in the shadow again. Not really shadow where he sat, but the rim +around him, below him, and curving away from him, had disappeared in +its brief nightside, and there came Hot Rod again. Carefully he +tracked it; then putting his eye to the scope he focused briefly on +one of the high-pressure supporting tubes that formed the rigid +structure from which the aiming mirror was held in place. + +And fired. + +The tube burst, noiselessly but quite spectacularly. And the mirror +itself shuddered shook, as the tube's gases escaped. + +Now he was in bright sunlight again, quickly closing his eyes as the +sun itself looked full into his vision, and slowly passed to be +following by Earth, to be followed by a blank stretch of starry space, +and here again was Hot Rod. + +Carefully he tracked another of the supporting tubes. + +And fired. + +And again a spectacular, writhing collapse--and this time, the mirror +fell free, supported by only two tubes, and permanently out of focus, +incapable of aiming the monster beam. + +This time, Hot Rod was definitely secure from the misapplication of +Security. + +"Three minutes," he spoke into the radio. "Your weapon is dead. My +next shot will be through the nitrogen tank at your air-lock. I +wouldn't advise you to be there." + +The wheel turned once more, as the radio came alive from the other +end. + +"Mr. Blackhawk, do you realize that what you are doing constitutes +mutiny in space and will be dealt with accordingly on Earth? I have +officially taken control of Hot Rod at the command of my superiors in +the new U.N. Security Control Command." + +Mike didn't bother to answer. As the wheel turned him towards Hot Rod +again, he said into the radio, "Two minutes." + +Elbertson's voice came again. "With this new weapon we control Earth. +Don't you realize that you can't stand up against the new people's +government of Earth?" + +The wheel came around. Mike replied: "One minute." + +The lock on the Hot Rod control room opened. Frantic tiny figures +burst forth, activated scuttlebugs, and started on the five-mile trek +back towards the big wheel. + +Mike worked his way back through the clinging net to the catwalk, +failing completely to see the tiny figure that dodged beneath the rim +as he approached. + +Glancing around he carefully scanned over the entire inner rim before +stepping out into the sunlight of the catwalk itself. Nothing. + +Then a blink caught his eye, and he glanced up toward the observatory. +There. In the observatory. + +He thought for a minute it was someone signaling, but it was only a +touch of sunlight on the shiny surface of the automatic tracking +telescope, which was poked out of the open shutters of the airless +observatory, still doing its automatic job of recording solar +phenomena in the absence of the astronomers. + + * * * * * + +Instead of re-entering the lock as he had intended, Mike linked his +safety line to one of the service lines that lay along the nearest +spoke, and kicked up it. + +On Earth, he could have jumped maybe four feet with that motion. But +here, it carried him the full distance to the outer wall of the +hub-shielding tank, where he grasped another line, quickly transferred +his safety line, and began working his way toward the observatory. + +As the intersection of the rim where Mike had been passed into +darkness, another figure moved and jumped up the same line he had +taken. But this Mike did not notice. + +Reaching the bulge at the end of the shielding tank and crawling up +over it, Mike made his way up, at an odd reversed angle, through the +netting; and into the observatory dome through its open shutter. + +Making his way about in the open vacuum in free-fall conditions of the +observatory, Mike carefully checked the lock at the main axis to make +sure that he could get into it without arousing an alarm for any +guards that might be nearby. + +The lock showed vacant, and empty. Just as he was about to enter it, +he saw another figure in a spacesuit come drifting through the open +shutter where he had entered. + +Mike stepped into the lock, closed the door behind him as though he +had not noticed, and cycled the lock. But he did not remove his suit +and did not leave. + +As the lock showed clear, the observatory door opened again, and the +two spacesuited figures stood face to face. Mike with needle gun +raised checked himself in surprise. Then he motioned the other figure +into the lock. + +"And just what are you doing here?" he inquired as the air around them +became sufficient to carry his voice. + +"You might have needed help," answered Dr. Millie Williams in a small, +scared voice as she took off her helmet and shook out her long hair. + +"And just _what_," Mike inquired, "were you planning to do about it +besides having me shoot you by mistake?" + +Millie held up an oversize pair of calipers. "The Security people," +she said, "are not the only ones with weapons. I borrowed this from +the machine shop." + +Mike stared down at the odd-looking "weapon." + +"It's hard," Millie continued, "to look at more than one thing at a +time through a spacesuit helmet. I could've got 'em in the air hose +while you held their attention." + +Mike's chuckle was just a trifle ragged, and his mutter about +blood-thirsty panthers didn't really go unheard as he began shucking +his spacesuit. + +This was the most dangerous point, Mike knew. The axis tube went from +the observatory straight through to the south polar lock, with nothing +to block sight or sound from traveling its length. They'd have to +simply chance it. The spacesuits shucked, he opened the lock. + +Their luck held. No Security man was stationed opposite the mouth of +the axis tube at the south polar lock. + +Halfway to the engineering quarters, Mike stopped, used a special key +to open an inspection plate, and they dropped lightly into the huge +shielding tank that now held only air. From there the pair +back-tracked Mike's original path to the inspection plate in the +engineering quarters, and so into his own bailiwick, where they found +Ishie standing on catlike guard, a wrench in one hand, waiting for +whatever might come up. + +"Confusion say," the grinning Chinese physicist declared, "two for one +is good luck." + + * * * * * + +General Steve Elbertson made his way wearily in through the south lock +and on to the bridge where he found the communications officer in +complete charge with two Security men for assistants. The captain and +Bessie were effectively bound, and placed in spare console seats. + +General Elbertson made his way to the captain's console and seated +himself. + +Hot Rod was dead, but their control was by no means lessened. + +That he himself had not been shot dead on the way from Hot Rod was, to +him, a confirmation of the weakness of his enemies. + +The satellite was under his control. The scientists would repair Hot +Rod--and well he knew how to see to it that they did so. + +U.N. Security Forces were in complete, dictatorial command of Earth. + +He had only to eliminate the renegade Indian, and long before the +Security scuttlebug, now on its way from Earth loaded with crack +troops, should arrive, Security would be in complete command not only +of the Space Lab, but of the weapon, which would by then be in repair. + +As a final test of its operation, it would be amusing to use the +Indian, Blackhawk, as a target; and perhaps the captain as well, +though he might have to use them as examples sooner--the captain and +some others. + +The fortuitous accident that had put Hot Rod in operation ahead of +schedule had also stepped many plans months ahead. No violence had +actually been planned until the weapon had been thoroughly tested; but +now things looked to be working in orderly fashion; working with the +well-oiled precision of a master-plan, properly designed and properly +executed in the proper military manner. + +Only one small difficulty marred the current smoothness of the +operation. The Security men were attempting to instruct the computer +to precess the wheel back to its original position. + +In reply, for every figure of any type sent over the keyboard, the Cow +sent back a half-yard of confused, rambling figures and would do +nothing else. + +General Elbertson snapped a single command. "Turn the thing off. We'll +get to that later." + +Busily the men switched the keys to the "off" position. Just as busily +the Cow continued to pour out figures, interspersed with rambling +pages of physics covering such odd subjects as the yak population of +the Andes, the number of buffalo that were purported to be able to +dance on the rim of the Grand Canyon--a fantastic figure--some +confused statement about the birth rate in Indo-China, and an equally +confused statement about the learning rate in schools in Haddock. + +Eventually, if one cared to sort it out, the Cow might produce the +entire Encyclopedia Britannica for the year 1911; and then again, +possibly for the year 33,310. Actually, it only depended on what you +wished to select. It was a vast mass of material that was being +happily upchucked into the lap of the confused communications officer +and his two, unhelpful assistants. + +[Illustration] + +Not a single one of the view panels, either those at the computer's +console or the ones at the captain's console, were presenting a +readable picture. Hodgepodges and flickerings, yes. Scraps of +star-lit sky--perhaps. Or vaguely wavy electronic patterns that would +have been familiar to anyone who ever looked at a broken TV set. + +The Cow was really wild. + +Leaning back in the captain's chair, watching the screen casually, +General Elbertson chuckled. + +He didn't, he noticed, feel nearly so weary. + +The position actually was good, even if those idiots didn't know what +they were doing with the computer. That could be straightened out. + +Somewhere, he was sure, there was cause for great pride in his +actions. + +The peaceful glow of victory seemed to settle about him. + +He HAD won. He was in the captain's chair of the only space station +that man had ever put in orbit. + +His worst enemy was tied to a chair only a few feet away. + +At times like this a man could glow, could feel expansive even towards +his enemies. + +Naylor wasn't such a bad chap. If he hadn't thrown in with the +scientists he might even now be a fellow officer, entitled to full +respect and honor. + +General Elbertson did not consider it odd that his face was suddenly +flushed with triumph. There was a glow of energy. Why, he could even +get up and dance a jig--and this he proceeded to do. + +Around him, the two Security men joined in, followed by the +communications officer--and then, realizing that their friends +couldn't dance with them, they undid the ropes and invited the captain +and Bessie to join them. + +Soon they were all whirling giddily, though there was hardly the space +for it. Maybe they should go next door, into the large clear area that +was the ship's gymnasium when not being used as a morgue. + +Surprisingly, amidst these dancing figures, a head emerged from the +floor. All of them leaned over to laugh at it; and even the needle gun +failed to frighten them. + + * * * * * + +Bessie had a hangover. She groaned and stretched. There certainly must +have been lots of vodka at that party last night. + +Party? What party? + +It was difficult to separate various concepts and orient herself to a +present where and when. + +Slowly the soft susurrus background song of the big wheel penetrated +consciousness, and another, closer roar. Millie taking a shower, she +realized. + +Suddenly she came out of the vagueness wide awake, the hangover +cleared magically, evaporating much too quickly to have been caused by +alcohol. + +But she had been tied up to a chair on the bridge beside Nails, +prisoner of the Security men, only minutes ago. + +WHAT was going on? + +Millie stepped out of the shower into the compartment the two girls +occupied, and smiled. + +"How're you doing? About to come out of it?" + +"Da, Da eta--" with an effort Bessie switched to English. "Explosion? +What happened?" + +"Oh, Mike just had to get the Security men off guard. Something to do +with the air supply. He asked me to apologize to you if you don't feel +so good. But after all, we got the Lab back and that's the main +thing." + +"Security. Oh! I've got to get to Nails right away. They've taken over +Earth, too, you know. We've got to make sure they don't get control of +the projects. We'll be shot of course. But their ambitions rest on +having control of Hot Rod and the wheel. Probably secret control--" + +"But--" + +"Nails has got to figure out how to destroy the project without too +many casualties. Maybe he can get some of our men back to Earth, +though of course we're all expendable. We can't let these monsters +have the wheel and Hot Rod! That's what they need for power--" + +"Bessie--" + +"Of course, we can stand and fight for as long as possible, but we're +sitting ducks, and even with Hot Rod there's not much we can do--we +can't fire on Earth, we'd hit friend as well as enemy. So I think +we've just got to stand and fight a bit, and then destroy both Hot Rod +and the wheel. Anyhow, that's Nails' decision, and I've got to get to +Nails--" + +"Whoa!" Millie finally managed to stem the flow. "We're not stuck--not +just stuck here in orbit any longer, waiting to see what's going on on +Earth," she said softly, "or what they're going to do about us 'mad +scientists.' Mike and Ishie started this whole thing when one of their +experiments turned out to be a space drive, and the boys are working +real hard on getting a drive unit set up capable of taking our whole +complex out into space. But they need somebody to tell the captain ... +uh ... properly ... as soon as he's awake that is ... uh ... you know +what I mean." + +"Whoa, yourself, girl. What's this--space drive?" + +"Well, they didn't find out themselves until after it had wiped out +Thule Base--nearly ten hours after that, in fact. That magneto-ionic +thing the Sacred Cow's been talking about--they invented that real +quick to cover up. You see ... oh, it's too complicated. + +"Look, we've got a real _space_ drive. We can go to the moon or +Mars--or Pluto if we want to. And we've got to let Nails know real +quick that he can get us out of here--and without making him mad that +we wrecked Thule Base. But really, after the way those Security goons +acted, maybe he won't be mad if you handle it right. How about it?" + +The hangover was disappearing magically. But this flow of information +was nearly as bad. + +A space drive? Bessie knew she couldn't evaluate one way or the other +on that. That would be Nails' problem. + +But they were in a pickle, and it would be up to her to see that Nails +didn't waste too much time evaluating things. Those Security men had +been prepared to play real rough, and more of them were on their way +up. + +"Where is Nails?" + +"The boys put him to bed. In his quarters. He got a dose of the same +stuff that put you out. He ought to be coming to almost any time now. +And probably mad about the whole thing." + +Instantly, Bessie was on her feet, flinging on clothes, and out down +the corridor toward Nails' private stateroom. + + * * * * * + +It had been thirty-two hours since Major--General--whatever it was +Elbertson--had been defeated on the bridge for the final time. + +He and his men were now securely locked in one of the empty labs. The +paralysis effect of the needle gun had probably worn off. Mike hadn't +checked to find out. + +Bessie and her relief operators were watching the prisoners through a +video display on the Sacred Cow's console, and would report anything +unusual that went on to Captain Andersen. + +Mike, Ishie, Millie, Paul and Tombu had completed the new Confusor +drive units, and they were nearly installed. + +More time would be taken arranging the engineering quarters so that +the installation of her control panel and the units themselves would +be completed. + +This part, Mike didn't like too well. It meant re-arranging his +already carefully arranged units, and considerable re-wiring without +interfering with any of the basic functions of the wheel. + +The new units had turned out to look very little like the original. +Fourteen feet long by eighteen inches outside diameter, they looked +very much like a group of stove-pipes arranged in a circular pattern +around the engineering quarters, braced from wall to wall. + +The control console itself, even though made rapidly, had the look of +a carefully planned and well-made unit; something that might have +turned up in one of Earth's better R&D labs, as part of a +multi-million dollar project. + +All together, the drive rods would provide something better than a +tenth of a gee thrust for the combined mass of the wheel, Hot Rod, the +pile and the other subsidiary units around them. + +A tenth of a gee. Not enough to land on Earth; but with things down +there the way they were now, who wanted to? + +With these units, the whole storehouse of the solar system was at +their disposal. + +With these units they could reach the asteroids. + +With these units, they could range as far out as Pluto without fear of +consequences--without, Mike added to himself, even the fear of +radiation that was a constant threat to them here, for the farther +from the sun they went, the less radiation they would have to endure. +The three months would be extended. For those who needed it, better +shielding could be found. + +The system was theirs. + +Possibly, also the stars beyond. + +That, he reminded himself, if they could get these units installed +before the scuttlebug arrived. + +Undoubtedly, Earth Security had sent arms as well as men. + +Where they were, not strictly on course, but still in a satellite-type +orbit, they remained sitting ducks for any number of countermeasures +that Earth might throw against them. + +Once gone from this orbit, there was not sufficient rocket-power on +Earth to track them down. + +If they took Hot Rod with them, there was no single weapon at man's +command that could stop them. And take Hot Rod with them they would. + +In his address to the ship's personnel this morning, Captain Nails +had made it quite clear that they wanted no part of the plots and +counterplots of Earth; that theirs was the job of scientists, not +soldiers; that a path was open to them that they would follow. + +Later, they could return. Later, with the supplies that were free to +be taken from space, they could build strength. + +They could return quietly, one by one, two by two, at times and places +of their own choosing. + +Then, and only then, they could lend aid to those on Earth who would +always fight for freedom. + +But not now. + +They were yet weak; the path of escape and the path of promise lay +before them. + +The only help they could be would be to follow that path. + +It might not be that the path led where they wanted to go--or where +they thought they were going--but nevertheless the path was there, and +follow it they must. + + * * * * * + +Quite a speech, Mike thought. There had been much more, but that, and +the Declaration of the Freedom of Space, were the parts that had +stayed with him. + +That last they had broadcast back to Earth, thrown, as it were, into +the screaming teeth of the new dictatorial leaders. + +Mike leaned back from what he was doing and caught Ishie's eye. + +He chuckled, and said "That was quite a mass of stuff that the Cow +upchucked on your command. Why didn't you just freeze her like I +thought you were going to do?" + +"Confusion say," quoth Ishie blandly, "he who would play poker with +dishonest men should never put all cards on table too soon. Or in +other words, Confusion is the better part of valor. The garbage made +them think that the Cow had sprung a cog somewhere, without ever +guessing that we had control. + +"And by the way, Mike, that was quite a trick you pulled with the air +supply. Having the Cow boost up the oxygen on the bridge until those +idiots got so drunk they were climbing the walls." + +"You don't happen to have any education as a psychologist, do you +Ishie? Or perhaps a brain surgeon?" Mike inquired. "It seems a shame +to drag those Security apes along with us. We can't just dump them +overboard, but it would be nice if we could just confuse them or +something." + +"Sorry, Mike. Techniques of brainwashing are a bit out of my line. +Beside, Confusion say those who run from wolf pack have better chance +if they leave some meat behind for the wolves to fight over. I've +already spoken to Captain Nails about it. We _intend_ to dump them +overboard--just twenty minutes before the scuttlebug arrives. In +suits, of course," he added. "Then we'll take off and see whether +Security takes care of its own." + +There was a possibility, Mike felt grimly, that perhaps Security +wouldn't take care of its own. But then, he asked himself, did he +really care? And found it very difficult to come up with an answer. +But he realized with vast respect that the master of Confusion was not +himself confused as to the issues involved before them. + +"It's lucky for us," Mike said, "that you happened to pick this time +to be aboard. Your work would have gone more smoothly if you'd waited +until the next go-round." + +Ishie grinned, for once slightly embarrassed. "Confusion say," he +said, "luck is for those who make it. I expected that with Hot Rod +coming into operation, some such play would be attempted. I've met +Security before." + +Millie laid down her soldering iron, and disappeared through the +bulkhead, returning shortly with a tray of sandwiches and coffee. + +Coffee in real cups, for there was spin on the satellite, things were +working well, and those bottles--ugh. + +"Relax, boys, we've still got three hours," she told them. "Radar +hasn't spotted the scuttlebug yet. But our new communications officer, +Lal, has them on the line. He's apparently convinced them of his +honorable intentions and gotten an exact prediction of arrival time. +They think Major ... uh, General Elbertson has the situation well in +hand. They even think Hot Rod's operational!" + +The crew relaxed around the circular room, squatting wherever +convenient, and sipping luxuriously at the cups of coffee, munching +sandwiches, and for the moment content. + +Hot Rod had been secured to the ship with extra acceleration cables, +and as soon as practicable a remote-controlled Confusor would be +placed aboard to assist in any fast maneuvers that they might have to +make; but for now there was no acceleration, and the group composed of +the wheel, the big laser, the dump and the pile moved peacefully in +orbit under free-fall conditions. + +Millie began to hum a soft tune. Someone else brought forth a +harmonica that had been smuggled aboard, and suddenly Paul Chernov +burst into song, his deep baritone, perhaps inspired by the captain's +speech earlier in the day, lending the wailing "The Spaceman's +Lament," an extra folk beat: + + _"The captain spoke of stars and bars + Of far-off places like maybe Mars + But the slipsticks slip on this ship of ours-- + And we'll get where I wasn't going!"_ + +Mike looked over at Millie as she drank her coffee, a slender, dark +figure--able with a soldering iron; able as a defending panther; able +as a spaceman's mate. He was glad the captain of the ship was a proper +marrying officer, for he had an idea the feeling he felt was mutual, +as he joined with the crew in the chorus: + + _"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there + And another yonder showing-- + But when we get to the end of the run + It'll be where I wasn't going...."_ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Where I Wasn't Going, by +Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + +***** This file should be named 31116-8.txt or 31116-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/1/1/31116/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/31116-8.zip b/31116-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..68c6378 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-8.zip diff --git a/31116-h.zip b/31116-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9cdeb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h.zip diff --git a/31116-h/31116-h.htm b/31116-h/31116-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97018c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/31116-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6005 @@ +<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Where I Wasn't Going", by Walt and Leigh Richmond + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + +.img1 {border:solid 1px; } + +.p1 { margin-left:50%; } + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i8 { + display: block; + margin-left: 8em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i10 { + display: block; + margin-left: 10em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Where I Wasn't Going, by Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +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: Where I Wasn't Going + +Author: Walt Richmond + Leigh Richmond + +Illustrator: John Schoenherr + +Release Date: January 29, 2010 [EBook #31116] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October and November 1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 361px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/cover.jpg" width="361" height="496" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1>"WHERE I WASN'T GOING"</h1> +<p> </p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Spaceman's Lament" concerned a man who wound up where +he wasn't going ... but the men on Space Station One knew +they weren't going anywhere. Until Confusion set in.... </p></div> +<p> </p> +<h2>WALT AND LEIGH RICHMOND</h2> +<p> </p> +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN SCHOENHERR</h3> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="600" height="313" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8"><i>I studied and worked and learned my trade</i><br /></span> +<span class="i10"><i>I had the life of an earthman made;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i8"><i>But I met a spaceman and got way-laid—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i10"><i>I went where I wasn't going!</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="p1"><span class="smcap">The Spaceman's Lament</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="30" height="50" /></div> +<p>aking his way from square to square of the big rope hairnet that +served as guidelines on the outer surface of the big wheel, Mike +Blackhawk completed his inspection of the gold-plated plastic hull, +with its alternate dark and shiny squares.</p> + +<p>He had scanned every foot of the curved surface in this first +inspection, familiarizing himself completely with that which other men +had constructed from his drawings, and which he would now take over +in the capacity of chief engineer.</p> + +<p>Mike attached his safety line to a guideline leading to the south +polar lock and kicked off, satisfied that the lab was ready for the +job of turning on the spin with which he would begin his three months +tour of duty aboard.</p> + +<p>The laws of radiation exposure set the three-month deadline to service +aboard the lab, and he had timed his own tour aboard to start as the +ship reached completion, and the delicate job of turning her was ready +to begin.</p> + +<p>U.N. Space Lab One was man's largest project to date in space. It +might not be tremendous in size by earth standards of construction, +but the two hundred thirty-two foot wheel represented sixty-four +million pounds of very careful engineering and assembly that had been +raised from Earth's surface to this thirty-six-hour orbit.</p> + +<p>Many crews had come and gone in the eighteen months since the first +payload had arrived at this orbit—but now the first of the scientists +for whom the lab was built were aboard; and the pick of the crews +selected for the construction job had been shuttled up for the final +testing and spin-out.</p> + +<p>Far off to Mike's left and slightly below him a flicker of flame +caught his eye, and he realized without even looking down that the +retro-rockets of the shuttle on which he had arrived were slowly +putting it out of orbit and tipping it over the edge of the long +gravitic well back to Earth. It would be two weeks before it returned.</p> + +<p>Nearing the lock he grasped the cable with one hand, slowing himself, +turned with the skill of an acrobat, and landed catlike, feet first, +on the stat-magnetic walk around the lock.</p> + +<p>He had gone over, minutely, the inside of the satellite before coming +to its surface. Now there was only one more inspection job before he +turned on the spin.</p> + +<p>Around this south polar hub-lock, which would rotate with the wheel, +was the stationary anchor ring on which rode free both the stat-walk +and the anchor tubes for the smaller satellites that served as distant +components of the mother ship.</p> + +<p>Kept rigid by air pressure, any deviation corrected by pressure tanks +in the stationary ring, the tubes served both to keep the smaller +bodies from drifting too close to Space Lab One, and prevented their +drifting off.</p> + +<p>The anchor tubes were just over one foot in diameter, weighing less +than five ounces to the yard—gray plastic and fiber, air-rigid +fingers pointing away into space—but they could take over two +thousand pounds of compression or tension, far more than needed for +their job, which was to cancel out the light drift motion caused by +crews kicking in or out, or activities aboard. Uncanceled, these +motions might otherwise have caused the baby satellites to come +nudging against the space lab; or to scatter to the stars.</p> + +<p>There had been talk of making them larger, so that they might also +provide passageway for personnel without the necessity for suiting up; +but as yet this had not been done. Perhaps later they would become +the forerunners of space corridors in the growing complex that would +inevitably develop around such a center of man's activities as this +laboratory in its thirty-six hour orbit.</p> + +<p>At the far end of the longest anchor tube, ten miles away and barely +visible from here, was located the unshielded, remote-controlled power +pile that supplied the necessary energy for the operation of the +wheel. Later, it was hoped, experimental research now in progress +would make this massive device unnecessary. Solar energy would make an +ideal replacement; but as yet the research was not complete, and solar +energy had not yet been successfully harnessed for the high power +requirements of the Lab.</p> + +<p>Inside this anchor tube ran the thick coaxial cable that fed +three-phase electric power from the atomic pile to the ship.</p> + +<p>At the far end of the second anchor tube, five miles off in space, was +Project Hot Rod, the latest in the long series of experiments by which +man was attempting to convert the sun's radiant energy to useful +power.</p> + +<p>At the end of the third anchor tube, and comparatively near the ship, +was the dump—a conglomeration of equipment, used and unused booster +rocket cases, oddments of all sorts, some to be installed aboard the +wheel, others to be used as building components of other projects; and +some oddments of materials that no one could have given a logical +reason for keeping at all except that they "might be useful"—all held +loosely together by short guidelines to an anchor ring at the tube's +end.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Carefully, Mike checked the servo-motor that would maintain the +stationary position of the ring with clocklike precision against the +drag of bearing friction and the spin of the hub on which it was +mounted; then briefly looked over the network of tubes before entering +the air lock.</p> + +<p>Inside, he stripped off the heavy, complicated armor of an articulated +spacesuit, with its springs designed to compensate for the Bourdon +tube effect of internal air pressure against the vacuum of space, +appearing in the comfortable shorts, T-shirt, and light, knit +moccasins with their thin, plastic soles, that were standard wear for +all personnel.</p> + +<p>He was ready to roll the wheel.</p> + +<p>Feeling as elated as a schoolboy, Mike dove down the central axial +tube of the hub, past the passenger entrances from the rim, the +entrances to the bridge and the gymnasium-shield area, to the +engineering quarters just below the other passenger entrances from the +rim, and the observatory that occupied the north polar section of the +hub.</p> + +<p>The engineering quarters, like all the quarters of the hub, were +thirty-two feet in diameter. Ignoring the ladder up the flat wall, +Mike pushed out of the port in the central axis tunnel and dropped to +the circular floor beside the power console.</p> + +<p>Strapping himself down in the console seat, he flipped the switch +that would connect him with Systems Control Officer Bessandra Khamar +at the console of the ship's big computer, acronymically known as Sad +Cow.</p> + +<p>"Aiee-yiee, Bessie! It's me, Chief Blackhawk!" he said irreverently +into the mike. "Ready to swing this buffalo!"</p> + +<p>Bessie's mike gave its preliminary hum of power, and he could almost +feel her seeking out the words with which to reprimand him. Then, +instead, she laughed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Varyjat!</i> Mike, haven't you learned yet how to talk over an +intercom? Blasting a girl's eardrums at this early hour. It's no way +to maintain beautiful relationships and harmony. I'm still waiting for +my second cup of coffee," she added.</p> + +<p>"Wait an hour, and this cup of coffee you shall have in a cup instead +of a baby bottle," Mike told her cheerfully. "Space One's checked out +ready to roll. Want to tell our preoccupied slipstick and test-tube +boys in the rim before we roll her, or just wait and see what happens? +They shouldn't get too badly scrambled at one-half RPM—that's about +.009 gee on the rim-deck—and I sort of like surprises!"</p> + +<p>"No, you don't" Bessie said severely. "No, you don't. They need an +alert, and I need to finish the programming on Sad Cow to be sure this +thing doesn't wobble enough to shake us all apart. Even at a half RPM, +your seams might not hold with a real wobble, and I don't like the +idea of falling into a vacuum bottle as big as the one out there +without a suit."</p> + +<p>"How much time do you need?"</p> + +<p>"On my mark, make it T minus thirty minutes. That ought to do it. +O.K., here we go." There was a brief pause, then Bessie's voice came +formally over the all-stations annunciator system.</p> + +<p>"Now hear this. Now hear this. All personnel. On my mark it is T minus +thirty minutes to spin-out check. According to program, acceleration +will begin at zero, and the rim is expected to reach .009 gee at +one-half revolutions per minute in the first sixty seconds of +operation. We will hold that spin until balance is complete, when the +spin will slowly be raised to two revolutions per minute, giving .15 +gee on the rim deck.</p> + +<p>"All loose components and materials should be secured. All personnel +are advised to suit up, strap down and hang on. We hope we won't shake +anybody too much. Mark and counting."</p> + +<p>Almost immediately on the announcement came another voice over the com +line. "Hold, hold, hold. We've got eighteen hundred pounds of milling +equipment going down Number Two shaft to the machine shop, and we +can't get it mounted in less than twenty minutes. Repeat, hold the +countdown."</p> + +<p>"The man who dreamed up the countdown was a Brain," Bessie could hear +Mike muttering over his open intercom, "but the man who thought up the +hold was a pure genius."</p> + +<p>"Holding the countdown." It was Bessie's official voice. "It is T +minus thirty and holding. Why are you goons moving that stuff ahead +of schedule and without notifying balance control? What do you think +this is, a rock-bound coast? Think we're settled in to bedrock like +New York City? I should have known," she muttered, forgetting to flip +the switch off, "my horoscope said this would be a shaky sort of day."</p> + +<p>Chad Clark glanced up from his position at the communications console +across the bridge from Bessie, to where her shiny black hair, cut +short, framed the pert Eurasian features of the girl that seemed to be +hanging from the ceiling above him.</p> + +<p>"Is it really legal," he asked, "using such a tremendously complicated +chunk of equipment as the Sacred Cow for casting horrible scopes? +What's mine today, Bessie? Make it a good one, and I won't report you +to U.N. Budget Control!"</p> + +<p>"Offhand, I'd say today was your day to be cautious, quiet and +respectful to your betters, namely me. However," she added in a +conciliatory tone, "since you put it on a Budget Control basis, I'll +ask the Cow to give you a real, mathematicked-out, planets and houses +properly aligned, reading.</p> + +<p>"Hey, Perk!" Her finger flipped the observatory com line switch. "Have +you got the planets lined up in your scopes yet? Where are they? The +Sacred Cow wants to know if they're all where they ought to be."</p> + +<p>Out in the observatory, designed to swing free on the north polar axis +of the big wheel, Dr. P. E. R. Kimball, PhD, FRAS, gave a startled +glance at the intercom speaker.</p> + +<p>"I did not realize that you would wish additional observational data +before the swing began. I am just getting my equipment lined up, in +preparation for the beginnings of the swing, and will be unable to +give you figures of any accuracy for some hours yet. Any reading I +could give you now would be accurate only to within two minutes of +arc—relatively valueless." The voice was cheerful, but very precise.</p> + +<p>"Anything within half an hour of arc right now would be O.K." Bessie's +voice hid a grin.</p> + +<p>"In that case, the astronomical almanac data in the computer's memory +should be more than sufficiently precise for your needs." There was a +dry chuckle. "Horoscopes again?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As Bessie turned back to the control side of her console, she saw a +hand reach past her to pick up a pad of paper and pencil from the +console desk. She glanced around to find Mike leaning over her +shoulder, and grinned at him as she began extracting figures from the +computer's innards for a "plus or minus thirty seconds of arc" +accuracy.</p> + +<p>Mike sketched rapidly as she worked, and she turned as she heard him +mutter a disgusted curse.</p> + +<p>"These are angular readings from our present position," he said in an +annoyed tone. "Get the Cow to rework them into a solar pattern."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, Chief Blackhawk, sir. What did you think I was doing?"</p> + +<p>"You're getting them into the proper houses for a horoscope. I want a +solar pattern. Now tell that Sacred Cow that you ride herd on to give +me a polar display pattern on one of the peepholes up there," he said, +glancing at the thirty-six video screens above the console on which +the computer could display practically any information that might be +desired, including telescopic views, computational diagrams, or even +the habitats of the fish swimming in the outer rim channels.</p> + +<p>The display appeared in seconds on the main screen, and Mike growled +as he saw it.</p> + +<p>"Have the Cow advance that pattern two days," he said furiously. Then, +as the new pattern emerged, "I should have known it. It looks like +we're being set up for a solar flare. Right when we're getting +rolling. It might be a while, though. Plenty of time to check out a +few gee swings. But best you rehearse your slipstick jockeys in +emergency procedures."</p> + +<p>"A flare, Mike? Are you sure?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I'm not sure. But those planets sure make the conditions +ripe. Look." And he held his pencil across the screen as a straight +line dividing the pattern neatly through the center.</p> + +<p>"Look at the first six orbits, Jupiter's right on the line. And +Mercury won't be leaving until Jupe crosses that line." The "line" +that Mike had indicated with his pencil across the screen would have, +in the first display shown all but one of the first six planets +already on the same side of the sun and in the new display, two days +later, it showed all six of the planets bunched in the 180° arc with +Earth only a few degrees from the center of that arc.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't thought to check before," he said, "but that's about as +predictable as anything the planets can tell you. We can expect a +flare, and probably a dilly."</p> + +<p>"Why, Mike? If a solar flare were due, U.N. Labs wouldn't have +scheduled us this way. What makes you so sure that means there's a +solar flare coming? I thought they weren't predictable?"</p> + +<p>"It's fairly new research—but fairly old superstition," Mike said. +"You play with horoscopes—but my people have been watching the stars +and predicting for many moons. I remember what they used to say around +the old tribal fires.</p> + +<p>"When the planets line up on one side of the sun, you get trouble from +man and beast and nature. We weren't worried about radio propagation +in those days, but we were worried about seasons, and how we felt, and +when the buffalo would be restless.</p> + +<p>"More recently some of the radio propagation analysts have been +worrying about the magnetic storms that blank out communications on +Earth occasionally when old Sol opens up with a broadside of protons. +Surely plays hell with communications equipment.</p> + +<p>"Yep, there's a flare coming. Whether it's caused by gravitational +pull, when you get the planets to one side of Sol; or whether it's +magnetism—I just don't know."</p> + +<p>"Shucks," she said, "we had a five-planet line-up in 1961; and nothing +happened; nothing at all. The seers—come to think of it, some of them +were Indians, but from India," she added, "not Amerinds—the seers all +predicted major catastrophes and the end of the world and all kinds of +things, and nothing happened."</p> + +<p>"Bessie," Mike's voice was serious. "I remember 1961 as well as you +do. You had several factors that were different then—but you had +solar flares then. Quite spectacular ones. You just weren't out here, +where they make a difference of life or death.</p> + +<p>"Don't let anybody hold us too long getting this station lined up and +counted down and tested out. Because we've got things building up out +there, and we may get that flare, and it may not be two days coming," +he finished.</p> + +<p>With that the Amerind sprang catlike to a hand-hold on the edge of the +central tunnel and vanished back towards the engineering station, from +which he would control the test-spin of the big wheel.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Bessandra Khamar, educated in Moscow, traced her ancestry back to one +of the Buryat tribes of southern Siberia, a location that had become +eventually, through the vast vagaries of history, known as the Buryat +Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.</p> + +<p>She was of a proud, clannish people, with Mongolian ancestry and a +Buddhist background which had not been too deeply scarred by the +political pressures from Western Russia. Rebellious of nature, and of +a race of people where women fought beside their men in case of +necessity, she had first left her tribal area to seek education in the +more advanced western provinces with a vague idea of returning to +spread—not western ideologies amongst her people—but perhaps some of +their know-how. This she had found to be a long and involved process; +and more and more, with an increase of education, she had grown away +from her people, the idea of return moving ever backwards and +floundering under the impact of education.</p> + +<p>She had been an able student, though independent and quite +argumentative, with a mind and will of her own that caused a shaking +of heads amongst her fellow students.</p> + +<p>Having sought knowledge in what, to her, were the western provinces of +her own country, she had delved not only into the knowledge of things +scientific, but into the wheres and whyfores of the political +situations that made a delineation between the peoples of Russia and +the other peoples of the world.</p> + +<p>Somehow she had been accepted as part of a trade mission to South +America, and with that first trip out of her own country her horizons +had broadened. Carefully she had nurtured that which pleased others in +such a way that she had been recommended to other, similar tasks. And +eventually she had gone to the U.N. on an extended tour of duty. It +was here for the first time that she had heard of the recruitment of a +staff for the new U.N. Space Lab project, and here she had made a +basic decision: To seek a career, not in her own country or back among +the peoples of her own clan, but in the U.N. itself, where she could +better satisfy the urge to know more of all people.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="600" height="455" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>She had, of course, been educated in a time of change. As a child she +had attended compulsory civilian survival classes, as had nearly every +person in the vast complex of the Soviet Union. She had learned about +atomic weapons; and that other peoples for unknown reasons as far as +she could determine, might declare her very safety and life forfeit to +causes she did not understand.</p> + +<p>Later, as she had made her way westward seeking reasons and causes for +these possible disasters, and more knowledge in general, her country +had undergone what amounted to a revolutionary change. Not only her +country, but the entire world had moved during her lifetime from an +armed camp or set of camps with divided interests and the ability for +total annihilation, towards a seeking of common goals—towards a +seeking of common understandings.</p> + +<p>The catastrophe that had threatened to engulf the entire world and +claim the final conquest had occurred while she was a very junior +student in Moscow, when the two major nations that were leaders—or +had thought themselves to be leaders, so far as atomic weaponry and +such were concerned—had stood almost side by side in horror, and +attempted to halt the conflagration that had been sparked by a single +bomb landed on the mainland of China by Formosa.</p> + +<p>While Russia and the United States had stood forth in the U.N. and +renounced any use of atomic weapons, the short and bitter struggle +which reached its termination in a mere five days had brought the +world staggering to the ultimate brink of atomic war, as the Formosan +Chinese made their final bid for control of mainland China.</p> + +<p>The flare of atomic conflict had been brief and horrible. Where the +bombs had come from had been the subject of acrimonious accusations on +the floor of the U.N. The United States had forsworn knowledge, and +for a time no one had been able to say from whence they had come. +Later, shipping records had proven their source in the Belgian Congo +as raw material, secretly prepared and assembled on Formosa itself, +and it became obvious to the entire world that an atomic weapon was +not something that could be hidden in secrecy from the desires of +desperate men.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Chinese mainland had responded with nuclear weapons of its own; +weapons they, too, had not been known to possess, but had possessed.</p> + +<p>That the rest of the world had not been sucked into the holocaust was +a credit to the statesmen of both sides. That disarmament was agreed +to by all nations was a matter of days only from the parallel but +unilateral decisions of both Russia and the United States, that +disarmament must be accomplished while there was yet time.</p> + +<p>Under the political pressures backed by the human horror of all +nations, the nuclear disarmament act of the U.N. had given to the U.N. +the power of inspection of any country or any manufacturing complex +anywhere in the world; inspection privileges that overrode national +boundaries and considerations of national integrity, and a police +force to back this up—a police force comprised of men from every +nation, the U.N. Security Corps.</p> + +<p>The United Nations, from a weak but hopeful beginning, had now stepped +forth in its own right as an effective world government. There was no +political unity at a lower echelon amongst the states or +sub-governments of the world. To each its own problems. To each its +own ideologies. To each, help according to its needs from the various +bureaus of the U.N. And from each the necessary taxes for the support +of the world organization.</p> + +<p>In Russia the ideology of Marx-Lenin was still present. And in other +countries other ideologies were freely supported. But the world could +no longer afford an outright conflict of ideologies, and U.N. Security +was charged not only with the seeking out and destruction of possible +hoards of atomic weapons, but also with the seeking out and muzzling +of those who expressed an ideology at all costs, even the cost of the +final suicide of war, to their neighbors.</p> + +<p>No hard and fast rules could be drawn to distinguish between a casual +remark made in another country as to one's preference for one's own +country, and an active subversion design to subvert another country to +one's own ideology. But nevertheless, the activity of subversion had +become an illegal act under the meaning of "security." And individual +governments had recalled agents from their neighboring countries—not +only agents, but simple tourists as well. For the stigma of having an +agent arrested in another country and brought to trial at the U.N. was +a stigma that no government felt it could afford.</p> + +<p>Over the world settled a pall. The one place outside of one's own +country, where one's ideology could be spoken of with impunity, was +within the halls of the U.N. Assembly itself, under the aegis of +diplomatic immunity. Here the ideologies could rant and rave against +each other, seeking a rendering of a final decision in men's age-old +arguments; but elsewhere such discussions were <i>verboten</i>, and subject +to swift, stiff penalties.</p> + +<p>There were some who thought quietly to themselves that perhaps in the +reaction to horror they had voted too much power to a small group of +men known as Security, but there were others, weary of the insecurity +of world power-politics, who felt that Security was a blessing, and +would for all time protect all men in the freedom of their own +beliefs. The pressures had been great, and the pendulum of political +weight had swung far in an opposite direction. In fact, man had +achieved that which he would deny—in a reach for freedom, he had made +the first turn in the coil that would bind him—in the coil that would +bind the mass of the many to the will of the very few.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In school in Moscow, these things touched Bessandra's life only +remotely. The concepts, the talk, the propaganda from Radio Moscow, +these she heard, but they were not her main interests.</p> + +<p>Her main interests were two—one, the fascination which the giant +computer at Moscow University held for her; and two, the students +around her. People, she had noted, had behavior patterns very similar +to the complex computer; not as individual units, though as individual +units they could also be as surprisingly obtuse as the literal-minded +reaction of the computer; but in statistical numbers they had an even +greater tendency to act as the computer did.</p> + +<p>The information fed them and their reactions to it had a logic all its +own; not a logic of logic, but a logic of reaction. And the reaction +could be controlled, she noted, in the same self-corrective manner +that was applied to logic in the interior of the computer—the +feedback system.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that with a statistical group of people, the net result +of action could be effectively channeled by one person in an obscure +position acting as a feedback mechanism to the group, and with +selective properties applied to the feedback.</p> + +<p>At one point she had quietly, and for no other reason than to test +this point to her own satisfaction, sat back and created a riot of the +women students at the University, without once appearing either as the +cause or the head or leader in the revolt. The revolt in itself had +been absolutely senseless, but the result had been achieved with +surprisingly little effort on the part of one individual.</p> + +<p>Computers and people had from that day become her tools, whenever she +decided to bend them to her will.</p> + +<p>Even earlier in her career, she had managed to put her rebellious +nature under strict control, never appearing to be a cause in herself; +never appearing as a leader among the students; merely a quiet student +intent upon the gain of knowledge and oblivious to her surroundings.</p> + +<p>Later as she realized her abilities, she had sought council with +herself and her Buddhist ancestry, to determine what use her knowledge +should serve. And to her there was but one answer: Men were easily +enslaved by their own shortcomings; but men who were free produced +more desirable results; and if she were to use their shortcomings at +all, it must be to bend them in the path of freedom that she might be +surrounded by higher achievements rather than sheeplike activities +which she found to be repugnant.</p> + +<p>Gradually she had achieved skill in the manipulation of people; always +towards the single self-interest of creating a better and more +pleasant world in which she herself could live.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his troubles. Free +fall conditions that were merely inconvenient to him were proving +near-disastrous to the animals in the cages around him.</p> + +<p>Many and various were the difficulties that he had had with animals +during his career, but never before such trifles that built <i>peu à +peu</i>—into mountains.</p> + +<p>Claude Lavalle had originally planned to leave his stock of animals, +which contained sets of a great many of the species of the small +animals of Earth, on their own gravity-bound planet until well after +the spin supplied pseudo-gravity to the ship; but the schedule of the +shuttles' loads had proved such as to make possible the trip either +far in the future, or to put him aboard on this trip, with spin only a +few hours away.</p> + +<p>The cages, with their loads of guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters and +other live animals to be used in the sacrificial rites of biochemical +research were, to put it mildly, a mess. Provision had been made for +feeding and watering the animals under free-fall conditions, but +keeping them sanitary was proving a near-impossible task; and though +the cages were sealed to confine the inevitable upset away from the +remainder of the lab, it was good to hear that the problem was nearly +over as the news of the imminent countdown came over the loud-speaker.</p> + +<p>Meantime, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his difficulties, and he +wished fervently that his assistants could have been sent up on the +shuttle with him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In rim-sector A-10, the FARM (Fluid Agricultural Recirculating Method +control lab, according to the U.N. acronym), Dr. Millie Williams, her +satiny brown skin contrasting to her white T-shirt and shorts, was +also having her troubles.</p> + +<p>The trays of plants, in their beds of sponge plastic and hydroponic +materials, were all sealed against free-fall conditions, but should be +oriented properly for the pseudo-gravity as the great wheel was given +its rotational spin.</p> + +<p>The vats of plankton and algae concentrates were not so important as +to orientation, but should be fed into their rim-river homes as soon +as possible, although this could not be done until the rim spin was +well under control.</p> + +<p>The trays, the plants, the plankton, the algae—even a large +proportion of the equipment in the lab, were all new, experimental +projects, designed to check various features of the food and air +cycles that would later be necessary if men were to send their ships +soaring out through the system.</p> + +<p>The primary purpose of Lab One was a check of the various survival +systems and space ecology programs necessary to equip the future +explorations under actual space conditions. Her job on the FARM would +be very important to the future feeding and air restoration of +spacemen; but more important, the efficient utilization of the wheel +itself, since success in shipboard purification of air and production +of food would free the shuttle to bring up other types of mass.</p> + +<p>At present, the ship's personnel were existing almost entirely on +tanked air, but within two weeks one of the three air-restoration +projects on the satellite—either hers, in which hydroponic plants and +algae were the basic purifiers; or projects in the chem and physics +labs—would have to be already functioning in the job, or extra +shuttles would have to be devoted to air transportation until they +were ready.</p> + +<p>The provision of good fresh vegetables and fresh, springlike air would +almost certainly be up to her department. The other two labs, Dr. +Carmencita Schorlemmer in chemistry, and Dr. Chi Tung in physics, were +both working on the air-restoration problem by different +means—electro-chemistry in the one case; gas dialysis membranes in +the other.</p> + +<p>The work of the physics labs was operating on the differential ability +of various gas molecules to "leak" through plastic membranes under +pressure, causing separation of the various molecular constituents of +the atmosphere; shunting carbon dioxide off in one direction, and +returning oxygen and the inert nitrogen and other gases back to the +surrounding atmosphere.</p> + +<p>This latter method had proved highly satisfactory back on Earth, where +it was separating out fissionable materials in large quantities and +high purities from closely similar isotopes; and would now be tested +for efficiency versus weight in some of the new problems being +encountered in space.</p> + +<p>A fourth method, direct chemical absorption by soda lime, had been +discarded early in the program, although it was still used in +spacesuit air cleaners, and for the duration of the canned air program +under which they were now operating.</p> + +<p>The lab was like that—no problem has a single solution. And it was +the lab's job to evaluate as many solutions as possible so that the +best, under different conditions, might be proved and ready for use in +later programs.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Paul Chernov, ordinary spaceman—which meant that he had only a little +more specialized training than the average college graduate—was +working in the dump, surrounded by much of the equipment that remained +to be placed aboard Space Lab One, and trying to identify the +particular object he sought.</p> + +<p>Looking down almost directly over the eastern bulge of the African +coast, he sighted what was probably the ECM lathe he was after, and +kicked towards it, simultaneously pulling his pistol-gripped Rate of +Approach Indicator from the socket in his suit.</p> + +<p>The RAI gun, he sometimes felt, was the real reason he'd become a +spaceman in these tame days. Even if he couldn't be a space pirate, it +gave him the feel.</p> + +<p>Humming to himself, he aimed the search beam from the tiny +gallium-arsenide laser crystal that was the heart of the gun at the +bulky object, and read off the dial at the back of the "barrel" the +two meter/second approach velocity and the twenty-eight meter +distance.</p> + +<p>He could as easily have set the RAI gun to read his velocity and +distance in centimeters or kilometers, and it would have read as well +his rate of retreat, if that had been the factor.</p> + +<p>Paul's RAI gun might be, to others, a highly refined, vastly superior +great-grandson of the older radar that had required much more in the +way of equipment than the tiny bulk of this device, but to him, alone +in his spacesuit, the galaxy spread around him, it was the weapon with +which he had conquered the stars.</p> + +<p>In the distance, off beyond the wheel in a trailing orbit, the huge +spherical shape of Project Hot Rod glowed its characteristic +green—another application of the laser principle, but this one +macroscopic in comparison to the tiny laser rate-of-approach gun.</p> + +<p>Happily, Paul burst into song.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And another yonder showing;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But I've a yen for gravity—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>This is where I wasn't going!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>From the other side of the dump, Tombu's voice bellowed into his ears +over the intercom. "If you're going to audition for the stars, cut +down the volume!"</p> + +<p>Paul grinned and reached for the volume control.</p> + +<p>"O.K., M'Numba, 's m'numba!—I'm a space-yodler from way out. Heave a +line over this way and let's get this ECM lathe aboard."</p> + +<p>Tombu's "last name" M'Numba had delighted Paul from the moment he'd +heard the story of its origin. By the customs of his own country, +Tombu had only a single name. However, when he had first enrolled as a +student in England there had been a lack of comprehension between him +and the rather flustered registrar and, when he had muttered something +about "my number," the registrar had misunderstood and put him down as +M'Numba. Tombu had let it stand.</p> + +<p>Paul Chernov, fine-boned, blond, with an ancestral background of the +Polish aristocracy, and his side-kick, Tombu, black, muscular giant +from the Congo, were one of the strangest combinations of this +international space lab crew. Yet it was perhaps even stranger that +the delicate-looking blond youth was a top machinist, a trade that he +had plied throughout his student days in order to economically support +an insatiable thirst for knowledge. A trade that had led him to this +newest center of man's search for knowledge.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the combination was not so strange, for Tombu, also, was +of the aristocracy—an aristocracy that could perhaps be measured in +terms of years extending far behind the comparable times for any +European aristocracy.</p> + +<p>Tombu was Swahili, a minor king of a minor country which had never +been recognized by the white man when he invaded Africa and set up his +vast protectorates that took no account of the peoples and their +tribal traditions; protectorates that lumped together many hundreds of +individual nations and tribes into something the white man looking at +maps could label "Congo."</p> + +<p>Tombu himself, educated in the white man's schools to the white man's +ways, and probing ever deeper into the white man's knowledge, was only +vaguely aware of his ancestral origin. He counted his kingdom in +negative terms, terms that were no longer applicable in a modern +world. Where national boundaries everywhere were melting further and +further into disuse, it would seem to his mind foolish to lay claim to +a kingship that had been nonexistent for more than one hundred years +over a people that had been scattered to the four winds and ground +together with other peoples in the Belgian Congo protectorate.</p> + +<p>Odd the combination might be; but together the two machinists worked +well, with a mutual respect for each other's abilities and a mutual +understanding that is rare to find among members of different races.</p> + +<p>Quickly they lashed and anchored the crate containing the lathe and +hauled it in towards the main south lock of the big wheel.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>These were not the only activities in and around the wheel, or other +places in space. Man already had a toehold in space, and that toehold +was gradually growing into a real beachhead. Swarms of satellites in +their short, fast orbits down close to Earth had been performing their +tasks for many years. Astronauts had come and gone, testing, checking, +probing however briefly; bravely clawing their way up the sides of the +long gravitic well that separated Earth from space.</p> + +<p>The moon project that had originally been forecast for immediate +accomplishment had met with delay. As yet there was no base on the +moon, though men had been there, and this was bound to occur.</p> + +<p>But the lab was not here so much as a stepping stone to the moon as it +was to provide information for the future manned trips out towards +Mars and the asteroids; and in towards Venus and the sun.</p> + +<p>Besides research, the big wheel would provide living quarters for men +building other projects; would provide a permanent central for the +network of communications beams that was gradually encompassing man's +world and would eventually spread to the other planets as well. +Cooperating with this master communications central, other satellites, +automatic so far, occupied the same orbit, leading and lagging by one +hundred twenty degrees.</p> + +<p>A twenty-four hour orbit would have been more advantageous from the +point of view of communications, except for the interference that +would have been occasioned by the vast flood of electrons encircling +Earth in the outer Van Allen belt. These electrons, trapped by Earth's +magnetic field from the solar wind of charged particles escaping the +sun, unfortunately occupied the twenty-four hour orbit, and, as their +orbit expanded and contracted under the influence of the shifting +magnetic field and solar flares, could produce tremendous havoc even +in automatic equipment, so that it had been deemed economically +impractical to set up the originally-postulated three satellites in +stationary twenty-four orbits as communications terminals.</p> + +<p>As the next best choice, the thirty-six-hour orbit had been selected. +It gave a slow rate of angular displacement, since the satellite +itself moved ten degrees an hour, while Earth moved 15°, for a +differential rate of only five degrees an hour, making fairly easy +tracking for the various Earth terminals of the communications net; +and making possible a leisurely view of more than ninety per cent of +Earth's surface every seventy-two hours.</p> + +<p>The other two power and communications stations which led and lagged +Space Lab One by 120° each, would combine to command a complete view +of Earth, lacking only a circle within the arctic regions, so that +they could provide power and communications for the entire world—a +fact which had been the political carrot which had united Earth in the +effort to create the labs with their combined technologies.</p> + +<p>The danger of such powerful instruments as Hot Rod, concentrating +megawatt beams of solar energy for relay to earth, and which could +also be one of man's greatest weapons if it fell into unscrupulous +hands, had been carefully played down, and also carefully countered in +the screening by the Security Forces of U.N. of the personnel board.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>T minus three and counting.</p> + +<p>On the zero signal Mike in the engineer's quarters would change the +now idly-bubbling air jets in the rim-rivers over to the +fully-directional drive jets necessary to spin the fluid in +counter-rotation through the rim tanks.</p> + +<p>The suiting-up and strapping down were probably unnecessary, Mike +thought, but in space you don't take chances.</p> + +<p>"T minus two and counting." Bessie's voice rang over the com circuit +in officially clipped clarity.</p> + +<p>From the physics lab came a rather oddly pitched echo. "Allee allee in +free fallee! Hold it, please, as Confusion would say! Paul forgot to +secure the electrolite for the ECM equipment. Can't have these +five-gallon bottles bouncing around!"</p> + +<p>"And we can't have you bouncing around either, Dr. Chi Tung. Get that +soup under wraps quick. How much time do you need?" came the captain's +voice from his console angled over Bessie's head.</p> + +<p>Clark's voice could be heard murmuring into his Earth-contact phone. +"T minus two. Holding."</p> + +<p>Less than two minutes later, Dr. Chi released the hold by announcing +briefly, "Machine shop and physics department secure."</p> + +<p>"T minus two and counting...."</p> + +<p>"T minus one and counting...." Bessie continued officially. "Fifty, +forty, thirty, twenty...."</p> + +<p>The faint whine of high-speed centrifugal compressors could be heard +through the ship.</p> + +<p>"Ten...." The jets that had previously bubbled almost inaudibly took +on the sound of a percolating coffee pot.</p> + +<p>"... Four, three, two, one, mark."</p> + +<p>The bubbling became a hiss that settled into a soft susurrus of +background noise, as the jets forced air through the river of water in +the circular tanks of the rim.</p> + +<p>The water began to move. By reaction, the wheel took up a slow, +circular motion in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>Then, gently, the wheel shook itself and settled into a complacently +off-center motion that placed Bessie somewhere near the actual center +of rotation.</p> + +<p>"We're out of balance, Mr. Blackhawk," said the captain, one hand on +the intercom switch.</p> + +<p>"Bessie, ask the Cow what's off balance." It was Mike's voice from +engineering control. "Thought we had this thing trued up like a +watch."</p> + +<p>But the computer had already taken over, and was controlling the flow +of water to the hydrostatic balance tank system, rapidly orienting the +axis of spin against the true axis of the wheel.</p> + +<p>The wobble became a wiggle; the wiggle became the slightest of sways; +and under the computer's gentle ministrations, the sways disappeared +and Space Lab One rolled true.</p> + +<p>Slowly Mike inched the jet power up, and the speed and "gravity" of +the rim rose—from 0.009 to 0.039 to the pre-scheduled 0.15 of a +gravity—two RPM—at which she would remain until a thorough test +schedule over several days had been accomplished. Later tests would +put the rim through check-out tests to as high as 1.59 gee, but +"normal" operation had been fixed at two RPM.</p> + +<p>In the background, the susurrus of the air jets rose slightly to the +soft lullaby-sound that the wheel would always sing as she rolled.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>New, experimental, her full complement of six hundred scientists and +service personnel so far represented by only one hundred sixty-three +aboard, the big wheel that was Space Lab One rotated majestically at +her hydrodynamically controlled two revolutions per minute.</p> + +<p>She gave nearly half her mass to the water that spun her—huge rivers +of water, pumped through the walls of the wheel's rim, forming a +six-foot barrier between the laboratories within the rim and the +cosmic and solar radiations of outer space.</p> + +<p>Arguments on Earth had raged for months over the necessities—or lack +of them—for the huge mass of water aboard, but the fluid mass served +many purposes better than anything else could serve those purposes.</p> + +<p>As a radiation shield, it provided sufficient safety against cosmic +radiations of space and from solar radiations, except for solar flare +conditions, to provide a margin of safety for the crew over the three +months in which they would do their jobs before being rotated back to +Earth for the fifteen-month recovery period.</p> + +<p>The margin was nearly enough for permanent duty—and there were those +who claimed it was sufficient—but the claim had not been +substantiated, and the three months maximum for tour was mandatory.</p> + +<p>Originally, shielding had not been considered of vital importance, but +experience had proven the necessity. The first construction personnel +had been driven back to Earth after two weeks, dosimeters in the red. +The third crew didn't make it. All five died of radiation exposure +from a solar flare. An original two weeks' limit was raised as more +shielding arrived—three weeks, four, five—now the shadowy edge of +the theoretic ninety-day recovery rate from radiation damage and the +ninety days required to get the maximum safe dosage overlapped—but +safety procedures still dictated that a red dosimeter meant a quick +return to Earth whether the rate of recovery overlapped or not.</p> + +<div> +<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_01.jpg" width="500" height="408" alt="" title="" /> +<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_02.jpg" width="269" height="330" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The question was still open whether more shielding would be brought up +to make the overlap certain, or whether it would be best to maintain a +personnel rotation policy indefinitely. Some factions on Earth seemed +determined that rotation must remain not only a procedural but an +actual requirement—their voices spoke plainly through the directives +and edicts of U.N. Budget Control—but from what source behind this +bureaucratic smokescreen it would have been difficult to say.</p> + +<p>As a heat sink, the water provided stability of temperature that would +have been difficult to achieve without it. Bathed in the tenuous solar +atmosphere that extends well beyond the orbit of Earth, and with a +temperature over 100,000 C, maintenance of a livable temperature on +board the big wheel was not the straight-forward balancing of +radiation intercepted/radiation outgoing that had been originally +anticipated by early writers on the subject.</p> + +<p>True, the percentage of energy received by convection was small +compared to that received by radiation; but it was also wildly +variable.</p> + +<p>As a biological cultural medium, the hydraulic system provided a basis +for both air restoration and food supplies. When the proper balance of +plankton and algae was achieved, the air jets that gave the ship its +spin would also purify the ship's air, giving it back in a natural +manner the oxygen it was now fed from tanks.</p> + +<p>As a method of controlling and changing the rate of rotation of the +wheel, the rivers of water had already proven themselves; and as a +method of static balancing to compensate for off-center weights, +masses of it could be stopped and held in counterbalance tanks around +the rim, thus assuring that the observatory, in its stationary +position on the hub, would not suddenly take up an oscillatory pattern +of motion as the balance within the wheel was shifted either by moving +equipment or personnel.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>In effect, the entire ship operated against a zero-M-I calculation +which could be handled effectively only by the computer. The moment of +inertia of the ship must be constantly calculated against the moment +of inertia of the hydraulic mass flowing in the rim. And the +individual counterbalance tanks must constantly shift their load +according to the motions of the crew and their masses of equipment +that were constantly being shifted during installation. For already +the observatory was hard at work, and its time must not be stolen by +inappropriate wobbles of the hub.</p> + +<p>A continuously operating feedback monitor system was capable of +maintaining accuracy to better than .01% both in the mass inertial +field of centrifugal force affecting the rim; and in overall balance +that might otherwise cause wobbles in the hub.</p> + +<p>While such fine control would not be necessary to the individual +comfort of the personnel aboard, it was very necessary to the accuracy +of scientific observation, one major purpose of the lab; and even so, +many of the experimenters would require continuous monitor observation +from the computer to correct their observations against her +instantaneous error curve.</p> + +<p>The mass of water in the rim formed a shell six feet through, +surrounding the laboratories and living quarters—walls, floor and +ceiling—since its first function was that of radiation shielding.</p> + +<p>But the bulk of this water was not a single unit. It was divided into +separate streams, twenty in number, in each of which various +biological reactions could be set up.</p> + +<p>While a few of the rivers were in a nearly chemically pure state, most +of them were already filling with the plankton and algae that would +form the base of the major ecological experiments, some with fresh +water as their medium, others using sea water, complete with its +normal micro-organisms supplemented from the tanks of concentrate +that Dr. Millie Williams had brought aboard. One or two of the rivers +were operating on different cycles to convert human waste to usable +forms so that it might reenter the cycles of food and air.</p> + +<p>Several of the rivers were operating to provide fish and other marine +delicacies as part of the experiment to determine the best way of +converting algae to food in a palatable form.</p> + +<p>Within, the rivers were lighted fluorescently—an apparent anomaly +that was due to the fact that the problems of shielding marine life +from direct sunlight in such a shallow medium had not yet been worked +out; while the opaque plastic that walled the laboratories within the +rivers was a concession to their strength, since the clear plastic +that would have provided aquarium walls for the lab and complete +inspection for a constant and overall check of the ecological +experiments had been overruled by U.N. Budget Control. Portholes at +various spots made the seaquariums visible from any part of the rim, +but in Dr. Millie's laboratory alone were the large panels of clear +plastic that gave a real view into the rivers.</p> + +<p>This ecological maze of rivers and eddies and balance tanks; of air +jets and current and micro-life; of spin-rate-control and shielding, +were all keyed to servo-regulated interdependence that for this +self-contained world replaced the stability achieved in larger +ecologies through survival mechanisms.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Within the maze, existing by it and contributing to it, were the +laboratories concerned with other things, but surrounded by the waters +that had made life's beginnings possible on Earth, and the continuance +of life possible in space. Man might some day live in space almost +totally without water, but for now they had brought a bit of the +mother waters with them.</p> + +<p>Sitting in complacent control of these overall complexities that must +be met with automatic accuracy was the Starrett Analogue/Digital +Computer, Optical Wave type 44-63, irreverently referred to by the +acronymically-minded as Sad Cow, though more frequently as the Sacred +Cow, or simply Cow.</p> + +<p>Most of the computer's intricate circuits were hidden behind the +bulkhead in a large compartment between the control center and the +south polar lock; but it was from this console in the control center +that her operation was keyed.</p> + +<p>From this position, every function of the wheel was ordered.</p> + +<p>This was the bridge.</p> + +<p>Spaced equally around its thirty-two-foot ring-shaped floor were the +computer's console where Bessie presided; the com center in charge of +Communications Officer Clark; and the command console where Captain +Naylor Andersen, commanding officer of Space Lab One had his formal, +though seldom-occupied post.</p> + +<p>At the moment, Nails Andersen was present, black cigar clamped firmly +between his teeth; hamlike Norwegian hands maneuvering a pencil, he +was making illegible notes on a scrap of paper—illegible to others +because they were in his own form of shorthand that he had worked out +over the years as he tried to make penciled notes as fast as his +racing mind worked out their details.</p> + +<p>Whether Nails were politician or scientist would be hard to say. +Certainly his rise through the ranks of U.N. Bureaus had been rapid; +certainly in this rise he had been political, with the new brand of +politics that men were learning—world, rather than national politics. +Certainly, also, he was a scientist; and certainly he had used his +political abilities on the behalf of science, pushing and slashing at +red-tape barriers.</p> + +<p>Nails was more than most responsible for the very existence of U.N. +Space Lab One, and Project Hot Rod besides. He was also a sponsor of +many other projects, both those that had been done and those that were +yet to be done.</p> + +<p>The justification of a space project in these times was difficult +indeed; for no longer could nations claim military superiority as a +main reason for pushing forward across the barriers of the inner +marches of space; for spending billions in taxes in experimental +research. For a project to achieve reality now, it must have benefits, +visible benefit, for the majority of mankind. It must have a <i>raison +d'être</i> that had nothing of a military flavor. And occasionally Nails +had been hard put to explain why, to people who did not understand; to +explain his feeling that men must expand or die; that from a crowded +planet there could be only one frontier, and that an expansion outward +into space.</p> + +<p>Of course there were, Nails admitted to himself, other frontiers. The +huge basin of the Amazon had been by-passed and ignored by man, and +quite possibly would be in the future as well. The oceans, covering +seventy-five per cent of Earth's surfaces also presented a challenge +to man, and the possibility of a new frontier of conquest.</p> + +<p>But these did not present the limitless frontier for expansion offered +by space. Men must look upon them as only temporary challenges, and +cherish them as remaining problems, never to be solved for fear of a +loss of the problem itself.</p> + +<p>Yet space was different. Here man's explorations could touch upon +infinities that were beyond comprehension, into that limitless void +man could plunge ever outward for thousands of generations without +ever reaching a final goal or solving a last problem. Here was a +frontier worthy of any man, against which the excess energies of a +warrior spirit might be expended without harm to their fellows.</p> + +<p>To open a crack in this frontier was Nails' supreme goal, because, +once opened, men need never fight again amongst themselves for lack of +a place to go or a thing to do.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Space Lab One had been in spin for two days.</p> + +<p>On Earth, TV viewers no longer demanded twenty-four hours of Lab +newscasts, and were returning to their normal cycles of Meet the +Press, the Doctor's Dilemma, and the Lives of Lucy, and other juicier +items of the imagination that, now that their lab was a functioning +reality, seemed far more exciting than the pictures of the +interminably spinning wheel and the interviews with scientists aboard +that had filled their screens during the spin-out trial period.</p> + +<p>On the wheel itself, life was settling into a pattern, with comments +about being able to stand upright becoming old hat.</p> + +<p>In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle's birds and beasts had adapted +themselves to the light gravity; and their biological mentor had +evolved feeding, watering, and cleaning methods that were rapidly +becoming efficient.</p> + +<p>Next door, Dr. Millie Williams' FARM had survived the "take-off" and +the plants, grateful for their new, although partial gravity, were now +stretching themselves towards the overhead fluorescents in a rather +fantastic attempt to imitate the early growing stages of Jack's famous +beanstalk.</p> + +<p>In the machine shop, Paul Chernov carefully inspected the alignment of +the numeric controlled laser microbeam milling and boring machine, +brought it to a focus on a work piece, and pressed an activation +switch that started the last pattern of tiny capillary holes in the +quartz on which he was working. In moments the pattern was completed.</p> + +<p>Gently removing the work piece from its mounting, he turned to the +open double bulkhead that served as an air lock in emergencies and +that separated his shop from the physics lab beyond, where Dr. Y. Chi +Tung, popularly known as Ishie, was busy over a haywire rig, Chief +Engineer Mike Blackhawk and Tombu beside him.</p> + +<p>Reverently, Dr. Chi took the part from Paul's hands. "A thousand +ancestral blessings," he said. "Confusion say the last piece is the +most honored for its ability to complete the gadget, and this is it.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he added, "Confusion didn't say whether it would work or +not."</p> + +<p>"What does the gadget do?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"Um-m-m. As the European counterpart of Confusion, Dr. Heisenberg +might have explained it, this is a device to confuse confusion by +aligning certainties and creating uncertainties in the protons of this +innocent block of plastic." The round, saffron-hued Chinese face +looked at Paul solemnly.</p> + +<p>"As the good Dr. Heisenberg stated, there is a principle of confusion +or uncertainty as to the exact whereabouts of things on the atomic +level, which cannot be rendered more exact due to disturbance caused +by the investigation of its whereabouts. My humble attempt is to +secure a sufficiently statistical sample of aligned protons to obtain +data on the distortion of the electron orbits caused by an external +electrostatic field, thus rendering my own uncertainties more +susceptible of analysis in a statistical manner."</p> + +<p>Suddenly he grinned. "It's a take-off," he said, "from the original +experiments in magnetic resonance back in '46.</p> + +<p>"The fields generated in these coils are strong enough to process all +the protons so that their axis of spin is brought into alignment. At +this point, the plastic could be thought of as representing a few +billion tiny gyroscopes all lined up together.</p> + +<p>"Matter of fact," he said in an aside, "if you want a better +explanation of that effect, you might look up the maintenance manual +on the proton gyroscopes that Sad Cow uses. Or the manuals for the +M.R. analyzer in the chem lab. Or the magnetometer we use to keep a +check on Earth's magnetic field.</p> + +<p>"So far, about the same thing.</p> + +<p>"What I'm trying to do is place radio frequency fields and +electrostatic fields in conjunction with the D.C. magnetic field, so +as to check out the effect of stretching the electron orbits of the +hydrogen atoms in predictable patterns.</p> + +<p>"I picked this place for it, because it was as far away from Earth's +field as I could get. And Mike, when I get ready to test this thing, +I'm going to pray to my ancestors and also ask you to turn off as many +magnetic gadgets as you safely can."</p> + +<p>Mike was squatting on his heels by the haywire rig, built into what +looked suspiciously like a chassis extracted from one of the standard +control consoles of the communication department.</p> + +<p>Reaching gingerly in through the haywire mass of cables surrounding +the central components, he pointed to one of the coils and exclaimed +in the tones of a Sherlock Holmes, "Ah-ha, my dear Watson! I have just +located the final clue to my missing magnaswedge. I suppose you know +the duty cycle on those coils is only about 0.01?"</p> + +<p>"Not after I finished with them!" Ishie grinned unrepentant. "Besides, +I don't want to squash anything in the field. I just want a nice, +steady field of a reasonable magnitude. As Confusion would say, he who +squashes small object may unbalance great powers."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>While he talked, Ishie had been busy inserting the carefully machined +piece of quartz plate that Chernov had brought, into a conglomeration +of glassware that looked like a refugee from the chem lab, and flipped +a switch that caused a glowing coil inside a pyrex boiler to heat a +small quantity of water, which must escape through the carefully +machined capillary holes in the plate he had just installed. Each jet +would pass through two grids, and on towards a condenser arrangement +from which the water would be recirculated into the boiler by a small +pump which was already beginning to churkle to itself.</p> + +<p>"O.K.," Mike said. "I dig the magnetic resonance part. And how you're +using the stolen coils. But what's this gadget?" and he pointed to the +maze of glass and glass tubing.</p> + +<p>"Oh. Permit me to introduce Dr. Ishie's adaptation of a French +invention of some years previous, which permits the development of +high voltages by the application of heat to the evaporation of a fluid +medium such as water—of which we have plenty aboard and you won't +miss the little that I requisitioned—causing these molecules to +separate and pass at high speed through these various grids, providing +electrostatic potentials in their passage which can be added quite +fantastically to produce the necessary D.C. field which...."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, Mike's finger moved nearer a knob-headed bolt that seemed +to be one of the two holding the glass device to its mounting board, +and an inch and a half spark spat forth and interrupted the +dissertation with a loud "Yipe!"</p> + +<p>"Confusion say," Ishie continued as Mike stuck his finger in his +mouth, "he who point finger of suspicion should be careful of lurking +dragons!</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, that's what it does. There are two thousand separate little +grids, each fed by its capillary jet, and each grid provides about +ninety volts."</p> + +<p>Tombu took the opportunity to inquire, "Have you got that RF +field-phase generator under control yet?" He pointed to still another +section of the chassis.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes." The physicist nodded. "See, I have provided a feedback +circuit to co-ordinate the pick-up signal with the three-phase RF +output. The control must be precise. Can't have it skipping around or +we don't get a good alignment."</p> + +<p>There was a gurgling churkle from the innocent-looking maze as the +"borrowed" aerator pump from the FARM supplies began returning the +condensate back to the boiler.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Major Steve Elbertson stood on the magnetic stat-walk of the south +polar loading lock, gazing along the anchor tube to Project Hot Rod +five miles away.</p> + +<p>"There are no experts in the ability to maneuver properly in free +fall," he told himself, quieting his dissatisfaction with his own +self-conscious efforts at maintaining the military dignity of the +United Nations Security Forces in a medium in which a man inevitably +lost the stances that to him connotated that dignity.</p> + +<p>Awkwardly, he attached the ten-pound electric device affectionately +known to spacemen as the scuttlebug, to the flat ribbon-cable that +would both power and guide him to Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>As the wheels of the scuttlebug clipped over the ribbon-cable, one +above and two below, and made contact with the two electrically +conductive surfaces, he saw the warning light change from green to +red, indicating that the ribbon was now in use, and that no one else +should use it until he had arrived at the far end.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the safety light was now in his favor, he swung his legs +over the seat—a T-bar at the bottom of the rod which swung down from +the drive mechanism—grasped the rod, and pulled the starting trigger.</p> + +<p>The accelerative force of one gee, the maximum of which the scuttlebug +was capable, provided quite a jolt, but settled down very quickly to +almost zero as he picked up speed and reached the maximum of one +hundred twenty miles per hour.</p> + +<p>A very undignified method of travel, he thought. Yet for all that, the +scuttlebugs were light and efficient, and reduced transit time between +outlying projects and the big wheel to a very reasonable time, +compared to that which it would take for a man to jump the distance +under his own power—and, he thought, without wasting the precious +mass that rockets would have required.</p> + +<p>The low voltage power supplied by the two flat sides of the ribbon was +insufficient to have provided lethal contact, even if the person were +there without the insulation of a spacesuit around him, a very +unlikely occurrence. Furthermore, the structure of the cable, with the +flat, flexible insulation between its two conductive surfaces, made it +practically impossible to short it out; and the flanged wheels of the +scuttlebug clipped over it in such a fashion that, once locked, it was +thought to be impossible that they could lose their grip without being +unlocked.</p> + +<p>As Steve gained speed along the ribbon, "his" Project Hot Rod was in +view before him—appearing to be a half moon which looked larger than +the real moon in the background behind it; and seeming to stand in the +vastness of space at a distance from the far end of the long anchor +tube, a narrow band of bright green glowing near its terminator line.</p> + +<p>From the rounded half of the moon, extending sunward, four bright, +narrow traceries seemed to outline a nose that ended in a pale, +globular tracery at its tip, pointing to the sun.</p> + +<p>The narrow traceries were in actuality four anchor tubes, similar to +the one beside which he rode; and mounted in their tip was the +directing mirror that would aim Hot Rod's beam of energy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Project Hot Rod was actually a giant balloon eight thousand feet in +diameter, one-half "silvered" with a greenish reflective surface +inside that reflected only that light that could be utilized by the +ruby rods at its long focal center; and that absorbed the remainder of +the incident solar radiation, dumping it through to its black outside +surface, and on into the vastness of space. This half of the big +balloon was the spherical collector mirror, facing, through the clear +plastic of its other half, the solar disk.</p> + +<p>Well inside the balloon, at the tip of the ruby barrel that was its +heart, were located the boiler tubes that activated the self-centering +inertial orientation servos which must remain operational at all +times. If the big mirror were ever to present its blackened rear +surface to the sun for more than a few minutes, the rise in +temperature would totally destroy the entire project. Therefore, these +servos had been designed as the ultimate in fail-safe, fool-proof +control to maintain the orientation of the mirror always within one +tenth of one degree of the center of Sol.</p> + +<p>Their action was simplicity itself. The black boiler tubes were +shielded in such a way that so long as the aim was dead center on the +sun they received no energy; but let the orientation shift by a +fraction of a degree, and one of these blackened surfaces would begin +to receive reflected energy from the mirror behind it; the liquid +nitrogen within would boil, and escape under pressure through a jet in +such manner as to re-orient the position to the center of the tracking +alignment.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> +<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="800" height="286" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Since the nitrogen gas escaped into the balloon, the automatic +pressure regulator designed to maintain pressure within the balloon +would extract an equal quantity of gas, put it back through the +cooling system on the back side of the mirror, and return it as liquid +to the boiler.</p> + +<p>These jets were so carefully and precisely balanced that there was +virtually no "hunting" in the system.</p> + +<p>The balloon itself was attached to its anchor tube by a one hundred +meter cable that gave free play to these orientation servos. The +anchor point was the exact center of the black outside surface of the +mirror-half of the balloon; and beside that anchor point was the air +lock to the control center, to which Steve was now going.</p> + +<p>From the control room, a column extended up through the axis of the +balloon for thirty-five hundred feet—and most of the surface of this +column was covered with the new type, high power ruby rods, thirty +feet long and one-half inch in diameter, mounted in tubular trays of +reflective material which took up sufficient space to make each rod +occupy two inches of the circumference of the tube on which it was +mounted.</p> + +<p>These ruby rods were the heart of the power system, converting the +random wave fronts of noncoherent light received from the mirror into +a tremendous beam of coherent infrared energy which could be bundled +in such a pattern as to reach Earth's surface in a focal point +adjustable from here to be something between twenty-two feet in +diameter to approximately one mile in diameter.</p> + +<p>The banks of rods were so arranged that each of the one hundred +sections comprising the three thousand feet of receptive surface at +the focus of the mirror formed a concentric circle of energy beams; +each circle becoming progressively smaller in diameter, so that the +energy combined into one hundred concentric circles, one within the +other, as it left the rods; but these circles were capable of the +necessary focusing that could bring them all together into a single +small point near Earth's surface.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The beam leaving the rods represented three hundred seventy-five +million watts of energy, tightly packaged for delivery to Earth. But +this was only a small fraction of the solar energy arriving at the big +mirror.</p> + +<p>The remainder, the loss, must be dumped by the black surface at the +back; and to account for the loss in the rods themselves, to prevent +their instantaneous slagging into useless globules of aluminum oxide, +their excess loss energy must also be dumped.</p> + +<p>A cooling bath of liquid nitrogen therefore circulated over each rod +and brought the excess heat to the rear of the big lens, where it, +too, could be dumped into the blackness of space beyond.</p> + +<p>For all its size and complexity, Hot Rod was only a trifle over six +per cent efficient; but that six per cent of efficiency arriving on +Earth would be highly welcome to supplement the power sources that +statistics said were being rapidly depleted.</p> + +<p>The spherical shape of the mirror itself, one of the easiest possible +structures to erect in space, had dictated the placement of the rods +through its center since there was no single focal point for the +entire mirror surface.</p> + +<p>But it had also added a complication. From this position, the rods +could have been designed to fire either straight forward or straight +back.</p> + +<p>However, due to the hollow nature of the thirty-five hundred foot +laser barrel; the necessity for access to the rods from inside that +barrel; and the placement of the control booth at its outside end, the +firing could only be forward, straight towards the sun on which the +mirror was focused.</p> + +<p>But to be useful, the beam must be able to track an ever-moving +target.</p> + +<p>This problem had been solved by one of the largest mirror surfaces +that man had ever created—flat to a quarter of a wave-length of +light, and two hundred fifty feet in diameter, the beam director, from +this distance looking as though it were a carelessly tossed +looking-glass from milady's handbag, anchored one diameter forward of +the big power balloon.</p> + +<p>For all its size, this director mirror had very little mass. +Originally it had been planned to be made of glass in much the same +manner as Palomar's 200-inch eye. But this plan had been rejected on +the basis of the weight involved.</p> + +<p>Instead, its structure was a rigid honeycomb of plastic; surfaced by a +layer of fluorocarbon plastic which had been brought to its final +polish in space, and then carefully aluminized to provide a highly +reflective, extremely flat surface.</p> + +<p>This mirror was also cooled by the liquid nitrogen supplied from the +back side of the big mirror. Necessarily so, since even its best +reflectivity still absorbed a sufficient portion of the energy from +the beam it deflected to have rapidly ruined it if it were not +properly cooled.</p> + +<p>The several tons of ruby rods in the barrel, with their clear sapphire +coatings, were far more valuable than any gems of any monarch that had +ever lived on Earth. Synthetic though they were, Steve Elbertson, the +project's military commander, knew they had been shipped here at +fantastic cost and were expected to pay for themselves many thousands +of times over in energy delivered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As yet, the project had had no specific target; nor had it been fully +operational as of midnight yesterday.</p> + +<p>But this "morning" for the first time the terrific energy of the laser +beam would be brought to bear on the Greenland ice cap—three hundred +seventy-five million watts of infrared energy adjusted to a +needle-point expected to be twenty-two feet in diameter at Earth's +surface, delivering one million watts per square foot, that should put +a hole a good way through the several thousand feet of glacier there +in its fifteen minutes of operation, possibly even exposing the bare +rock beneath, and certainly releasing a mighty cloud of steam.</p> + +<p>Focused to this needle sharpness, the rate of energy delivery was many +orders of magnitude higher than that delivered by man's largest +nuclear weapons only a few yards from ground zero.</p> + +<p>Today's test was primarily scheduled as a test of control in aiming +and energy concentration. Careful co-ordination of the project by +ground control was vital, so that no misalignment of the beam could +possibly bring it to bear on any civilized portion of Earth's surface. +For, fantastic as this Project Hot Rod might be as a source of power +for Earth, Major Elbertson knew that it was also the most dangerous +weapon that man had ever devised.</p> + +<p>Therefore, the scientists were never alone in the control booth, +despite the mile-long security records of each. Therefore, he and his +men were in absolute control of the men who controlled the laser.</p> + +<p>Therefore, too, Steve told himself, as the time came when there would +be a question of command between himself and Captain Nails Andersen, +science advisor to the U.N. and commander of Space Lab One, his own +secret orders were that he was to take command—and the rank that +would give him that command was already bestowed, ready for +activation.</p> + +<p>Nails Andersen, Steve reminded himself with amusement, had originated +the laser project; had fought it through against the advice of more +cautious souls; and had, through that project, attained command of the +space lab, and the rank that made that command possible, all in the +name of civilian science.</p> + +<p>But not command of the laser project, Steve told himself.</p> + +<p>Not of the most dangerous military weapon ever devised—dangerous and +military for all that it was a civilian project, developed on the +excuse that it would power Earth, which was rapidly eating itself out +of its power sources.</p> + +<p>Not in command of that, Steve told himself. Nobody but a military man +could properly protect—and if necessary, properly use—such power.</p> + +<p>Those were his secret orders; and he had the papers—and the authority +from Earth—to back him up. And orders to shoot to kill without +hesitation if those orders were questioned.</p> + +<p>Meantime, today's peacetime experiment would bring forcibly to the +attention of Earth both the power for good and the power for +destruction of the laser which he commanded.</p> + +<p>Project Hot Rod was manned twenty-four hours a "day." The new shift of +scientists—the ones who would turn on the powerful—or deadly—beam, +would come aboard in about half an hour. The men who had put the +finishing touches on the project during the past shift would remain +for another hour. His own crew of Security men shifted with the +scientists—but he, himself, shifted at will.</p> + +<p>The immensity around him went unheeded as Steve Elbertson, eyes on +Project Hot Rod, savored the power of the beam that could control +Earth.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the observatory, Perk Kimball and his assistant Jerry Wallace were +having coffee as the various electronic adjuncts to the instruments of +the observatory warmed up. Transistors and other solid state +components that made up the majority of the electronic equipment in +the observatory required no "warm up" in the sense that the older +electron tubes had—but when used in critical equipment, they were +temperature sensitive, and he allowed for time to reach a stable +operating temperature. Then, too, the older electron tubes had not +been entirely replaced. Many of them were still in faithful service.</p> + +<p>The day would not be spent in the observation which was their main job +there, because calibration of many of the instruments remained to be +done, and the observatory was behind schedule, having had a good deal +of its time taken up in the sightings required by the communications +lab and Project Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>Both of the astronomers were heartily sick of spending so much of +their observational time with recalcitrant equipment; and in making +observations of the globe from which they had come. After all, why +should an astronomer be interested in Earth? Though admittedly this +was the first observatory in man's entire history that had had the +opportunity for such a careful scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"This flare business, that our captive Indian was predicting," Jerry +asked. "Think there's anything to it? Or am I just learning rumors +about my profession from lay sources?"</p> + +<p>"A rather presumptuous prediction, though he may be right." Perk's +clipped tone was partly English, partly the hauteur of the +professional. To him, solar phenomena were strictly sourced on the +sun, and if they were to be understood at all, it would be in +reference to the internal dynamics of the sun itself.</p> + +<p>"The torroidal magnetic fields dividing the slowly rotating polar +regions from the more rapid rotation near the solar equator," he said +slowly, rather pedantically, but as though talking to himself, "should +have far more effective control over solar phenomena than the periodic +unbalance created by the off-center gravitic fields when the inner +planets bunch on the same side of their solar orbits.</p> + +<p>"To imply otherwise would be rather like saying that the grain of sand +is responsible for the tides.</p> + +<p>"Yet," he added honestly, "the records compiled by some of the +communications interests that used to be greatly disturbed by the +solar flares' influence on radio communications, seem to indicate that +there is a connection. So there is the possibility, however remote, +that our captive redskin might be right; or rather, that there is a +force involved that makes the two coincidental."</p> + +<p>But even as he talked, an unnoticed needle on the board began an +unusual, wiggling dance, far different from its ordinary, slow +averaging reactions. Twice, without being noticed, it swung rapidly +towards the red line on its meter face; and then on its third approach +the radiation counter swung over the red line and triggered an alarm.</p> + +<p>From only one source in their environment could they expect that level +of X-ray intensity. Without so much as a pause for thought, as the +alarm screamed, barely glancing at the counter, Perk reached for the +intercom switch and intoned the chant that man had learned was the +great emergency of space: "Flare, flare, flare—take cover."</p> + +<p>Simultaneously, he flipped three switches putting the observatory, the +only completely unshielded area within the satellite, on automatic, to +record as much as it could of the progress of the solar flare with its +incomplete equipment, while he and Jerry dove through the open air +lock down the central well to the emergency shield room in the center +of the hub.</p> + +<p>It was a poor system, Perk thought, that hadn't devised sufficient +shielding for the observatory so that they could watch this phenomenon +more directly. "We'll have to work on that problem," he told himself +and since his recommendations would carry much weight after this tour +of duty, he could be sure that any such system that he could devise +would be instrumented.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Major Steve Elbertson, caught in mid-run between the lab and Project +Hot Rod, resisted the temptation to reverse the scuttlebug on the line +and pull himself to a fast stop, as the flare warning from the +observatory came to him over the emergency circuit of his suit, +followed by Bessie's clipped official voice saying:</p> + +<p>"A flare is in progress. Any personnel outside the ship should get in +as rapidly as possible. Personnel in the rim have seven minutes in +which to secure their posts and report to the flare-shield area in the +hub. Spin deceleration will take effect in three minutes; and we are +counting on my mark towards deceleration. Mark, three minutes."</p> + +<p>The Security officer squeezed the trigger of the "bug" tighter in a +vain effort to force it and himself forward at a higher speed.</p> + +<p>The lesser shielding of the Hot Rod control room would not provide a +sufficient safety factor even for the X rays that he knew were already +around him; but he must supervise the security of the shutdown; and he +could only be very thankful that he was already nearly there and would +not have to make the entire round trip under emergency conditions.</p> + +<p>The scuttlebug automatically reversed and began slowing for the end of +its run—tripped by a block signal set in the ribbon cable. As it came +to a stop at the end of the long anchor tube, Steve dismounted and +kicked over the short remaining distance, which was spanned only by a +slack cable to permit the inertial orientation servos of Hot Rod +unhindered freedom to maintain their constant tracking of the solar +disk.</p> + +<p>Passing through the air lock of the control room, he reflected that +his exposure would probably be sufficient to give a touch of nausea in +the first half hour.</p> + +<p>Inside Hot Rod control there was little excitement. The equipment was +being turned off in the standard approved safety procedures necessary +to turn control over to the laser communication beam which would put +the project under Earth control at Thule Base, Greenland, until the +emergency was over.</p> + +<p>This separate, low-power control beam, focused on Thule Base nearly +eighty miles away from the main focus of Hot Rod on its initial +target, carried all of the communications and telemetry necessary for +the close co-ordination between Thule and the project.</p> + +<p>As Elbertson entered, the Hot Rod communications officer was switching +each of the control panels in turn to Earth control, while Dr. +Benjamin Koblensky, project chief, stood directly behind him, +supervising the process. Elbertson took up his post beside Dr. +Koblensky, replacing the Security aide who had had the past shift. +"Suit up," he said to the man briefly.</p> + +<p>As the communications officer completed the turnover, and the other +five scientists in the lab left their posts to suit up, the com +officer glanced up, received a nod from Dr. Koblensky, and said into +his microphone "All circuits have now been placed in telemetry +security operation. On my mark it will be five seconds to control +abandonment. Mark," he said after another nod from Dr. Koblensky. +"Four, three, two, one, release."</p> + +<p>His hand on the master switch, he waited for the green light above it +to assure him that the communications lag had been overcome, and as +the green light came on, pushed the switch and rose from the console.</p> + +<p>Major Elbertson stepped behind him, scanned the switches, inserted his +key into the Security lock, and turned it with a final snap, forcing +a bar home through the handles of all of the switches to prevent their +unauthorized operation by anyone until the official Security key +should again release them. In the meantime, no function could be +initiated within the laser system by anyone other than the Security +control officer at Thule Base on Earth.</p> + +<p>Hot Rod was secured, and its crew were taking turns at the lock to +make the life-saving run back to the flare-shield area in the hub of +Lab One.</p> + +<p>Last man out, three minutes after the original alarm, Steve glanced +carefully around his beloved control booth, entered the now-empty air +lock, and reaching the outside vacuum dove fast and hard toward the +anchor terminal and the scuttlebug that would take him swiftly to the +big wheel and its comparative safety.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the gymnasium that served under emergency conditions as the +flare-shield area of the hub, long since dubbed the "morgue," the +circular nets of hammocks that made it possible to pack six hundred +personnel into an area with a thirty-two foot diameter and a +forty-five foot length, were lowered. They would hardly be packed this +time, since less than one-third of the complement were yet aboard.</p> + +<p>Even so, each person aboard had his assigned hammock space, two and a +half feet wide; two and a half feet below the hammock above; and seven +feet long; and each made his way toward his assigned slot.</p> + +<p>At one end of the morgue was the area where the cages of animals from +Dr. Lavalle's labs were being stored on their assigned flare-shield +shelves; and where Dr. Millie Williams was supervising the +arrangements of the trays and vats of plants that must be protected as +thoroughly as the humans.</p> + +<p>At the other end of the morgue, the medics were setting up their +emergency treatment area, while nearby the culinary crew pulled out +and put in operating condition the emergency feeding equipment.</p> + +<p>The big wheel's soft, susurrus lullaby had already changed to a muted +background roar as her huge pumps drew the shielding waters of the rim +into the great tanks that gave the hub twenty-four feet of shielding +from the expected storm of protons that would soon be raging in the +vacuum outside.</p> + +<p>The ship was withdrawing the hydraulic mass from its rim much as a +person in shock draws body fluids in from the outer limbs to the +central body cavities. The analogy was apt, for until danger passed, +the lab was knocked out, only its automatic functions proceeding as +normal, while its consciousness hovered in interiorized, +self-protective withdrawal.</p> + +<p>On the panel before Bessie the computer's projection of expected +events showed the wave-front of protons approaching the orbit of +Venus, and on the numerical panel directly below this display the +negative count of minutes continued to march before her as the +wave-front approached at half the speed of light.</p> + +<p>The expected diminishment of X rays had not yet occurred. Normally, +there would be a space of time between their diminishment and the +arrival of the first wave of protons; but so far it had not happened.</p> + +<p>Six minutes had passed, and the arriving personnel of Project Hot Rod +came in through the locks from the loading platform, diving through +the central tunnel over Bessie's head and on to the shielded tank +beyond.</p> + +<p>Seven minutes; and from Biology lab came an excited voice. "I need +some help! I've lost a rabbit. I came back for the one I'd been +inoculating but he got away from me, and I can't corner him in this +no-gravity!"</p> + +<p>Bessie wasn't sure what to say, but Captain Andersen spoke into his +intercom. "Dr. Lavalle," he said in a low voice, but with the force of +command, "ninety per cent of your shielding has already been +withdrawn. Abandon the rabbit and report immediately to the hub!"</p> + +<p>The pumps were still laboring to bring in the last nine per cent of +the water that would be brought. The remaining one per cent of the +normal hydraulic mass of the rim had been diverted to a very +small-diameter tube at the extreme inner portion of the rim, and was +now being driven through this tube at frantically higher velocities to +compensate for the removal of the major mass, and to maintain a small +percentage of the original spin, so that the hub would not be totally +in free fall, though the pseudo-gravity of centrifugal force had +already fallen to a mere shadow of a shadow of itself, and some of the +personnel were feeling the combined squeamishness of the Coriolis +effect near the center of the ship, and the lessening of the gravity, +pseudo though it had been, that they had had with them in the rim.</p> + +<p>As the last tardy technician arrived, the medics were already +selecting out the nearly ten per cent of the personnel who had been +exposed to abnormally dangerous quantities of radiation during the +withdrawal procedure, which included, of course, all the personnel +that had been aboard Project Hot Rod at the time of the flare.</p> + +<p>Even as the medics went about injecting carefully controlled dosages +of sulph-hydral anti-radiation drugs, the beginnings of nausea were +evident among those who had been overexposed. However, only the +dosimeters could be relied on to determine whether the nausea was more +from the effects of radiation; the effects of the near-free-fall and +Coriolis experienced in the hub; or perhaps some of it was +psychosomatic, and had no real basis other than the fear engendered by +emergency conditions.</p> + +<p>Major Steve Elbertson was already in such violent throes of nausea +that his attending medic was having difficulty reading his dosimeter +as he made use of the plastic bag attached to his hammock; and he was +obviously, for the moment at least, one of the least dignified of the +persons on board.</p> + +<p>Displays of the various labs in the rim moved restlessly across most +of the thirty-six channels of the computer's video displays, as Bessie +scanned about, searching for dangerously loose equipment or personnel +that might somehow have been left behind.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_005.jpg" width="500" height="378" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>In the Biology lab, the white rabbit that had escaped was frantically +struggling in the near-zero centrifugal field with literally huge +bounds, seeking some haven wherein his disturbed senses might feel +more at home, and eventually finding a place in an overturned +wastebasket wedged between a chair and a desk, both suction-cupped to +the floor. Frightened and alone, with only his nose poking out of the +burrow beneath the trash of the wastebasket, he blinked back at the +silent camera through which Bessie observed him, and elicited from her +a murmur of pity.</p> + +<p>Seven minutes and forty-five seconds. The digital readout at the +bottom of Bessie's console showed the computer's prediction of fifteen +seconds remaining until the expected flood of protons began to arrive +from the sun.</p> + +<p>As radiation monitors began to pick up the actual arrival of the wave +front, the picture on her console changed to display a new wave front, +only fractionally in advance of the one that the computer had been +displaying as a prediction.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The storm of space had broken.</p> + +<p>Captain Andersen's voice came across the small area of the bridge that +separated them. "Check the rosters, please. Are all personnel +secured?"</p> + +<p>Bessie glanced at the thirty-two minor display panels, checking +visually, even as her fingers fed the question to the computer.</p> + +<p>The display of the labs, now that the rabbit was settled into place, +showed no dangerously loose equipment other than a few minor items of +insufficient mass to present a hazard, and no personnel, she noted, as +the Cow displayed a final check-set of figures, indicating that all +personnel were at their assigned, protected stations in the morgue, in +the engineering quarters, and on the bridge.</p> + +<p>"All secure," she told the captain. "Evacuation is complete."</p> + +<p>"Well handled," he said to her, then over the intercom: "This is your +captain. Our evacuation to the flare-shield area is complete. The ship +and personnel are secured for emergency conditions, and were secured +well within the time available. May I congratulate you.</p> + +<p>"The proton storm is now raging outside. You will be confined to your +posts in the shield area for somewhere between sixteen and forty-eight +hours.</p> + +<p>"As soon as it is possible to predict the time limit more accurately, +the information will be given to you."</p> + +<p>As he switched out of the ship's annunciator system, Captain Nails +Andersen leaned back in his chair and stretched in relief, closing his +eyes and running briefly over the details of the evacuation.</p> + +<p>When he opened them again, he found a pinch bottle of coffee at his +elbow, and tasting it, found it sugared and creamed to his preference. +His eyes went across the bridge to the computer console, and lingered +a moment on the slender, dark figure there.</p> + +<p>Amazing, he thought. The dossier, the personal history, her own and +all the others aboard, he had studied carefully before making a +selection of the people who would be in his command for this time. Not +that the decision had been totally his, but his influence had counted +heavily.</p> + +<p>This one he had almost missed. Only by asking for an extra survey of +information had he caught that bit about the riot at Moscow University +that had raged around her ears, apparently without touching or being +influenced by or influencing her own quiet program.</p> + +<p>That they didn't think alike was evident. That this was a competent +sociologist, and not just a computer technician had not at first been +evident. But Nails was well pleased with his decision in the selection +of this particular unit of his command.</p> + +<p>Things would go well in her presence, he felt. Details he might have +struggled with would iron out or disappear, and scarcely come to his +attention at all.</p> + +<p>Very competent, he thought. And attractive, too.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the engineering compartment, Mike was adjusting the power output +from the pile ten miles away, down from the full emergency power that +had been required to pump the more than five hundred thousand cubic +feet of water from the rim to the hub in seven minutes, to a level +more in keeping with the moderate requirements of the lab as it waited +out the storm.</p> + +<p>As he threw the last switch, he became aware of a soft scuffling sound +behind him, and turned to see tiny Dr. Y Chi Tung, single-handedly +manhandling through the double bulkhead the bulky magnetic resonance +device on which he had been working when the flare alarm sounded, and +having the utmost difficulty even though the near free-fall conditions +made his problem package next to weightless.</p> + +<p>The monkeylike form of the erudite physicist, dwarfed by the big +chassis, gave the appearance of a small boy trying to hide an outsize +treasure; but the nonchalant humor that normally poked constant fun at +both his profession as a physicist and the traditions of his Chinese +ancestors, was lacking.</p> + +<p>Dr. Ishie was both breathless and worried.</p> + +<p>"Mike," he gasped. "I was afraid to leave it, unshielded. It might +pick up some residual activity. Radiation, that is. From those +hydrogen hordes outside." He let the object rest for a moment, mopping +his head while he talked. "Can you hide it in here? I'm not really +anxious to have Budget Control know where some of this stuff +went—even though I have honorable intentions of returning the +components later—and the good captain down there on the bridge might +not consider its shielding important, either, if he knew I'd +sabotaged his beautiful evacuation plan to bring my pet along!" The +tone of Ishie's voice indicated his uncertainty as to Mike's +reception.</p> + +<p>The idea of Dr. Y Chi Tung worrying about any components he might have +"requisitioned" seemed almost irreverent to Mike. Budget Control would +gladly have given that eminent physicist a good half of the entire +space station, if he had expressed his needs through the proper +channels—as a matter of fact, anything on board that wasn't actually +essential to the lives of those on the satellite.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But Ishie seemed genuinely unaware of his true status, and the high +regard in which he was held. Besides, Mike suspected in him a +constitutional inability to deal through channels.</p> + +<p>Recognizing the true sensitivity that underlay Ishie's constant humor +and ridicule of himself, Mike kept himself from laughing aloud at the +stealth of the man who could have commanded the assistance of the +captain himself in shielding whatever he thought it necessary to +shield.</p> + +<p>Instead, he carefully kept his face solemn while he commented: "It +ought to fit in that rack over there." He pointed to a group of +half-filled racks. "We can slip a fake panel on it. Nobody will be +able to tell it from any of the other control circuits."</p> + +<p>Ishie heaved a deep sigh of relief and grinned his normal grin. +"Confusion say," he declared, "that ninety-six pound weakling who +struggle down shaft with six hundred pound object, even in free fall, +should have stood in bed."</p> + +<p>It took the two of them the better part of half an hour to get the +unit into place; to disguise its presence; and to make proper power +connections. Ishie had objected at first to connecting it up, and Mike +explained his insistence by saying that "If it looks like something +that works, nobody will look at it twice. But if it looks like +something dead, one of my boys is apt to take it apart to see what +it's supposed to be doing." He didn't mention his real reason—a heady +desire to run a few tests on the instrument himself.</p> + +<p>The job done, the two sat back on their heels, admiring their +handiwork like bad boys.</p> + +<p>"Coffee?" asked Mike.</p> + +<p>"Snarl. Honorable ancestor Confusion doesn't even need to tell me what +to do now. My toy is safe. I am going to bed. I have worked without +stopping for two days and now the flare has stopped me.</p> + +<p>"Confusion decide to relent. He tell me now: 'He who drive self like +slave for forty-eight hours is nuts and should be sent to bed.' I +hope," he added, "that the hammocks are soft; but I don't think I +shall notice. I know just where to go for I checked in once to fool +the Sacred Cow before I went to get my beautiful. Now I go back +again."</p> + +<p>And without so much as a thank-you, he staggered out, grasping for +hand-holds to guide himself in a most unspacemanlike manner.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike craftily sat back, still on his heels beside the object, and +watched until Ishie had disappeared, and then turned his full interest +to the playtoy that fortune had placed in his shop.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation he removed the false front they had so carefully +put in place. He still had a long tour of duty ahead, and it was very +unlikely that he would be interrupted, or, if interrupted, that anyone +would question the object on which he worked. It would be assumed that +this was just another piece of equipment normally under his care.</p> + +<p>Carefully he looked over the circuits, checking in his mind the +function of each. Then he went to his racks and began selecting test +equipment designed to fit in the empty racks around it. Oscilloscope, +signal generator, volt meters and such soon formed a bank around the +original piece of equipment, in positions of maximum access.</p> + +<p>Gingerly he began applying power to the individual circuits, checking +carefully his understanding of each component.</p> + +<p>The magnetic field effect, Ishie had explained; but this three-phase +RF generator—that puzzled him for a while.</p> + +<p>Then he remembered some theory. Brute strength alone would not cause +the protons to tip. Much as a top, spinning off-center on its point, +will swing slowly around that point instead of tipping over, the +spinning protons in the magnetic field would precess, but would not +tip and line up without the application of a rotating secondary +magnetic field at radio frequencies which would make the feat of +lining them up easy.</p> + +<p>There, then, were two of the components that Ishie had built into his +device. A strong magnetic field supplied by the magnaswedge +coils—stolen magnaswedge coils if you please—and a rotating RF field +supplied by the generator below the chassis.</p> + +<p>But this third effect? The DC electric field? That one was new to him.</p> + +<p>In his mind he pictured the tiny gyroscopes all brought into alignment +by the interplay of magnetic forces; and around each proton the tiny, +planetary electrons.</p> + +<p>Yet it was very well to think of the proton nucleus of the hydrogen +atom as a simple top, he reminded himself; but they were more complex +than that. Each orbiting electron must also contribute something to +the effect.</p> + +<p>At that point, Mike remembered, the electron itself would be spinning, +a lighter-weight gyroscope, much as Earth has a lighter weight than +the Sun. The electron, too, had a magnetic field; more powerful than +the proton's field because of its higher rate of spin, despite its +lighter mass. The electron could also be lined up.</p> + +<p>Somewhere in the back of his mind, Mike remembered having read of +another effect. The electron's resonance. Electron para-magnetic +resonance.</p> + +<p>It, too, could be controlled by radio frequencies in a magnetic +field—but the frequencies were different, far up in the microwave +region; about three centimeters as Mike recalled—and he went back to +his supply cabinet to get another piece of equipment, a spare klystron +that actually belonged to the radar department but that was "stored" +in his shop.</p> + +<p>At these frequencies, the three centimeter band of the electromagnetic +spectrum, energy does not flow on wires as it does in the lower +frequency regions. Here plumbing is required. But Mike, amongst other +things, was an expert RF plumber.</p> + +<p>Even experts take time to set up klystrons, and it was three hours +later before Mike was ready with the additional piece of haywire +equipment which carefully piped RF energy into the plastic block.</p> + +<p>This refinement by itself had been done before; but some of the others +that Mike applied during his investigation probably hadn't—at least +not to any such tortured piece of plastic as now existed between the +pole faces of the device.</p> + +<p>To have produced the complete alignment of both the protons and the +electrons within a mass might have been attempted before. To have +applied an electrostatic field in addition to this had perhaps been +attempted before. To have done all three, at the same time to the same +piece of plastic, and then to have added the additional tortures that +Mike thought up as he went along, was perhaps a chance combination, +repeatable once in a million tries, one of those experimental +accidents that sometimes provide more insight into the nature of +matter than all of the careful research devised by +multi-million-dollar-powered teams of classical researchers.</p> + +<p>When the contraption was in full operation, he simply sat on his heels +and watched, studying out in his mind the circuits and their effects.</p> + +<p>The interruption of the magnetic resonance by the electrostatic +field—by the DC—with the RF plumbing—twisted by—each time the +concept came towards the surface, it sank back as he tried to pull it +into consciousness.</p> + +<p>Churkling to itself, the device continued applying its alternate +fields and warps and strains.</p> + +<p>"It's a Confusor out of Confusion by Ishie, who is probably as great a +creator of Confusion as you could ask," Mike told himself, forgetting +his own part in the matter, watching intently, waiting for the concept +to come clear in his mind.</p> + +<p>Presently he went over to his console, to his pads of paper and +pencils, and began sketching rapidly, drawing the interlocking and +repulsing fields, the alignments, mathing out the stresses—in an +attempt to visualize just what it was that the Confusor would now be +doing....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the Confusor itself, a tiny chunk of plastic, four by four inches +square and one-half inch thick, resting in the middle of the machine +between the carefully aligned pole-faces of the magnet, was subjected +to the cumulatively devised stresses, a weird distortion of its own +stresses and of the inertia that was its existence.</p> + +<p>Each proton and electron within the plastic felt an urge to be where +it wasn't—felt a pseudo-memory, imposed by the outside stresses, of +having been traveling at a high velocity towards the north star, on +which the machine chanced to be oriented; felt the new inertia of that +velocity....</p> + +<p>Each proton and electron fitted itself more snugly against the north +pole face and pushed with the entire force of its newly-imposed +inertial pattern.</p> + +<p>Forty pounds to the square inch six hundred forty pounds over the +surface of the block, the plastic did its best to assume the motion +that the warped laws of its existence said that it already had.</p> + +<p>It was only one times ten to the minus five of a gravity that the four +by four by half inch piece of carefully machined plastic presented to +the sixty-four million pound mass of Space Lab One.</p> + +<p>But the force was presented almost exactly along the north-south axis +of the hub of the ship, and in space a thrust is cumulative and +momentum derives per second per second.</p> + +<p>The Confusor churkled quietly as the piece of plastic exerted its tiny +mass in a six hundred forty pound attempt to take off towards the +north star. And, since the piece itself was rigidly mounted to its +frame, and the frame to the ship, the giant bulk of five million cubic +feet of water, thirty-two million pounds of mass; and the matching +mass-bulk of the ship itself, responded to the full mosquito-sized +strength of the six hundred forty pound thrust, and was moved—a +fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second; a fraction of a fraction in the second; a fraction....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the bridge, the com officer had completed transmitting the +captain's detailed report of the evacuation to the hub-shield area +caused by the solar flare.</p> + +<p>On another line, under Bessie's ministrations, the computer was +feeding the data obtained by the incomplete equipment in the +observatory in its automatic operation.</p> + +<p>The captain himself was finishing a plastic-bottle of coffee, while he +wrote up his log.</p> + +<p>It was exactly nine minutes since the Confusor had come into full +operation.</p> + +<p>The fractions of fractions of centimeters had added on the square of +the number of seconds; and the sixty-four million pounds of mass of +Space Lab One has moved over thirteen meters.</p> + +<p>Trailing the wheel ten miles off, was the atomic pile, directly +attached to its anchor tube.</p> + +<p>Tightening, each with a whanging snap too tiny to be remarked within +the mass of the ship, were the cables that attached the various items +of the dump to their anchor finger.</p> + +<p>But still free on the loose one hundred meter cable that attached it +to its anchor, and which had had fifteen meters of slack when the +ship first began its infinitesimal movement, was Project Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>Nine minutes and twenty-three seconds. The velocity of the wheel with +its increasing mass of trailing items, was five point four six +centimeters per second. The nearly four million pound mass of Hot Rod +was slowly being left behind.</p> + +<p>The cable tautened the final fraction of a centimeter. Its tug was not +fast, but was unfortunately applied very close to the center of +gravity of the entire device, since most of Hot Rod's weight was +concentrated in and around the control room.</p> + +<p>Five point four six centimeters per second. Four million pounds of +mass.</p> + +<p>If the shock had been direct, it would have equaled two point eight +million ergs of energy, created by the fractional movement of the +mighty mass of the ship against Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>But the shock was transmitted through the short end of a long lever. +The motion at the beam director mirror, a full diameter out from the +eight thousand foot diameter balloon that was Hot Rod, was multiplied +nearly sixteen thousand times. Hot Rod rolled on its center of +gravity, and its beam-director mirror swung in a huge arc. Sixteen +thousand centimeters per centimeter of original motion. Eight hundred +and seventy-three meters in the first second, before the tracking +servos took over and began to fight back.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Hot Rod fought at the end of its tether like a mighty jellyfish hooked +on the end of a line.</p> + +<p>Gradually the swings decreased. Four hundred meters; two hundred +meters; one hundred meters; fifty meters; twenty-five meters—and it +had come back to a nearly stable focus on the sun.</p> + +<p>But the beam director had also been displaced, and vibrated. +Internally, the communications beam to Thule Base had been +interrupted; and the fail-safe had not failed-safely.</p> + +<p>The mighty beam had lashed out. The vibrations of the directing mirror +began placing gigantic spots and sweeps of unresistible energy across +the ice cap of Greenland, in an ever-diminishing Lissajous pattern.</p> + +<p>By the time the servos refocused the communications beam on Thule, +there was no Thule; only a burnt-out crater where it had been.</p> + +<p>Slowly, but surely, the giant balloon settled itself to the task of +burning a hole through the Greenland ice cap at a spot eighty miles +north of that now-burnt-out Thule Base that had originally been +planned as a test of its accuracy; and to the simple task of holding +that focus in spite of the now steady, though infinitesimal +acceleration under which it joined the procession headed by Lab One.</p> + +<p>Now that the waves of action and reaction from the shock energy of its +sudden start had subsided, Hot Rod's accuracy was proving great +indeed; and its beam focus was proving as small as had been +predicted.</p> + +<p>But the instruments that would have measured those facts no longer +existed.</p> + +<p>In the engineering control center of Space Lab One, the Confusor +churkled quietly and continued to pit its mosquito might against its +now nearly seventy-eight million pound antagonist, as the protons and +electrons of the plastic that was center to its forces did their +inertial best to occupy that position in space towards the north star +in which the warped fields around them forced them to belong—the +mosquito strained its six hundred forty pound thrust against its giant +in the per second per second acceleration that was effective only in +the fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second, but that compounded its fractions per second.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the quiet bridge, the captain looked up as the Com Officer said, +"Thule Base, sir," and switched on his mike.</p> + +<p>"Hot Rod has been sabotaged," a frantic voice on the other end of the +beam shouted in his ear without formalities. "She's running wild. Kill +her! Repeat, Hot Rod is wild! Kill Hot Rod! Kill—" the mike went dead +as Captain Andersen switched to the morgue intercom.</p> + +<p>"Hot Rod crew," he said briefly. "Report to the bridge on the double. +Repeat. Hot Rod crew. The bridge. On the double."</p> + +<p>As he switched off the intercom, the communications officer spoke +urgently. "Captain. I've lost contact with Thule base."</p> + +<p>"Keep trying to raise them," Captain Andersen said. He turned to +Bessie. "Give me a display of the Hellmaker," he said; then, almost to +himself, "There's still a flare in progress out there. We've got to +kill it without sending men into that—"</p> + +<p>He cut himself off in midsentence, as the computer displayed both Hot +Rod, swaying gently as she fought out the battle of the focus through +its final moments, and a telescopic view of Greenland, a tiny, glowing +coal of red showing at the center of her focus.</p> + +<p>Through the door nearly catapulted the first of the Project Hot +Rodders, followed almost on his heels by twelve more.</p> + +<p>"Where is Major Elbertson?"</p> + +<p>"In sick bay, sir. He got a big radiation dose—"</p> + +<p>The captain flipped the intercom key.</p> + +<p>"Calling Major Elbertson in sick bay. Report to the bridge on the +double, no matter what your condition. This is the captain speaking."</p> + +<p>The intercom came alive at far end.</p> + +<p>"This is Dr. Green, Captain Andersen. Major Elbertson is unconscious. +He cannot report for duty. He was extremely ill from exposure to +radiation and we have administered sulph-hydral, antispasmodic, and +sedative."</p> + +<p>Nails Andersen turned to the project crew.</p> + +<p>"Which of you are Security officers?"</p> + +<p>Three men stepped forward.</p> + +<p>"Are all the project members here?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said one. "Eight of our men are in sick bay."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the captain. "Now hear this, all of you. There is a +saboteur—maybe more than one, we do not know—among you. There is no +time to find out which of you it is. However, he has managed to leave +Project Hot Rod operational while unattended. You are to turn it off, +and to prevent the saboteur from stopping you. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>A voice in back—a rather high voice—spoke up. "Of course it's +operational," it said. "We left it operational."</p> + +<p>"You ... WHAT?"</p> + +<p>"We left it operational. It's under Earth control. The control center +at Thule is in charge, sir."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"Hot Rod communications officer, sir. I turned it over last thing +before we shut down. Under the instructions of Dr. Koblensky. That's +the shutdown procedure."</p> + +<p>"Where's Dr. Koblensky?"</p> + +<p>"Out. Out like a light," said another voice. "He got a good dose. Of +radiation. The medics put him out."</p> + +<p>"Who's senior officer here?"</p> + +<p>"I'm Dr. Johnston." It was a man in front. Rather small, +pedantic-looking. "I'm Dr. Koblensky's ... well, assistant." The word +came hard as though the fact of an assistantship were at the least +distasteful.</p> + +<p>"Who's senior in Security?"</p> + +<p>"I, sir. Chauvenseer."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Dr. Johnston and Chauvens ... sor? ... are in charge. Now +shut down that ruby hellmaker as fast as it can be done."</p> + +<p>"But, captain," Dr. Johnston spoke, "we can't turn it off. We haven't +the authority. We haven't the Security key. And the radiation won't +let up for hours."</p> + +<p>"I have just given you the authority. As for the radiation, that's a +hazard you'll have to take. What's this about a Security key?" The +captain's voice was not gentle.</p> + +<p>"Major Elbertson has the key. He has the only key. Without it, the +station cannot be removed from Earth control. Earth <i>is</i> in control. +They can turn it off, captain." Dr. Johnston's voice took on as firm a +tone of authority as that of the captain.</p> + +<p>"Chau ... Chau ... You!" barked the captain. "Get that key!" He waited +until the Security officer had disappeared through the door, then +turned to the scientist.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Dr. Johnston, Earth is not in control. I do not know why, and there +is no way of finding out. Hot Rod is wild, and <i>that</i>," he pointed at +the enlarging red spot that centered the computer display, "is what +your ruby is doing to Earth.</p> + +<p>"You will turn off the project, at gunpoint if necessary," he +continued in a grim voice. "If you turn it off volitionally, you will +be treated for radiation. If you refuse, you will not live to be +treated for anything. Do you understand? How many men do you need to +help you ... and I do mean <i>you</i> ... with the job?" he asked.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/image_006.jpg" width="400" height="518" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Dr. Johnston hesitated only fractionally, and Nails Andersen +mentally put him down on the plus side of the personnel for the +shortness of his com lag. Then he said, "The job will require only two +men for the fastest accomplishment. You realize, captain that you are +probably signing our death warrants—the two of us. But," he added, +glancing only casually at the display on the console, "I can +understand the need to sign that warrant, and I shall not quibble."</p> + +<p>The intercom spoke. "This is Dr. Green, captain. There is no key on +the person of Major Elbertson. We have searched thoroughly, sir. I +understand the need is of an emergency nature. The key is not on his +person. We have taken every possible measure to arouse him, as well, +and have been unsuccessful."</p> + +<p>Andersen flipped his switch. "Let me speak to the Hot Rod Security +officer," he said briefly.</p> + +<p>"Chauvenseer speaking, sir," the man's voice came on.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what the key looks like?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. It looks somewhat like a common Yale key, sir. But I've +never seen another just like it."</p> + +<p>"There is only the one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Where would he keep it, if not on his person?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, sir. We came straight to the morgue—the shield area, +from the air lock. I don't believe he stopped off anywhere he could +have put it."</p> + +<p>The captain turned to the second Security officer. "Search Elbertson's +spacesuit," he said. Then to the intercom, "Search his hammock. Search +every spot he went near. That key must be found in minutes. Commandeer +as many men as can help in the search without getting in the way."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, then flipped another intercom key.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blackhawk," he said.</p> + +<p>The intercom warmed at the far end. "Yes sir?" Mike's voice was +relaxed.</p> + +<p>"Is there any way to turn off Hot Rod without the Security key?"</p> + +<p>"Why sure, captain." Mike's voice held a grin. "I could pull the power +switch."</p> + +<p>"Pull it. Fast. Hot Rod's out of control."</p> + +<p>Mike's hand flashed to a master switch controlling the power that fed +Hot Rod, and blessing as he did it the fallacy of engineering that had +required external power to power the mighty energy collector.</p> + +<p>In the big balloon now happily following the wheel at the end of its +tether, the still-undamaged power-off fail-safe went into operation. +The mirror surface behind each ruby rod rotated into its shielding +position, dispersing the energy that the huge mirror directed towards +the rods, back into space.</p> + +<p>Hot Rod was secure.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike received only one further communication from the captain.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blackhawk," he was asked over the intercom, "is there any way +that you secure the Hot Rod power switch so that it cannot be turned +on without my personal authorization?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, captain, I can—"</p> + +<p>The captain interrupted. "Mr. Blackhawk, I should prefer that you not +tell me or anyone else aboard the method you will use; and that you +make your method as difficult as possible to discover. This I shall +leave," he added dryly, "to your rather ... fertile ... imagination.</p> + +<p>"There is reason to believe that Project Hot Rod was turned on by a +saboteur. Your method must be proof against him, and if he exists, he +will not be stupid." The captain switched off.</p> + +<p>Mike turned to the control panel, and after a few minutes thought +busied himself for some time.</p> + +<p>Then he headed for the bridge where Dr. Johnston, Chauvenseer, and the +captain had dismissed the others and were utilizing every check that +Dr. Johnston could dream up to assure themselves that Hot Rod was +actually turned off and would remain secure at least for the duration +of the flare; and trying as well to find out just what form the +sabotage had taken.</p> + +<p>Without interrupting the others, Mike seated himself at the subsidiary +post at the computer's console on Bessie's right, and got her to brief +him while he examined the close-up display of Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes he reached over and increased the magnification to +its maximum, showing only a small portion of the balloon, then moved +the focus to display the control room entrance as well as part of the +anchor tube and the cable between the two.</p> + +<p>"I think I've found your saboteur, sir," he said.</p> + +<p>The captain was at his side almost instantly. "Where is he?" he asked +briefly.</p> + +<p>"Not he, sir. It. And I'm not sure just where—but look. Hot Rod's +cable is taut. There's thrust on the balloon. That probably means a +puncture and escaping nitrogen.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said, "that the saboteur may have been a meteor that +punctured the balloon, and the nitrogen escaping through the hole it +made is now producing enough thrust to keep that cable taut. Though," +he added thoughtfully, "I don't see why the servos couldn't maintain +the beam to Thule—though obviously, they couldn't."</p> + +<p>"How dangerous is such a puncture?" asked the captain. "How seriously +would Hot Rod be damaged? How soon must it be repaired?"</p> + +<p>"The puncture itself shouldn't be too dangerous. Even if all the +nitrogen's gone, the balloon's in a vacuum and won't collapse—and +that's about the only serious effect a puncture would have. Just a +moment. We'll estimate its size by the thrust it's giving the ship," +he added, and turned to Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Ask the Cow whether we're getting thrust on the ship; and if so, how +much. Wait a minute," he added, "if you ask for thrust on the ship, +she'll say there isn't any because Hot Rod would be pulling us, not +pushing. And if you ask her for the thrust on Hot Rod, she hasn't got +any sensors out there.</p> + +<p>"Hm-m-m. Ask her if we have added any off-orbit velocity; and if so +how much."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The computer displayed the answer almost as soon as she received the +question.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mike, "that's not too large a hole. Ask her how ... let's +see ... how many pounds of thrust that velocity represents. That way +we don't confuse her with whether it's push or pull."</p> + +<p>The Cow displayed the answer, six hundred forty pounds of thrust.</p> + +<p>"O.K.," said Mike. "Thanks." Then to the captain and the scientist and +Security officer who were waiting beside him: "The puncture is +obviously small enough to serve as a jet, rather than to have let the +nitrogen out in one <i>whoosh</i>, since that would have given you far more +than six hundred forty pounds of thrust. Therefore, it will probably +be quite simple to patch the hole.</p> + +<p>"Nitrogen is obviously escaping, but it wouldn't be worth a man's life +to send him out into that flare-storm to patch it. We may even have +enough nitrogen aboard to replace what we lose.</p> + +<p>"The best I can figure," he said, "is that the meteor must have hit +the orientation servos and thrown them off for a bit. We'll have to +wait till after the flare to make more than an educated guess, though.</p> + +<p>"We shouldn't be too far off-orbit by the time the flare's over, +either, even with that jet constant. It'll take quite a bit of work, +but we should be able to get her back into position with not too many +hours of lost worktime.</p> + +<p>"Except for Thule, I'd say we got off fairly light.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he added grimly, "it looks like that's what your saboteur was. +Rather an effective saboteur, but you'll have a hard time putting him +up against a firing wall."</p> + +<p>Having satisfied himself as to existing conditions, Mike excused +himself shortly and went back to the engineering quarters, but his +mind was no longer on Ishie's strange device. He glanced rapidly at +the instruments regulating the power flow to the wheel, then stretched +out comfortably on the acceleration couch and in minutes was asleep.</p> + +<p>The captain, Dr. Johnston and Chauvenseer remained on the bridge +another hour, convincing themselves that Mike's analysis was correct, +and dictating a report to Earth, before the captain called in an aide +to take over the bridge, and the three retired.</p> + +<p>In the morgue, Dr. Y Chi Tung, who still slept peacefully as he had +since the moment he reached his hammock, muttered quietly in his +sleep, "Confusion—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike snapped awake and glanced guiltily at the clock. Six hours had +passed.</p> + +<p>A situation report from the Cow was the first thing on his agenda any +time that he had been out of contact for any length of time, flare or +not.</p> + +<p>It was not his job to be in constant contact with the complete +situation of the ship and its vast complexities; he was not the +captain. Nor was it in the manuals that he should have access to the +computer's huge memory banks and abilities other than through +"channels"—i.e., Bessie. But the book definition of the information +he needed for his job, and his own criteria, were somewhat different, +and he had built on Earth and installed shortly after he came aboard, +a subcontrol link which put him in direct contact with the placid-Cow.</p> + +<p>His original intention in rigging the link had been to use the +calculator for that occasional math problem which might be more +quickly resolved with her help; but then the criteria of needed +information, curiosity, or both, had got the better of him, and the +secret panel hidden in the legitimate control panels of an engineer's +console was actually quite a complete link, covering all of the Cow's +multiple functions without interfering in any was with Bessie's +control links, or revealing its existence. This linkage gave Mike the +only direct access to the computer's store of information and +abilities other than that of the operator at the control console.</p> + +<p>And Mike's secret pride was the vocoder circuit with which he had +terminated his link, originated because a teletype system similar to +that used at the control console would have been too obvious; and his +nimble fingers got all tangled up on a keyboard anyhow.</p> + +<p>Bessie might speak to the Cow through the teletype link and switches +of her control console, but only Mike had the distinction of being +able to speak directly to the big computer, and get the complacent, +somewhat mooing answers; and only Mike knew of the existence of the +vocoder aboard.</p> + +<p>It had taken some care to get used to the literal-minded conversation +that resulted; but eventually Mike felt he had worked out a +satisfactory communications ability with the overly obvious "cow."</p> + +<p>What he wanted now was a situation report. If he simply asked for +that, however, he'd have received such miles of data that he'd have +been listening for hours. So instead he broke his question down into +the facets that he needed.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes he had elicited the information that the solar flare +was now predicted to be terminated and the major part of the flare +protons past their solar orbital position within another ten hours; +that Earth co-ordinates had shifted, indicating their own orbital +shift to be a trifle over thirty-seven kilometers north in the past +eight hours.</p> + +<p>North? he thought. Hot Rod's pull on a taut cable would be to the +south.</p> + +<p>No. Lab One could be re-oriented to trail the thrusting balloon. But +the lab's servos should have prevented that re-orientation unless the +thrust were really heavy.</p> + +<p>"What is our velocity?" he asked. Temporarily he was baffled by the +placid Cow's literal translation of his request as one for any actual +velocity, since she had replied with a figure very close to their +original orbital speed. "What is our velocity at right angles to +original course?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>And the Cow's reply came: "Two-o-o hundred and fifty-seven point seven +six ce-entimeters per se-econd."</p> + +<p>That should be about right for six hundred forty pounds of thrust for, +say, six and a half hours; and the distance of the orbit shift was +about right.</p> + +<p>But the direction?</p> + +<p>"Is Hot Rod pulling us north?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No-o-o," came the placid reply.</p> + +<p>"If it's pulling us south, then why—" He stopped himself. Any "why" +required inductive reasoning, and of that the Cow was not capable. +Instead of asking why they were moving north with a south thrust, Mike +broke his question into parts. He'd have to answer the "why" himself, +he knew.</p> + +<p>"Is Hot Rod pulling us south?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No-o-oo," came the answer.</p> + +<p>This time he was more careful. "In which direction is the thrust on +Hot Rod oriented?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No-oorth."</p> + +<p>"Then Hot Rod is—" Quickly he stopped and rephrased the statement +which would have had a question in its tone but not its semantics, +into a question that would read semantically. "Is Hot Rod pulling us +north?"</p> + +<p>"No-o-oo," came the reply.</p> + +<p>Carefully. "Is Hot Rod pulling us?"</p> + +<p>"No-o-oo."</p> + +<p>Mike was stumped. Then he figured a literalness in his phrasing.</p> + +<p>"Is Hot Rod pushing or in any other way giving motion to Space Lab +One?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No-o-oo," came the answer.</p> + +<p>Now Mike <i>was</i> stumped.</p> + +<p>"Is Space Lab One under acceleration?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," said the Cow.</p> + +<p>"Then where in hell is that acceleration coming from?" Mike was +exasperated.</p> + +<p>"We a-are uunder no-o-o acceleration fro-om he-ell," the literal mind +told him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike laughed ruefully. No acceleration from hell—well, that was +debatable. But no thrust from the hellmaker was not a debatable point. +The Cow wasn't likely to be wrong, though her appalling literalness +was such that an improperly phrased question might make her seem to +be.</p> + +<p>Computers, he thought, would eventually be the salvation of the human +race, whetting their inventors' brains to higher and higher efforts +towards the understanding of communications.</p> + +<p>Very carefully now he rephrased his question. "From what, and from +what point is the acceleration of Space Lab One originating?"</p> + +<p>"From the co-ontinu-ous thrust o-originating at a po-oint thirteen +fe-et from the a-axial center of the whe-el, in hu-ub section five +no-orth, one hundred twelve degrees fro-om reference ze-ero of the +engine-eering lo-ongitude references sta-ation assigned in the +con-struction ma-anual dealing with relative po-ositions o-of ma-asses +lo-ocated o-on Spa-ace La-ab O-one."</p> + +<p>Mike glanced up at the tube overhead, which represented the axial +passageway down the hub of the wheel. Thirteen feet from the imaginary +center of that tube, and in his own engineering compartment.</p> + +<p>Then his gaze traveled on around the oddly built, circular room with +its thirty-two-foot diameter. The reference to hub section five north +meant this compartment. The degrees reference referred to the +balancing co-ordinates by which the Cow kept the big wheel statically +balanced during rotation. There was a bright stripe of red paint +across the floor which indicated zero degrees; and degrees were +counted counterclockwise from the north pole of the wheel.</p> + +<p>His eyes strayed across the various panels and racks and came to rest +in the one hundred twelve degree area. A number of vacant racks, some +holding the testing equipment he had moved there not too many hours +before—and churkling quietly in its rack near the floor, Ishie's +Confusor of Confusion.</p> + +<p>Mike contemplated the device with awed respect, then phrased another +question for the Cow.</p> + +<p>"Exactly how much thrust is being exerted on that point?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The computer reeled off a string of numbers so fast that he missed +them, and was still going into the far decimal places when Mike said:</p> + +<p>"Whoa! Approximate number of pounds, please."</p> + +<p>"A-approximately six hundred forty. You-u didn't specify the limits +o-of a-accuracy tha-at you-u wanted." The burred tone was still +complacent.</p> + +<p>"Just what acceleration has that given us?" asked Mike, still looking +at the Confusor. "Approximately," he added quickly.</p> + +<p>"Present a-acceleration is a-approximately eight point nine five +ti-imes te-en to the mi-inus third ce-entimeters per se-econd per +se-econd. I ca-an ca-arry that to-o-o several mo-ore de-ecimal +pla-aces if you-u wi-ish."</p> + +<p>"No, thanks, I think you've told me enough."</p> + +<p>Mike stood up.</p> + +<p>This, he thought, needs Ishie. And coffee, he told himself as a second +thought.</p> + +<p>And then as a third thought, he turned back to his secret vocoder +panel, and said: "The information you have just given me is to be +regarded as top secret and not to be discussed except over this +channel and by my direct order. Absolutely nothing that would give any +one a clue to the fact that there is a method of acceleration aboard. +Understood?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, Mah-ike."</p> + +<p>"O.K."</p> + +<p>Mike switched off the vocoder, flipped his intercom to the temporary +galley in the morgue, and ordered two breakfasts readied. Then he set +off for the morgue.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> +<img src="images/image_007.jpg" width="800" height="301" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Mike Blackhawk located Dr. Y. Chi Tung's hammock, and nudged the +scientist unceremoniously. The small physicist awoke and attempted to +sit up in one gesture; bumped his head on the hammock above, and laid +back down just as suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Come on down to engineering will you Ishie?" The request was spoken +softly.</p> + +<p>"Hokey, dokey," said Ishie and crawled out of the narrow aperture with +the agility of a monkey.</p> + +<p>Gesturing to the other to follow him, Mike led the way to the galley +first, where the two picked up the readied breakfast and took them to +Mike's quarters.</p> + +<p>The "cups" of coffee were squeeze bottles; the trays were soft +plastic packages, similar to the boil-in-the-bag containers of frozen +food that had been common on Earth for some time.</p> + +<p>Mike hesitated at the entrance to his engineering quarters, +considering whether to shut the bulkhead, but discarded the idea as +being more of an attention-getter than a seal for secrecy. He gestured +Ishie to the bunk, and parked himself at his console.</p> + +<p>"We're in trouble," he said. "You and I together are responsible for +the first space attack on Earth."</p> + +<p>He stopped and waited, owl-eyed, but the small physicist simply +tackled his breakfast with no further comment than a raised eyebrow.</p> + +<p>"We," said Mike solemnly, "wiped out Thule Base last night."</p> + +<p>"As Confusion would say, there's no Thule like a dead Thule. What are +you getting at Mike? You sound serious."</p> + +<p>"You mean you slept through ... you didn't know we ... you didn't hear +the ... yes, I guess you slept! Well...."</p> + +<p>Rapidly Mike sketched the events of the past nine hours, bringing his +story completely up to date, including the information he'd gleaned +from the Cow, but making no reference to his access to the computer's +knowledge. Instead, he attributed the conclusions to himself.</p> + +<p>The physicist sat so still when he had finished that Mike became +seriously concerned. "Thule...." he began, but Ishie started to speak.</p> + +<p>"Mike, it did? It couldn't ... but ... of course, it must have ... the +fields ... six hundred forty pounds of thrust! Only six hundred forty, +yet ... yes, it could, if the thrust were exactly aligned ... thrust +... Mike, thrust! <i>Mike, thrust!</i> Real thrust! Mike do you know what +this means?" His eyes were alight. His voice was reverent. He sprang +from the bunk and knelt before the rack that held the churkling +Confusor.</p> + +<p>"My pretty," he said. "My delicate pretty. What you have done! Mike, +we've got a space drive!"</p> + +<p>"Ishie. Don't you realize? We wiped out Thule!"</p> + +<p>"Thule, schmule—Mike, we've got a space drive!"</p> + +<p>Mike grinned to himself. He needn't have worried. Not about Ishie, any +how.</p> + +<p>But now Ishie was gesturing him over.</p> + +<p>"Mike," he said, "you must show me in detail. In exact detail. What +did you do? What was your procedure?"</p> + +<p>Mike came over and casually reached towards the churkling device, +saying "Why, I—" but Ishie reacted with catlike swiftness, blocking +the man before he could even touch the rack.</p> + +<p>"No, don't touch it! Just <i>tell</i> me what you did!"</p> + +<p>Carefully now, Mike began outlining in detail his inspection of the +device and each step he had taken as he added to its complexities.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, the two sat back on their heels thinking. +Finally, Mike spoke.</p> + +<p>"Ishie, will you please tell me just how does this thing ... this +Confusor ... <i>get</i> that thrust? Just exactly what is involved here?"</p> + +<p>Ishie took his time answering, and when he did his words come slowly. +"Ah, yes. Confusor it is. I was attempting to confound Heisenberg's +statement; but instead I think between us we have confused the issue.</p> + +<p>"Heisenberg said that there was no certainty in our measurement of the +exact orbit of an electron. That the instrument used to measure the +position of the electron must inevitably move the electron; and +the greater the attempt at precise measurements, the greater the error +produced by the measurements.</p> + +<p>"It was my hope," he went on, "to provide greater accuracy of +measurement, by use of statistics over the vast number of electrons in +orbit around the hydrogen atoms within the test mass. But this, +apparently, will not be.</p> + +<p>"Now to see what it is we have done.</p> + +<p>"First, let us make a re-expression of the laws of math-physics. You +understand that I am feeling my way here, for what we have done and +what I thought I was doing are quite different, and I am looking with +hindsight now at math-physics from the point of reality of this +thrust.</p> + +<p>"As I understand it, there's a mutual exclusiveness of particles, +generally expressed by the statement that two particles may not occupy +the same space at the same time.</p> + +<p>"But as I would put it, this means each particle owns its own place. +Now, inertia says that each particle not only owns its own place, but +owns its own temporal memory of where it's going to be unless +something interferes with it.</p> + +<p>"Now let me not confuse you with semantics. When I say 'memory' and +'knowing' I am not implying a sentient condition. I am speaking of the +type of memory and knowing that is a strain in the structure of the +proton or atom. This is ... well, anyhow, not sentient. You will have +to translate for yourself.</p> + +<p>"So to continue, inertia, the way I would put it, says that each +particle not only owns its own place, but owns its own temporal memory +of where it is going unless it is interfered with.</p> + +<p>"In other words, the particle arriving here, now, got here by +remembering in this other sense that it was going from there to there +to there with some inherent sort of memory. This memory can't be +classified as being in relation to anything but the particle itself. +No matter how you move the things around it, as long as the things +around it don't exert an influence on the particle, the particle's +memory of where it's been and where it's going form a continuous +straight line through space and must, therefore, have spatial +co-ordinates against which to form a 'memory' pattern of former and +future action.</p> + +<p>"Now as I understand gravity, it's simply the statement that all +particles in space are covetous, in this same non-sentient sense, of +the position in space of all their neighboring particles. In other +words, it's a contravention or the attempted contravention of the +statement that two particles may not be in the same place at the same +time. It seems that all particles have an urge to try to be in each +other's space. And this desire is modified by the distance that +separates them.</p> + +<p>"This adds up to three rules:</p> + +<p>"1. No two particles may occupy the same space at the same time.</p> + +<p>"2. Even though they can't, they try.</p> + +<p>"3. They all know where they're going, and where they've been without +relation to anything but the spatial co-ordinates around them.</p> + +<p>"That third statement seems to me to knock something of a hole in +Einstein's relativity theory. Unless you wish to grant all these +particles some method of determining their relationship to particles +that are not near them.</p> + +<p>"Communication between particles by any means is apparently limited by +the speed of light, which is a relationship between space and time, +but apparently, from what we know of inertia, if the universe +contained only a single particle, and that particle was in motion, it +would continue to move regardless of the fact that its motion could +not be checked upon in relation to other particles.</p> + +<p>"This indicates to me that the particle has an existence in space +because it is created out of space, and that space must, therefore, +have some very real properties of its own regardless of what is or is +not in it. The very fact that there is a limiting speed to light and +particle motion introduces the concept that space has physical +properties.</p> + +<p>"In order to have an electromagnetic wave, one must have a medium in +which an electric field or a magnetic field may exist. In order to +have matter, which I believe to be a form of electromagnetic field in +stasis, one must have special properties which make the existence of +matter possible. In order to have inertia, one must also have spatial +properties which make the existence of inertia possible.</p> + +<p>"People are fond of pointing out that there's nothing to get hold of +in free space in order to climb the ladder of gravity, or in order to +move between the planets, and that the only possibility of motion of a +vehicle in space is to throw something away, or, in other words, lose +mass in order to gain speed by reaction. Which is simply a statement +that as far as we can tell a force can only be exerted relative to two +points—or between two points or masses.</p> + +<p>"But this does not account for the continuance of motion once started.</p> + +<p>"Inertia says a body will move once started, but it doesn't say why or +how. How does that particle once started gain the knowledge to +continue without some direct control over its spatial framework? That +it will continue, we know. That in the presence of a gravitic field or +a magnetic field or other attractive force at right angles to its +motion, we can create an acceleration which will maintain it in an +exactly circular path called an orbit. But how does it remember, as +soon as that field ceases to exist, where it was going before it was +last influenced? That it will continue in a straight line +indefinitely, without such an influence, we know. That it can be +influenced over a distance by various field effects, we also know. +But what is the mechanism of influence whereby it influences itself to +continue in a straight line? And what handle did we get hold of to +convert that influence of self to our own advantage in moving this +ship?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike stared at Ishie with vast respect.</p> + +<p>"I thought you physics boys did it all with math," he said softly, +"and here you've outlined the facts of space that an Indian can feel +in his bones—and you've done it in good, solid English that makes +some sense.</p> + +<p>"In other words," Mike was almost talking to himself as he tried to +reword Ishie's theorizing into his own type of thinking, "the particle +in motion creates a strain in the fabric—the field—of space; and +that fabric must attempt to relieve itself of the strain. A particle +in motion makes it possible for the fabric of space to smooth itself +out behind the particle; and the fabric attempts to smooth itself on +through the area occupied by the particle while it is moving, and so +the fabric of space smoothing itself is a constant thrust behind the +particle's motion, continuing that motion and making the particle scat +to where he wasn't going.</p> + +<p>"When that same particle is stopped," Mike was visualizing the process +to himself, "the force of the attempt to smooth itself out by the +fabric of space exists equally around the particle on all sides; so +that the particle will be held stopped by the attempt of the fabric to +smooth itself until set into motion again by a force greater than that +of inertia—for inertia, then, is the attempt of the fabric of space +to smooth itself.</p> + +<p>"Quite possibly," Mike was speaking very slowly now as he mocked up +and watched the forces of this inertia, "matter itself is created out +of the fabric of space, and in its creation, in the stasis condition +that keeps it existing as a particle rather than dissolving back into +the original fabric, it creates the strain in the fabric—in +space—that will then seek to smooth itself so long as the particle +shall exist.</p> + +<p>"Thus this, then, is inertia—the attempt of the fabric of space to +smooth itself; to get rid of the strain of the particle that has been +created from itself."</p> + +<p>Ishie shook his head. "Not quite," he said, "but you're getting +close."</p> + +<p>Mike shook himself like a dog coming out of water.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," he said. "Anyway, we've got a space drive—flea sized. Now +the question before the board becomes, just what are we going to do +with it? Turn it over to the captain?"</p> + +<p>"Confusion say," said Ishie, "he who has very little is often most +generous. But he who has huge fortune is very cautious about +dispersing it. Let's first be sure what we've got," he grinned slyly +at Mike, "before we become overgenerous with information."</p> + +<p>Mike heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had been afraid he would have to +argue Ishie into this point of view.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of math, Mike, you're no slouch at it yourself, if you +figured out all those orbit co-ordinates in your head, and arrived at +an exact figure on the amount of thrust. It would be very nice for our +future investigations if we had some method of putting the Cow to work +on this." The little physicist sat back, grinned knowingly, and +continued: "Where's your secret panel, Mike? We've got to keep this +information from going to anybody else."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/image_008.jpg" width="300" height="334" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, I already—" Mike stopped. "I mean," he floundered, "uh ... how +did you know?" A foolish grin spread over his face. "It's right behind +you," he said. "And I've got it by voice," he said. "Just push the +switch in the corner and talk to it."</p> + +<p>Ishie turned, glanced at the panel, and went over to the switch, +pushing it. "I wondered how you were concealing the teletype," he +said. "You mean you really talk to it?"</p> + +<p>The Sacred Cow's voice came back. "Reference not understoo-od. +Ple-ease explai-ain."</p> + +<p>"Oy!" said Ishie. "It even sounds like a cow!"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, si-ir," said the Cow. "A cow is an he-erbivorous ma-ammal, +usua-ally do-omesticated, and fou-ound in mo-ost of the cou-ountries +of Ea-arth. Wha-at specific da-ata did you-u wi-ish? The mi-ilk +su-upply—"</p> + +<p>"Hold it," Mike said, forestalling a long dissertation on the dairy +industry.</p> + +<p>Catching on quickly to the literal-mindedness of the placid computer, +Ishie fired a direct question.</p> + +<p>"What is our current position in relation to the equatorial orbit that +we should be following?" he asked.</p> + +<p>There was a sput from the speaker, very much as though someone had +been caught off guard and almost said something, and then the placid +reply came back.</p> + +<p>"That information is top secret. Please identify yourself as Mike and +I will answer you."</p> + +<p>Ishie groaned, depressed the cutoff switch and turned to Mike.</p> + +<p>"You fixed it," he said. "If a simple question like that gets an +answer like that, how long do you think it will take the captain to +find out something's wrong with the Cow?"</p> + +<p>Mike lunged for the switch, but Ishie held him back.</p> + +<p>"Hold it, Boy. You've made enough electronic mistakes for one day. +This takes some thinking over."</p> + +<p>"We better think fast," said Mike. "The captain'll ask that question +any second now, or a question like it."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Ishie. "First we've got to withdraw your original +order—and you'd better not trust your own memory as to what it was. +You ask the Cow to tell you what order you gave her making certain +information top secret. Then when she tells you exactly what you said, +you tell her to cancel <i>that</i> order."</p> + +<p>Mike did as he was told.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Ishie, "did you give such an order in the first place? +Never mind answering that question," he added, "but it's lucky she +hasn't been refusing to give people the time of day, and referring +them to you. As a matter of fact"—glancing up at the clock on the +wall—"it looks like she has. That clock hasn't moved since I got +here."</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke, the clock whirred, jumped forty-five minutes, and +settled down to its steady, second-by-second spin.</p> + +<p>"Ishie," said Mike, "we figured out a space drive, and that was great. +But if we can figure out how to communicate an idea to a computer, +we're <i>real</i> geniuses."</p> + +<p>Ishie turned on the vocoder. "Please supply us," he told the Cow, +"with a complete recording of your latest conversation with Mike."</p> + +<p>And as the computer started back over the dialogue that has just +occurred between herself and Mike, Ishie interrupted. "Not that," he +said, "I mean the last previous conversation."</p> + +<p>Then he sat back as the Cow unreeled a fifteen minute monologue which +repeated both sides of the conversation including the order to make +everything top secret.</p> + +<p>Having listened through this, Ishie said: "At the point where Mike +asks you about acceleration, you will now erase the rest of the +conversation and substitute this comment from yourself: 'The lab is +being accelerated by an external magneto-ionic effect.' This will be +your only explanation of acceleration applied to the ship. Now please +repeat your conversation with Mike."</p> + +<p>Then he sat back to listen through the recording again.</p> + +<p>This time when it came to the part about acceleration, without +hesitation, the Cow referred blithely to the external magneto-ionic +effect that was causing acceleration.</p> + +<p>When Ishie asked the computer: "How could this effect be canceled?" +and listened to a long syllogistic outline which, if condensed to a +single, understandable sentence meant simply "by reversing the field +in respect to the lab with a magnet on board the lab."</p> + +<p>Ishie heaved a great sigh of relief, and said, "Now, Mike, we can go +to work. For of course," he added, "we must have authority to install +our magnetic coils, and what better authority is there than the Cow?</p> + +<p>"Confusion say it is better to have the voice of authority speak with +your words than to be the voice of authority.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "let us see what we have really got here."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As they worked, time progressed. The empty racks around the Confusor +slowly filled with more test instruments both borrowed and devised; +and the formerly unoccupied corner of the section of panels took on +more and more the look of a complete installation, in the center of +which the Confusor still churkled quietly, pitting its strength +against the mighty monster to which it was so firmly tied.</p> + +<p>Two hours were spent in testing circuits, each one exhaustively. Then +Ishie turned to Mike.</p> + +<p>"We need still yet another test that we have not provided. A strain +gauge to find out how much thrust a mosquito puts out. There's one in +the physics lab. I'll run get it."</p> + +<p>"You will <i>not</i>," said Mike. "Genius you may be, but proton-proof +you're not. We can rig that right here."</p> + +<p>Walking over to the spare parts locker, Mike brought back a complete +readout display panel, a spare from one of the Cow's bridge consoles; +and quickly connected it in to the data link on which the vocoder +operated. Then, carefully instructing the computer as to the required +display, he settled back.</p> + +<p>"That'll do it," he said. "The Cow can tell us all we need to know +right on that panel—about acceleration, lack of it, or change of it +that we may cause by changing the parameters of our experiment. Those +racks were checked out to stand up under eighty gees," he added. +"Typical overspecification. They never said what would happen to the +personnel under those conditions."</p> + +<p>Ishie turned the Confusor off and then back on, and watched the +display gauge rise to the six hundred forty mark, and then show the +fraction above it .12128. Then carefully, ever so infinitesimally, he +adjusted a knob on the device. The readout sank back towards zero, +coming to rest reading 441.3971.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to put a vernier control on this phase circuit," Ishie +said to himself. "It jumped thirty per-cent, and I scarcely breathed +on it."</p> + +<p>After a few more checks on the operation of the phase control, he +turned to the power control for the magnetic field. Carefully, Ishie +lowered the field strength, eye on the readout panel. As the field +strength lowered, the reading increased.</p> + +<p>The indication was that by lowering the field strength only ten per +cent, he had increased the thrust to sixteen hundred pounds—which, +he felt, was close to the tolerance of the machine structure.</p> + +<p>Carefully he increased the field strength again. Faithfully the +reading followed it down the scale.</p> + +<p>Then he had another thought. Running the field strength down and the +pressure up, and again arriving at sixteen hundred pounds, he turned +off the Confusor, waited a few moments, and turned it back on.</p> + +<p>The reading remained zero.</p> + +<p>Apparently, then a decrease in field strength would cause an increase +in thrust; but the original field strength was necessary in order to +initiate the thrust field.</p> + +<p>Carefully he nudged the field strength back up, and suddenly there +were seven hundred ten pounds indicated thrust.</p> + +<p>Thrust could apparently be initiated by a field strength a few per +cent lower, but not much lower, than the original operating point.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Captain Naylor Andersen arrived on the bridge with an accusing air, +but feeling refreshed. He had slept longer than he intended—and +though he had asked Bessie to call him when she came back on duty two +hours earlier, he had not been called.</p> + +<p>"You needed the sleep, captain," she told him unrepentant. "I checked +with the Cow. The flare's predicted to continue for another eight +hours. We're simply in standby."</p> + +<p>However, various observatories on Earth had not been asleep. Within +fifteen minutes of the time he reached the bridge, a message from U.N. +Headquarters chattered in over the teletype.</p> + +<p>"Tracking stations report your orbital discontinuity too great to have +been achieved by jet action of nitrogen escaping from Hot Rod. Hot Rod +pressures insufficient to achieve your present apparent acceleration. +Please explain discrepancy between these reports and your own +summation of ten hours previous. Suggest close and continual +observation of Project Hot Rod. Suspect, repeat strongly suspect, +possibility of sabotage. End message."</p> + +<p>Nails Andersen stared at the sheet that the com officer had placed in +his hands. Then he pressed the intercom to the morgue.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Kimball. Please report to the bridge. Dr. P.E.R. Kimball. Please +report to the bridge immediately."</p> + +<p>Then he turned to Bessie. "Ask the Cow for an orbit computation from +the time of the ... er ... meteor last night."</p> + +<p>Under Bessie's practiced, computer-minded fingers, the answer wanted +came quickly—a displayed string of figures, each to three decimal +places, accompanied by a second display on the captain's console +showing the old equatorial orbit across a grid projection of the +Earth's surface to a point of departure over the mid-Atlantic where it +began curving ever farther north, up across the tip of South America, +very slightly off course.</p> + +<p>The captain glanced at the display of Hot Rod and its taut-cable, and +realized with a sickening sense of unreality that no jet action on +Hot Rod could have caused it to lead the station in this northerly +direction; and that instead it was placidly trailing behind. It was +now farther south of the Space Lab than its original position; but +their orbit had been displaced to the north.</p> + +<p>Perk appeared beside the console, but the captain ignored the +astronomer for a moment longer, while he leaned back thinking.</p> + +<p>What could be the answer? A leak in the Space Lab itself? That would +give acceleration; minor, not to have triggered an alarm—it should +have triggered an alarm—but acceleration. Sufficient for the +off-orbit shown? He did a brief calculation in his head. It wouldn't +take much. Very little, for the time that had passed—Very well, then. +He put down a leak in his mind as a possibility. Now, water or air? It +could be either, if his reasoning this far were correct. He looked up.</p> + +<p>"Have the Cow display barometric readings for each section of the rim +and for each compartment in the central hub," he said briefly to +Bessie; and to the astronomer, "Dr. Kimball, take that side seat at +the computer console and check our progress on this orbital +deviation," and he gestured at the display on his screen.</p> + +<p>Perk moved to the post with only a nod.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The barometric displays held constant, with only fractional deviations +that might have been imposed by the spin of the big wheel, or error in +the instruments themselves. Balanced against temperature readings, +they worked out to possible fractions of gain or loss so small as to +be insignificant, indicating only the inaccuracies of measurement that +inevitably occur in comparing the readings of a number of instruments.</p> + +<p>The captain had hardly digested the readings displayed by the computer +when Perk looked up with a puzzled frown.</p> + +<p>"The computer records a continuous acceleration over the past eleven +hours and forty-three minutes," he said, "and attributes it," he +looked even more puzzled, "to a magneto-ionic effect?" There was a +definite question in his voice.</p> + +<p>"It's only about six hundred forty pounds," he added. "It must be an +external effect caused by the flare."</p> + +<p>"Please investigate the effect as thoroughly as possible," the captain +told Perk, then dictated a message to the com officer.</p> + +<p>"'To U.N. Headquarters, Earth, from Captain Naylor Andersen, +commanding Space Lab One. Original assumption that disaster was +attributable to meteoric impact on Project Hot Rod appears mistaken. +Investigation indicates we are under acceleration from an external +magneto-ionic effect which is exerting about—'" he called to Perk. +"Did you say six hundred forty pounds?"</p> + +<p>The astronomer nodded, and the captain continued, "'Which is exerting +about six hundred forty pound pressure against this satellite. We are +now working out corrective measures and will inform you immediately +they are prepared. If your observatories can give us any advice, +please message at once. End.'"</p> + +<p>Then the captain depressed his intercom switch to the morgue. "Dr. +Chi. Please report to the bridge. Repeat. Dr. Chi Tung. Please report +to the bridge at once."</p> + +<p>His own intercom hummed, and a voice came on. "Dr. Chi Tung is not in +the morgue. He left with Mr. Blackhawk some time ago."</p> + +<p>The captain frowned, but pushed the engineering room intercom. "Is Dr. +Chi with you, Mr. Blackhawk?" he asked, and when Mike's voice +answered, "Yes, sir," he said, "Will you both report to the bridge at +once, please?"</p> + +<p>When the two arrived, only a little tardily, on the bridge, the +captain addressed Ishie.</p> + +<p>"You heard of the disaster last night?" The physicist nodded. "We +assumed then," the captain told him, "that a meteor had caused the +disturbance. That it had gone through the balloon making a hole +through which the balloon's nitrogen was escaping, making a jet action +and accelerating the ship.</p> + +<p>"It seems, however, that we are under acceleration, and that the +acceleration is too great to be such jet action, since Hot Rod does +not have sufficient pressure.</p> + +<p>"The computer reports that the acceleration is derived from an +external magneto-ionic effect. Would such an effect be a result of a +flare?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I believe it could, captain. I should have to do a bit of math, +but...."</p> + +<p>"We will assume, then, that the computer is correct," the captain told +him. "Could such an effect have a sufficiently great effect on this +ship to give it as much as six hundred forty pounds of thrust?"</p> + +<p>"Again, I should have to check the math, captain, but I would assume +so."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blackhawk," the captain turned to his engineer, "could such a +thrust throw Hot Rod off her communications beam and cause last +night's disaster?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I'd have to check by math, too, captain...." Mike appeared to +debate the question. "It would be a very small acceleration at first, +of course," he said, "from six hundred forty pounds of thrust. But Hot +Rod's cable is slack, and the velocity needn't be great to give it +quite a jolt when the slack was taken up. Yes, I feel sure that could +happen, captain."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_009.jpg" width="500" height="360" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The captain relaxed a little, and a half-smile played near the corner +of his mouth as he said to Mike, "I believe, then, we may have found +the <i>real</i> saboteur, Mr. Blackhawk." Then to Ishie. "Doctor, I believe +that your field is the one in which the most experience lies towards +finding a means for counteracting the effect that is now influencing +our orbit. I am putting you in charge of the problem. The pull, +according to the computer, is as I said, six hundred forty pounds. Do +you think you can work out a method for counteraction?"</p> + +<p>"I think ... possibly, yes, captain. Let me say, probably yes."</p> + +<p>"Then please do so, and report the method to me. I will then submit it +to the other scientists aboard that may have some selective knowledge +in the field, and to Earth. You may, of course, call on any of the +personnel of the ship for assistance, and possibly Mr. Blackhawk may +be of assistance to you. He is familiar with the equipment aboard.</p> + +<p>"You probably recognize the urgency of the problem so I shall not +attempt to underline that urgency further, other than to say that it +is of the utmost importance," he ended.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Five minutes later the two conspirators were back in the engineering +quarters, grinning like Cheshire cats, and mentally rolling up their +sleeves to go to work. They had, to all intents and purposes, carte +blanche to work out the construction of the device they would need for +an enlarged Confusor with a real thrust, even though they would have +to appear to co-operate with a multitude of other interested parties. +Mike and Ishie were both becoming adept students of the mythical Dr. +Confusion, and neither doubted their combined ability to handle that +part of the problem.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Ishie, "Confusion say he who can fly on wings of mosquito +fly better on wings of eagle. How much thrust do we want, Mike?"</p> + +<p>"What are our limits?" asked the practical engineer.</p> + +<p>"Limits, schlimits. We got <i>power</i>. Of course," he added, "we <i>are</i> +limited by the acceptable stress limits on the wheel, and ... yes ... +by the stress limits on our plastic, too."</p> + +<p>"The wheel was designed to stand upwards of 1.5 gee maximum spin—but +that's only radial strength," Mike began figuring. "Don't think +anybody ever calculated the stress of pulling the hub loose, endwise. +No reason to, you know, and it wasn't expected to land or anything. +And really, nobody expected it to stand in service more than a 1.5 gee +spin on the rim. They computed these racks to take all kinds of shock, +but the overall structure is rather flimsily built." He paused for +thought. "We could maybe put a tenth of a gee on the axis, but I +better check some of the stress figures against the structural pattern +with the Cow first. We'll have to give some thought to strengthening +things later, if we really want to go into the fantastic possibility +of landing this monster anywhere."</p> + +<p>Consulted, the Sacred Cow computed a potential maximum stress-safety +at the hub of something over two-tenths of a gee, and the two finally +settled on one-tenth as well within the limits.</p> + +<p>"Now the other limit," said Ishie. "This little piece of plastic will +only stand a pressure approaching the point at which it begins to +distort and run out of the field. This stuff is quoted to have a +compression-yield strength of one hundred ten pounds to the square +inch. We probably shouldn't exceed ... hm-m-m ... ninety pounds. Let's +get the Cow to tell us how big a chunk of surface area that +represents."</p> + +<p>The answer was discouraging. Mike rapidly converted the figure in +centimeters to feet, and came up with nearly an eighty-three foot +diameter for a circular surface.</p> + +<p>"Looks like we'll have to put it out on the spokes," he muttered in +disgust, but Ishie shook his head quickly.</p> + +<p>"No need, Mike. Later on we'll need a few thrust points out on the rim +for good aiming, but we don't have to have all this surface area in +one unit or even in one place. Also, we do not need to consider only +the surface of an homogeneous piece of plastic material.</p> + +<p>"This plastic can be cast. Very easily. In it, we can insert +structures that will absorb the strain from many surfaces within, +rather than only on a front surface.</p> + +<p>"I expect some of the glass thread with which the hull of the ship was +made could be inserted with no trouble. Each thread, then, would take +up the strain, and a mass of them distributed through the plastic +could deliver a greatly increased amount of thrust from a volume of +plastic rather than from a surface area."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mike started to object. "To get an absolutely parallel magnetic field, +the gap between the pole faces can't be very wide."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I wasn't considering pole faces," Ishie answered. "Our +investigation has already shown that once initiated the thrust-effect +works best in a very low magnetic field.</p> + +<p>"Such a low, parallel magnetic field would quite probably be found +inside of a simple solenoid coil."</p> + +<p>"O.K.," Mike answered, "but you have also found that a very high +magnetic field is required to initiate the action. How do you get that +inside a solenoid without an iron core?"</p> + +<p>"As you say, a strong field must <i>initiate</i> the action. Let us try +another experiment, Mike."</p> + +<p>Ishie turned the Confusor off, selected a piece of wire from Mike's +supplies, and wound a ten-turn coil over the large magnetic coils of +the experimental device.</p> + +<p>The leads from this he ran to a pulse-generator that could be +accurately adjusted to supply pulses of anything from a tenth +microsecond to a tenth second.</p> + +<p>Selecting the shortest possible duration, he then set the magnetic +field adjustment on the experimental device to a point just below that +point on which it had turned on previously.</p> + +<p>"Now we see." Turning on the device, he glanced at the display panel +which still showed zero thrust. Then he triggered a single +one-microsecond pulse into the additional ten turns of winding. The +readout display showed zero thrust. He triggered a ten microsecond +pulse. Nothing happened. One hundred microseconds. Nothing. One +thousand microseconds—the display changed, dropping so quickly into +position that the pulse thrust itself was not recorded—but the figure +turned up seven hundred thirty pounds thrust on the display panel.</p> + +<p>"So," said Ishie, "we can initiate thrust with a one thousand +microsecond pulse. Can you design a power supply that would achieve +that field for that time in a solenoid having ... say ... one per cent +as high a field strength as the one we are using here?"</p> + +<p>"O.K.," said Mike. "I get you. Sounds to me like this thing is going +to look like a barrel when we get through with it.</p> + +<p>"I wish," he added, "that we could get one point one gee. And land +this thing on Earth. And have a big parade, with Space Lab One +hovering just overhead to the cheers and the blaring bands and the—"</p> + +<p>"Confusion say, he who would poke hole in hornets nest had best be +prepared with long legs." Ishie grinned. "You don't think anybody +would really appreciate our doing that, do you Mike? Outside of the +people themselves, that is, that aren't directly concerned with man's +<i>welfare</i>? We haven't done this in the proper manner of team research +and billions spent in experiments and planned predicted achievements +made with the proper Madison Avenue bow to the financier that made it +possible. You know what they do to wild-haired individualists down +there, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Mike shrugged. "Oh, well," he said, "you're right of course. But it +was a beautiful dream. How do you suppose we can build these and still +keep all the scientists aboard and on Earth happy that they're just +innocent magneto-ionic effect cancelers? Boy, that was a beauty, +Ishie!"</p> + +<p>"Best we have two sets of drawings. The ones for us can be sketchy, +and need not have too much exactitude of design. We know what we're +doing—at least, I hope we do.</p> + +<p>"But let us make a second set of drawings that is somewhat different, +though of a simpler shape and design, on which other scientists aboard +can speculate, and which can be sent to Earth to confuse the +confusion."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The two went to work with a will, and as the two sets of drawings +emerged, they were indeed different. The set from which they would +actually work was only mildly described as sketchy. The papers looked +like the notations a man makes for himself to get the figures he will +set into a formalized pattern as it takes shape, before throwing his +penciled figurings into the wastebasket.</p> + +<p>The second set was exact; created with drawing instruments on Mike's +drafting board, and each of the component circuits would have created +an effect that would have interlocked in the whole, but it would take +the most erudite of persons to figure each into its effect, and its +effect into the whole, and the effect of the whole was somewhat that +somebody might someday figure out—but would possibly cancel a +magneto-ionic effect if such existed. The drawings looked extremely +impressive.</p> + +<p>As the second set of drawings neared completion, Ishie glanced at the +clock, then turned to the Cow's vocoder.</p> + +<p>"How soon will Space Lab One reach the northernmost point of her +present orbit and begin a swing to the south?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Mike looked puzzled, but the Cow answered, "In ten minutes, +thirty-seven seconds. At precisely 05:27:53 ship time."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Ishie, "we'd best put a switch on our magnetic field +so that we can reverse the field and the thrust."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Mike.</p> + +<p>"Because," Ishie explained, "when we reach the top of our course +northward, then the thrust of the Confusor and Earth's gravity come +into conflict, moving our entire orbit off-center and bringing us +closer to the pole. In not too many orbits, that eccentricity in our +orbit might pull us into the Van Allen belt. We can't afford that. +Now, if we reverse the thrust at the right time, our orbit will be +enlarged and we stay out of troubled spaces."</p> + +<p>Mike was still puzzled. "I don't see how that works," he said. "Why +wouldn't we just go off in a spiral on our present thrust?"</p> + +<p>"The acceleration of Earth is a much greater influence," Ishie tried +to make it clear, "than our little mosquito here. As long as they work +together, things go well. But when Earth dictates that we will now +swing south, be it ever so few degrees south, our mosquito is +overpowered and can only drag us clear to Earth-center on a closing +spiral, which would eventually lead us to crash somewhere in the +southern hemisphere, a good many orbits from now.</p> + +<p>"I hope," he said, "reversing the magnetic field will indeed reverse +our little mosquito's thrust." He moved toward the Confusor.</p> + +<p>"Hold it," said Mike. "The displacement in orbit won't be very much, +at least on the first few go-arounds, will it? and if we switch it +now, somebody'll start getting suspicious of this magneto-ionic +effect. The effect that's doing all this. A sudden reversal might not +be in its character, if it had a character. And anyhow, we don't want +to give another jerk on Hot Rod. We might jerk something loose this +time. We've already wiped out Thule Base—and there's no use adding +scalps to an already full belt."</p> + +<p>"O.K.," said Ishie. "Then now, I think it is time that we presented +our formal drawings to the captain; and I think that when we present +them we will suggest that we start work immediately on construction, +even while he is checking out our drawings through his experts, so +that the project will not be delayed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the bridge, the captain received the drawings with relief.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, gentlemen. If these prove out, you may have saved the +satellite by the rapidity of your work. Dr. Kimball calculated that +our present acceleration will take us dangerously close to the Van +Allen belt in about three orbits, and I need not tell you what that +would mean."</p> + +<p>Ishie spoke up immediately. "In that case, captain, perhaps Mr. +Blackhawk and I had better start construction on this device +immediately, without waiting for you to complete the check-out. That +may save us invaluable time."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said the captain. "What assistance will you need?"</p> + +<p>"Of the greatest priority," replied Ishie gravely, "is access to the +machine shop. The solar flare should be about wearing itself out."</p> + +<p>"Oh ... of course. It may be." The captain's face was slightly red as +he realized he had not thought to check this point. "Bessie, ask the +computer...."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," she answered quickly, and returned shortly. "The computer +says the radiation count is down to ten M.R. above normal."</p> + +<p>"It's a fairly low reading, even if it is above the Cow's normal-safe +mark. That reading could go on for hours, which we may not have," +commented Ishie. "Perhaps we could disregard so narrow a differential...."</p> + +<p>"In your opinion, doctor," the captain asked, "would it be safe to +return the personnel to the rim? Of course, I would have to return the +entire ship to normal conditions in order to give the machine shop or +any other part of the rim its normal six-foot shielding," he added, +"so please consider your answer carefully."</p> + +<p>"I think you would be quite safe to do so, captain. Considering the +fact that otherwise we may go into the Van Allen belt, I think it +should be done without question."</p> + +<p>To himself, Mike chortled gleefully. This grave, pedantic physicist +was about as unlike the co-conspirator with whom he had worked for the +past nearly ten hours as was possible. "The guy's a genius at a lot of +things," he thought to himself. "Puts on the social mock-up expected +of him like you'd put on a suit of clothes—and takes it off just as +completely," he added as an afterthought.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The return to the rim was slower than had been the evacuation—but it +was complete within twenty minutes of the decision to return the +satellite to normal.</p> + +<p>In the machine shop, Paul and Tombu, with Ishie and Mike, were +gathering the materials they'd need for the odd construction—Paul +singing to himself as he worked.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"I got in the shuttle, thought it went to the Base;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I'd learned my trade; there I'd take my place</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Safely on Earth; but I found me in space—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I'd went where I wasn't going!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"What's that song?" asked Ishie of the spaceman.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's just 'The Spaceman's Lament.' You make it up as you go +along." His voice grew louder, taking the minor, wailing key at a +volume the others could hear.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"I got on the wheel, thought I'd stay for the ride—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I'd found a funny suit in which to hide—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But I went through a closet—and I was outside!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I'd went where I wasn't going!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Tombu and Mike joined happily in the chorus, bawling it out at the top +of their lungs as they began the work that would make the big +Confusor.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"Oh ... there's a sky-trail leading from here to there</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And another yonder showing—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But when I get to the end of the run</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>It'll be where I wasn't going!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Meanwhile, facsimile copies of the official drawings had been made for +the other interested scientists aboard, and also sent by transfax to +U.N. headquarters for distribution among Earth's top-level scientists.</p> + +<p>They were innocent enough in concept, and sufficiently complex in +design to require a great deal of study by these conservative +individuals who would never risk a hasty guess as to the consequences +of even so simple an action as sneezing at the wrong time.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Major Steve Elbertson awoke with a start, to see a medic's eyes inches +from his own. For a moment, fearing himself under physical attack, he +struck out convulsively, and then as the face withdrew he sat up +slowly.</p> + +<p>He was slightly nauseous; very dizzy; and his instincts told him that +he needed a gallon of coffee as soon as he could get it. Then the +medic's voice penetrated.</p> + +<p>"Please, sir, you must rest. No excitement."</p> + +<p>Almost, he was persuaded. It would be so easy to relax; to give +someone else the responsibility. But the concept of responsibility +brought him struggling up again.</p> + +<p>Hot Rod was a dangerous weapon. He could not act irresponsibly.</p> + +<p>"How long was I out?" he muttered.</p> + +<p>The medic glanced at the clock. "Just over nineteen hours, sir."</p> + +<p>"Wha-at? You dared to keep me off duty that long? I must report for +duty at once."</p> + +<p>"Please, sir. No excitement. You must rest. Just a moment and I'll +call Dr. Green." With that the medic turned and fled.</p> + +<p>As Dr. Green approached, Steve Elbertson was already on his feet, +swaying dizzily, white as a sheet, but perhaps the latter was more +from anger than from anything else.</p> + +<p>"Major Elbertson. You received a severe dose of radiation. You are +under my personal supervision and will return to bed at once."</p> + +<p>"Is the flare over?" Elbertson asked the question, although already +vaguely aware that the ship was again spinning, that he was standing +on the floor fairly firmly, and that, therefore, the emergency must be +over.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"In that case, sir, my duty is to my post on Hot Rod."</p> + +<p>"Hot Rod's out of commission and so are you. I cannot be responsible +for the consequences if you do not follow my orders."</p> + +<p>"Explain that, please. About Hot Rod, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Why, it was struck by a meteor shortly after the flare last night. I +think I heard someone say that it burned out Thule Base before they +managed to turn it off."</p> + +<p>Without waiting for more, Elbertson brushed past the doctor and headed +for the bridge.</p> + +<p>The captain was startled by the mad-looking, unshaven scarecrow of an +officer that approached him, demanding in a near-scream, "What +happened? What have you done? What did you DO to Project Hot Rod? No +one should have tampered with it without my direct order! Captain, if +that mechanism has been ruined, I'll have them nail your hide to the +door!"</p> + +<p>"Major!" The captain stood. "This may be a civilian post, but you are +still an officer and I am your superior. Return to your quarters and +clean up. Then report to me properly!"</p> + +<p>For a moment there was seething rebellion on Elbertson's already wild +features. Then, automatonlike, he turned and walked stiffly away +without saluting.</p> + +<p>But the stiffness left him as he passed through the door. Momentarily +he sagged against a wall for support, far weaker than he thought +possible for a man of his youth and what he thought of as his +condition. Making his way almost blindly to Security's quarters in +rim-section B-5, he staggered through the door and on towards the +latrine, shouting at Chauvenseer to "Get out of that sack and give me +a detailed report on events since the flare. Oh, and send somebody for +coffee—lots of coffee."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the bridge the captain flipped the intercom to Dr. Green's station. +"Is Major Elbertson under the influence of any unusual drugs, doctor?" +he asked when he'd reached the medical staff chief. "Anything that +might make his behavior erratic?"</p> + +<p>"Only sedatives, captain. And, oh yes, those new sulph-hydral +anti-radiation shots. We're not too familiar with what they do, though +the reports indicate the worst effect is a mild anoxemia, which +generally results in something of a headache. Of course, that's if the +quantity of the drug was precisely calibrated. They can be fatal," he +added as an afterthought.</p> + +<p>"Would anoxemia cause a change in character, doctor?"</p> + +<p>"It might. It might make one behave either stupidly or +irrationally—temporarily or permanently, depending on the severity of +the effect."</p> + +<p>"Did Major Elbertson seem normal to you when you discharged him from +hospital?"</p> + +<p>"I did not discharge him, captain. I ordered him to remain under my +care. But he seemed greatly upset, and short of force I could not have +kept him from leaving."</p> + +<p>"I see." The captain paused, then asked: "Doctor, please consider +carefully. Would you consider Major Elbertson's condition serious +enough to warrant confining him to bed by force?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not. He should come out of it in a few hours. Exercise may +possibly be good for him, though I doubt if he's capable of much of +it." The doctor chuckled as though at a private joke with himself, +then added, "He's really quite weak physically, you know, even without +the after effects of radiation and drugs."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, doctor."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Back in his quarters, Elbertson was refusing to admit to himself the +fact of his own weakness. He had been quite ill in the shower, had +managed to slash himself rather badly with the razor while shaving, +but was now smartly attired in a clean pair of the regulation +coveralls, with the insignia of his rank properly in place—and so +weak he could hardly move.</p> + +<p>The coffee hadn't helped much.</p> + +<p>The briefing had helped even less. The major knew himself guilty of +negligence while on duty. Inadvertently, but as though by his very +hand, certainly through the agency of some saboteur he had failed to +spot, his weapon had been turned on his own troops at Thule, key post +in the plan.</p> + +<p>It was possible that the entire plan had been sabotaged, though that +seemed quite unlikely. Its ramifications were too great. So long as +Hot Rod still existed, was still within their reach, the plan was +operational.</p> + +<p>The nonsense about a magneto-ionic effect he discarded without +hesitation. Obviously it was sabotage, possibly by someone with a plan +of his own, more probably by someone in the pay of one of the big +power companies that would like to see the operation at least +postponed. Obviously—he gave up.</p> + +<p>Nothing would be obvious until he knew in exact detail what had +occurred, what the plans of the enemy would be, where next they would +strike—and who was the enemy.</p> + +<p>But that last, at least, was almost obvious. Who else, but the man who +had carried the political battle, against all odds, that Hot Rod be +created? Who else but Captain Naylor Andersen could possibly have +delivered this sneaking, underhanded attack against himself and his +comrades?</p> + +<p>Who else, he thought, but a man so callous as to order <i>him</i>, sick as +he was, as though he were a mere cadet, to leave the bridge.</p> + +<p>Major Elbertson's mind was made up as to the identity of the enemy.</p> + +<p>But he would have to proceed with care, or he would key the plan +before the time was ripe. There must be no great shake-up in +personnel, or undue attention from Earth to the potentials of Project +Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the saboteur's cover-story of a magneto-ionic effect would +serve his ends as well—at least until his comrades on Earth signaled +that the time was ripe.</p> + +<p>Yet now that Hot Rod had proved its power, the time was ripe. It was +that proof on which the plan had waited. And perhaps this very +sabotage would prove to be the "incident" on which the plan hinged....</p> + +<p>Even as he fought to clear his normally organized mind of the +weariness of his body that now sapped at its strength, the call came.</p> + +<p>Chauvenseer appeared at his side, saluting smartly. "Com Officer +Clark, sir, reports a message from Earth. <i>The</i> message, sir. 'Begin +Operation Ripe Peach.'"</p> + +<p>Major Elbertson pulled himself to a military stance, returning his +aide's salute with complete precision.</p> + +<p>Briefly he considered gathering all his men, all the Security +personnel, and storming the bridge.</p> + +<p>No, obviously the enemy was organized—an unforeseen circumstance. +Obviously the captain was not alone. Obviously <i>his</i> men included at +least some of these slipstick boys—and he would command the loyalty +of them all, since he was somewhat of their ilk himself.</p> + +<p>No, an officer must seek the most advantageous position from which to +deliver his ultimatum.</p> + +<p>He must use Hot Rod itself to control them. If Hot Rod itself were +actually sabotaged, then the plan must wait until he could have it +repaired. He doubted it was hurt.</p> + +<p>The flare had thrown off all original sequences—but perhaps that was +to his advantage.</p> + +<p>To Chauvenseer he snapped: "This is the detail of our immediate +operation. Get four of our best men besides yourself. Have each of +them come separately and unobtrusively to the south polar lock, where +I will meet them. I will bring Smith with me.</p> + +<p>"Have each of the others take his assigned post for Operation Ripe +Peach—but order them to take no action other than to prevent anyone +on board from doing anything unusual that might be an enemy +operation—until I alert them that Operation Ripe Peach is +operational.</p> + +<p>"Their orders will, of course, come on our personal radios, Security +Band 2Z21.</p> + +<p>"Execute!" he ended, saluting smartly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As the Security squad moved, with individual secrecy, towards their +various posts, Captain Andersen was considering that Elbertson would +probably snap out of it as soon as he had had coffee and a shave. The +man had probably been severely affected by the drugs he had been +given. He would make no further reference to the incident of erratic +behavior, unless it continued.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_010.jpg" width="500" height="401" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Bessie, having at the moment nothing else to do, was busily plying the +Sacred Cow not only for her own horoscope for the day, but also those +of the several persons of whom she was most fond, while carefully +keeping a shielding bunch of paper work in a place to make it appear +that she was officially busy. The captain's horoscope, she +recognized, didn't look much worse than the rest of them, but was +definitely the worst. One of those mathematical jumbles that somehow +didn't interpret clearly. None of them looked very good today.</p> + +<p>Out on the rim, things were getting back to normal. The labs were +functioning again, most of them according to their assigned, routine +procedures; but in some, heads were drawn together over the absorbing +diagrams supplied by Mike and Ishie.</p> + +<p>Mike and Ishie themselves had already put in twelve hours almost +without a break. Working under stress, neither of them had remembered +to eat.</p> + +<p>There was a cough at the entrance to the machine shop, and Dr. Millie +Williams' soft voice said "May I come in?"</p> + +<p>The two looked up as the slender figure of the dark-skinned biologist +entered the lab, balancing "trays" with plastic bottles atop.</p> + +<p>"If I know you, Dr. Ishie; and you, too, Mike—you haven't eaten," she +said with a smile. "Now, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Millie," said Mike, "you've just reminded me that I'm as hollow as a +deserted bee-stump after the bears get through with it!"</p> + +<p>"Little Millie," said Ishie, looking up at the figure nearly as tiny +as his own, "you must be telepathic as well as beautiful. Confusion +say 'Gee, I'm hungry!'"</p> + +<p>"I'm told that the fate of the satellite depends on you two," Millie +smiled. "I thought I'd just give our fate a little extra chance. Now +drop what you're doing and light into this.</p> + +<p>"After that, if you've got a job for a mere biologist, I've got my lab +readied up where it can last till I get back and—I'm not bad with a +soldering iron. Meantime, why don't you let Paul and Tombu go eat +while you eat?"</p> + +<p>"Good idea," said Mike. "You two. You heard the lady. We gotta give +our fate the benefit of victuals. Scat."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As soon as the physicist and the engineer were settled to the plastic +containers of food and coffee she had brought, wolfing them down +hungrily, Millie opened up.</p> + +<p>"While we're alone, I'm going to speak my piece," she said. "You two +will do me the honor of not taking offense if I say that you have the +most brains and the least consciences aboard—and I happen to share +the latter characteristic."</p> + +<p>The two looked up guiltily and waited.</p> + +<p>"Now don't stop eating, for I'm not through talking," she said. "That +magneto-ionic effect canceler you dreamed up would probably cancel the +six hundred forty pound magneto-ionic effect pull you dreamed up—if +such a thing existed.</p> + +<p>"What I want to know ... don't stop eating until you've decided +whether you're going to let me in on your game or not ... is what +really does exist? I might be of some help, you know."</p> + +<p>"But—" Mike and Ishie simultaneously choked over their food, looked +at each other, and then Mike blurted out, "but how could <i>she</i> know?"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," said Millie. "I'm probably the only one. It takes a +person with little conscience and much imagination—takes a thief to +catch a thief, I mean—yes, I think I mean that quite literally. +Besides, I can help with some of that glassware that disappeared out +of my supplies several days ago. Oh yes, I knew it was gone and where +it went—but I figured any purpose you had was a good one, Ishie.</p> + +<p>"But for how I personally canceled the idea of your magneto-ionic +effect from the flare—it just happens that last night I was curious +while everybody was asleep. When Bessie first came on duty this +morning, I offered to relieve her while she had a cup of coffee, and I +got a half-hour all by myself with the Cow. The captain wasn't up yet. +Her console's so simple anyone with a basic knowledge of computers and +cybernetics could figure her out.</p> + +<p>"Practically the first question I asked—something about our +orbit—the Cow told me that the information was top secret, and to get +it I must go to the proper channel and identify myself as Mike. I +started to intercom you, Mike, to tell you that your machinations were +showing, but Bessie came back about then. I hung around to see what +would happen, and pretty soon Bessie asked the Cow about the same +question—but instead of getting the same answer, the Cow told her +that an external magneto-ionic field was pulling us out of line.</p> + +<p>"So I went up to your engineering place. I rather thought you'd like +to know what the Cow had told me—but Dr. Ishie was there, and so +instead I went about my own business until I could figure things out.</p> + +<p>"Now I couldn't figure things out. But I could figure there's a monkey +wrench somewhere—and since the two of you have been sticking together +like Siamese twins, I know it will be perfectly all right to ask you +in front of Ishie.</p> + +<p>"Now," she finished, "do I get my girlish curiosity satisfied? You +don't have to tell me. I'll just keep on being puzzled quietly and +without indicating the slightest magneto-ionic dubiousness, if you'd +rather. But I might be helpful; and I <i>would</i> like to know."</p> + +<p>"Confusion say," Ishie declared through the side of his mouth, "that +he who inadvertently puts big foot in mouth is apt to get teeth kicked +loose. We are very lucky, Mike, that it was Millie who asked the +question of the Cow at that time. Besides, we've got to tell somebody +sooner or later. We can't just run off by ourselves.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Millie, I think you have a job," he said. "Your help here will +be appreciated, of course. But what we really need is a way of +bridging the gap between ourselves and the rest of the personnel +before it gets too wide. How's your P.R. these days?"</p> + +<p>"That's something I learned in a hard school, public relations," she +answered nonchalantly. "De-segregation was just beginning when I was a +girl back in Georgia. But maybe I'd better know what the gap is."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The two began to talk, interrupting each other, incoherently +outlining the Confusor and the various forces it exerted, and +the—what Mike kept calling the inertial fish hook.</p> + +<p>Finally Mike took over. "To put it simply," he said, "our pet didn't +do at all what we expected—it hooked in on inertia and it took us +off. A confusing little Confusor—but Millie—it's a space drive! A +real, honest-to-gosh space drive!"</p> + +<p>Millie gulped. It was far, far more than she had expected. Perhaps +this was another form of disguise like the magneto-ionic....</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" Then she answered her own doubts. "Of course you're +telling the truth now. That's not something you two would play games +about." Then in awe—"You've really got it!"</p> + +<p>"But why, then," she said, uncomprehending, "are you hiding it?" But +before they could answer, she answered her own question again. "You'd +have to. Of course. Otherwise it'll be strangled in red tape. +Otherwise nobody'll let you work on it any more, except as head of a +research team stuck off somewhere. Otherwise, Budget Control would +take it over and make a fifteen-year project out of it—and the two of +you will probably have it in practical operation...."</p> + +<p>She looked at the molds and wiring taking form all across the machine +shop.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! You'll have it in operation—soon!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, soon—and we hope soon enough." Ishie sighed, then grinned +impudently. "There is," he said, "the little matter of the fact +that—in all innocence but nevertheless quite actually—we wiped out +Thule Base.</p> + +<p>"If we don't get the big Confusor in operation very soon, it may be +that we shall spend a good deal of time in Earth's courts proving our +innocence while someone else botches most thoroughly the job of +creating a Confusor that could take us to the stars. And that," he +added mournfully, "neither of us would enjoy. We might not even be +able to prove our innocence, for there would be many very anxious to +prove us sufficiently guilty to keep us out of the way for many years.</p> + +<p>"So you see," he said, "you have a very real P.R. problem. Our +assistants here could work better if they knew what they were doing. +The people aboard the wheel would be most excited by a space drive, +and would give us every aid.</p> + +<p>"But what the law says, it says—and the captain would have no choice +but to put us in irons if he heard, though I think our captain is such +that he would not want to do it.</p> + +<p>"We must tell everyone what we have, for where the wheel takes us, +they will go. But we can't tell them, for if we tell anyone, it will +get back to Earth—and we murdered Thule, according to the law of +Earth.</p> + +<p>"It is a very neat problem," he said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Major Steve Elbertson arrived first at Project Hot Rod, and trailing +behind him on their scuttlebugs, the other six men.</p> + +<p>As he slipped through the lock and out of his spacesuit, he reached +down the neck of his coveralls and carefully extracted the Security +key in its flat, plastiskin packet, from between his shoulder blades. +At least the villainous captain had not gotten his hands on this, he +thought, and whatever damage had been done to Hot Rod probably could +be quickly repaired.</p> + +<p>He had heard of the hunt for the key, and been silently amused, though +he had volunteered no information to his briefing officer, +Chauvenseer.</p> + +<p>Stepping forward as briskly as a sick rag doll, he fitted the key into +the Security lock and snapped open the bar that prevented Hot Rod's +use.</p> + +<p>As the others entered, he turned to them. Supporting himself against +the edge of the console and managing to look perfectly erect and +capable despite his weakness, he said: "I have instructed each of you +to learn as much as you could of the operation of this device. It is +now necessary that the civilian scientists," he pronounced the +"civilian" as though it were a dirty word, "be relieved of their rule +over this weapon, and that the military take its proper place, as the +masters of the situation. I trust each of you has learned his lessons +carefully, because it is now too late for mistakes—although we have +with us assistance far superior to that of the civilians.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said, and his voice took on power as he talked, "it is +a pleasure to re-introduce to you a companion whom you have known as +Lathe Smith.</p> + +<p>"This, gentlemen," he said formally, gesturing one of the men forward, +"is the Herr Doktor Heinrich Schmidt, of whom you would have heard +were you familiar with the more erudite of the developments of space +physics.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Schmidt," he added, "it is a pleasure to be able to again accord +you the courtesies and respect that are your due.</p> + +<p>"Now for myself," he continued, "it may surprise you to know that I, +too, have a somewhat more advanced rank than you have suspected." +Deliberately he unpinned the major's insignia that he wore, and +brought out a sealed packet, opened it, and pinned on four stars.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he finished, "may I introduce myself? General Steve +Elbertson, commanding officer of all space forces of the United +Nations Security Forces.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said briskly to his astounded men, his voice crackling with +authority, "take stations.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Schmidt will key in the number one laser bank only. You will +select as your target area that area through which the passenger +spokes of the wheel pass. These will each in turn be your targets if +it becomes necessary to fire.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Schmidt has advised me that, should it become necessary to fire +on the hub, the resultant explosion of the shielding water will wreck +the big wheel.</p> + +<p>"If we should miss and hit the rim, the resultant explosion would +inevitably wreck both the big wheel and Project Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>"Therefore, gentlemen, I caution the most accurate possible aim.</p> + +<p>"And Dr. Schmidt, will you connect the storage power supply you have +readied, please?"</p> + +<p>Quickly then, he slid into the communications officer's seat, as the +Security officers assumed each of the four major posts of the project, +while Chauvenseer took up a stance at his general's right hand, ready +to respond as directed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the bridge, Captain Nails had been annoyed. Too many queries from +people who really didn't have authority over his satellite. Too many +directives and counter-directives were flooding at him from various +officials on Earth.</p> + +<p>Some one down there even had the temerity to suggest that Security +take over—not officially, just sort of take over.</p> + +<p>If that didn't take the cake, he thought. Trying to put that crumb +Security officer into command, <i>real</i> command, of a scientist? Over +HIS people? Never!</p> + +<p>And just because somebody had a wild idea about sabotage—after all, +the whole thing must be some sort of effect or accident. Why couldn't +they leave people alone long enough to find out what was really going +on?</p> + +<p>And where was Elbertson, anyhow? The man had had plenty of time to +freshen up. Possibly he had caved in some place. The medic had said he +was sick. But even so, I'd best check, he thought.</p> + +<p>Reaching for the intercom switch that would give him a private line to +Security quarters in the rim, his gaze happened to fall on the panel +that still displayed Hot Rod on its taut cable—</p> + +<p>—And seven figures riding the end of the cable to the air lock.</p> + +<p>Elbertson, of course, he thought furiously. And taking his men out +when the proton level was still too high to go beyond the rim +shielding....</p> + +<p>Then the captain stopped in mid-thought. This was no idle act of a man +feeling the effects of drugs.</p> + +<p>He switched the intercom quickly to the Hot Rod crew's quarters on the +rim. "Dr. Koblensky!" he almost shouted into the mike.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute, sir," came the answer, and seconds that seemed like +eternities passed before the doctor's calm voice answered, "Dr. +Koblensky speaking."</p> + +<p>"Did you know that seven men were going out to Hot Rod?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. They mustn't...."</p> + +<p>The captain switched off and changed to the intercom for the machine +shop. "Dr. Ishie. Mr. Blackhawk. To the bridge on the double. <i>Fast</i>," +he said.</p> + +<p>It might not be the saboteur, he thought, but the chances looked +grimly real that Earth was right—that the whole thing was sabotage, +and those were the seven saboteurs. While he waited, he checked the +Security quarters for Elbertson. The major was not there, nor was he +in the hospital.</p> + +<p>Elbertson, he thought. I've been blind.</p> + +<p>He decreased the magnification of Hot Rod so that the entire project +showed.</p> + +<p>Mike arrived first, almost skidding to a stop at the captain's +console, Ishie right behind him.</p> + +<p>"The saboteur—seven men that I believe to be saboteurs—are aboard +Hot Rod," the captain told him crisply. "Can they activate it?"</p> + +<p>"Captain, there's no saboteur...." Mike began, but the captain +interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I'm not asking you to be the judge of that. If they are +saboteurs, is there any way that they can activate Hot Rod?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, they could have storage batteries aboard, I suppose." Mike didn't +even pretend to be excited.</p> + +<p>"Then we will assume they have, Mr. Blackhawk." The tone of the +captain's voice told Mike he'd better darned well believe in those +saboteurs or tell the captain the truth—and that quickly. "Now, +assuming Hot Rod can be activated, we will also assume that their +first aim will be to control the wheel. They would, therefore, aim at +the hub and issue an ultimatum."</p> + +<p>"They might aim at a target on Earth, and issue an ultimatum to us." +Mike would play the game.</p> + +<p>"No. We would refuse such an ultimatum. They would aim at us. Can you +prevent that?"</p> + +<p>Mike thought hard. He'd better come up with an answer to that one, +saboteurs or no.</p> + +<p>"If they shot through the hub, they'd hit our shielding water and +explode the hub-hull. That would wreck the wheel, and they'd need the +wheel. The only place they could safely shoot us would be the +passenger spokes, and that would take some pretty fine target +shooting—with only one laser bank. They could do it though," he said +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Assume, Mr. Blackhawk, that if they couldn't hit the passenger +spokes, they'd be willing to destroy the wheel in order to gain +control. Is there any way to prevent that?"</p> + +<p>Mike stood completely silent for almost a minute. Then he grinned. +"Sure," he said. "If we turned the rim towards Hot Rod, they couldn't +fire into the rim without hitting that shielding—and that would +create an explosion, even from their smallest possible shot, that +would almost inevitably take Hod Rod with it. If we turn the lab so +that only the rim is towards Hot Rod, it's suicide to shoot us."</p> + +<p>"You will swing the rim of the wheel into that alignment as rapidly as +it can possibly be done." The captain's voice practically lifted the +two men off the bridge, and they were on their way to the engineering +quarters with every appearance of the urgency they should have felt if +they had not known who—or rather what—was the real saboteur.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Then Mike heard Ishie's soft voice from behind him, slightly +breathless. "At that, you'd better swing the rim and swing her fast, +Mike. The captain sure 'nuff believes in his saboteurs, and it's just +possible they're real."</p> + +<p>O.K., thought Mike, and really moving now he reached the engineering +quarters a good ten strides ahead of his companion.</p> + +<p>As he entered the open bulkhead lock he saw a man that he recognized +as one of the Security personnel, and brushing on past him said, "If +you want to see me, come back later. I'm going to be very busy here +for a while."</p> + +<p>Mike headed for the panel that controlled the air jets and other +devices that spun the wheel.</p> + +<p>The Security man didn't hesitate. Seeing the ship's engineer about to +make important—and possibly subversive—adjustments, he drew his +needle gun and aimed it squarely at Mike's back. "Halt—in the name of +Security!" he barked.</p> + +<p>Slowly Mike swung around, eying the man coldly, and began a question.</p> + +<p>But there was no need. Dr. Chi Tung, having seen what was going on +through the lock before he entered, had held back just long enough for +the Security man to turn fully towards Mike. Now he launched himself +through the lock like a small but well-guided missile, and arriving on +the Security guard's back, had his gun-arm down and half broken before +the man knew what was happening. Had he been alone, it is possible +that the larger man might have won. But Mike had never been fond of +people who pulled guns on him, even if they were only sleepy guns.</p> + +<p>Between the two of them, the Security guard was lucky not to lose his +life in the first two seconds of battle.</p> + +<p>The conflict ended almost before it had begun, with a meaty slap of +Mike's fist connecting with the man's jaw, right below the ear. It +hadn't been a clean punch, Mike thought, but then he wasn't really +used to fighting in this gravity. Anyhow, the man was out.</p> + +<p>And now came the question of what to do with him, but Mike left that +to Ish.</p> + +<p>He turned back to the precession panel a bit more convinced that +perhaps the captain had been right—perhaps there were enemies aboard.</p> + +<p>The precession controls, though operational, had not to date been +required. Carefully, Mike switched the sequence that would put them +into active condition but not operate. That was left to the Cow.</p> + +<p>Turning to the vocoder panel, he directed the Cow to take over control +of the now active precession equipment; to use the sun as a referrant +for the axis of precession, and to move the pole ninety degrees in a +clockwise direction around that axis of precession.</p> + +<p>Under these directions, the big wheel began to turn, not as it had +been turning, but sideways. The operation would take ten minutes, and +the axis of this new turn would be aligned directly on Sol by the +computer.</p> + +<p>The Cow's help in such a maneuver was required, because the precession +could only be accomplished by switching valves between the tanks of +the rim in such a manner that water was switched north on one side of +the wheel, and south on the opposite side of the wheel, and the points +of this switching between the tanks must remain in a stable position +relative to the spin of the wheel. The valves that accomplished this, +seventy-two of them, were spaced at intervals of five degrees around +the rim, but only two out of the seventy-two could be active at any +time; and these must be selected by the computer's controls so that +always the precessive force was properly aligned to produce the +required precession.</p> + +<p>When the precession was finished, the rim of the wheel would be +aligned, still with the sun, but also with Project Hot Rod which had +been to their south.</p> + +<p>As a third thought, Mike switched off the Confuser.</p> + +<p>Having set up the necessary factors, Mike turned back to the problem +of the Security guard, or saboteur, whichever he might be, but found +this problem had already been well taken care of. Not satisfied with +simply tying the man up, Ishie had bound him with wire to somewhat the +resemblance of an Egyptian mummy, and then for added good measure, +given him two sleepy shots with his own needle gun; put electrician +tape across his mouth; and taken from him everything he could possibly +use either as a method of communication or as a weapon.</p> + +<p>At least, Mike thought, Ishie is a thorough workman when he sets his +mind to it.</p> + +<p>Having parked the Security man in a nearby tool locker, with the +feeling that he would keep for a while there, Ishie turned back to +Mike with a grin.</p> + +<p>"Confusion say those who play with firearms should be cautious! Mike, +this convinces me. I've heard snatches of what's going on on Earth, +and it looks like somebody is putting over a fast one down there. +Seems like maybe our own Security boys are part of it. They would be +the ones the captain saw going out to Hot Rod. And that means they've +got a purpose out there. Is good to know they can't shoot us now, at +least in a few minutes now, without getting themselves shot back. But +they can shoot at Earth. Any ideas?"</p> + +<p>"Well ... I thought some time ago that there was a little fallacy +involved in that project when I saw how they hung the beam-director +way out in front on those little old balloon-poles. They've got 'em +bent, and if any one or two of 'em should happen to get punctured, the +other two would move the mirror complete out of the laser beam focus. +Then the only thing they could shoot would be the sun—and I don't +think it'd care.</p> + +<p>"Ishie, you stay here just to keep the home fires burning and make +sure that nobody fiddles with anything we don't want 'em to. All of +the bulkheads leading into this section can be locked from the +inside—a feature I haven't seen fit to point out to other people who +really don't need to know."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Walking around the floor, Mike carefully secured the four bulkheads, +two leading back to the morgue; two leading forward to the north pole +end of the hub. And then, jumping catlike upward and grasping the +access ladder to the central axis tube, he carefully bolted that one, +too.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/image_011.jpg" width="300" height="727" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Dropping back to the floor he stepped over to the intercom and +switched in Captain Nails' circuit.</p> + +<p>"Mission accomplished, sir. And you were quite right. One of our +<i>Security</i> servos is off balance. I'm attending to the matter."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Blackhawk." The captain's voice was calm, quite unlike +the voice he'd used to them on the bridge. "You would do well to +listen for the ... sound ... of those servos." The captain's voice +stopped but the intercom continued to hum, alive from his end.</p> + +<p>"Ishie," said Mike, "the captain's in trouble, and he's asking us to +listen in on what goes on the bridge. He's left his intercom open.</p> + +<p>"Now I've got a mission to accomplish; and you can't leave here, +because this post's got to be operational. But you can listen and do +whatever the captain tells you.</p> + +<p>"And, Ishie—if anybody takes the bridge away from the captain, you +tell the Cow not to obey any orders or answer any questions unless +they come from here."</p> + +<p>With that, Mike leaned over, loosened an inspection plate in the +floor, and climbed down a ladder through the inspection tube that led +through the six feet of normal-shield water directly beneath the floor +into the seventeen-foot flare-shielding chamber beyond. This was the +tank which surrounded the hub and held all of the waters of the rim +during flare conditions; but was now holding only the air supply +which, during a flare, was pumped to the rim.</p> + +<p>Making his way back towards the center of the hub, Mike considered his +luck in being one of the people most familiar with the entire +structure of the ship. It would be unlikely that enemies operating +aboard would think to cut off the air and water passages, or even keep +them under surveillance. Nevertheless, he would be cautious.</p> + +<p>He must now get to the machine shop, and enter it without triggering +any more of those—he laughed quietly to himself—Security servos.</p> + +<p>The particular tank he was in he had selected carefully. Of the +twenty-one possible combinations, this one he knew would bring him +into the water under the north hall that circled the outer rim.</p> + +<p>In a few strides he reached the three-foot-diameter spoke tube through +which the flood of water would pour during a draw-in action such as +that they had had during the flare; let himself over the side head +first, let go and began falling down the seventy-nine foot length of +the tube, accelerated by the light pseudo-gravity of the spin. Even +so, he spread his legs and arms against the walls of the tube to act +as a brake, so as not to arrive with too much impact at the bottom of +the tube.</p> + +<p>As he hit the water at the bottom, the tube swung around the +circumference of the rim to the point at its far side at which it +entered its particular river.</p> + +<p>The course of his dive carried Mike to the bottom of the curve, and he +started crawling up its far side to where the tunnel entered the +rim-river. There the motion of the fluorescent-lighted water caught +him, and he was swirled quickly to his target, twenty-five feet along, +inspection plate B-36. He grabbed the hand-hold by the plate before he +swirled past, loosened the plate, lifted it only enough to be sure +that the room was empty, and then pushed it off, pulled himself +through, and emerged into the whining dimness of Compressor Room 9, +next to the machine shop. The low whine assaulting his ears was that +created by the air compressors that fed the jets that drove the waters +through the rim.</p> + +<p>Stepping over to the wall locker, Mike took out a dry pair of shorts, +a T-shirt, and moccasins, kept there for the purpose of making changes +after such swimming inspections of the rim tanks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Before entering the machine shop, Mike spotted the Security man +through the open bulkhead—just standing there while Paul and Tombu +grimly worked on; and Millie sat idle, watching.</p> + +<p>Mike entered the machine shop casually, as though intent on business, +brushed past the Security man, and stepped over to the +tape-controlled, laser-activated milling machine as though to inspect +its progress.</p> + +<p>Then, as though finding an error, he halted its operation and swung +the laser-head back away from the work piece.</p> + +<p>The head swung free in his hand, attached to the machine but +nevertheless free. Casually, without even looking at the Security man, +he had somehow centered the laser directly on him. Just as casually, +he stepped to one side.</p> + +<p>"The beam from this machine is quite capable of milling the hardest +materials," he said, still casually, as though to himself. "Even a +diamond can't withstand it."</p> + +<p>Now he looked directly at the Security guard. "It's capable," he said +in an even tone, "of milling a hole right through your guts if you +even to much as breathe too deep."</p> + +<p>Then to Chernov, "Move around behind him, out of range of this beam, +and secure the man please. Millie, is there any thing in your +department that will make sure he won't talk for while?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mike, but I don't think I'd better go there right now. There +aren't many of them, but these boys seem to be spread out all over."</p> + +<p>Chernov had the gun now; and the personal communicator from the +Security man as well.</p> + +<p>"O.K.," said Mike. "I don't think he can give us much trouble in +there," pointing at the air-lock bulkhead through which he had just +entered. "We can go in and out through the physics lab," he said. +"Best we shut that off now before some more of these boys wander +along."</p> + +<p>When both the lab and the Security man were under control, Paul +Chernov turned to Mike. "That milling-laser," he said. "It's got a +focus of about six inches maximum. How did you fix it so it could burn +the guard at that distance?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't," said Mike briefly. "He already knows that lasers can reach +from here to Earth. Why should I bother to tell him any different?" +Turning to Tombu he handed him the Security man's radio. "See if you +can rig this," he said, "to broadcast everything they say over the +general intercom channel. It's about time we let people know what's +happening."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It took Tombu only minutes to hook in the radio. As he turned it on, +Elbertson's voice came over the loud-speaker system. A roll call of +Security men was apparently being completed. The last three man +responded as called.</p> + +<p>The Elbertson's voice, crisp but somewhat labored, came over the +Security beam, booming throughout the ship. "It is obvious that the +renegade scientists and engineer of the wheel have replaced the men +guarding their sectors.</p> + +<p>"As we were informed, the captain had put them in charge. Since they +struck the first blow, it is now up to Security to converge on them +and eliminate them.</p> + +<p>"Jones, Nackolai and Stanziale are detailed to the Dr. Chi mission. +Nilson, Bernard and Cossairt are detailed to get the Indian. The rest +of you will take over where you are posted, and secure all personnel +to their quarters.</p> + +<p>"Clark. Drop your cover and take over control of the bridge.</p> + +<p>"I expect to have Hot Rod operational within five minutes. And Clark. +Instruct the computer to discontinue precession operations that have +been initiated.</p> + +<p>"Take whatever measures are necessary to carry out these +instructions.</p> + +<p>"This is no longer an undercover operation, gentlemen. Security is +taking control.</p> + +<p>"This is war."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As the last sentence came over the loud-speaker, Mike sprang to the +intercom. He quickly keyed the direct line to engineering.</p> + +<p>"Ishie," he said, "I gather you're safe?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mike. Situation here very secure. I heard announcement of +conflict. You need not tell me to put the Cow under our control. It is +done. She will obey no one else until further instructed from here. I +didn't instruct her to obey only instructions by me, Mike, because we +are all expendable now."</p> + +<p>As he finished speaking, the intercom went dead. Obviously the +communications officer, as his first act, had turned off the central +intercom power system under his control.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the bridge, from the time that Mike and Ishie had left, the picture +of what was occurring had grown more ominous by the minute.</p> + +<p>More than the vague, official messages had been flooding in from +Earth.</p> + +<p>At the captain's command, the communications officer had opened up a +channel for news broadcasts, and put it on the speaker so they could +all hear.</p> + +<p>The news round-ups indicated that various elements and factions in the +world below had had their say—each more vicious than the last.</p> + +<p>From an original rumor of a minor space disaster, it had become a +tremendous accident that had wiped out Thule Base and left a smoking +ruins of Greenland.</p> + +<p>From this it had become—possible sabotage.</p> + +<p>From this, a direct, unprovoked attack by the scientists on Earth +itself.</p> + +<p>Suddenly statesmen were standing forth in the U.N., condemning the +actions of country after country that had made possible the great +wheel; and just as suddenly, word had been announced:</p> + +<p>Earth would be protected. The U.N. would act.</p> + +<p>The U.N., it suddenly was found, controlled the majority of all +weapons on Earth; controlled the majority of all armies, navies, and +all stockpiles of ships and planes and ammunition that it had so +boastingly told everyone that it had scrapped.</p> + +<p>The honeyed phrases of a few years before that there would always be +peace on Earth, and that the U.N. had taken the bite out of war, +changed; and the individual nations were now forgotten.</p> + +<p>Now the U.N. itself was the military power; and now it would be U.N. +telling others what to do.</p> + +<p>Mobilization would be declared. A war footing for the economy. +Everyone must fight back against the insane scientists above with +their inhuman weapon.</p> + +<p>With appalling swiftness, where apparently nothing had been before, a +military force stepped forth in full armor to grind man's hopes for +freedom under an iron heel while waving its fist at the stars.</p> + +<p>At first there had been voices crying out against this monstrous +action, this unbelievable birth, in the U.N. Assembly. But the voices +had become fewer and fewer, weaker and weaker, and in a matter of +hours had been drowned out.</p> + +<p>Amazingly, even now, there were one or two who stood up in an attempt +to stem the tide; but they were ignored, and a ninety-eight per cent +favorable vote was cast.</p> + +<p>The U.N. Security Forces had been granted dictatorial powers.</p> + +<p>For the "duration of the emergency."</p> + +<p>The die was cast, and the yoke fitted, ever so snugly but firmly, +across mankind's back, while he cheered the fitting.</p> + +<p>Captain Nails Andersen sat stunned at his console.</p> + +<p>The communications officer sat back, paying little attention to the +board before him, a light smirk on his face.</p> + +<p>But the smirk dropped from his face suddenly. Rising over the +background chatter of the radio announcements from U.N. Headquarters, +came loudly over the ship general intercom the voice of Major Steve +Elbertson, counting down through the list of Security personnel.</p> + +<p>He, too, sat stunned until, as the voice ended "This is war," he came +to, stood up needle gun in hand, pointed at the captain.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how your slipstick boys cracked our code and picked that +message up," he said, "and I don't really care. As you heard, the +major has ordered me to take command of the bridge. I hereby do so."</p> + +<p>Coming through the bulkhead were two more Security men, each with a +needle gun. His gun unwaveringly pointed at the captain, Com Officer +Clark reached down and flipped the red switch that turned off the +power to all of the ship intercoms.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On board Hot Rod, the Security crew was working against an accelerated +time-schedule now. The aiming controls of Hot Rod's big mirror were +infinitely precise—and correspondingly slow. As soon as the storage +power supply had been wired into the big weapon—a precise operation, +requiring both skill and time—the factors had been keyed in that +would bring the mirror in an arc, turning it to bear precisely on that +area of space through which the passenger spokes of the wheel turned; +but the motion of the mirror was infinitesimally slow.</p> + +<p>As the crew of Hot Rod strove to get it into position to fire; and the +computer on the wheel strove to precess the wheel to a position where +firing would be fatal to the firer, it became a race between giant +snails.</p> + +<p>But already the rim of the big wheel had inched slightly ahead in the +race; and the main part of the hub was disappearing behind it. In +spite of Elbertson's orders, the big wheel continued to turn its rim +directly towards the giant balloon with its bulbous nose.</p> + +<p>It was a curious sensation, seeing the big wheel from this angle. +Much the same sensation as that of an ant, staring at the oncoming +wheel of a huge truck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In the machine shop, Mike was rummaging around in one of the tool +lockers. "Any sort of a small telescope," he muttered, almost to +himself. Then "Paul, is there a theodolite or anything like that left +lying around in here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul, moving off to a cabinet in another part of the room. +"We needed them when we were putting the wheel together."</p> + +<p>"O.K." Mike turned back to the laser milling machine. "Now can we take +the focusing lens off of this, and rig something to give me a focus at +about 4.5 miles? Or would it need focusing at all? Shooting at that +distance?"</p> + +<p>"Depends on what you shoot, Mike. The unfocused beam can make a black +surface very hot very quick. But from a mirror surface, it would just +bounce, unless it's carefully focused."</p> + +<p>"It ought to take care of the plastic at least, then."</p> + +<p>"Go right through it. You gonna laser Hot Rod?"</p> + +<p>"No. Just the anchor tubes that hold the mirror; and maybe a slash +through the nitrogen tank at the back. Here, make me a bracket to fit +these two things together, so I can see what I'm aiming at." He handed +the theodolite telescope and the laser milling-head to Paul.</p> + +<p>"How much of the machine do I have to take to power that +milling-head?" he asked Tombu.</p> + +<p>"Oh, most of it's just control circuits. This box on the back is the +power supply. Plugs right in to ship's power."</p> + +<p>"Hey!" Mike called over to Paul now busy constructing a bracket. "Make +that bracket to hold this power supply, too. Oh, and round me up about +sixty feet of extension cord, Tombu."</p> + +<p>"But, Mike, how are you going to get out there?" Millie's voice was +concerned. "They've probably got men all over the place out here on +the rim. If you try to go through the corridor towards an emergency +lock, they'll have you sure with their needle guns. You heard +Elbertson delegate three men to kill you!"</p> + +<p>"I expect I can find a place where they aren't." And picking up the +Security radio from the intercom bench, he turned it on and spoke into +it.</p> + +<p>"Elbertson, this is Mike Blackhawk. You now have twenty minutes to +surrender," and he cut off.</p> + +<p>Mike turned to Tombu. "Get me some plastic wrapping material. +Preferably a plastic bag. I've got to make this stuff waterproof."</p> + +<p>When the power supply, telescope, milling head and extension cord were +rigged and carefully wrapped in plastic to make a waterproof package, +he attached them with a shoulder rope.</p> + +<p>"Too bad we didn't make a lock in the wall right here," he muttered. +"But I don't suppose the Security guards will be guarding those empty +labs over in the R-12 sector. Guess I'm going for a swim now." And +with that, Mike reached down and carefully removed the inspection +plate from one of the floor tanks, and lowered himself over the edge +into the racing waters.</p> + +<p>Hanging there with one hand, he carefully pulled his plastic bag into +position beside and slightly behind his body, and let go. Instantly he +was sucked away into the subdued blue fluorescent-lighted glow of the +waters of the rim.</p> + +<p>"Glad they figured these planktons need light," he thought to himself. +"I'd have a time finding where I'm going in the dark."</p> + +<p>Forty-five seconds later, he reached up and snatched at a passing +hand-hold, next to a plate marked with the numbers of the lab he +sought.</p> + +<p>Wrenching the handle of the inspection plate and pushing it free, he +climbed out into the deserted lab; made his way out into the corridor, +his unwieldy package hanging to his shoulder and runlets of water +making a trail behind him—and stepped into the nearby emergency lock.</p> + +<p>In the lock he quickly donned one of the emergency spacesuits that +hung there, gathered up his bundle again, and stepped out on the +catwalk of the inner part of the rim, under the brilliant night sky at +the moment, but turning towards its "sunrise." He opened his plastic +package.</p> + +<p>"Major Elbertson," he said, turning on the Security radio, "you now +have five minutes to surrender."</p> + +<p>Attaching his suit to the guideline nearby, part of the rim's +"hairnet," he crept out over the inside edge of the rim. From this +position he had a full view of the glowing bubble that was Hot Rod for +the few seconds until the movement of the rim took him past the +"sunrise" point and turned him sunwards.</p> + +<p>Last time Mike had been out on the rim, the wheel had not been +turning. There'd been no reference of up and down, other than the rim +itself as an oddly curved floor. Now he felt disoriented. The wheel +was spinning, the hub, therefore, seemed "up." And from the edge of +the rim where he clung to its hairnet, all directions were down.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The stars seemed to sweep beneath his feet and over his head; and +though it was a slow pattern, only twice as fast as the crawl of a +second hand around the face of a clock, it was, nevertheless, +disorienting.</p> + +<p>Bracing himself carefully into the net, with his back wedged firmly +against the rim, he adjusted his bizarre "gun" to rest on his knees so +that he could sight in the direction that was, to his body's senses, +straight down.</p> + +<p>Not at all, he thought, like trying to shoot fish in a barrel. More +like being the fish and trying to shoot the people outside the barrel.</p> + +<p>Back in the shadow again. Not really shadow where he sat, but the rim +around him, below him, and curving away from him, had disappeared in +its brief nightside, and there came Hot Rod again. Carefully he +tracked it; then putting his eye to the scope he focused briefly on +one of the high-pressure supporting tubes that formed the rigid +structure from which the aiming mirror was held in place.</p> + +<p>And fired.</p> + +<p>The tube burst, noiselessly but quite spectacularly. And the mirror +itself shuddered shook, as the tube's gases escaped.</p> + +<p>Now he was in bright sunlight again, quickly closing his eyes as the +sun itself looked full into his vision, and slowly passed to be +following by Earth, to be followed by a blank stretch of starry space, +and here again was Hot Rod.</p> + +<p>Carefully he tracked another of the supporting tubes.</p> + +<p>And fired.</p> + +<p>And again a spectacular, writhing collapse—and this time, the mirror +fell free, supported by only two tubes, and permanently out of focus, +incapable of aiming the monster beam.</p> + +<p>This time, Hot Rod was definitely secure from the misapplication of +Security.</p> + +<p>"Three minutes," he spoke into the radio. "Your weapon is dead. My +next shot will be through the nitrogen tank at your air-lock. I +wouldn't advise you to be there."</p> + +<p>The wheel turned once more, as the radio came alive from the other +end.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blackhawk, do you realize that what you are doing constitutes +mutiny in space and will be dealt with accordingly on Earth? I have +officially taken control of Hot Rod at the command of my superiors in +the new U.N. Security Control Command."</p> + +<p>Mike didn't bother to answer. As the wheel turned him towards Hot Rod +again, he said into the radio, "Two minutes."</p> + +<p>Elbertson's voice came again. "With this new weapon we control Earth. +Don't you realize that you can't stand up against the new people's +government of Earth?"</p> + +<p>The wheel came around. Mike replied: "One minute."</p> + +<p>The lock on the Hot Rod control room opened. Frantic tiny figures +burst forth, activated scuttlebugs, and started on the five-mile trek +back towards the big wheel.</p> + +<p>Mike worked his way back through the clinging net to the catwalk, +failing completely to see the tiny figure that dodged beneath the rim +as he approached.</p> + +<p>Glancing around he carefully scanned over the entire inner rim before +stepping out into the sunlight of the catwalk itself. Nothing.</p> + +<p>Then a blink caught his eye, and he glanced up toward the observatory. +There. In the observatory.</p> + +<p>He thought for a minute it was someone signaling, but it was only a +touch of sunlight on the shiny surface of the automatic tracking +telescope, which was poked out of the open shutters of the airless +observatory, still doing its automatic job of recording solar +phenomena in the absence of the astronomers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Instead of re-entering the lock as he had intended, Mike linked his +safety line to one of the service lines that lay along the nearest +spoke, and kicked up it.</p> + +<p>On Earth, he could have jumped maybe four feet with that motion. But +here, it carried him the full distance to the outer wall of the +hub-shielding tank, where he grasped another line, quickly transferred +his safety line, and began working his way toward the observatory.</p> + +<p>As the intersection of the rim where Mike had been passed into +darkness, another figure moved and jumped up the same line he had +taken. But this Mike did not notice.</p> + +<p>Reaching the bulge at the end of the shielding tank and crawling up +over it, Mike made his way up, at an odd reversed angle, through the +netting; and into the observatory dome through its open shutter.</p> + +<p>Making his way about in the open vacuum in free-fall conditions of the +observatory, Mike carefully checked the lock at the main axis to make +sure that he could get into it without arousing an alarm for any +guards that might be nearby.</p> + +<p>The lock showed vacant, and empty. Just as he was about to enter it, +he saw another figure in a spacesuit come drifting through the open +shutter where he had entered.</p> + +<p>Mike stepped into the lock, closed the door behind him as though he +had not noticed, and cycled the lock. But he did not remove his suit +and did not leave.</p> + +<p>As the lock showed clear, the observatory door opened again, and the +two spacesuited figures stood face to face. Mike with needle gun +raised checked himself in surprise. Then he motioned the other figure +into the lock.</p> + +<p>"And just what are you doing here?" he inquired as the air around them +became sufficient to carry his voice.</p> + +<p>"You might have needed help," answered Dr. Millie Williams in a small, +scared voice as she took off her helmet and shook out her long hair.</p> + +<p>"And just <i>what</i>," Mike inquired, "were you planning to do about it +besides having me shoot you by mistake?"</p> + +<p>Millie held up an oversize pair of calipers. "The Security people," +she said, "are not the only ones with weapons. I borrowed this from +the machine shop."</p> + +<p>Mike stared down at the odd-looking "weapon."</p> + +<p>"It's hard," Millie continued, "to look at more than one thing at a +time through a spacesuit helmet. I could've got 'em in the air hose +while you held their attention."</p> + +<p>Mike's chuckle was just a trifle ragged, and his mutter about +blood-thirsty panthers didn't really go unheard as he began shucking +his spacesuit.</p> + +<p>This was the most dangerous point, Mike knew. The axis tube went from +the observatory straight through to the south polar lock, with nothing +to block sight or sound from traveling its length. They'd have to +simply chance it. The spacesuits shucked, he opened the lock.</p> + +<p>Their luck held. No Security man was stationed opposite the mouth of +the axis tube at the south polar lock.</p> + +<p>Halfway to the engineering quarters, Mike stopped, used a special key +to open an inspection plate, and they dropped lightly into the huge +shielding tank that now held only air. From there the pair +back-tracked Mike's original path to the inspection plate in the +engineering quarters, and so into his own bailiwick, where they found +Ishie standing on catlike guard, a wrench in one hand, waiting for +whatever might come up.</p> + +<p>"Confusion say," the grinning Chinese physicist declared, "two for one +is good luck."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>General Steve Elbertson made his way wearily in through the south lock +and on to the bridge where he found the communications officer in +complete charge with two Security men for assistants. The captain and +Bessie were effectively bound, and placed in spare console seats.</p> + +<p>General Elbertson made his way to the captain's console and seated +himself.</p> + +<p>Hot Rod was dead, but their control was by no means lessened.</p> + +<p>That he himself had not been shot dead on the way from Hot Rod was, to +him, a confirmation of the weakness of his enemies.</p> + +<p>The satellite was under his control. The scientists would repair Hot +Rod—and well he knew how to see to it that they did so.</p> + +<p>U.N. Security Forces were in complete, dictatorial command of Earth.</p> + +<p>He had only to eliminate the renegade Indian, and long before the +Security scuttlebug, now on its way from Earth loaded with crack +troops, should arrive, Security would be in complete command not only +of the Space Lab, but of the weapon, which would by then be in repair.</p> + +<p>As a final test of its operation, it would be amusing to use the +Indian, Blackhawk, as a target; and perhaps the captain as well, +though he might have to use them as examples sooner—the captain and +some others.</p> + +<p>The fortuitous accident that had put Hot Rod in operation ahead of +schedule had also stepped many plans months ahead. No violence had +actually been planned until the weapon had been thoroughly tested; but +now things looked to be working in orderly fashion; working with the +well-oiled precision of a master-plan, properly designed and properly +executed in the proper military manner.</p> + +<p>Only one small difficulty marred the current smoothness of the +operation. The Security men were attempting to instruct the computer +to precess the wheel back to its original position.</p> + +<p>In reply, for every figure of any type sent over the keyboard, the Cow +sent back a half-yard of confused, rambling figures and would do +nothing else.</p> + +<p>General Elbertson snapped a single command. "Turn the thing off. We'll +get to that later."</p> + +<p>Busily the men switched the keys to the "off" position. Just as busily +the Cow continued to pour out figures, interspersed with rambling +pages of physics covering such odd subjects as the yak population of +the Andes, the number of buffalo that were purported to be able to +dance on the rim of the Grand Canyon—a fantastic figure—some +confused statement about the birth rate in Indo-China, and an equally +confused statement about the learning rate in schools in Haddock.</p> + +<p>Eventually, if one cared to sort it out, the Cow might produce the +entire Encyclopedia Britannica for the year 1911; and then again, +possibly for the year 33,310. Actually, it only depended on what you +wished to select. It was a vast mass of material that was being +happily upchucked into the lap of the confused communications officer +and his two, unhelpful assistants.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> +<img src="images/image_012.jpg" width="800" height="161" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Not a single one of the view panels, either those at the computer's +console or the ones at the captain's console, were presenting a +readable picture. Hodgepodges and flickerings, yes. Scraps of +star-lit sky—perhaps. Or vaguely wavy electronic patterns that would +have been familiar to anyone who ever looked at a broken TV set.</p> + +<p>The Cow was really wild.</p> + +<p>Leaning back in the captain's chair, watching the screen casually, +General Elbertson chuckled.</p> + +<p>He didn't, he noticed, feel nearly so weary.</p> + +<p>The position actually was good, even if those idiots didn't know what +they were doing with the computer. That could be straightened out.</p> + +<p>Somewhere, he was sure, there was cause for great pride in his +actions.</p> + +<p>The peaceful glow of victory seemed to settle about him.</p> + +<p>He HAD won. He was in the captain's chair of the only space station +that man had ever put in orbit.</p> + +<p>His worst enemy was tied to a chair only a few feet away.</p> + +<p>At times like this a man could glow, could feel expansive even towards +his enemies.</p> + +<p>Naylor wasn't such a bad chap. If he hadn't thrown in with the +scientists he might even now be a fellow officer, entitled to full +respect and honor.</p> + +<p>General Elbertson did not consider it odd that his face was suddenly +flushed with triumph. There was a glow of energy. Why, he could even +get up and dance a jig—and this he proceeded to do.</p> + +<p>Around him, the two Security men joined in, followed by the +communications officer—and then, realizing that their friends +couldn't dance with them, they undid the ropes and invited the captain +and Bessie to join them.</p> + +<p>Soon they were all whirling giddily, though there was hardly the space +for it. Maybe they should go next door, into the large clear area that +was the ship's gymnasium when not being used as a morgue.</p> + +<p>Surprisingly, amidst these dancing figures, a head emerged from the +floor. All of them leaned over to laugh at it; and even the needle gun +failed to frighten them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Bessie had a hangover. She groaned and stretched. There certainly must +have been lots of vodka at that party last night.</p> + +<p>Party? What party?</p> + +<p>It was difficult to separate various concepts and orient herself to a +present where and when.</p> + +<p>Slowly the soft susurrus background song of the big wheel penetrated +consciousness, and another, closer roar. Millie taking a shower, she +realized.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she came out of the vagueness wide awake, the hangover +cleared magically, evaporating much too quickly to have been caused by +alcohol.</p> + +<p>But she had been tied up to a chair on the bridge beside Nails, +prisoner of the Security men, only minutes ago.</p> + +<p>WHAT was going on?</p> + +<p>Millie stepped out of the shower into the compartment the two girls +occupied, and smiled.</p> + +<p>"How're you doing? About to come out of it?"</p> + +<p>"Da, Da eta—" with an effort Bessie switched to English. "Explosion? +What happened?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mike just had to get the Security men off guard. Something to do +with the air supply. He asked me to apologize to you if you don't feel +so good. But after all, we got the Lab back and that's the main +thing."</p> + +<p>"Security. Oh! I've got to get to Nails right away. They've taken over +Earth, too, you know. We've got to make sure they don't get control of +the projects. We'll be shot of course. But their ambitions rest on +having control of Hot Rod and the wheel. Probably secret control—"</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"Nails has got to figure out how to destroy the project without too +many casualties. Maybe he can get some of our men back to Earth, +though of course we're all expendable. We can't let these monsters +have the wheel and Hot Rod! That's what they need for power—"</p> + +<p>"Bessie—"</p> + +<p>"Of course, we can stand and fight for as long as possible, but we're +sitting ducks, and even with Hot Rod there's not much we can do—we +can't fire on Earth, we'd hit friend as well as enemy. So I think +we've just got to stand and fight a bit, and then destroy both Hot Rod +and the wheel. Anyhow, that's Nails' decision, and I've got to get to +Nails—"</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" Millie finally managed to stem the flow. "We're not stuck—not +just stuck here in orbit any longer, waiting to see what's going on on +Earth," she said softly, "or what they're going to do about us 'mad +scientists.' Mike and Ishie started this whole thing when one of their +experiments turned out to be a space drive, and the boys are working +real hard on getting a drive unit set up capable of taking our whole +complex out into space. But they need somebody to tell the captain ... +uh ... properly ... as soon as he's awake that is ... uh ... you know +what I mean."</p> + +<p>"Whoa, yourself, girl. What's this—space drive?"</p> + +<p>"Well, they didn't find out themselves until after it had wiped out +Thule Base—nearly ten hours after that, in fact. That magneto-ionic +thing the Sacred Cow's been talking about—they invented that real +quick to cover up. You see ... oh, it's too complicated.</p> + +<p>"Look, we've got a real <i>space</i> drive. We can go to the moon or +Mars—or Pluto if we want to. And we've got to let Nails know real +quick that he can get us out of here—and without making him mad that +we wrecked Thule Base. But really, after the way those Security goons +acted, maybe he won't be mad if you handle it right. How about it?"</p> + +<p>The hangover was disappearing magically. But this flow of information +was nearly as bad.</p> + +<p>A space drive? Bessie knew she couldn't evaluate one way or the other +on that. That would be Nails' problem.</p> + +<p>But they were in a pickle, and it would be up to her to see that Nails +didn't waste too much time evaluating things. Those Security men had +been prepared to play real rough, and more of them were on their way +up.</p> + +<p>"Where is Nails?"</p> + +<p>"The boys put him to bed. In his quarters. He got a dose of the same +stuff that put you out. He ought to be coming to almost any time now. +And probably mad about the whole thing."</p> + +<p>Instantly, Bessie was on her feet, flinging on clothes, and out down +the corridor toward Nails' private stateroom.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It had been thirty-two hours since Major—General—whatever it was +Elbertson—had been defeated on the bridge for the final time.</p> + +<p>He and his men were now securely locked in one of the empty labs. The +paralysis effect of the needle gun had probably worn off. Mike hadn't +checked to find out.</p> + +<p>Bessie and her relief operators were watching the prisoners through a +video display on the Sacred Cow's console, and would report anything +unusual that went on to Captain Andersen.</p> + +<p>Mike, Ishie, Millie, Paul and Tombu had completed the new Confusor +drive units, and they were nearly installed.</p> + +<p>More time would be taken arranging the engineering quarters so that +the installation of her control panel and the units themselves would +be completed.</p> + +<p>This part, Mike didn't like too well. It meant re-arranging his +already carefully arranged units, and considerable re-wiring without +interfering with any of the basic functions of the wheel.</p> + +<p>The new units had turned out to look very little like the original. +Fourteen feet long by eighteen inches outside diameter, they looked +very much like a group of stove-pipes arranged in a circular pattern +around the engineering quarters, braced from wall to wall.</p> + +<p>The control console itself, even though made rapidly, had the look of +a carefully planned and well-made unit; something that might have +turned up in one of Earth's better R&D labs, as part of a +multi-million dollar project.</p> + +<p>All together, the drive rods would provide something better than a +tenth of a gee thrust for the combined mass of the wheel, Hot Rod, the +pile and the other subsidiary units around them.</p> + +<p>A tenth of a gee. Not enough to land on Earth; but with things down +there the way they were now, who wanted to?</p> + +<p>With these units, the whole storehouse of the solar system was at +their disposal.</p> + +<p>With these units they could reach the asteroids.</p> + +<p>With these units, they could range as far out as Pluto without fear of +consequences—without, Mike added to himself, even the fear of +radiation that was a constant threat to them here, for the farther +from the sun they went, the less radiation they would have to endure. +The three months would be extended. For those who needed it, better +shielding could be found.</p> + +<p>The system was theirs.</p> + +<p>Possibly, also the stars beyond.</p> + +<p>That, he reminded himself, if they could get these units installed +before the scuttlebug arrived.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, Earth Security had sent arms as well as men.</p> + +<p>Where they were, not strictly on course, but still in a satellite-type +orbit, they remained sitting ducks for any number of countermeasures +that Earth might throw against them.</p> + +<p>Once gone from this orbit, there was not sufficient rocket-power on +Earth to track them down.</p> + +<p>If they took Hot Rod with them, there was no single weapon at man's +command that could stop them. And take Hot Rod with them they would.</p> + +<p>In his address to the ship's personnel this morning, Captain Nails +had made it quite clear that they wanted no part of the plots and +counterplots of Earth; that theirs was the job of scientists, not +soldiers; that a path was open to them that they would follow.</p> + +<p>Later, they could return. Later, with the supplies that were free to +be taken from space, they could build strength.</p> + +<p>They could return quietly, one by one, two by two, at times and places +of their own choosing.</p> + +<p>Then, and only then, they could lend aid to those on Earth who would +always fight for freedom.</p> + +<p>But not now.</p> + +<p>They were yet weak; the path of escape and the path of promise lay +before them.</p> + +<p>The only help they could be would be to follow that path.</p> + +<p>It might not be that the path led where they wanted to go—or where +they thought they were going—but nevertheless the path was there, and +follow it they must.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Quite a speech, Mike thought. There had been much more, but that, and +the Declaration of the Freedom of Space, were the parts that had +stayed with him.</p> + +<p>That last they had broadcast back to Earth, thrown, as it were, into +the screaming teeth of the new dictatorial leaders.</p> + +<p>Mike leaned back from what he was doing and caught Ishie's eye.</p> + +<p>He chuckled, and said "That was quite a mass of stuff that the Cow +upchucked on your command. Why didn't you just freeze her like I +thought you were going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Confusion say," quoth Ishie blandly, "he who would play poker with +dishonest men should never put all cards on table too soon. Or in +other words, Confusion is the better part of valor. The garbage made +them think that the Cow had sprung a cog somewhere, without ever +guessing that we had control.</p> + +<p>"And by the way, Mike, that was quite a trick you pulled with the air +supply. Having the Cow boost up the oxygen on the bridge until those +idiots got so drunk they were climbing the walls."</p> + +<p>"You don't happen to have any education as a psychologist, do you +Ishie? Or perhaps a brain surgeon?" Mike inquired. "It seems a shame +to drag those Security apes along with us. We can't just dump them +overboard, but it would be nice if we could just confuse them or +something."</p> + +<p>"Sorry, Mike. Techniques of brainwashing are a bit out of my line. +Beside, Confusion say those who run from wolf pack have better chance +if they leave some meat behind for the wolves to fight over. I've +already spoken to Captain Nails about it. We <i>intend</i> to dump them +overboard—just twenty minutes before the scuttlebug arrives. In +suits, of course," he added. "Then we'll take off and see whether +Security takes care of its own."</p> + +<p>There was a possibility, Mike felt grimly, that perhaps Security +wouldn't take care of its own. But then, he asked himself, did he +really care? And found it very difficult to come up with an answer. +But he realized with vast respect that the master of Confusion was not +himself confused as to the issues involved before them.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky for us," Mike said, "that you happened to pick this time +to be aboard. Your work would have gone more smoothly if you'd waited +until the next go-round."</p> + +<p>Ishie grinned, for once slightly embarrassed. "Confusion say," he +said, "luck is for those who make it. I expected that with Hot Rod +coming into operation, some such play would be attempted. I've met +Security before."</p> + +<p>Millie laid down her soldering iron, and disappeared through the +bulkhead, returning shortly with a tray of sandwiches and coffee.</p> + +<p>Coffee in real cups, for there was spin on the satellite, things were +working well, and those bottles—ugh.</p> + +<p>"Relax, boys, we've still got three hours," she told them. "Radar +hasn't spotted the scuttlebug yet. But our new communications officer, +Lal, has them on the line. He's apparently convinced them of his +honorable intentions and gotten an exact prediction of arrival time. +They think Major ... uh, General Elbertson has the situation well in +hand. They even think Hot Rod's operational!"</p> + +<p>The crew relaxed around the circular room, squatting wherever +convenient, and sipping luxuriously at the cups of coffee, munching +sandwiches, and for the moment content.</p> + +<p>Hot Rod had been secured to the ship with extra acceleration cables, +and as soon as practicable a remote-controlled Confusor would be +placed aboard to assist in any fast maneuvers that they might have to +make; but for now there was no acceleration, and the group composed of +the wheel, the big laser, the dump and the pile moved peacefully in +orbit under free-fall conditions.</p> + +<p>Millie began to hum a soft tune. Someone else brought forth a +harmonica that had been smuggled aboard, and suddenly Paul Chernov +burst into song, his deep baritone, perhaps inspired by the captain's +speech earlier in the day, lending the wailing "The Spaceman's +Lament," an extra folk beat:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"The captain spoke of stars and bars</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Of far-off places like maybe Mars</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But the slipsticks slip on this ship of ours—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And we'll get where I wasn't going!</i>"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mike looked over at Millie as she drank her coffee, a slender, dark +figure—able with a soldering iron; able as a defending panther; able +as a spaceman's mate. He was glad the captain of the ship was a proper +marrying officer, for he had an idea the feeling he felt was mutual, +as he joined with the crew in the chorus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And another yonder showing—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But when we get to the end of the run</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>It'll be where I wasn't going....</i>"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Where I Wasn't Going, by +Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + +***** This file should be named 31116-h.htm or 31116-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/1/1/31116/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/31116-h/images/cover.jpg b/31116-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..51cfd2a --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_001.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cb4a94 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_001.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_002.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..31e8838 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_002.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_003_01.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_003_01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b489303 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_003_01.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_003_02.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_003_02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4905134 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_003_02.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_004.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fff3803 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_004.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_005.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07c8ca4 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_005.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_006.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23366a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_006.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_007.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ae5020 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_007.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_008.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c15b508 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_008.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_009.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_009.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1184d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_009.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_010.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_010.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e6d5ee --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_010.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_011.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_011.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4e5feb --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_011.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_012.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_012.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fee037 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_012.jpg diff --git a/31116-h/images/image_m.jpg b/31116-h/images/image_m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2e5880 --- /dev/null +++ b/31116-h/images/image_m.jpg diff --git a/31116.txt b/31116.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da5fd1d --- /dev/null +++ b/31116.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5821 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Where I Wasn't Going, by Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +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: Where I Wasn't Going + +Author: Walt Richmond + Leigh Richmond + +Illustrator: John Schoenherr + +Release Date: January 29, 2010 [EBook #31116] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October and + November 1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + "WHERE I WASN'T GOING" + + + "The Spaceman's Lament" concerned a man who wound up where + he wasn't going ... but the men on Space Station One knew + they weren't going anywhere. Until Confusion set in.... + + + WALT AND LEIGH RICHMOND + + + ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN SCHOENHERR + + + [Illustration] + + + _I studied and worked and learned my trade + I had the life of an earthman made; + But I met a spaceman and got way-laid-- + I went where I wasn't going!_ + + THE SPACEMAN'S LAMENT + + * * * * * + + + + +Making his way from square to square of the big rope hairnet that +served as guidelines on the outer surface of the big wheel, Mike +Blackhawk completed his inspection of the gold-plated plastic hull, +with its alternate dark and shiny squares. + +He had scanned every foot of the curved surface in this first +inspection, familiarizing himself completely with that which other men +had constructed from his drawings, and which he would now take over +in the capacity of chief engineer. + +Mike attached his safety line to a guideline leading to the south +polar lock and kicked off, satisfied that the lab was ready for the +job of turning on the spin with which he would begin his three months +tour of duty aboard. + +The laws of radiation exposure set the three-month deadline to service +aboard the lab, and he had timed his own tour aboard to start as the +ship reached completion, and the delicate job of turning her was ready +to begin. + +U.N. Space Lab One was man's largest project to date in space. It +might not be tremendous in size by earth standards of construction, +but the two hundred thirty-two foot wheel represented sixty-four +million pounds of very careful engineering and assembly that had been +raised from Earth's surface to this thirty-six-hour orbit. + +Many crews had come and gone in the eighteen months since the first +payload had arrived at this orbit--but now the first of the scientists +for whom the lab was built were aboard; and the pick of the crews +selected for the construction job had been shuttled up for the final +testing and spin-out. + +Far off to Mike's left and slightly below him a flicker of flame +caught his eye, and he realized without even looking down that the +retro-rockets of the shuttle on which he had arrived were slowly +putting it out of orbit and tipping it over the edge of the long +gravitic well back to Earth. It would be two weeks before it returned. + +Nearing the lock he grasped the cable with one hand, slowing himself, +turned with the skill of an acrobat, and landed catlike, feet first, +on the stat-magnetic walk around the lock. + +He had gone over, minutely, the inside of the satellite before coming +to its surface. Now there was only one more inspection job before he +turned on the spin. + +Around this south polar hub-lock, which would rotate with the wheel, +was the stationary anchor ring on which rode free both the stat-walk +and the anchor tubes for the smaller satellites that served as distant +components of the mother ship. + +Kept rigid by air pressure, any deviation corrected by pressure tanks +in the stationary ring, the tubes served both to keep the smaller +bodies from drifting too close to Space Lab One, and prevented their +drifting off. + +The anchor tubes were just over one foot in diameter, weighing less +than five ounces to the yard--gray plastic and fiber, air-rigid +fingers pointing away into space--but they could take over two +thousand pounds of compression or tension, far more than needed for +their job, which was to cancel out the light drift motion caused by +crews kicking in or out, or activities aboard. Uncanceled, these +motions might otherwise have caused the baby satellites to come +nudging against the space lab; or to scatter to the stars. + +There had been talk of making them larger, so that they might also +provide passageway for personnel without the necessity for suiting up; +but as yet this had not been done. Perhaps later they would become +the forerunners of space corridors in the growing complex that would +inevitably develop around such a center of man's activities as this +laboratory in its thirty-six hour orbit. + +At the far end of the longest anchor tube, ten miles away and barely +visible from here, was located the unshielded, remote-controlled power +pile that supplied the necessary energy for the operation of the +wheel. Later, it was hoped, experimental research now in progress +would make this massive device unnecessary. Solar energy would make an +ideal replacement; but as yet the research was not complete, and solar +energy had not yet been successfully harnessed for the high power +requirements of the Lab. + +Inside this anchor tube ran the thick coaxial cable that fed +three-phase electric power from the atomic pile to the ship. + +At the far end of the second anchor tube, five miles off in space, was +Project Hot Rod, the latest in the long series of experiments by which +man was attempting to convert the sun's radiant energy to useful +power. + +At the end of the third anchor tube, and comparatively near the ship, +was the dump--a conglomeration of equipment, used and unused booster +rocket cases, oddments of all sorts, some to be installed aboard the +wheel, others to be used as building components of other projects; and +some oddments of materials that no one could have given a logical +reason for keeping at all except that they "might be useful"--all held +loosely together by short guidelines to an anchor ring at the tube's +end. + + * * * * * + +Carefully, Mike checked the servo-motor that would maintain the +stationary position of the ring with clocklike precision against the +drag of bearing friction and the spin of the hub on which it was +mounted; then briefly looked over the network of tubes before entering +the air lock. + +Inside, he stripped off the heavy, complicated armor of an articulated +spacesuit, with its springs designed to compensate for the Bourdon +tube effect of internal air pressure against the vacuum of space, +appearing in the comfortable shorts, T-shirt, and light, knit +moccasins with their thin, plastic soles, that were standard wear for +all personnel. + +He was ready to roll the wheel. + +Feeling as elated as a schoolboy, Mike dove down the central axial +tube of the hub, past the passenger entrances from the rim, the +entrances to the bridge and the gymnasium-shield area, to the +engineering quarters just below the other passenger entrances from the +rim, and the observatory that occupied the north polar section of the +hub. + +The engineering quarters, like all the quarters of the hub, were +thirty-two feet in diameter. Ignoring the ladder up the flat wall, +Mike pushed out of the port in the central axis tunnel and dropped to +the circular floor beside the power console. + +Strapping himself down in the console seat, he flipped the switch +that would connect him with Systems Control Officer Bessandra Khamar +at the console of the ship's big computer, acronymically known as Sad +Cow. + +"Aiee-yiee, Bessie! It's me, Chief Blackhawk!" he said irreverently +into the mike. "Ready to swing this buffalo!" + +Bessie's mike gave its preliminary hum of power, and he could almost +feel her seeking out the words with which to reprimand him. Then, +instead, she laughed. + +"_Varyjat!_ Mike, haven't you learned yet how to talk over an +intercom? Blasting a girl's eardrums at this early hour. It's no way +to maintain beautiful relationships and harmony. I'm still waiting for +my second cup of coffee," she added. + +"Wait an hour, and this cup of coffee you shall have in a cup instead of a +baby bottle," Mike told her cheerfully. "Space One's checked out ready to +roll. Want to tell our preoccupied slipstick and test-tube boys in the rim +before we roll her, or just wait and see what happens? They shouldn't get +too badly scrambled at one-half RPM--that's about .009 gee on the +rim-deck--and I sort of like surprises!" + +"No, you don't" Bessie said severely. "No, you don't. They need an +alert, and I need to finish the programming on Sad Cow to be sure this +thing doesn't wobble enough to shake us all apart. Even at a half RPM, +your seams might not hold with a real wobble, and I don't like the +idea of falling into a vacuum bottle as big as the one out there +without a suit." + +"How much time do you need?" + +"On my mark, make it T minus thirty minutes. That ought to do it. +O.K., here we go." There was a brief pause, then Bessie's voice came +formally over the all-stations annunciator system. + +"Now hear this. Now hear this. All personnel. On my mark it is T minus +thirty minutes to spin-out check. According to program, acceleration +will begin at zero, and the rim is expected to reach .009 gee at +one-half revolutions per minute in the first sixty seconds of +operation. We will hold that spin until balance is complete, when the +spin will slowly be raised to two revolutions per minute, giving .15 +gee on the rim deck. + +"All loose components and materials should be secured. All personnel +are advised to suit up, strap down and hang on. We hope we won't shake +anybody too much. Mark and counting." + +Almost immediately on the announcement came another voice over the com +line. "Hold, hold, hold. We've got eighteen hundred pounds of milling +equipment going down Number Two shaft to the machine shop, and we +can't get it mounted in less than twenty minutes. Repeat, hold the +countdown." + +"The man who dreamed up the countdown was a Brain," Bessie could hear +Mike muttering over his open intercom, "but the man who thought up the +hold was a pure genius." + +"Holding the countdown." It was Bessie's official voice. "It is T +minus thirty and holding. Why are you goons moving that stuff ahead +of schedule and without notifying balance control? What do you think +this is, a rock-bound coast? Think we're settled in to bedrock like +New York City? I should have known," she muttered, forgetting to flip +the switch off, "my horoscope said this would be a shaky sort of day." + +Chad Clark glanced up from his position at the communications console +across the bridge from Bessie, to where her shiny black hair, cut +short, framed the pert Eurasian features of the girl that seemed to be +hanging from the ceiling above him. + +"Is it really legal," he asked, "using such a tremendously complicated +chunk of equipment as the Sacred Cow for casting horrible scopes? +What's mine today, Bessie? Make it a good one, and I won't report you +to U.N. Budget Control!" + +"Offhand, I'd say today was your day to be cautious, quiet and +respectful to your betters, namely me. However," she added in a +conciliatory tone, "since you put it on a Budget Control basis, I'll +ask the Cow to give you a real, mathematicked-out, planets and houses +properly aligned, reading. + +"Hey, Perk!" Her finger flipped the observatory com line switch. "Have +you got the planets lined up in your scopes yet? Where are they? The +Sacred Cow wants to know if they're all where they ought to be." + +Out in the observatory, designed to swing free on the north polar axis +of the big wheel, Dr. P. E. R. Kimball, PhD, FRAS, gave a startled +glance at the intercom speaker. + +"I did not realize that you would wish additional observational data +before the swing began. I am just getting my equipment lined up, in +preparation for the beginnings of the swing, and will be unable to +give you figures of any accuracy for some hours yet. Any reading I +could give you now would be accurate only to within two minutes of +arc--relatively valueless." The voice was cheerful, but very precise. + +"Anything within half an hour of arc right now would be O.K." Bessie's +voice hid a grin. + +"In that case, the astronomical almanac data in the computer's memory +should be more than sufficiently precise for your needs." There was a +dry chuckle. "Horoscopes again?" + + * * * * * + +As Bessie turned back to the control side of her console, she saw a +hand reach past her to pick up a pad of paper and pencil from the +console desk. She glanced around to find Mike leaning over her +shoulder, and grinned at him as she began extracting figures from the +computer's innards for a "plus or minus thirty seconds of arc" +accuracy. + +Mike sketched rapidly as she worked, and she turned as she heard him +mutter a disgusted curse. + +"These are angular readings from our present position," he said in an +annoyed tone. "Get the Cow to rework them into a solar pattern." + +"Yes, sir, Chief Blackhawk, sir. What did you think I was doing?" + +"You're getting them into the proper houses for a horoscope. I want a +solar pattern. Now tell that Sacred Cow that you ride herd on to give +me a polar display pattern on one of the peepholes up there," he said, +glancing at the thirty-six video screens above the console on which +the computer could display practically any information that might be +desired, including telescopic views, computational diagrams, or even +the habitats of the fish swimming in the outer rim channels. + +The display appeared in seconds on the main screen, and Mike growled +as he saw it. + +"Have the Cow advance that pattern two days," he said furiously. Then, +as the new pattern emerged, "I should have known it. It looks like +we're being set up for a solar flare. Right when we're getting +rolling. It might be a while, though. Plenty of time to check out a +few gee swings. But best you rehearse your slipstick jockeys in +emergency procedures." + +"A flare, Mike? Are you sure?" + +"Of course I'm not sure. But those planets sure make the conditions +ripe. Look." And he held his pencil across the screen as a straight +line dividing the pattern neatly through the center. + +"Look at the first six orbits, Jupiter's right on the line. And +Mercury won't be leaving until Jupe crosses that line." The "line" +that Mike had indicated with his pencil across the screen would have, +in the first display shown all but one of the first six planets +already on the same side of the sun and in the new display, two days +later, it showed all six of the planets bunched in the 180 deg. arc with +Earth only a few degrees from the center of that arc. + +"Hadn't thought to check before," he said, "but that's about as +predictable as anything the planets can tell you. We can expect a +flare, and probably a dilly." + +"Why, Mike? If a solar flare were due, U.N. Labs wouldn't have +scheduled us this way. What makes you so sure that means there's a +solar flare coming? I thought they weren't predictable?" + +"It's fairly new research--but fairly old superstition," Mike said. +"You play with horoscopes--but my people have been watching the stars +and predicting for many moons. I remember what they used to say around +the old tribal fires. + +"When the planets line up on one side of the sun, you get trouble from +man and beast and nature. We weren't worried about radio propagation +in those days, but we were worried about seasons, and how we felt, and +when the buffalo would be restless. + +"More recently some of the radio propagation analysts have been +worrying about the magnetic storms that blank out communications on +Earth occasionally when old Sol opens up with a broadside of protons. +Surely plays hell with communications equipment. + +"Yep, there's a flare coming. Whether it's caused by gravitational +pull, when you get the planets to one side of Sol; or whether it's +magnetism--I just don't know." + +"Shucks," she said, "we had a five-planet line-up in 1961; and nothing +happened; nothing at all. The seers--come to think of it, some of them +were Indians, but from India," she added, "not Amerinds--the seers all +predicted major catastrophes and the end of the world and all kinds of +things, and nothing happened." + +"Bessie," Mike's voice was serious. "I remember 1961 as well as you +do. You had several factors that were different then--but you had +solar flares then. Quite spectacular ones. You just weren't out here, +where they make a difference of life or death. + +"Don't let anybody hold us too long getting this station lined up and +counted down and tested out. Because we've got things building up out +there, and we may get that flare, and it may not be two days coming," +he finished. + +With that the Amerind sprang catlike to a hand-hold on the edge of the +central tunnel and vanished back towards the engineering station, from +which he would control the test-spin of the big wheel. + + * * * * * + +Bessandra Khamar, educated in Moscow, traced her ancestry back to one +of the Buryat tribes of southern Siberia, a location that had become +eventually, through the vast vagaries of history, known as the Buryat +Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. + +She was of a proud, clannish people, with Mongolian ancestry and a +Buddhist background which had not been too deeply scarred by the +political pressures from Western Russia. Rebellious of nature, and of +a race of people where women fought beside their men in case of +necessity, she had first left her tribal area to seek education in the +more advanced western provinces with a vague idea of returning to +spread--not western ideologies amongst her people--but perhaps some of +their know-how. This she had found to be a long and involved process; +and more and more, with an increase of education, she had grown away +from her people, the idea of return moving ever backwards and +floundering under the impact of education. + +She had been an able student, though independent and quite +argumentative, with a mind and will of her own that caused a shaking +of heads amongst her fellow students. + +Having sought knowledge in what, to her, were the western provinces of +her own country, she had delved not only into the knowledge of things +scientific, but into the wheres and whyfores of the political +situations that made a delineation between the peoples of Russia and +the other peoples of the world. + +Somehow she had been accepted as part of a trade mission to South +America, and with that first trip out of her own country her horizons +had broadened. Carefully she had nurtured that which pleased others in +such a way that she had been recommended to other, similar tasks. And +eventually she had gone to the U.N. on an extended tour of duty. It +was here for the first time that she had heard of the recruitment of a +staff for the new U.N. Space Lab project, and here she had made a +basic decision: To seek a career, not in her own country or back among +the peoples of her own clan, but in the U.N. itself, where she could +better satisfy the urge to know more of all people. + +[Illustration] + +She had, of course, been educated in a time of change. As a child she +had attended compulsory civilian survival classes, as had nearly every +person in the vast complex of the Soviet Union. She had learned about +atomic weapons; and that other peoples for unknown reasons as far as +she could determine, might declare her very safety and life forfeit to +causes she did not understand. + +Later, as she had made her way westward seeking reasons and causes for +these possible disasters, and more knowledge in general, her country +had undergone what amounted to a revolutionary change. Not only her +country, but the entire world had moved during her lifetime from an +armed camp or set of camps with divided interests and the ability for +total annihilation, towards a seeking of common goals--towards a +seeking of common understandings. + +The catastrophe that had threatened to engulf the entire world and +claim the final conquest had occurred while she was a very junior +student in Moscow, when the two major nations that were leaders--or +had thought themselves to be leaders, so far as atomic weaponry and +such were concerned--had stood almost side by side in horror, and +attempted to halt the conflagration that had been sparked by a single +bomb landed on the mainland of China by Formosa. + +While Russia and the United States had stood forth in the U.N. and +renounced any use of atomic weapons, the short and bitter struggle +which reached its termination in a mere five days had brought the +world staggering to the ultimate brink of atomic war, as the Formosan +Chinese made their final bid for control of mainland China. + +The flare of atomic conflict had been brief and horrible. Where the +bombs had come from had been the subject of acrimonious accusations on +the floor of the U.N. The United States had forsworn knowledge, and +for a time no one had been able to say from whence they had come. +Later, shipping records had proven their source in the Belgian Congo +as raw material, secretly prepared and assembled on Formosa itself, +and it became obvious to the entire world that an atomic weapon was +not something that could be hidden in secrecy from the desires of +desperate men. + + * * * * * + +The Chinese mainland had responded with nuclear weapons of its own; +weapons they, too, had not been known to possess, but had possessed. + +That the rest of the world had not been sucked into the holocaust was +a credit to the statesmen of both sides. That disarmament was agreed +to by all nations was a matter of days only from the parallel but +unilateral decisions of both Russia and the United States, that +disarmament must be accomplished while there was yet time. + +Under the political pressures backed by the human horror of all +nations, the nuclear disarmament act of the U.N. had given to the U.N. +the power of inspection of any country or any manufacturing complex +anywhere in the world; inspection privileges that overrode national +boundaries and considerations of national integrity, and a police +force to back this up--a police force comprised of men from every +nation, the U.N. Security Corps. + +The United Nations, from a weak but hopeful beginning, had now stepped +forth in its own right as an effective world government. There was no +political unity at a lower echelon amongst the states or +sub-governments of the world. To each its own problems. To each its +own ideologies. To each, help according to its needs from the various +bureaus of the U.N. And from each the necessary taxes for the support +of the world organization. + +In Russia the ideology of Marx-Lenin was still present. And in other +countries other ideologies were freely supported. But the world could +no longer afford an outright conflict of ideologies, and U.N. Security +was charged not only with the seeking out and destruction of possible +hoards of atomic weapons, but also with the seeking out and muzzling +of those who expressed an ideology at all costs, even the cost of the +final suicide of war, to their neighbors. + +No hard and fast rules could be drawn to distinguish between a casual +remark made in another country as to one's preference for one's own +country, and an active subversion design to subvert another country to +one's own ideology. But nevertheless, the activity of subversion had +become an illegal act under the meaning of "security." And individual +governments had recalled agents from their neighboring countries--not +only agents, but simple tourists as well. For the stigma of having an +agent arrested in another country and brought to trial at the U.N. was +a stigma that no government felt it could afford. + +Over the world settled a pall. The one place outside of one's own +country, where one's ideology could be spoken of with impunity, was +within the halls of the U.N. Assembly itself, under the aegis of +diplomatic immunity. Here the ideologies could rant and rave against +each other, seeking a rendering of a final decision in men's age-old +arguments; but elsewhere such discussions were _verboten_, and subject +to swift, stiff penalties. + +There were some who thought quietly to themselves that perhaps in the +reaction to horror they had voted too much power to a small group of +men known as Security, but there were others, weary of the insecurity +of world power-politics, who felt that Security was a blessing, and +would for all time protect all men in the freedom of their own +beliefs. The pressures had been great, and the pendulum of political +weight had swung far in an opposite direction. In fact, man had +achieved that which he would deny--in a reach for freedom, he had made +the first turn in the coil that would bind him--in the coil that would +bind the mass of the many to the will of the very few. + + * * * * * + +In school in Moscow, these things touched Bessandra's life only +remotely. The concepts, the talk, the propaganda from Radio Moscow, +these she heard, but they were not her main interests. + +Her main interests were two--one, the fascination which the giant +computer at Moscow University held for her; and two, the students +around her. People, she had noted, had behavior patterns very similar +to the complex computer; not as individual units, though as individual +units they could also be as surprisingly obtuse as the literal-minded +reaction of the computer; but in statistical numbers they had an even +greater tendency to act as the computer did. + +The information fed them and their reactions to it had a logic all its +own; not a logic of logic, but a logic of reaction. And the reaction +could be controlled, she noted, in the same self-corrective manner +that was applied to logic in the interior of the computer--the +feedback system. + +It was obvious that with a statistical group of people, the net result +of action could be effectively channeled by one person in an obscure +position acting as a feedback mechanism to the group, and with +selective properties applied to the feedback. + +At one point she had quietly, and for no other reason than to test +this point to her own satisfaction, sat back and created a riot of the +women students at the University, without once appearing either as the +cause or the head or leader in the revolt. The revolt in itself had +been absolutely senseless, but the result had been achieved with +surprisingly little effort on the part of one individual. + +Computers and people had from that day become her tools, whenever she +decided to bend them to her will. + +Even earlier in her career, she had managed to put her rebellious +nature under strict control, never appearing to be a cause in herself; +never appearing as a leader among the students; merely a quiet student +intent upon the gain of knowledge and oblivious to her surroundings. + +Later as she realized her abilities, she had sought council with +herself and her Buddhist ancestry, to determine what use her knowledge +should serve. And to her there was but one answer: Men were easily +enslaved by their own shortcomings; but men who were free produced +more desirable results; and if she were to use their shortcomings at +all, it must be to bend them in the path of freedom that she might be +surrounded by higher achievements rather than sheeplike activities +which she found to be repugnant. + +Gradually she had achieved skill in the manipulation of people; always +towards the single self-interest of creating a better and more +pleasant world in which she herself could live. + + * * * * * + +In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his troubles. Free +fall conditions that were merely inconvenient to him were proving +near-disastrous to the animals in the cages around him. + +Many and various were the difficulties that he had had with animals +during his career, but never before such trifles that built _peu a +peu_--into mountains. + +Claude Lavalle had originally planned to leave his stock of animals, +which contained sets of a great many of the species of the small +animals of Earth, on their own gravity-bound planet until well after +the spin supplied pseudo-gravity to the ship; but the schedule of the +shuttles' loads had proved such as to make possible the trip either +far in the future, or to put him aboard on this trip, with spin only a +few hours away. + +The cages, with their loads of guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters and +other live animals to be used in the sacrificial rites of biochemical +research were, to put it mildly, a mess. Provision had been made for +feeding and watering the animals under free-fall conditions, but +keeping them sanitary was proving a near-impossible task; and though +the cages were sealed to confine the inevitable upset away from the +remainder of the lab, it was good to hear that the problem was nearly +over as the news of the imminent countdown came over the loud-speaker. + +Meantime, Dr. Claude Lavalle was having his difficulties, and he +wished fervently that his assistants could have been sent up on the +shuttle with him. + + * * * * * + +In rim-sector A-10, the FARM (Fluid Agricultural Recirculating Method +control lab, according to the U.N. acronym), Dr. Millie Williams, her +satiny brown skin contrasting to her white T-shirt and shorts, was +also having her troubles. + +The trays of plants, in their beds of sponge plastic and hydroponic +materials, were all sealed against free-fall conditions, but should be +oriented properly for the pseudo-gravity as the great wheel was given +its rotational spin. + +The vats of plankton and algae concentrates were not so important as +to orientation, but should be fed into their rim-river homes as soon +as possible, although this could not be done until the rim spin was +well under control. + +The trays, the plants, the plankton, the algae--even a large +proportion of the equipment in the lab, were all new, experimental +projects, designed to check various features of the food and air +cycles that would later be necessary if men were to send their ships +soaring out through the system. + +The primary purpose of Lab One was a check of the various survival +systems and space ecology programs necessary to equip the future +explorations under actual space conditions. Her job on the FARM would +be very important to the future feeding and air restoration of +spacemen; but more important, the efficient utilization of the wheel +itself, since success in shipboard purification of air and production +of food would free the shuttle to bring up other types of mass. + +At present, the ship's personnel were existing almost entirely on +tanked air, but within two weeks one of the three air-restoration +projects on the satellite--either hers, in which hydroponic plants and +algae were the basic purifiers; or projects in the chem and physics +labs--would have to be already functioning in the job, or extra +shuttles would have to be devoted to air transportation until they +were ready. + +The provision of good fresh vegetables and fresh, springlike air would +almost certainly be up to her department. The other two labs, Dr. +Carmencita Schorlemmer in chemistry, and Dr. Chi Tung in physics, were +both working on the air-restoration problem by different +means--electro-chemistry in the one case; gas dialysis membranes in +the other. + +The work of the physics labs was operating on the differential ability +of various gas molecules to "leak" through plastic membranes under +pressure, causing separation of the various molecular constituents of +the atmosphere; shunting carbon dioxide off in one direction, and +returning oxygen and the inert nitrogen and other gases back to the +surrounding atmosphere. + +This latter method had proved highly satisfactory back on Earth, where +it was separating out fissionable materials in large quantities and +high purities from closely similar isotopes; and would now be tested +for efficiency versus weight in some of the new problems being +encountered in space. + +A fourth method, direct chemical absorption by soda lime, had been +discarded early in the program, although it was still used in +spacesuit air cleaners, and for the duration of the canned air program +under which they were now operating. + +The lab was like that--no problem has a single solution. And it was +the lab's job to evaluate as many solutions as possible so that the +best, under different conditions, might be proved and ready for use in +later programs. + + * * * * * + +Paul Chernov, ordinary spaceman--which meant that he had only a little +more specialized training than the average college graduate--was +working in the dump, surrounded by much of the equipment that remained +to be placed aboard Space Lab One, and trying to identify the +particular object he sought. + +Looking down almost directly over the eastern bulge of the African +coast, he sighted what was probably the ECM lathe he was after, and +kicked towards it, simultaneously pulling his pistol-gripped Rate of +Approach Indicator from the socket in his suit. + +The RAI gun, he sometimes felt, was the real reason he'd become a +spaceman in these tame days. Even if he couldn't be a space pirate, it +gave him the feel. + +Humming to himself, he aimed the search beam from the tiny +gallium-arsenide laser crystal that was the heart of the gun at the +bulky object, and read off the dial at the back of the "barrel" the +two meter/second approach velocity and the twenty-eight meter +distance. + +He could as easily have set the RAI gun to read his velocity and +distance in centimeters or kilometers, and it would have read as well +his rate of retreat, if that had been the factor. + +Paul's RAI gun might be, to others, a highly refined, vastly superior +great-grandson of the older radar that had required much more in the +way of equipment than the tiny bulk of this device, but to him, alone +in his spacesuit, the galaxy spread around him, it was the weapon with +which he had conquered the stars. + +In the distance, off beyond the wheel in a trailing orbit, the huge +spherical shape of Project Hot Rod glowed its characteristic +green--another application of the laser principle, but this one +macroscopic in comparison to the tiny laser rate-of-approach gun. + +Happily, Paul burst into song. + + _"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there + And another yonder showing; + But I've a yen for gravity-- + This is where I wasn't going!"_ + +From the other side of the dump, Tombu's voice bellowed into his ears +over the intercom. "If you're going to audition for the stars, cut +down the volume!" + +Paul grinned and reached for the volume control. + +"O.K., M'Numba, 's m'numba!--I'm a space-yodler from way out. Heave a +line over this way and let's get this ECM lathe aboard." + +Tombu's "last name" M'Numba had delighted Paul from the moment he'd +heard the story of its origin. By the customs of his own country, +Tombu had only a single name. However, when he had first enrolled as a +student in England there had been a lack of comprehension between him +and the rather flustered registrar and, when he had muttered something +about "my number," the registrar had misunderstood and put him down as +M'Numba. Tombu had let it stand. + +Paul Chernov, fine-boned, blond, with an ancestral background of the +Polish aristocracy, and his side-kick, Tombu, black, muscular giant +from the Congo, were one of the strangest combinations of this +international space lab crew. Yet it was perhaps even stranger that +the delicate-looking blond youth was a top machinist, a trade that he +had plied throughout his student days in order to economically support +an insatiable thirst for knowledge. A trade that had led him to this +newest center of man's search for knowledge. + +But perhaps the combination was not so strange, for Tombu, also, was +of the aristocracy--an aristocracy that could perhaps be measured in +terms of years extending far behind the comparable times for any +European aristocracy. + +Tombu was Swahili, a minor king of a minor country which had never +been recognized by the white man when he invaded Africa and set up his +vast protectorates that took no account of the peoples and their +tribal traditions; protectorates that lumped together many hundreds of +individual nations and tribes into something the white man looking at +maps could label "Congo." + +Tombu himself, educated in the white man's schools to the white man's +ways, and probing ever deeper into the white man's knowledge, was only +vaguely aware of his ancestral origin. He counted his kingdom in +negative terms, terms that were no longer applicable in a modern +world. Where national boundaries everywhere were melting further and +further into disuse, it would seem to his mind foolish to lay claim to +a kingship that had been nonexistent for more than one hundred years +over a people that had been scattered to the four winds and ground +together with other peoples in the Belgian Congo protectorate. + +Odd the combination might be; but together the two machinists worked +well, with a mutual respect for each other's abilities and a mutual +understanding that is rare to find among members of different races. + +Quickly they lashed and anchored the crate containing the lathe and +hauled it in towards the main south lock of the big wheel. + + * * * * * + +These were not the only activities in and around the wheel, or other +places in space. Man already had a toehold in space, and that toehold +was gradually growing into a real beachhead. Swarms of satellites in +their short, fast orbits down close to Earth had been performing their +tasks for many years. Astronauts had come and gone, testing, checking, +probing however briefly; bravely clawing their way up the sides of the +long gravitic well that separated Earth from space. + +The moon project that had originally been forecast for immediate +accomplishment had met with delay. As yet there was no base on the +moon, though men had been there, and this was bound to occur. + +But the lab was not here so much as a stepping stone to the moon as it +was to provide information for the future manned trips out towards +Mars and the asteroids; and in towards Venus and the sun. + +Besides research, the big wheel would provide living quarters for men +building other projects; would provide a permanent central for the +network of communications beams that was gradually encompassing man's +world and would eventually spread to the other planets as well. +Cooperating with this master communications central, other satellites, +automatic so far, occupied the same orbit, leading and lagging by one +hundred twenty degrees. + +A twenty-four hour orbit would have been more advantageous from the +point of view of communications, except for the interference that +would have been occasioned by the vast flood of electrons encircling +Earth in the outer Van Allen belt. These electrons, trapped by Earth's +magnetic field from the solar wind of charged particles escaping the +sun, unfortunately occupied the twenty-four hour orbit, and, as their +orbit expanded and contracted under the influence of the shifting +magnetic field and solar flares, could produce tremendous havoc even +in automatic equipment, so that it had been deemed economically +impractical to set up the originally-postulated three satellites in +stationary twenty-four orbits as communications terminals. + +As the next best choice, the thirty-six-hour orbit had been selected. +It gave a slow rate of angular displacement, since the satellite +itself moved ten degrees an hour, while Earth moved 15 deg., for a +differential rate of only five degrees an hour, making fairly easy +tracking for the various Earth terminals of the communications net; +and making possible a leisurely view of more than ninety per cent of +Earth's surface every seventy-two hours. + +The other two power and communications stations which led and lagged +Space Lab One by 120 deg. each, would combine to command a complete view +of Earth, lacking only a circle within the arctic regions, so that +they could provide power and communications for the entire world--a +fact which had been the political carrot which had united Earth in the +effort to create the labs with their combined technologies. + +The danger of such powerful instruments as Hot Rod, concentrating +megawatt beams of solar energy for relay to earth, and which could +also be one of man's greatest weapons if it fell into unscrupulous +hands, had been carefully played down, and also carefully countered in +the screening by the Security Forces of U.N. of the personnel board. + + * * * * * + +T minus three and counting. + +On the zero signal Mike in the engineer's quarters would change the +now idly-bubbling air jets in the rim-rivers over to the +fully-directional drive jets necessary to spin the fluid in +counter-rotation through the rim tanks. + +The suiting-up and strapping down were probably unnecessary, Mike +thought, but in space you don't take chances. + +"T minus two and counting." Bessie's voice rang over the com circuit +in officially clipped clarity. + +From the physics lab came a rather oddly pitched echo. "Allee allee in +free fallee! Hold it, please, as Confusion would say! Paul forgot to +secure the electrolite for the ECM equipment. Can't have these +five-gallon bottles bouncing around!" + +"And we can't have you bouncing around either, Dr. Chi Tung. Get that +soup under wraps quick. How much time do you need?" came the captain's +voice from his console angled over Bessie's head. + +Clark's voice could be heard murmuring into his Earth-contact phone. +"T minus two. Holding." + +Less than two minutes later, Dr. Chi released the hold by announcing +briefly, "Machine shop and physics department secure." + +"T minus two and counting...." + +"T minus one and counting...." Bessie continued officially. "Fifty, +forty, thirty, twenty...." + +The faint whine of high-speed centrifugal compressors could be heard +through the ship. + +"Ten...." The jets that had previously bubbled almost inaudibly took +on the sound of a percolating coffee pot. + +"... Four, three, two, one, mark." + +The bubbling became a hiss that settled into a soft susurrus of +background noise, as the jets forced air through the river of water in +the circular tanks of the rim. + +The water began to move. By reaction, the wheel took up a slow, +circular motion in the opposite direction. + +Then, gently, the wheel shook itself and settled into a complacently +off-center motion that placed Bessie somewhere near the actual center +of rotation. + +"We're out of balance, Mr. Blackhawk," said the captain, one hand on +the intercom switch. + +"Bessie, ask the Cow what's off balance." It was Mike's voice from +engineering control. "Thought we had this thing trued up like a +watch." + +But the computer had already taken over, and was controlling the flow +of water to the hydrostatic balance tank system, rapidly orienting the +axis of spin against the true axis of the wheel. + +The wobble became a wiggle; the wiggle became the slightest of sways; +and under the computer's gentle ministrations, the sways disappeared +and Space Lab One rolled true. + +Slowly Mike inched the jet power up, and the speed and "gravity" of +the rim rose--from 0.009 to 0.039 to the pre-scheduled 0.15 of a +gravity--two RPM--at which she would remain until a thorough test +schedule over several days had been accomplished. Later tests would +put the rim through check-out tests to as high as 1.59 gee, but +"normal" operation had been fixed at two RPM. + +In the background, the susurrus of the air jets rose slightly to the +soft lullaby-sound that the wheel would always sing as she rolled. + + * * * * * + +New, experimental, her full complement of six hundred scientists and +service personnel so far represented by only one hundred sixty-three +aboard, the big wheel that was Space Lab One rotated majestically at +her hydrodynamically controlled two revolutions per minute. + +She gave nearly half her mass to the water that spun her--huge rivers +of water, pumped through the walls of the wheel's rim, forming a +six-foot barrier between the laboratories within the rim and the +cosmic and solar radiations of outer space. + +Arguments on Earth had raged for months over the necessities--or lack +of them--for the huge mass of water aboard, but the fluid mass served +many purposes better than anything else could serve those purposes. + +As a radiation shield, it provided sufficient safety against cosmic +radiations of space and from solar radiations, except for solar flare +conditions, to provide a margin of safety for the crew over the three +months in which they would do their jobs before being rotated back to +Earth for the fifteen-month recovery period. + +The margin was nearly enough for permanent duty--and there were those +who claimed it was sufficient--but the claim had not been +substantiated, and the three months maximum for tour was mandatory. + +Originally, shielding had not been considered of vital importance, but +experience had proven the necessity. The first construction personnel +had been driven back to Earth after two weeks, dosimeters in the red. +The third crew didn't make it. All five died of radiation exposure +from a solar flare. An original two weeks' limit was raised as more +shielding arrived--three weeks, four, five--now the shadowy edge of +the theoretic ninety-day recovery rate from radiation damage and the +ninety days required to get the maximum safe dosage overlapped--but +safety procedures still dictated that a red dosimeter meant a quick +return to Earth whether the rate of recovery overlapped or not. + +[Illustration] + +The question was still open whether more shielding would be brought up +to make the overlap certain, or whether it would be best to maintain a +personnel rotation policy indefinitely. Some factions on Earth seemed +determined that rotation must remain not only a procedural but an +actual requirement--their voices spoke plainly through the directives +and edicts of U.N. Budget Control--but from what source behind this +bureaucratic smokescreen it would have been difficult to say. + +As a heat sink, the water provided stability of temperature that would +have been difficult to achieve without it. Bathed in the tenuous solar +atmosphere that extends well beyond the orbit of Earth, and with a +temperature over 100,000 C, maintenance of a livable temperature on +board the big wheel was not the straight-forward balancing of +radiation intercepted/radiation outgoing that had been originally +anticipated by early writers on the subject. + +True, the percentage of energy received by convection was small +compared to that received by radiation; but it was also wildly +variable. + +As a biological cultural medium, the hydraulic system provided a basis +for both air restoration and food supplies. When the proper balance of +plankton and algae was achieved, the air jets that gave the ship its +spin would also purify the ship's air, giving it back in a natural +manner the oxygen it was now fed from tanks. + +As a method of controlling and changing the rate of rotation of the +wheel, the rivers of water had already proven themselves; and as a +method of static balancing to compensate for off-center weights, +masses of it could be stopped and held in counterbalance tanks around +the rim, thus assuring that the observatory, in its stationary +position on the hub, would not suddenly take up an oscillatory pattern +of motion as the balance within the wheel was shifted either by moving +equipment or personnel. + + * * * * * + +In effect, the entire ship operated against a zero-M-I calculation +which could be handled effectively only by the computer. The moment of +inertia of the ship must be constantly calculated against the moment +of inertia of the hydraulic mass flowing in the rim. And the +individual counterbalance tanks must constantly shift their load +according to the motions of the crew and their masses of equipment +that were constantly being shifted during installation. For already +the observatory was hard at work, and its time must not be stolen by +inappropriate wobbles of the hub. + +A continuously operating feedback monitor system was capable of +maintaining accuracy to better than .01% both in the mass inertial +field of centrifugal force affecting the rim; and in overall balance +that might otherwise cause wobbles in the hub. + +While such fine control would not be necessary to the individual +comfort of the personnel aboard, it was very necessary to the accuracy +of scientific observation, one major purpose of the lab; and even so, +many of the experimenters would require continuous monitor observation +from the computer to correct their observations against her +instantaneous error curve. + +The mass of water in the rim formed a shell six feet through, +surrounding the laboratories and living quarters--walls, floor and +ceiling--since its first function was that of radiation shielding. + +But the bulk of this water was not a single unit. It was divided into +separate streams, twenty in number, in each of which various +biological reactions could be set up. + +While a few of the rivers were in a nearly chemically pure state, most +of them were already filling with the plankton and algae that would +form the base of the major ecological experiments, some with fresh +water as their medium, others using sea water, complete with its +normal micro-organisms supplemented from the tanks of concentrate +that Dr. Millie Williams had brought aboard. One or two of the rivers +were operating on different cycles to convert human waste to usable +forms so that it might reenter the cycles of food and air. + +Several of the rivers were operating to provide fish and other marine +delicacies as part of the experiment to determine the best way of +converting algae to food in a palatable form. + +Within, the rivers were lighted fluorescently--an apparent anomaly +that was due to the fact that the problems of shielding marine life +from direct sunlight in such a shallow medium had not yet been worked +out; while the opaque plastic that walled the laboratories within the +rivers was a concession to their strength, since the clear plastic +that would have provided aquarium walls for the lab and complete +inspection for a constant and overall check of the ecological +experiments had been overruled by U.N. Budget Control. Portholes at +various spots made the seaquariums visible from any part of the rim, +but in Dr. Millie's laboratory alone were the large panels of clear +plastic that gave a real view into the rivers. + +This ecological maze of rivers and eddies and balance tanks; of air +jets and current and micro-life; of spin-rate-control and shielding, +were all keyed to servo-regulated interdependence that for this +self-contained world replaced the stability achieved in larger +ecologies through survival mechanisms. + + * * * * * + +Within the maze, existing by it and contributing to it, were the +laboratories concerned with other things, but surrounded by the waters +that had made life's beginnings possible on Earth, and the continuance +of life possible in space. Man might some day live in space almost +totally without water, but for now they had brought a bit of the +mother waters with them. + +Sitting in complacent control of these overall complexities that must +be met with automatic accuracy was the Starrett Analogue/Digital +Computer, Optical Wave type 44-63, irreverently referred to by the +acronymically-minded as Sad Cow, though more frequently as the Sacred +Cow, or simply Cow. + +Most of the computer's intricate circuits were hidden behind the +bulkhead in a large compartment between the control center and the +south polar lock; but it was from this console in the control center +that her operation was keyed. + +From this position, every function of the wheel was ordered. + +This was the bridge. + +Spaced equally around its thirty-two-foot ring-shaped floor were the +computer's console where Bessie presided; the com center in charge of +Communications Officer Clark; and the command console where Captain +Naylor Andersen, commanding officer of Space Lab One had his formal, +though seldom-occupied post. + +At the moment, Nails Andersen was present, black cigar clamped firmly +between his teeth; hamlike Norwegian hands maneuvering a pencil, he +was making illegible notes on a scrap of paper--illegible to others +because they were in his own form of shorthand that he had worked out +over the years as he tried to make penciled notes as fast as his +racing mind worked out their details. + +Whether Nails were politician or scientist would be hard to say. +Certainly his rise through the ranks of U.N. Bureaus had been rapid; +certainly in this rise he had been political, with the new brand of +politics that men were learning--world, rather than national politics. +Certainly, also, he was a scientist; and certainly he had used his +political abilities on the behalf of science, pushing and slashing at +red-tape barriers. + +Nails was more than most responsible for the very existence of U.N. +Space Lab One, and Project Hot Rod besides. He was also a sponsor of +many other projects, both those that had been done and those that were +yet to be done. + +The justification of a space project in these times was difficult +indeed; for no longer could nations claim military superiority as a +main reason for pushing forward across the barriers of the inner +marches of space; for spending billions in taxes in experimental +research. For a project to achieve reality now, it must have benefits, +visible benefit, for the majority of mankind. It must have a _raison +d'etre_ that had nothing of a military flavor. And occasionally Nails +had been hard put to explain why, to people who did not understand; to +explain his feeling that men must expand or die; that from a crowded +planet there could be only one frontier, and that an expansion outward +into space. + +Of course there were, Nails admitted to himself, other frontiers. The +huge basin of the Amazon had been by-passed and ignored by man, and +quite possibly would be in the future as well. The oceans, covering +seventy-five per cent of Earth's surfaces also presented a challenge +to man, and the possibility of a new frontier of conquest. + +But these did not present the limitless frontier for expansion offered +by space. Men must look upon them as only temporary challenges, and +cherish them as remaining problems, never to be solved for fear of a +loss of the problem itself. + +Yet space was different. Here man's explorations could touch upon +infinities that were beyond comprehension, into that limitless void +man could plunge ever outward for thousands of generations without +ever reaching a final goal or solving a last problem. Here was a +frontier worthy of any man, against which the excess energies of a +warrior spirit might be expended without harm to their fellows. + +To open a crack in this frontier was Nails' supreme goal, because, +once opened, men need never fight again amongst themselves for lack of +a place to go or a thing to do. + + * * * * * + +Space Lab One had been in spin for two days. + +On Earth, TV viewers no longer demanded twenty-four hours of Lab +newscasts, and were returning to their normal cycles of Meet the +Press, the Doctor's Dilemma, and the Lives of Lucy, and other juicier +items of the imagination that, now that their lab was a functioning +reality, seemed far more exciting than the pictures of the +interminably spinning wheel and the interviews with scientists aboard +that had filled their screens during the spin-out trial period. + +On the wheel itself, life was settling into a pattern, with comments +about being able to stand upright becoming old hat. + +In rim sector A-9, Dr. Claude Lavalle's birds and beasts had adapted +themselves to the light gravity; and their biological mentor had +evolved feeding, watering, and cleaning methods that were rapidly +becoming efficient. + +Next door, Dr. Millie Williams' FARM had survived the "take-off" and +the plants, grateful for their new, although partial gravity, were now +stretching themselves towards the overhead fluorescents in a rather +fantastic attempt to imitate the early growing stages of Jack's famous +beanstalk. + +In the machine shop, Paul Chernov carefully inspected the alignment of +the numeric controlled laser microbeam milling and boring machine, +brought it to a focus on a work piece, and pressed an activation +switch that started the last pattern of tiny capillary holes in the +quartz on which he was working. In moments the pattern was completed. + +Gently removing the work piece from its mounting, he turned to the +open double bulkhead that served as an air lock in emergencies and +that separated his shop from the physics lab beyond, where Dr. Y. Chi +Tung, popularly known as Ishie, was busy over a haywire rig, Chief +Engineer Mike Blackhawk and Tombu beside him. + +Reverently, Dr. Chi took the part from Paul's hands. "A thousand +ancestral blessings," he said. "Confusion say the last piece is the +most honored for its ability to complete the gadget, and this is it. + +"Of course," he added, "Confusion didn't say whether it would work or +not." + +"What does the gadget do?" asked Paul. + +"Um-m-m. As the European counterpart of Confusion, Dr. Heisenberg +might have explained it, this is a device to confuse confusion by +aligning certainties and creating uncertainties in the protons of this +innocent block of plastic." The round, saffron-hued Chinese face +looked at Paul solemnly. + +"As the good Dr. Heisenberg stated, there is a principle of confusion +or uncertainty as to the exact whereabouts of things on the atomic +level, which cannot be rendered more exact due to disturbance caused +by the investigation of its whereabouts. My humble attempt is to +secure a sufficiently statistical sample of aligned protons to obtain +data on the distortion of the electron orbits caused by an external +electrostatic field, thus rendering my own uncertainties more +susceptible of analysis in a statistical manner." + +Suddenly he grinned. "It's a take-off," he said, "from the original +experiments in magnetic resonance back in '46. + +"The fields generated in these coils are strong enough to process all +the protons so that their axis of spin is brought into alignment. At +this point, the plastic could be thought of as representing a few +billion tiny gyroscopes all lined up together. + +"Matter of fact," he said in an aside, "if you want a better +explanation of that effect, you might look up the maintenance manual +on the proton gyroscopes that Sad Cow uses. Or the manuals for the +M.R. analyzer in the chem lab. Or the magnetometer we use to keep a +check on Earth's magnetic field. + +"So far, about the same thing. + +"What I'm trying to do is place radio frequency fields and +electrostatic fields in conjunction with the D.C. magnetic field, so +as to check out the effect of stretching the electron orbits of the +hydrogen atoms in predictable patterns. + +"I picked this place for it, because it was as far away from Earth's +field as I could get. And Mike, when I get ready to test this thing, +I'm going to pray to my ancestors and also ask you to turn off as many +magnetic gadgets as you safely can." + +Mike was squatting on his heels by the haywire rig, built into what +looked suspiciously like a chassis extracted from one of the standard +control consoles of the communication department. + +Reaching gingerly in through the haywire mass of cables surrounding +the central components, he pointed to one of the coils and exclaimed +in the tones of a Sherlock Holmes, "Ah-ha, my dear Watson! I have just +located the final clue to my missing magnaswedge. I suppose you know +the duty cycle on those coils is only about 0.01?" + +"Not after I finished with them!" Ishie grinned unrepentant. "Besides, +I don't want to squash anything in the field. I just want a nice, +steady field of a reasonable magnitude. As Confusion would say, he who +squashes small object may unbalance great powers." + + * * * * * + +While he talked, Ishie had been busy inserting the carefully machined +piece of quartz plate that Chernov had brought, into a conglomeration +of glassware that looked like a refugee from the chem lab, and flipped +a switch that caused a glowing coil inside a pyrex boiler to heat a +small quantity of water, which must escape through the carefully +machined capillary holes in the plate he had just installed. Each jet +would pass through two grids, and on towards a condenser arrangement +from which the water would be recirculated into the boiler by a small +pump which was already beginning to churkle to itself. + +"O.K.," Mike said. "I dig the magnetic resonance part. And how you're +using the stolen coils. But what's this gadget?" and he pointed to the +maze of glass and glass tubing. + +"Oh. Permit me to introduce Dr. Ishie's adaptation of a French +invention of some years previous, which permits the development of +high voltages by the application of heat to the evaporation of a fluid +medium such as water--of which we have plenty aboard and you won't +miss the little that I requisitioned--causing these molecules to +separate and pass at high speed through these various grids, providing +electrostatic potentials in their passage which can be added quite +fantastically to produce the necessary D.C. field which...." + +As he spoke, Mike's finger moved nearer a knob-headed bolt that seemed +to be one of the two holding the glass device to its mounting board, +and an inch and a half spark spat forth and interrupted the +dissertation with a loud "Yipe!" + +"Confusion say," Ishie continued as Mike stuck his finger in his +mouth, "he who point finger of suspicion should be careful of lurking +dragons! + +"Anyhow, that's what it does. There are two thousand separate little +grids, each fed by its capillary jet, and each grid provides about +ninety volts." + +Tombu took the opportunity to inquire, "Have you got that RF +field-phase generator under control yet?" He pointed to still another +section of the chassis. + +"Oh, yes." The physicist nodded. "See, I have provided a feedback +circuit to co-ordinate the pick-up signal with the three-phase RF +output. The control must be precise. Can't have it skipping around or +we don't get a good alignment." + +There was a gurgling churkle from the innocent-looking maze as the +"borrowed" aerator pump from the FARM supplies began returning the +condensate back to the boiler. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson stood on the magnetic stat-walk of the south +polar loading lock, gazing along the anchor tube to Project Hot Rod +five miles away. + +"There are no experts in the ability to maneuver properly in free +fall," he told himself, quieting his dissatisfaction with his own +self-conscious efforts at maintaining the military dignity of the +United Nations Security Forces in a medium in which a man inevitably +lost the stances that to him connotated that dignity. + +Awkwardly, he attached the ten-pound electric device affectionately +known to spacemen as the scuttlebug, to the flat ribbon-cable that +would both power and guide him to Hot Rod. + +As the wheels of the scuttlebug clipped over the ribbon-cable, one +above and two below, and made contact with the two electrically +conductive surfaces, he saw the warning light change from green to +red, indicating that the ribbon was now in use, and that no one else +should use it until he had arrived at the far end. + +Seeing that the safety light was now in his favor, he swung his legs +over the seat--a T-bar at the bottom of the rod which swung down from +the drive mechanism--grasped the rod, and pulled the starting trigger. + +The accelerative force of one gee, the maximum of which the scuttlebug +was capable, provided quite a jolt, but settled down very quickly to +almost zero as he picked up speed and reached the maximum of one +hundred twenty miles per hour. + +A very undignified method of travel, he thought. Yet for all that, the +scuttlebugs were light and efficient, and reduced transit time between +outlying projects and the big wheel to a very reasonable time, +compared to that which it would take for a man to jump the distance +under his own power--and, he thought, without wasting the precious +mass that rockets would have required. + +The low voltage power supplied by the two flat sides of the ribbon was +insufficient to have provided lethal contact, even if the person were +there without the insulation of a spacesuit around him, a very +unlikely occurrence. Furthermore, the structure of the cable, with the +flat, flexible insulation between its two conductive surfaces, made it +practically impossible to short it out; and the flanged wheels of the +scuttlebug clipped over it in such a fashion that, once locked, it was +thought to be impossible that they could lose their grip without being +unlocked. + +As Steve gained speed along the ribbon, "his" Project Hot Rod was in +view before him--appearing to be a half moon which looked larger than +the real moon in the background behind it; and seeming to stand in the +vastness of space at a distance from the far end of the long anchor +tube, a narrow band of bright green glowing near its terminator line. + +From the rounded half of the moon, extending sunward, four bright, +narrow traceries seemed to outline a nose that ended in a pale, +globular tracery at its tip, pointing to the sun. + +The narrow traceries were in actuality four anchor tubes, similar to +the one beside which he rode; and mounted in their tip was the +directing mirror that would aim Hot Rod's beam of energy. + + * * * * * + +Project Hot Rod was actually a giant balloon eight thousand feet in +diameter, one-half "silvered" with a greenish reflective surface +inside that reflected only that light that could be utilized by the +ruby rods at its long focal center; and that absorbed the remainder of +the incident solar radiation, dumping it through to its black outside +surface, and on into the vastness of space. This half of the big +balloon was the spherical collector mirror, facing, through the clear +plastic of its other half, the solar disk. + +Well inside the balloon, at the tip of the ruby barrel that was its +heart, were located the boiler tubes that activated the self-centering +inertial orientation servos which must remain operational at all +times. If the big mirror were ever to present its blackened rear +surface to the sun for more than a few minutes, the rise in +temperature would totally destroy the entire project. Therefore, these +servos had been designed as the ultimate in fail-safe, fool-proof +control to maintain the orientation of the mirror always within one +tenth of one degree of the center of Sol. + +Their action was simplicity itself. The black boiler tubes were +shielded in such a way that so long as the aim was dead center on the +sun they received no energy; but let the orientation shift by a +fraction of a degree, and one of these blackened surfaces would begin +to receive reflected energy from the mirror behind it; the liquid +nitrogen within would boil, and escape under pressure through a jet in +such manner as to re-orient the position to the center of the tracking +alignment. + +[Illustration] + +Since the nitrogen gas escaped into the balloon, the automatic +pressure regulator designed to maintain pressure within the balloon +would extract an equal quantity of gas, put it back through the +cooling system on the back side of the mirror, and return it as liquid +to the boiler. + +These jets were so carefully and precisely balanced that there was +virtually no "hunting" in the system. + +The balloon itself was attached to its anchor tube by a one hundred +meter cable that gave free play to these orientation servos. The +anchor point was the exact center of the black outside surface of the +mirror-half of the balloon; and beside that anchor point was the air +lock to the control center, to which Steve was now going. + +From the control room, a column extended up through the axis of the +balloon for thirty-five hundred feet--and most of the surface of this +column was covered with the new type, high power ruby rods, thirty +feet long and one-half inch in diameter, mounted in tubular trays of +reflective material which took up sufficient space to make each rod +occupy two inches of the circumference of the tube on which it was +mounted. + +These ruby rods were the heart of the power system, converting the +random wave fronts of noncoherent light received from the mirror into +a tremendous beam of coherent infrared energy which could be bundled +in such a pattern as to reach Earth's surface in a focal point +adjustable from here to be something between twenty-two feet in +diameter to approximately one mile in diameter. + +[Illustration] + +The banks of rods were so arranged that each of the one hundred +sections comprising the three thousand feet of receptive surface at +the focus of the mirror formed a concentric circle of energy beams; +each circle becoming progressively smaller in diameter, so that the +energy combined into one hundred concentric circles, one within the +other, as it left the rods; but these circles were capable of the +necessary focusing that could bring them all together into a single +small point near Earth's surface. + + * * * * * + +The beam leaving the rods represented three hundred seventy-five +million watts of energy, tightly packaged for delivery to Earth. But +this was only a small fraction of the solar energy arriving at the big +mirror. + +The remainder, the loss, must be dumped by the black surface at the +back; and to account for the loss in the rods themselves, to prevent +their instantaneous slagging into useless globules of aluminum oxide, +their excess loss energy must also be dumped. + +A cooling bath of liquid nitrogen therefore circulated over each rod +and brought the excess heat to the rear of the big lens, where it, +too, could be dumped into the blackness of space beyond. + +For all its size and complexity, Hot Rod was only a trifle over six +per cent efficient; but that six per cent of efficiency arriving on +Earth would be highly welcome to supplement the power sources that +statistics said were being rapidly depleted. + +The spherical shape of the mirror itself, one of the easiest possible +structures to erect in space, had dictated the placement of the rods +through its center since there was no single focal point for the +entire mirror surface. + +But it had also added a complication. From this position, the rods +could have been designed to fire either straight forward or straight +back. + +However, due to the hollow nature of the thirty-five hundred foot +laser barrel; the necessity for access to the rods from inside that +barrel; and the placement of the control booth at its outside end, the +firing could only be forward, straight towards the sun on which the +mirror was focused. + +But to be useful, the beam must be able to track an ever-moving +target. + +This problem had been solved by one of the largest mirror surfaces +that man had ever created--flat to a quarter of a wave-length of +light, and two hundred fifty feet in diameter, the beam director, from +this distance looking as though it were a carelessly tossed +looking-glass from milady's handbag, anchored one diameter forward of +the big power balloon. + +For all its size, this director mirror had very little mass. +Originally it had been planned to be made of glass in much the same +manner as Palomar's 200-inch eye. But this plan had been rejected on +the basis of the weight involved. + +Instead, its structure was a rigid honeycomb of plastic; surfaced by a +layer of fluorocarbon plastic which had been brought to its final +polish in space, and then carefully aluminized to provide a highly +reflective, extremely flat surface. + +This mirror was also cooled by the liquid nitrogen supplied from the +back side of the big mirror. Necessarily so, since even its best +reflectivity still absorbed a sufficient portion of the energy from +the beam it deflected to have rapidly ruined it if it were not +properly cooled. + +The several tons of ruby rods in the barrel, with their clear sapphire +coatings, were far more valuable than any gems of any monarch that had +ever lived on Earth. Synthetic though they were, Steve Elbertson, the +project's military commander, knew they had been shipped here at +fantastic cost and were expected to pay for themselves many thousands +of times over in energy delivered. + + * * * * * + +As yet, the project had had no specific target; nor had it been fully +operational as of midnight yesterday. + +But this "morning" for the first time the terrific energy of the laser +beam would be brought to bear on the Greenland ice cap--three hundred +seventy-five million watts of infrared energy adjusted to a +needle-point expected to be twenty-two feet in diameter at Earth's +surface, delivering one million watts per square foot, that should put +a hole a good way through the several thousand feet of glacier there +in its fifteen minutes of operation, possibly even exposing the bare +rock beneath, and certainly releasing a mighty cloud of steam. + +Focused to this needle sharpness, the rate of energy delivery was many +orders of magnitude higher than that delivered by man's largest +nuclear weapons only a few yards from ground zero. + +Today's test was primarily scheduled as a test of control in aiming +and energy concentration. Careful co-ordination of the project by +ground control was vital, so that no misalignment of the beam could +possibly bring it to bear on any civilized portion of Earth's surface. +For, fantastic as this Project Hot Rod might be as a source of power +for Earth, Major Elbertson knew that it was also the most dangerous +weapon that man had ever devised. + +Therefore, the scientists were never alone in the control booth, +despite the mile-long security records of each. Therefore, he and his +men were in absolute control of the men who controlled the laser. + +Therefore, too, Steve told himself, as the time came when there would +be a question of command between himself and Captain Nails Andersen, +science advisor to the U.N. and commander of Space Lab One, his own +secret orders were that he was to take command--and the rank that +would give him that command was already bestowed, ready for +activation. + +Nails Andersen, Steve reminded himself with amusement, had originated +the laser project; had fought it through against the advice of more +cautious souls; and had, through that project, attained command of the +space lab, and the rank that made that command possible, all in the +name of civilian science. + +But not command of the laser project, Steve told himself. + +Not of the most dangerous military weapon ever devised--dangerous and +military for all that it was a civilian project, developed on the +excuse that it would power Earth, which was rapidly eating itself out +of its power sources. + +Not in command of that, Steve told himself. Nobody but a military man +could properly protect--and if necessary, properly use--such power. + +Those were his secret orders; and he had the papers--and the authority +from Earth--to back him up. And orders to shoot to kill without +hesitation if those orders were questioned. + +Meantime, today's peacetime experiment would bring forcibly to the +attention of Earth both the power for good and the power for +destruction of the laser which he commanded. + +Project Hot Rod was manned twenty-four hours a "day." The new shift of +scientists--the ones who would turn on the powerful--or deadly--beam, +would come aboard in about half an hour. The men who had put the +finishing touches on the project during the past shift would remain +for another hour. His own crew of Security men shifted with the +scientists--but he, himself, shifted at will. + +The immensity around him went unheeded as Steve Elbertson, eyes on +Project Hot Rod, savored the power of the beam that could control +Earth. + + * * * * * + +In the observatory, Perk Kimball and his assistant Jerry Wallace were +having coffee as the various electronic adjuncts to the instruments of +the observatory warmed up. Transistors and other solid state +components that made up the majority of the electronic equipment in +the observatory required no "warm up" in the sense that the older +electron tubes had--but when used in critical equipment, they were +temperature sensitive, and he allowed for time to reach a stable +operating temperature. Then, too, the older electron tubes had not +been entirely replaced. Many of them were still in faithful service. + +The day would not be spent in the observation which was their main job +there, because calibration of many of the instruments remained to be +done, and the observatory was behind schedule, having had a good deal +of its time taken up in the sightings required by the communications +lab and Project Hot Rod. + +Both of the astronomers were heartily sick of spending so much of +their observational time with recalcitrant equipment; and in making +observations of the globe from which they had come. After all, why +should an astronomer be interested in Earth? Though admittedly this +was the first observatory in man's entire history that had had the +opportunity for such a careful scrutiny. + +"This flare business, that our captive Indian was predicting," Jerry +asked. "Think there's anything to it? Or am I just learning rumors +about my profession from lay sources?" + +"A rather presumptuous prediction, though he may be right." Perk's +clipped tone was partly English, partly the hauteur of the +professional. To him, solar phenomena were strictly sourced on the +sun, and if they were to be understood at all, it would be in +reference to the internal dynamics of the sun itself. + +"The torroidal magnetic fields dividing the slowly rotating polar +regions from the more rapid rotation near the solar equator," he said +slowly, rather pedantically, but as though talking to himself, "should +have far more effective control over solar phenomena than the periodic +unbalance created by the off-center gravitic fields when the inner +planets bunch on the same side of their solar orbits. + +"To imply otherwise would be rather like saying that the grain of sand +is responsible for the tides. + +"Yet," he added honestly, "the records compiled by some of the +communications interests that used to be greatly disturbed by the +solar flares' influence on radio communications, seem to indicate that +there is a connection. So there is the possibility, however remote, +that our captive redskin might be right; or rather, that there is a +force involved that makes the two coincidental." + +But even as he talked, an unnoticed needle on the board began an +unusual, wiggling dance, far different from its ordinary, slow +averaging reactions. Twice, without being noticed, it swung rapidly +towards the red line on its meter face; and then on its third approach +the radiation counter swung over the red line and triggered an alarm. + +From only one source in their environment could they expect that level +of X-ray intensity. Without so much as a pause for thought, as the +alarm screamed, barely glancing at the counter, Perk reached for the +intercom switch and intoned the chant that man had learned was the +great emergency of space: "Flare, flare, flare--take cover." + +Simultaneously, he flipped three switches putting the observatory, the +only completely unshielded area within the satellite, on automatic, to +record as much as it could of the progress of the solar flare with its +incomplete equipment, while he and Jerry dove through the open air +lock down the central well to the emergency shield room in the center +of the hub. + +It was a poor system, Perk thought, that hadn't devised sufficient +shielding for the observatory so that they could watch this phenomenon +more directly. "We'll have to work on that problem," he told himself +and since his recommendations would carry much weight after this tour +of duty, he could be sure that any such system that he could devise +would be instrumented. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson, caught in mid-run between the lab and Project +Hot Rod, resisted the temptation to reverse the scuttlebug on the line +and pull himself to a fast stop, as the flare warning from the +observatory came to him over the emergency circuit of his suit, +followed by Bessie's clipped official voice saying: + +"A flare is in progress. Any personnel outside the ship should get in +as rapidly as possible. Personnel in the rim have seven minutes in +which to secure their posts and report to the flare-shield area in the +hub. Spin deceleration will take effect in three minutes; and we are +counting on my mark towards deceleration. Mark, three minutes." + +The Security officer squeezed the trigger of the "bug" tighter in a +vain effort to force it and himself forward at a higher speed. + +The lesser shielding of the Hot Rod control room would not provide a +sufficient safety factor even for the X rays that he knew were already +around him; but he must supervise the security of the shutdown; and he +could only be very thankful that he was already nearly there and would +not have to make the entire round trip under emergency conditions. + +The scuttlebug automatically reversed and began slowing for the end of +its run--tripped by a block signal set in the ribbon cable. As it came +to a stop at the end of the long anchor tube, Steve dismounted and +kicked over the short remaining distance, which was spanned only by a +slack cable to permit the inertial orientation servos of Hot Rod +unhindered freedom to maintain their constant tracking of the solar +disk. + +Passing through the air lock of the control room, he reflected that +his exposure would probably be sufficient to give a touch of nausea in +the first half hour. + +Inside Hot Rod control there was little excitement. The equipment was +being turned off in the standard approved safety procedures necessary +to turn control over to the laser communication beam which would put +the project under Earth control at Thule Base, Greenland, until the +emergency was over. + +This separate, low-power control beam, focused on Thule Base nearly +eighty miles away from the main focus of Hot Rod on its initial +target, carried all of the communications and telemetry necessary for +the close co-ordination between Thule and the project. + +As Elbertson entered, the Hot Rod communications officer was switching +each of the control panels in turn to Earth control, while Dr. +Benjamin Koblensky, project chief, stood directly behind him, +supervising the process. Elbertson took up his post beside Dr. +Koblensky, replacing the Security aide who had had the past shift. +"Suit up," he said to the man briefly. + +As the communications officer completed the turnover, and the other +five scientists in the lab left their posts to suit up, the com +officer glanced up, received a nod from Dr. Koblensky, and said into +his microphone "All circuits have now been placed in telemetry +security operation. On my mark it will be five seconds to control +abandonment. Mark," he said after another nod from Dr. Koblensky. +"Four, three, two, one, release." + +His hand on the master switch, he waited for the green light above it +to assure him that the communications lag had been overcome, and as +the green light came on, pushed the switch and rose from the console. + +Major Elbertson stepped behind him, scanned the switches, inserted his +key into the Security lock, and turned it with a final snap, forcing +a bar home through the handles of all of the switches to prevent their +unauthorized operation by anyone until the official Security key +should again release them. In the meantime, no function could be +initiated within the laser system by anyone other than the Security +control officer at Thule Base on Earth. + +Hot Rod was secured, and its crew were taking turns at the lock to +make the life-saving run back to the flare-shield area in the hub of +Lab One. + +Last man out, three minutes after the original alarm, Steve glanced +carefully around his beloved control booth, entered the now-empty air +lock, and reaching the outside vacuum dove fast and hard toward the +anchor terminal and the scuttlebug that would take him swiftly to the +big wheel and its comparative safety. + + * * * * * + +In the gymnasium that served under emergency conditions as the +flare-shield area of the hub, long since dubbed the "morgue," the +circular nets of hammocks that made it possible to pack six hundred +personnel into an area with a thirty-two foot diameter and a +forty-five foot length, were lowered. They would hardly be packed this +time, since less than one-third of the complement were yet aboard. + +Even so, each person aboard had his assigned hammock space, two and a +half feet wide; two and a half feet below the hammock above; and seven +feet long; and each made his way toward his assigned slot. + +At one end of the morgue was the area where the cages of animals from +Dr. Lavalle's labs were being stored on their assigned flare-shield +shelves; and where Dr. Millie Williams was supervising the +arrangements of the trays and vats of plants that must be protected as +thoroughly as the humans. + +At the other end of the morgue, the medics were setting up their +emergency treatment area, while nearby the culinary crew pulled out +and put in operating condition the emergency feeding equipment. + +The big wheel's soft, susurrus lullaby had already changed to a muted +background roar as her huge pumps drew the shielding waters of the rim +into the great tanks that gave the hub twenty-four feet of shielding +from the expected storm of protons that would soon be raging in the +vacuum outside. + +The ship was withdrawing the hydraulic mass from its rim much as a +person in shock draws body fluids in from the outer limbs to the +central body cavities. The analogy was apt, for until danger passed, +the lab was knocked out, only its automatic functions proceeding as +normal, while its consciousness hovered in interiorized, +self-protective withdrawal. + +On the panel before Bessie the computer's projection of expected +events showed the wave-front of protons approaching the orbit of +Venus, and on the numerical panel directly below this display the +negative count of minutes continued to march before her as the +wave-front approached at half the speed of light. + +The expected diminishment of X rays had not yet occurred. Normally, +there would be a space of time between their diminishment and the +arrival of the first wave of protons; but so far it had not happened. + +Six minutes had passed, and the arriving personnel of Project Hot Rod +came in through the locks from the loading platform, diving through +the central tunnel over Bessie's head and on to the shielded tank +beyond. + +Seven minutes; and from Biology lab came an excited voice. "I need +some help! I've lost a rabbit. I came back for the one I'd been +inoculating but he got away from me, and I can't corner him in this +no-gravity!" + +Bessie wasn't sure what to say, but Captain Andersen spoke into his +intercom. "Dr. Lavalle," he said in a low voice, but with the force of +command, "ninety per cent of your shielding has already been +withdrawn. Abandon the rabbit and report immediately to the hub!" + +The pumps were still laboring to bring in the last nine per cent of +the water that would be brought. The remaining one per cent of the +normal hydraulic mass of the rim had been diverted to a very +small-diameter tube at the extreme inner portion of the rim, and was +now being driven through this tube at frantically higher velocities to +compensate for the removal of the major mass, and to maintain a small +percentage of the original spin, so that the hub would not be totally +in free fall, though the pseudo-gravity of centrifugal force had +already fallen to a mere shadow of a shadow of itself, and some of the +personnel were feeling the combined squeamishness of the Coriolis +effect near the center of the ship, and the lessening of the gravity, +pseudo though it had been, that they had had with them in the rim. + +As the last tardy technician arrived, the medics were already +selecting out the nearly ten per cent of the personnel who had been +exposed to abnormally dangerous quantities of radiation during the +withdrawal procedure, which included, of course, all the personnel +that had been aboard Project Hot Rod at the time of the flare. + +Even as the medics went about injecting carefully controlled dosages +of sulph-hydral anti-radiation drugs, the beginnings of nausea were +evident among those who had been overexposed. However, only the +dosimeters could be relied on to determine whether the nausea was more +from the effects of radiation; the effects of the near-free-fall and +Coriolis experienced in the hub; or perhaps some of it was +psychosomatic, and had no real basis other than the fear engendered by +emergency conditions. + +Major Steve Elbertson was already in such violent throes of nausea +that his attending medic was having difficulty reading his dosimeter +as he made use of the plastic bag attached to his hammock; and he was +obviously, for the moment at least, one of the least dignified of the +persons on board. + +Displays of the various labs in the rim moved restlessly across most +of the thirty-six channels of the computer's video displays, as Bessie +scanned about, searching for dangerously loose equipment or personnel +that might somehow have been left behind. + +[Illustration] + +In the Biology lab, the white rabbit that had escaped was frantically +struggling in the near-zero centrifugal field with literally huge +bounds, seeking some haven wherein his disturbed senses might feel +more at home, and eventually finding a place in an overturned +wastebasket wedged between a chair and a desk, both suction-cupped to +the floor. Frightened and alone, with only his nose poking out of the +burrow beneath the trash of the wastebasket, he blinked back at the +silent camera through which Bessie observed him, and elicited from her +a murmur of pity. + +Seven minutes and forty-five seconds. The digital readout at the +bottom of Bessie's console showed the computer's prediction of fifteen +seconds remaining until the expected flood of protons began to arrive +from the sun. + +As radiation monitors began to pick up the actual arrival of the wave +front, the picture on her console changed to display a new wave front, +only fractionally in advance of the one that the computer had been +displaying as a prediction. + + * * * * * + +The storm of space had broken. + +Captain Andersen's voice came across the small area of the bridge that +separated them. "Check the rosters, please. Are all personnel +secured?" + +Bessie glanced at the thirty-two minor display panels, checking +visually, even as her fingers fed the question to the computer. + +The display of the labs, now that the rabbit was settled into place, +showed no dangerously loose equipment other than a few minor items of +insufficient mass to present a hazard, and no personnel, she noted, as +the Cow displayed a final check-set of figures, indicating that all +personnel were at their assigned, protected stations in the morgue, in +the engineering quarters, and on the bridge. + +"All secure," she told the captain. "Evacuation is complete." + +"Well handled," he said to her, then over the intercom: "This is your +captain. Our evacuation to the flare-shield area is complete. The ship +and personnel are secured for emergency conditions, and were secured +well within the time available. May I congratulate you. + +"The proton storm is now raging outside. You will be confined to your +posts in the shield area for somewhere between sixteen and forty-eight +hours. + +"As soon as it is possible to predict the time limit more accurately, +the information will be given to you." + +As he switched out of the ship's annunciator system, Captain Nails +Andersen leaned back in his chair and stretched in relief, closing his +eyes and running briefly over the details of the evacuation. + +When he opened them again, he found a pinch bottle of coffee at his +elbow, and tasting it, found it sugared and creamed to his preference. +His eyes went across the bridge to the computer console, and lingered +a moment on the slender, dark figure there. + +Amazing, he thought. The dossier, the personal history, her own and +all the others aboard, he had studied carefully before making a +selection of the people who would be in his command for this time. Not +that the decision had been totally his, but his influence had counted +heavily. + +This one he had almost missed. Only by asking for an extra survey of +information had he caught that bit about the riot at Moscow University +that had raged around her ears, apparently without touching or being +influenced by or influencing her own quiet program. + +That they didn't think alike was evident. That this was a competent +sociologist, and not just a computer technician had not at first been +evident. But Nails was well pleased with his decision in the selection +of this particular unit of his command. + +Things would go well in her presence, he felt. Details he might have +struggled with would iron out or disappear, and scarcely come to his +attention at all. + +Very competent, he thought. And attractive, too. + + * * * * * + +In the engineering compartment, Mike was adjusting the power output +from the pile ten miles away, down from the full emergency power that +had been required to pump the more than five hundred thousand cubic +feet of water from the rim to the hub in seven minutes, to a level +more in keeping with the moderate requirements of the lab as it waited +out the storm. + +As he threw the last switch, he became aware of a soft scuffling sound +behind him, and turned to see tiny Dr. Y Chi Tung, single-handedly +manhandling through the double bulkhead the bulky magnetic resonance +device on which he had been working when the flare alarm sounded, and +having the utmost difficulty even though the near free-fall conditions +made his problem package next to weightless. + +The monkeylike form of the erudite physicist, dwarfed by the big +chassis, gave the appearance of a small boy trying to hide an outsize +treasure; but the nonchalant humor that normally poked constant fun at +both his profession as a physicist and the traditions of his Chinese +ancestors, was lacking. + +Dr. Ishie was both breathless and worried. + +"Mike," he gasped. "I was afraid to leave it, unshielded. It might +pick up some residual activity. Radiation, that is. From those +hydrogen hordes outside." He let the object rest for a moment, mopping +his head while he talked. "Can you hide it in here? I'm not really +anxious to have Budget Control know where some of this stuff +went--even though I have honorable intentions of returning the +components later--and the good captain down there on the bridge might +not consider its shielding important, either, if he knew I'd +sabotaged his beautiful evacuation plan to bring my pet along!" The +tone of Ishie's voice indicated his uncertainty as to Mike's +reception. + +The idea of Dr. Y Chi Tung worrying about any components he might have +"requisitioned" seemed almost irreverent to Mike. Budget Control would +gladly have given that eminent physicist a good half of the entire +space station, if he had expressed his needs through the proper +channels--as a matter of fact, anything on board that wasn't actually +essential to the lives of those on the satellite. + + * * * * * + +But Ishie seemed genuinely unaware of his true status, and the high +regard in which he was held. Besides, Mike suspected in him a +constitutional inability to deal through channels. + +Recognizing the true sensitivity that underlay Ishie's constant humor +and ridicule of himself, Mike kept himself from laughing aloud at the +stealth of the man who could have commanded the assistance of the +captain himself in shielding whatever he thought it necessary to +shield. + +Instead, he carefully kept his face solemn while he commented: "It +ought to fit in that rack over there." He pointed to a group of +half-filled racks. "We can slip a fake panel on it. Nobody will be +able to tell it from any of the other control circuits." + +Ishie heaved a deep sigh of relief and grinned his normal grin. +"Confusion say," he declared, "that ninety-six pound weakling who +struggle down shaft with six hundred pound object, even in free fall, +should have stood in bed." + +It took the two of them the better part of half an hour to get the +unit into place; to disguise its presence; and to make proper power +connections. Ishie had objected at first to connecting it up, and Mike +explained his insistence by saying that "If it looks like something +that works, nobody will look at it twice. But if it looks like +something dead, one of my boys is apt to take it apart to see what +it's supposed to be doing." He didn't mention his real reason--a heady +desire to run a few tests on the instrument himself. + +The job done, the two sat back on their heels, admiring their +handiwork like bad boys. + +"Coffee?" asked Mike. + +"Snarl. Honorable ancestor Confusion doesn't even need to tell me what +to do now. My toy is safe. I am going to bed. I have worked without +stopping for two days and now the flare has stopped me. + +"Confusion decide to relent. He tell me now: 'He who drive self like +slave for forty-eight hours is nuts and should be sent to bed.' I +hope," he added, "that the hammocks are soft; but I don't think I +shall notice. I know just where to go for I checked in once to fool +the Sacred Cow before I went to get my beautiful. Now I go back +again." + +And without so much as a thank-you, he staggered out, grasping for +hand-holds to guide himself in a most unspacemanlike manner. + + * * * * * + +Mike craftily sat back, still on his heels beside the object, and +watched until Ishie had disappeared, and then turned his full interest +to the playtoy that fortune had placed in his shop. + +Without hesitation he removed the false front they had so carefully +put in place. He still had a long tour of duty ahead, and it was very +unlikely that he would be interrupted, or, if interrupted, that anyone +would question the object on which he worked. It would be assumed that +this was just another piece of equipment normally under his care. + +Carefully he looked over the circuits, checking in his mind the +function of each. Then he went to his racks and began selecting test +equipment designed to fit in the empty racks around it. Oscilloscope, +signal generator, volt meters and such soon formed a bank around the +original piece of equipment, in positions of maximum access. + +Gingerly he began applying power to the individual circuits, checking +carefully his understanding of each component. + +The magnetic field effect, Ishie had explained; but this three-phase +RF generator--that puzzled him for a while. + +Then he remembered some theory. Brute strength alone would not cause +the protons to tip. Much as a top, spinning off-center on its point, +will swing slowly around that point instead of tipping over, the +spinning protons in the magnetic field would precess, but would not +tip and line up without the application of a rotating secondary +magnetic field at radio frequencies which would make the feat of +lining them up easy. + +There, then, were two of the components that Ishie had built into his +device. A strong magnetic field supplied by the magnaswedge +coils--stolen magnaswedge coils if you please--and a rotating RF field +supplied by the generator below the chassis. + +But this third effect? The DC electric field? That one was new to him. + +In his mind he pictured the tiny gyroscopes all brought into alignment +by the interplay of magnetic forces; and around each proton the tiny, +planetary electrons. + +Yet it was very well to think of the proton nucleus of the hydrogen +atom as a simple top, he reminded himself; but they were more complex +than that. Each orbiting electron must also contribute something to +the effect. + +At that point, Mike remembered, the electron itself would be spinning, +a lighter-weight gyroscope, much as Earth has a lighter weight than +the Sun. The electron, too, had a magnetic field; more powerful than +the proton's field because of its higher rate of spin, despite its +lighter mass. The electron could also be lined up. + +Somewhere in the back of his mind, Mike remembered having read of +another effect. The electron's resonance. Electron para-magnetic +resonance. + +It, too, could be controlled by radio frequencies in a magnetic +field--but the frequencies were different, far up in the microwave +region; about three centimeters as Mike recalled--and he went back to +his supply cabinet to get another piece of equipment, a spare klystron +that actually belonged to the radar department but that was "stored" +in his shop. + +At these frequencies, the three centimeter band of the electromagnetic +spectrum, energy does not flow on wires as it does in the lower +frequency regions. Here plumbing is required. But Mike, amongst other +things, was an expert RF plumber. + +Even experts take time to set up klystrons, and it was three hours +later before Mike was ready with the additional piece of haywire +equipment which carefully piped RF energy into the plastic block. + +This refinement by itself had been done before; but some of the others +that Mike applied during his investigation probably hadn't--at least +not to any such tortured piece of plastic as now existed between the +pole faces of the device. + +To have produced the complete alignment of both the protons and the +electrons within a mass might have been attempted before. To have applied +an electrostatic field in addition to this had perhaps been attempted +before. To have done all three, at the same time to the same piece of +plastic, and then to have added the additional tortures that Mike thought +up as he went along, was perhaps a chance combination, repeatable once in +a million tries, one of those experimental accidents that sometimes +provide more insight into the nature of matter than all of the careful +research devised by multi-million-dollar-powered teams of classical +researchers. + +When the contraption was in full operation, he simply sat on his heels +and watched, studying out in his mind the circuits and their effects. + +The interruption of the magnetic resonance by the electrostatic +field--by the DC--with the RF plumbing--twisted by--each time the +concept came towards the surface, it sank back as he tried to pull it +into consciousness. + +Churkling to itself, the device continued applying its alternate +fields and warps and strains. + +"It's a Confusor out of Confusion by Ishie, who is probably as great a +creator of Confusion as you could ask," Mike told himself, forgetting +his own part in the matter, watching intently, waiting for the concept +to come clear in his mind. + +Presently he went over to his console, to his pads of paper and +pencils, and began sketching rapidly, drawing the interlocking and +repulsing fields, the alignments, mathing out the stresses--in an +attempt to visualize just what it was that the Confusor would now be +doing.... + + * * * * * + +In the Confusor itself, a tiny chunk of plastic, four by four inches +square and one-half inch thick, resting in the middle of the machine +between the carefully aligned pole-faces of the magnet, was subjected +to the cumulatively devised stresses, a weird distortion of its own +stresses and of the inertia that was its existence. + +Each proton and electron within the plastic felt an urge to be where +it wasn't--felt a pseudo-memory, imposed by the outside stresses, of +having been traveling at a high velocity towards the north star, on +which the machine chanced to be oriented; felt the new inertia of that +velocity.... + +Each proton and electron fitted itself more snugly against the north +pole face and pushed with the entire force of its newly-imposed +inertial pattern. + +Forty pounds to the square inch six hundred forty pounds over the +surface of the block, the plastic did its best to assume the motion +that the warped laws of its existence said that it already had. + +It was only one times ten to the minus five of a gravity that the four +by four by half inch piece of carefully machined plastic presented to +the sixty-four million pound mass of Space Lab One. + +But the force was presented almost exactly along the north-south axis +of the hub of the ship, and in space a thrust is cumulative and +momentum derives per second per second. + +The Confusor churkled quietly as the piece of plastic exerted its tiny +mass in a six hundred forty pound attempt to take off towards the +north star. And, since the piece itself was rigidly mounted to its +frame, and the frame to the ship, the giant bulk of five million cubic +feet of water, thirty-two million pounds of mass; and the matching +mass-bulk of the ship itself, responded to the full mosquito-sized +strength of the six hundred forty pound thrust, and was moved--a +fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second; a fraction of a fraction in the second; a fraction.... + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, the com officer had completed transmitting the +captain's detailed report of the evacuation to the hub-shield area +caused by the solar flare. + +On another line, under Bessie's ministrations, the computer was +feeding the data obtained by the incomplete equipment in the +observatory in its automatic operation. + +The captain himself was finishing a plastic-bottle of coffee, while he +wrote up his log. + +It was exactly nine minutes since the Confusor had come into full +operation. + +The fractions of fractions of centimeters had added on the square of +the number of seconds; and the sixty-four million pounds of mass of +Space Lab One has moved over thirteen meters. + +Trailing the wheel ten miles off, was the atomic pile, directly +attached to its anchor tube. + +Tightening, each with a whanging snap too tiny to be remarked within +the mass of the ship, were the cables that attached the various items +of the dump to their anchor finger. + +But still free on the loose one hundred meter cable that attached it +to its anchor, and which had had fifteen meters of slack when the +ship first began its infinitesimal movement, was Project Hot Rod. + +Nine minutes and twenty-three seconds. The velocity of the wheel with +its increasing mass of trailing items, was five point four six +centimeters per second. The nearly four million pound mass of Hot Rod +was slowly being left behind. + +The cable tautened the final fraction of a centimeter. Its tug was not +fast, but was unfortunately applied very close to the center of +gravity of the entire device, since most of Hot Rod's weight was +concentrated in and around the control room. + +Five point four six centimeters per second. Four million pounds of +mass. + +If the shock had been direct, it would have equaled two point eight +million ergs of energy, created by the fractional movement of the +mighty mass of the ship against Hot Rod. + +But the shock was transmitted through the short end of a long lever. +The motion at the beam director mirror, a full diameter out from the +eight thousand foot diameter balloon that was Hot Rod, was multiplied +nearly sixteen thousand times. Hot Rod rolled on its center of +gravity, and its beam-director mirror swung in a huge arc. Sixteen +thousand centimeters per centimeter of original motion. Eight hundred +and seventy-three meters in the first second, before the tracking +servos took over and began to fight back. + + * * * * * + +Hot Rod fought at the end of its tether like a mighty jellyfish hooked +on the end of a line. + +Gradually the swings decreased. Four hundred meters; two hundred +meters; one hundred meters; fifty meters; twenty-five meters--and it +had come back to a nearly stable focus on the sun. + +But the beam director had also been displaced, and vibrated. +Internally, the communications beam to Thule Base had been +interrupted; and the fail-safe had not failed-safely. + +The mighty beam had lashed out. The vibrations of the directing mirror +began placing gigantic spots and sweeps of unresistible energy across +the ice cap of Greenland, in an ever-diminishing Lissajous pattern. + +By the time the servos refocused the communications beam on Thule, +there was no Thule; only a burnt-out crater where it had been. + +Slowly, but surely, the giant balloon settled itself to the task of +burning a hole through the Greenland ice cap at a spot eighty miles +north of that now-burnt-out Thule Base that had originally been +planned as a test of its accuracy; and to the simple task of holding +that focus in spite of the now steady, though infinitesimal +acceleration under which it joined the procession headed by Lab One. + +Now that the waves of action and reaction from the shock energy of its +sudden start had subsided, Hot Rod's accuracy was proving great +indeed; and its beam focus was proving as small as had been +predicted. + +But the instruments that would have measured those facts no longer +existed. + +In the engineering control center of Space Lab One, the Confusor +churkled quietly and continued to pit its mosquito might against its +now nearly seventy-eight million pound antagonist, as the protons and +electrons of the plastic that was center to its forces did their +inertial best to occupy that position in space towards the north star +in which the warped fields around them forced them to belong--the +mosquito strained its six hundred forty pound thrust against its giant +in the per second per second acceleration that was effective only in +the fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter in the first +second, but that compounded its fractions per second. + + * * * * * + +On the quiet bridge, the captain looked up as the Com Officer said, +"Thule Base, sir," and switched on his mike. + +"Hot Rod has been sabotaged," a frantic voice on the other end of the +beam shouted in his ear without formalities. "She's running wild. Kill +her! Repeat, Hot Rod is wild! Kill Hot Rod! Kill--" the mike went dead +as Captain Andersen switched to the morgue intercom. + +"Hot Rod crew," he said briefly. "Report to the bridge on the double. +Repeat. Hot Rod crew. The bridge. On the double." + +As he switched off the intercom, the communications officer spoke +urgently. "Captain. I've lost contact with Thule base." + +"Keep trying to raise them," Captain Andersen said. He turned to +Bessie. "Give me a display of the Hellmaker," he said; then, almost to +himself, "There's still a flare in progress out there. We've got to +kill it without sending men into that--" + +He cut himself off in midsentence, as the computer displayed both Hot +Rod, swaying gently as she fought out the battle of the focus through +its final moments, and a telescopic view of Greenland, a tiny, glowing +coal of red showing at the center of her focus. + +Through the door nearly catapulted the first of the Project Hot +Rodders, followed almost on his heels by twelve more. + +"Where is Major Elbertson?" + +"In sick bay, sir. He got a big radiation dose--" + +The captain flipped the intercom key. + +"Calling Major Elbertson in sick bay. Report to the bridge on the +double, no matter what your condition. This is the captain speaking." + +The intercom came alive at far end. + +"This is Dr. Green, Captain Andersen. Major Elbertson is unconscious. +He cannot report for duty. He was extremely ill from exposure to +radiation and we have administered sulph-hydral, antispasmodic, and +sedative." + +Nails Andersen turned to the project crew. + +"Which of you are Security officers?" + +Three men stepped forward. + +"Are all the project members here?" + +"No, sir," said one. "Eight of our men are in sick bay." + +"Very well," said the captain. "Now hear this, all of you. There is a +saboteur--maybe more than one, we do not know--among you. There is no +time to find out which of you it is. However, he has managed to leave +Project Hot Rod operational while unattended. You are to turn it off, +and to prevent the saboteur from stopping you. Do you understand?" + +A voice in back--a rather high voice--spoke up. "Of course it's +operational," it said. "We left it operational." + +"You ... WHAT?" + +"We left it operational. It's under Earth control. The control center +at Thule is in charge, sir." + +"Who are you?" the captain asked. + +"Hot Rod communications officer, sir. I turned it over last thing +before we shut down. Under the instructions of Dr. Koblensky. That's +the shutdown procedure." + +"Where's Dr. Koblensky?" + +"Out. Out like a light," said another voice. "He got a good dose. Of +radiation. The medics put him out." + +"Who's senior officer here?" + +"I'm Dr. Johnston." It was a man in front. Rather small, +pedantic-looking. "I'm Dr. Koblensky's ... well, assistant." The word +came hard as though the fact of an assistantship were at the least +distasteful. + +"Who's senior in Security?" + +"I, sir. Chauvenseer." + +"Very well. Dr. Johnston and Chauvens ... sor? ... are in charge. Now +shut down that ruby hellmaker as fast as it can be done." + +"But, captain," Dr. Johnston spoke, "we can't turn it off. We haven't +the authority. We haven't the Security key. And the radiation won't +let up for hours." + +"I have just given you the authority. As for the radiation, that's a +hazard you'll have to take. What's this about a Security key?" The +captain's voice was not gentle. + +"Major Elbertson has the key. He has the only key. Without it, the +station cannot be removed from Earth control. Earth _is_ in control. +They can turn it off, captain." Dr. Johnston's voice took on as firm a +tone of authority as that of the captain. + +"Chau ... Chau ... You!" barked the captain. "Get that key!" He waited +until the Security officer had disappeared through the door, then +turned to the scientist. + + * * * * * + +"Dr. Johnston, Earth is not in control. I do not know why, and there +is no way of finding out. Hot Rod is wild, and _that_," he pointed at +the enlarging red spot that centered the computer display, "is what +your ruby is doing to Earth. + +"You will turn off the project, at gunpoint if necessary," he +continued in a grim voice. "If you turn it off volitionally, you will +be treated for radiation. If you refuse, you will not live to be +treated for anything. Do you understand? How many men do you need to +help you ... and I do mean _you_ ... with the job?" he asked. + +[Illustration] + +Dr. Johnston hesitated only fractionally, and Nails Andersen +mentally put him down on the plus side of the personnel for the +shortness of his com lag. Then he said, "The job will require only two +men for the fastest accomplishment. You realize, captain that you are +probably signing our death warrants--the two of us. But," he added, +glancing only casually at the display on the console, "I can +understand the need to sign that warrant, and I shall not quibble." + +The intercom spoke. "This is Dr. Green, captain. There is no key on +the person of Major Elbertson. We have searched thoroughly, sir. I +understand the need is of an emergency nature. The key is not on his +person. We have taken every possible measure to arouse him, as well, +and have been unsuccessful." + +Andersen flipped his switch. "Let me speak to the Hot Rod Security +officer," he said briefly. + +"Chauvenseer speaking, sir," the man's voice came on. + +"Do you know what the key looks like?" + +"Yes, sir. It looks somewhat like a common Yale key, sir. But I've +never seen another just like it." + +"There is only the one?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Where would he keep it, if not on his person?" + +"I don't know, sir. We came straight to the morgue--the shield area, +from the air lock. I don't believe he stopped off anywhere he could +have put it." + +The captain turned to the second Security officer. "Search Elbertson's +spacesuit," he said. Then to the intercom, "Search his hammock. Search +every spot he went near. That key must be found in minutes. Commandeer +as many men as can help in the search without getting in the way." + +He paused a moment, then flipped another intercom key. + +"Mr. Blackhawk," he said. + +The intercom warmed at the far end. "Yes sir?" Mike's voice was +relaxed. + +"Is there any way to turn off Hot Rod without the Security key?" + +"Why sure, captain." Mike's voice held a grin. "I could pull the power +switch." + +"Pull it. Fast. Hot Rod's out of control." + +Mike's hand flashed to a master switch controlling the power that fed +Hot Rod, and blessing as he did it the fallacy of engineering that had +required external power to power the mighty energy collector. + +In the big balloon now happily following the wheel at the end of its +tether, the still-undamaged power-off fail-safe went into operation. +The mirror surface behind each ruby rod rotated into its shielding +position, dispersing the energy that the huge mirror directed towards +the rods, back into space. + +Hot Rod was secure. + + * * * * * + +Mike received only one further communication from the captain. + +"Mr. Blackhawk," he was asked over the intercom, "is there any way +that you secure the Hot Rod power switch so that it cannot be turned +on without my personal authorization?" + +"Sure, captain, I can--" + +The captain interrupted. "Mr. Blackhawk, I should prefer that you not +tell me or anyone else aboard the method you will use; and that you +make your method as difficult as possible to discover. This I shall +leave," he added dryly, "to your rather ... fertile ... imagination. + +"There is reason to believe that Project Hot Rod was turned on by a +saboteur. Your method must be proof against him, and if he exists, he +will not be stupid." The captain switched off. + +Mike turned to the control panel, and after a few minutes thought +busied himself for some time. + +Then he headed for the bridge where Dr. Johnston, Chauvenseer, and the +captain had dismissed the others and were utilizing every check that +Dr. Johnston could dream up to assure themselves that Hot Rod was +actually turned off and would remain secure at least for the duration +of the flare; and trying as well to find out just what form the +sabotage had taken. + +Without interrupting the others, Mike seated himself at the subsidiary +post at the computer's console on Bessie's right, and got her to brief +him while he examined the close-up display of Hot Rod. + +After a few minutes he reached over and increased the magnification to +its maximum, showing only a small portion of the balloon, then moved +the focus to display the control room entrance as well as part of the +anchor tube and the cable between the two. + +"I think I've found your saboteur, sir," he said. + +The captain was at his side almost instantly. "Where is he?" he asked +briefly. + +"Not he, sir. It. And I'm not sure just where--but look. Hot Rod's +cable is taut. There's thrust on the balloon. That probably means a +puncture and escaping nitrogen. + +"I think," he said, "that the saboteur may have been a meteor that +punctured the balloon, and the nitrogen escaping through the hole it +made is now producing enough thrust to keep that cable taut. Though," +he added thoughtfully, "I don't see why the servos couldn't maintain +the beam to Thule--though obviously, they couldn't." + +"How dangerous is such a puncture?" asked the captain. "How seriously +would Hot Rod be damaged? How soon must it be repaired?" + +"The puncture itself shouldn't be too dangerous. Even if all the +nitrogen's gone, the balloon's in a vacuum and won't collapse--and +that's about the only serious effect a puncture would have. Just a +moment. We'll estimate its size by the thrust it's giving the ship," +he added, and turned to Bessie. + +"Ask the Cow whether we're getting thrust on the ship; and if so, how +much. Wait a minute," he added, "if you ask for thrust on the ship, +she'll say there isn't any because Hot Rod would be pulling us, not +pushing. And if you ask her for the thrust on Hot Rod, she hasn't got +any sensors out there. + +"Hm-m-m. Ask her if we have added any off-orbit velocity; and if so +how much." + + * * * * * + +The computer displayed the answer almost as soon as she received the +question. + +"Well," said Mike, "that's not too large a hole. Ask her how ... let's +see ... how many pounds of thrust that velocity represents. That way +we don't confuse her with whether it's push or pull." + +The Cow displayed the answer, six hundred forty pounds of thrust. + +"O.K.," said Mike. "Thanks." Then to the captain and the scientist and +Security officer who were waiting beside him: "The puncture is +obviously small enough to serve as a jet, rather than to have let the +nitrogen out in one _whoosh_, since that would have given you far more +than six hundred forty pounds of thrust. Therefore, it will probably +be quite simple to patch the hole. + +"Nitrogen is obviously escaping, but it wouldn't be worth a man's life +to send him out into that flare-storm to patch it. We may even have +enough nitrogen aboard to replace what we lose. + +"The best I can figure," he said, "is that the meteor must have hit +the orientation servos and thrown them off for a bit. We'll have to +wait till after the flare to make more than an educated guess, though. + +"We shouldn't be too far off-orbit by the time the flare's over, +either, even with that jet constant. It'll take quite a bit of work, +but we should be able to get her back into position with not too many +hours of lost worktime. + +"Except for Thule, I'd say we got off fairly light. + +"Yes," he added grimly, "it looks like that's what your saboteur was. +Rather an effective saboteur, but you'll have a hard time putting him +up against a firing wall." + +Having satisfied himself as to existing conditions, Mike excused +himself shortly and went back to the engineering quarters, but his +mind was no longer on Ishie's strange device. He glanced rapidly at +the instruments regulating the power flow to the wheel, then stretched +out comfortably on the acceleration couch and in minutes was asleep. + +The captain, Dr. Johnston and Chauvenseer remained on the bridge +another hour, convincing themselves that Mike's analysis was correct, +and dictating a report to Earth, before the captain called in an aide +to take over the bridge, and the three retired. + +In the morgue, Dr. Y Chi Tung, who still slept peacefully as he had +since the moment he reached his hammock, muttered quietly in his +sleep, "Confusion--" + + * * * * * + +Mike snapped awake and glanced guiltily at the clock. Six hours had +passed. + +A situation report from the Cow was the first thing on his agenda any +time that he had been out of contact for any length of time, flare or +not. + +It was not his job to be in constant contact with the complete +situation of the ship and its vast complexities; he was not the +captain. Nor was it in the manuals that he should have access to the +computer's huge memory banks and abilities other than through +"channels"--i.e., Bessie. But the book definition of the information +he needed for his job, and his own criteria, were somewhat different, +and he had built on Earth and installed shortly after he came aboard, +a subcontrol link which put him in direct contact with the placid-Cow. + +His original intention in rigging the link had been to use the +calculator for that occasional math problem which might be more +quickly resolved with her help; but then the criteria of needed +information, curiosity, or both, had got the better of him, and the +secret panel hidden in the legitimate control panels of an engineer's +console was actually quite a complete link, covering all of the Cow's +multiple functions without interfering in any was with Bessie's +control links, or revealing its existence. This linkage gave Mike the +only direct access to the computer's store of information and +abilities other than that of the operator at the control console. + +And Mike's secret pride was the vocoder circuit with which he had +terminated his link, originated because a teletype system similar to +that used at the control console would have been too obvious; and his +nimble fingers got all tangled up on a keyboard anyhow. + +Bessie might speak to the Cow through the teletype link and switches +of her control console, but only Mike had the distinction of being +able to speak directly to the big computer, and get the complacent, +somewhat mooing answers; and only Mike knew of the existence of the +vocoder aboard. + +It had taken some care to get used to the literal-minded conversation +that resulted; but eventually Mike felt he had worked out a +satisfactory communications ability with the overly obvious "cow." + +What he wanted now was a situation report. If he simply asked for +that, however, he'd have received such miles of data that he'd have +been listening for hours. So instead he broke his question down into +the facets that he needed. + +In a few minutes he had elicited the information that the solar flare +was now predicted to be terminated and the major part of the flare +protons past their solar orbital position within another ten hours; +that Earth co-ordinates had shifted, indicating their own orbital +shift to be a trifle over thirty-seven kilometers north in the past +eight hours. + +North? he thought. Hot Rod's pull on a taut cable would be to the +south. + +No. Lab One could be re-oriented to trail the thrusting balloon. But +the lab's servos should have prevented that re-orientation unless the +thrust were really heavy. + +"What is our velocity?" he asked. Temporarily he was baffled by the +placid Cow's literal translation of his request as one for any actual +velocity, since she had replied with a figure very close to their +original orbital speed. "What is our velocity at right angles to +original course?" he inquired. + +And the Cow's reply came: "Two-o-o hundred and fifty-seven point seven +six ce-entimeters per se-econd." + +That should be about right for six hundred forty pounds of thrust for, +say, six and a half hours; and the distance of the orbit shift was +about right. + +But the direction? + +"Is Hot Rod pulling us north?" he asked. + +"No-o-o," came the placid reply. + +"If it's pulling us south, then why--" He stopped himself. Any "why" +required inductive reasoning, and of that the Cow was not capable. +Instead of asking why they were moving north with a south thrust, Mike +broke his question into parts. He'd have to answer the "why" himself, +he knew. + +"Is Hot Rod pulling us south?" he asked. + +"No-o-oo," came the answer. + +This time he was more careful. "In which direction is the thrust on +Hot Rod oriented?" he asked. + +"No-oorth." + +"Then Hot Rod is--" Quickly he stopped and rephrased the statement +which would have had a question in its tone but not its semantics, +into a question that would read semantically. "Is Hot Rod pulling us +north?" + +"No-o-oo," came the reply. + +Carefully. "Is Hot Rod pulling us?" + +"No-o-oo." + +Mike was stumped. Then he figured a literalness in his phrasing. + +"Is Hot Rod pushing or in any other way giving motion to Space Lab +One?" he asked. + +"No-o-oo," came the answer. + +Now Mike _was_ stumped. + +"Is Space Lab One under acceleration?" he asked. + +"Ye-es," said the Cow. + +"Then where in hell is that acceleration coming from?" Mike was +exasperated. + +"We a-are uunder no-o-o acceleration fro-om he-ell," the literal mind +told him. + + * * * * * + +Mike laughed ruefully. No acceleration from hell--well, that was +debatable. But no thrust from the hellmaker was not a debatable point. +The Cow wasn't likely to be wrong, though her appalling literalness +was such that an improperly phrased question might make her seem to +be. + +Computers, he thought, would eventually be the salvation of the human +race, whetting their inventors' brains to higher and higher efforts +towards the understanding of communications. + +Very carefully now he rephrased his question. "From what, and from +what point is the acceleration of Space Lab One originating?" + +"From the co-ontinu-ous thrust o-originating at a po-oint thirteen +fe-et from the a-axial center of the whe-el, in hu-ub section five +no-orth, one hundred twelve degrees fro-om reference ze-ero of the +engine-eering lo-ongitude references sta-ation assigned in the +con-struction ma-anual dealing with relative po-ositions o-of ma-asses +lo-ocated o-on Spa-ace La-ab O-one." + +Mike glanced up at the tube overhead, which represented the axial +passageway down the hub of the wheel. Thirteen feet from the imaginary +center of that tube, and in his own engineering compartment. + +Then his gaze traveled on around the oddly built, circular room with +its thirty-two-foot diameter. The reference to hub section five north +meant this compartment. The degrees reference referred to the +balancing co-ordinates by which the Cow kept the big wheel statically +balanced during rotation. There was a bright stripe of red paint +across the floor which indicated zero degrees; and degrees were +counted counterclockwise from the north pole of the wheel. + +His eyes strayed across the various panels and racks and came to rest +in the one hundred twelve degree area. A number of vacant racks, some +holding the testing equipment he had moved there not too many hours +before--and churkling quietly in its rack near the floor, Ishie's +Confusor of Confusion. + +Mike contemplated the device with awed respect, then phrased another +question for the Cow. + +"Exactly how much thrust is being exerted on that point?" he asked. + +The computer reeled off a string of numbers so fast that he missed +them, and was still going into the far decimal places when Mike said: + +"Whoa! Approximate number of pounds, please." + +"A-approximately six hundred forty. You-u didn't specify the limits +o-of a-accuracy tha-at you-u wanted." The burred tone was still +complacent. + +"Just what acceleration has that given us?" asked Mike, still looking +at the Confusor. "Approximately," he added quickly. + +"Present a-acceleration is a-approximately eight point nine five +ti-imes te-en to the mi-inus third ce-entimeters per se-econd per +se-econd. I ca-an ca-arry that to-o-o several mo-ore de-ecimal +pla-aces if you-u wi-ish." + +"No, thanks, I think you've told me enough." + +Mike stood up. + +This, he thought, needs Ishie. And coffee, he told himself as a second +thought. + +And then as a third thought, he turned back to his secret vocoder +panel, and said: "The information you have just given me is to be +regarded as top secret and not to be discussed except over this +channel and by my direct order. Absolutely nothing that would give any +one a clue to the fact that there is a method of acceleration aboard. +Understood?" + +"Ye-es, Mah-ike." + +"O.K." + +Mike switched off the vocoder, flipped his intercom to the temporary +galley in the morgue, and ordered two breakfasts readied. Then he set +off for the morgue. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +Mike Blackhawk located Dr. Y. Chi Tung's hammock, and nudged the +scientist unceremoniously. The small physicist awoke and attempted to +sit up in one gesture; bumped his head on the hammock above, and laid +back down just as suddenly. + +"Come on down to engineering will you Ishie?" The request was spoken +softly. + +"Hokey, dokey," said Ishie and crawled out of the narrow aperture with +the agility of a monkey. + +Gesturing to the other to follow him, Mike led the way to the galley +first, where the two picked up the readied breakfast and took them to +Mike's quarters. + +The "cups" of coffee were squeeze bottles; the trays were soft +plastic packages, similar to the boil-in-the-bag containers of frozen +food that had been common on Earth for some time. + +Mike hesitated at the entrance to his engineering quarters, +considering whether to shut the bulkhead, but discarded the idea as +being more of an attention-getter than a seal for secrecy. He gestured +Ishie to the bunk, and parked himself at his console. + +"We're in trouble," he said. "You and I together are responsible for +the first space attack on Earth." + +He stopped and waited, owl-eyed, but the small physicist simply +tackled his breakfast with no further comment than a raised eyebrow. + +"We," said Mike solemnly, "wiped out Thule Base last night." + +"As Confusion would say, there's no Thule like a dead Thule. What are +you getting at Mike? You sound serious." + +"You mean you slept through ... you didn't know we ... you didn't hear +the ... yes, I guess you slept! Well...." + +Rapidly Mike sketched the events of the past nine hours, bringing his +story completely up to date, including the information he'd gleaned +from the Cow, but making no reference to his access to the computer's +knowledge. Instead, he attributed the conclusions to himself. + +The physicist sat so still when he had finished that Mike became +seriously concerned. "Thule...." he began, but Ishie started to speak. + +"Mike, it did? It couldn't ... but ... of course, it must have ... the +fields ... six hundred forty pounds of thrust! Only six hundred forty, +yet ... yes, it could, if the thrust were exactly aligned ... thrust ... +Mike, thrust! _Mike, thrust!_ Real thrust! Mike do you know what this +means?" His eyes were alight. His voice was reverent. He sprang from +the bunk and knelt before the rack that held the churkling Confusor. + +"My pretty," he said. "My delicate pretty. What you have done! Mike, +we've got a space drive!" + +"Ishie. Don't you realize? We wiped out Thule!" + +"Thule, schmule--Mike, we've got a space drive!" + +Mike grinned to himself. He needn't have worried. Not about Ishie, any +how. + +But now Ishie was gesturing him over. + +"Mike," he said, "you must show me in detail. In exact detail. What +did you do? What was your procedure?" + +Mike came over and casually reached towards the churkling device, +saying "Why, I--" but Ishie reacted with catlike swiftness, blocking +the man before he could even touch the rack. + +"No, don't touch it! Just _tell_ me what you did!" + +Carefully now, Mike began outlining in detail his inspection of the +device and each step he had taken as he added to its complexities. + +When he had finished, the two sat back on their heels thinking. +Finally, Mike spoke. + +"Ishie, will you please tell me just how does this thing ... this +Confusor ... _get_ that thrust? Just exactly what is involved here?" + +Ishie took his time answering, and when he did his words come slowly. +"Ah, yes. Confusor it is. I was attempting to confound Heisenberg's +statement; but instead I think between us we have confused the issue. + +"Heisenberg said that there was no certainty in our measurement of the +exact orbit of an electron. That the instrument used to measure the +position of the electron must inevitably move the electron; and +the greater the attempt at precise measurements, the greater the error +produced by the measurements. + +"It was my hope," he went on, "to provide greater accuracy of +measurement, by use of statistics over the vast number of electrons in +orbit around the hydrogen atoms within the test mass. But this, +apparently, will not be. + +"Now to see what it is we have done. + +"First, let us make a re-expression of the laws of math-physics. You +understand that I am feeling my way here, for what we have done and +what I thought I was doing are quite different, and I am looking with +hindsight now at math-physics from the point of reality of this +thrust. + +"As I understand it, there's a mutual exclusiveness of particles, +generally expressed by the statement that two particles may not occupy +the same space at the same time. + +"But as I would put it, this means each particle owns its own place. +Now, inertia says that each particle not only owns its own place, but +owns its own temporal memory of where it's going to be unless +something interferes with it. + +"Now let me not confuse you with semantics. When I say 'memory' and +'knowing' I am not implying a sentient condition. I am speaking of the +type of memory and knowing that is a strain in the structure of the +proton or atom. This is ... well, anyhow, not sentient. You will have +to translate for yourself. + +"So to continue, inertia, the way I would put it, says that each +particle not only owns its own place, but owns its own temporal memory +of where it is going unless it is interfered with. + +"In other words, the particle arriving here, now, got here by +remembering in this other sense that it was going from there to there +to there with some inherent sort of memory. This memory can't be +classified as being in relation to anything but the particle itself. +No matter how you move the things around it, as long as the things +around it don't exert an influence on the particle, the particle's +memory of where it's been and where it's going form a continuous +straight line through space and must, therefore, have spatial +co-ordinates against which to form a 'memory' pattern of former and +future action. + +"Now as I understand gravity, it's simply the statement that all +particles in space are covetous, in this same non-sentient sense, of +the position in space of all their neighboring particles. In other +words, it's a contravention or the attempted contravention of the +statement that two particles may not be in the same place at the same +time. It seems that all particles have an urge to try to be in each +other's space. And this desire is modified by the distance that +separates them. + +"This adds up to three rules: + +"1. No two particles may occupy the same space at the same time. + +"2. Even though they can't, they try. + +"3. They all know where they're going, and where they've been without +relation to anything but the spatial co-ordinates around them. + +"That third statement seems to me to knock something of a hole in +Einstein's relativity theory. Unless you wish to grant all these +particles some method of determining their relationship to particles +that are not near them. + +"Communication between particles by any means is apparently limited by +the speed of light, which is a relationship between space and time, +but apparently, from what we know of inertia, if the universe +contained only a single particle, and that particle was in motion, it +would continue to move regardless of the fact that its motion could +not be checked upon in relation to other particles. + +"This indicates to me that the particle has an existence in space +because it is created out of space, and that space must, therefore, +have some very real properties of its own regardless of what is or is +not in it. The very fact that there is a limiting speed to light and +particle motion introduces the concept that space has physical +properties. + +"In order to have an electromagnetic wave, one must have a medium in +which an electric field or a magnetic field may exist. In order to +have matter, which I believe to be a form of electromagnetic field in +stasis, one must have special properties which make the existence of +matter possible. In order to have inertia, one must also have spatial +properties which make the existence of inertia possible. + +"People are fond of pointing out that there's nothing to get hold of +in free space in order to climb the ladder of gravity, or in order to +move between the planets, and that the only possibility of motion of a +vehicle in space is to throw something away, or, in other words, lose +mass in order to gain speed by reaction. Which is simply a statement +that as far as we can tell a force can only be exerted relative to two +points--or between two points or masses. + +"But this does not account for the continuance of motion once started. + +"Inertia says a body will move once started, but it doesn't say why or +how. How does that particle once started gain the knowledge to +continue without some direct control over its spatial framework? That +it will continue, we know. That in the presence of a gravitic field or +a magnetic field or other attractive force at right angles to its +motion, we can create an acceleration which will maintain it in an +exactly circular path called an orbit. But how does it remember, as +soon as that field ceases to exist, where it was going before it was +last influenced? That it will continue in a straight line +indefinitely, without such an influence, we know. That it can be +influenced over a distance by various field effects, we also know. +But what is the mechanism of influence whereby it influences itself to +continue in a straight line? And what handle did we get hold of to +convert that influence of self to our own advantage in moving this +ship?" + + * * * * * + +Mike stared at Ishie with vast respect. + +"I thought you physics boys did it all with math," he said softly, +"and here you've outlined the facts of space that an Indian can feel +in his bones--and you've done it in good, solid English that makes +some sense. + +"In other words," Mike was almost talking to himself as he tried to +reword Ishie's theorizing into his own type of thinking, "the particle +in motion creates a strain in the fabric--the field--of space; and +that fabric must attempt to relieve itself of the strain. A particle +in motion makes it possible for the fabric of space to smooth itself +out behind the particle; and the fabric attempts to smooth itself on +through the area occupied by the particle while it is moving, and so +the fabric of space smoothing itself is a constant thrust behind the +particle's motion, continuing that motion and making the particle scat +to where he wasn't going. + +"When that same particle is stopped," Mike was visualizing the process +to himself, "the force of the attempt to smooth itself out by the +fabric of space exists equally around the particle on all sides; so +that the particle will be held stopped by the attempt of the fabric to +smooth itself until set into motion again by a force greater than that +of inertia--for inertia, then, is the attempt of the fabric of space +to smooth itself. + +"Quite possibly," Mike was speaking very slowly now as he mocked up +and watched the forces of this inertia, "matter itself is created out +of the fabric of space, and in its creation, in the stasis condition +that keeps it existing as a particle rather than dissolving back into +the original fabric, it creates the strain in the fabric--in +space--that will then seek to smooth itself so long as the particle +shall exist. + +"Thus this, then, is inertia--the attempt of the fabric of space to +smooth itself; to get rid of the strain of the particle that has been +created from itself." + +Ishie shook his head. "Not quite," he said, "but you're getting +close." + +Mike shook himself like a dog coming out of water. + +"Oh, well," he said. "Anyway, we've got a space drive--flea sized. Now +the question before the board becomes, just what are we going to do +with it? Turn it over to the captain?" + +"Confusion say," said Ishie, "he who has very little is often most +generous. But he who has huge fortune is very cautious about +dispersing it. Let's first be sure what we've got," he grinned slyly +at Mike, "before we become overgenerous with information." + +Mike heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had been afraid he would have to +argue Ishie into this point of view. + +"Speaking of math, Mike, you're no slouch at it yourself, if you +figured out all those orbit co-ordinates in your head, and arrived at +an exact figure on the amount of thrust. It would be very nice for our +future investigations if we had some method of putting the Cow to work +on this." The little physicist sat back, grinned knowingly, and +continued: "Where's your secret panel, Mike? We've got to keep this +information from going to anybody else." + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, I already--" Mike stopped. "I mean," he floundered, "uh ... how +did you know?" A foolish grin spread over his face. "It's right behind +you," he said. "And I've got it by voice," he said. "Just push the +switch in the corner and talk to it." + + * * * * * + +Ishie turned, glanced at the panel, and went over to the switch, +pushing it. "I wondered how you were concealing the teletype," he +said. "You mean you really talk to it?" + +The Sacred Cow's voice came back. "Reference not understoo-od. +Ple-ease explai-ain." + +"Oy!" said Ishie. "It even sounds like a cow!" + +"Ye-es, si-ir," said the Cow. "A cow is an he-erbivorous ma-ammal, +usua-ally do-omesticated, and fou-ound in mo-ost of the cou-ountries +of Ea-arth. Wha-at specific da-ata did you-u wi-ish? The mi-ilk +su-upply--" + +"Hold it," Mike said, forestalling a long dissertation on the dairy +industry. + +Catching on quickly to the literal-mindedness of the placid computer, +Ishie fired a direct question. + +"What is our current position in relation to the equatorial orbit that +we should be following?" he asked. + +There was a sput from the speaker, very much as though someone had +been caught off guard and almost said something, and then the placid +reply came back. + +"That information is top secret. Please identify yourself as Mike and +I will answer you." + +Ishie groaned, depressed the cutoff switch and turned to Mike. + +"You fixed it," he said. "If a simple question like that gets an +answer like that, how long do you think it will take the captain to +find out something's wrong with the Cow?" + +Mike lunged for the switch, but Ishie held him back. + +"Hold it, Boy. You've made enough electronic mistakes for one day. +This takes some thinking over." + +"We better think fast," said Mike. "The captain'll ask that question +any second now, or a question like it." + +"All right," said Ishie. "First we've got to withdraw your original +order--and you'd better not trust your own memory as to what it was. +You ask the Cow to tell you what order you gave her making certain +information top secret. Then when she tells you exactly what you said, +you tell her to cancel _that_ order." + +Mike did as he was told. + +"Why," said Ishie, "did you give such an order in the first place? +Never mind answering that question," he added, "but it's lucky she +hasn't been refusing to give people the time of day, and referring +them to you. As a matter of fact"--glancing up at the clock on the +wall--"it looks like she has. That clock hasn't moved since I got +here." + +Even as he spoke, the clock whirred, jumped forty-five minutes, and +settled down to its steady, second-by-second spin. + +"Ishie," said Mike, "we figured out a space drive, and that was great. +But if we can figure out how to communicate an idea to a computer, +we're _real_ geniuses." + +Ishie turned on the vocoder. "Please supply us," he told the Cow, +"with a complete recording of your latest conversation with Mike." + +And as the computer started back over the dialogue that has just +occurred between herself and Mike, Ishie interrupted. "Not that," he +said, "I mean the last previous conversation." + +Then he sat back as the Cow unreeled a fifteen minute monologue which +repeated both sides of the conversation including the order to make +everything top secret. + +Having listened through this, Ishie said: "At the point where Mike +asks you about acceleration, you will now erase the rest of the +conversation and substitute this comment from yourself: 'The lab is +being accelerated by an external magneto-ionic effect.' This will be +your only explanation of acceleration applied to the ship. Now please +repeat your conversation with Mike." + +Then he sat back to listen through the recording again. + +This time when it came to the part about acceleration, without +hesitation, the Cow referred blithely to the external magneto-ionic +effect that was causing acceleration. + +When Ishie asked the computer: "How could this effect be canceled?" +and listened to a long syllogistic outline which, if condensed to a +single, understandable sentence meant simply "by reversing the field +in respect to the lab with a magnet on board the lab." + +Ishie heaved a great sigh of relief, and said, "Now, Mike, we can go +to work. For of course," he added, "we must have authority to install +our magnetic coils, and what better authority is there than the Cow? + +"Confusion say it is better to have the voice of authority speak with +your words than to be the voice of authority. + +"Now," he said, "let us see what we have really got here." + + * * * * * + +As they worked, time progressed. The empty racks around the Confusor +slowly filled with more test instruments both borrowed and devised; +and the formerly unoccupied corner of the section of panels took on +more and more the look of a complete installation, in the center of +which the Confusor still churkled quietly, pitting its strength +against the mighty monster to which it was so firmly tied. + +Two hours were spent in testing circuits, each one exhaustively. Then +Ishie turned to Mike. + +"We need still yet another test that we have not provided. A strain +gauge to find out how much thrust a mosquito puts out. There's one in +the physics lab. I'll run get it." + +"You will _not_," said Mike. "Genius you may be, but proton-proof +you're not. We can rig that right here." + +Walking over to the spare parts locker, Mike brought back a complete +readout display panel, a spare from one of the Cow's bridge consoles; +and quickly connected it in to the data link on which the vocoder +operated. Then, carefully instructing the computer as to the required +display, he settled back. + +"That'll do it," he said. "The Cow can tell us all we need to know +right on that panel--about acceleration, lack of it, or change of it +that we may cause by changing the parameters of our experiment. Those +racks were checked out to stand up under eighty gees," he added. +"Typical overspecification. They never said what would happen to the +personnel under those conditions." + +Ishie turned the Confusor off and then back on, and watched the +display gauge rise to the six hundred forty mark, and then show the +fraction above it .12128. Then carefully, ever so infinitesimally, he +adjusted a knob on the device. The readout sank back towards zero, +coming to rest reading 441.3971. + +"We'll have to put a vernier control on this phase circuit," Ishie +said to himself. "It jumped thirty per-cent, and I scarcely breathed +on it." + +After a few more checks on the operation of the phase control, he +turned to the power control for the magnetic field. Carefully, Ishie +lowered the field strength, eye on the readout panel. As the field +strength lowered, the reading increased. + +The indication was that by lowering the field strength only ten per +cent, he had increased the thrust to sixteen hundred pounds--which, +he felt, was close to the tolerance of the machine structure. + +Carefully he increased the field strength again. Faithfully the +reading followed it down the scale. + +Then he had another thought. Running the field strength down and the +pressure up, and again arriving at sixteen hundred pounds, he turned +off the Confusor, waited a few moments, and turned it back on. + +The reading remained zero. + +Apparently, then a decrease in field strength would cause an increase +in thrust; but the original field strength was necessary in order to +initiate the thrust field. + +Carefully he nudged the field strength back up, and suddenly there +were seven hundred ten pounds indicated thrust. + +Thrust could apparently be initiated by a field strength a few per +cent lower, but not much lower, than the original operating point. + + * * * * * + +Captain Naylor Andersen arrived on the bridge with an accusing air, +but feeling refreshed. He had slept longer than he intended--and +though he had asked Bessie to call him when she came back on duty two +hours earlier, he had not been called. + +"You needed the sleep, captain," she told him unrepentant. "I checked +with the Cow. The flare's predicted to continue for another eight +hours. We're simply in standby." + +However, various observatories on Earth had not been asleep. Within +fifteen minutes of the time he reached the bridge, a message from U.N. +Headquarters chattered in over the teletype. + +"Tracking stations report your orbital discontinuity too great to have +been achieved by jet action of nitrogen escaping from Hot Rod. Hot Rod +pressures insufficient to achieve your present apparent acceleration. +Please explain discrepancy between these reports and your own +summation of ten hours previous. Suggest close and continual +observation of Project Hot Rod. Suspect, repeat strongly suspect, +possibility of sabotage. End message." + +Nails Andersen stared at the sheet that the com officer had placed in +his hands. Then he pressed the intercom to the morgue. + +"Dr. Kimball. Please report to the bridge. Dr. P.E.R. Kimball. Please +report to the bridge immediately." + +Then he turned to Bessie. "Ask the Cow for an orbit computation from +the time of the ... er ... meteor last night." + +Under Bessie's practiced, computer-minded fingers, the answer wanted +came quickly--a displayed string of figures, each to three decimal +places, accompanied by a second display on the captain's console +showing the old equatorial orbit across a grid projection of the +Earth's surface to a point of departure over the mid-Atlantic where it +began curving ever farther north, up across the tip of South America, +very slightly off course. + +The captain glanced at the display of Hot Rod and its taut-cable, and +realized with a sickening sense of unreality that no jet action on +Hot Rod could have caused it to lead the station in this northerly +direction; and that instead it was placidly trailing behind. It was +now farther south of the Space Lab than its original position; but +their orbit had been displaced to the north. + +Perk appeared beside the console, but the captain ignored the +astronomer for a moment longer, while he leaned back thinking. + +What could be the answer? A leak in the Space Lab itself? That would +give acceleration; minor, not to have triggered an alarm--it should +have triggered an alarm--but acceleration. Sufficient for the +off-orbit shown? He did a brief calculation in his head. It wouldn't +take much. Very little, for the time that had passed--Very well, then. +He put down a leak in his mind as a possibility. Now, water or air? It +could be either, if his reasoning this far were correct. He looked up. + +"Have the Cow display barometric readings for each section of the rim +and for each compartment in the central hub," he said briefly to +Bessie; and to the astronomer, "Dr. Kimball, take that side seat at +the computer console and check our progress on this orbital +deviation," and he gestured at the display on his screen. + +Perk moved to the post with only a nod. + + * * * * * + +The barometric displays held constant, with only fractional deviations +that might have been imposed by the spin of the big wheel, or error in +the instruments themselves. Balanced against temperature readings, +they worked out to possible fractions of gain or loss so small as to +be insignificant, indicating only the inaccuracies of measurement that +inevitably occur in comparing the readings of a number of instruments. + +The captain had hardly digested the readings displayed by the computer +when Perk looked up with a puzzled frown. + +"The computer records a continuous acceleration over the past eleven +hours and forty-three minutes," he said, "and attributes it," he +looked even more puzzled, "to a magneto-ionic effect?" There was a +definite question in his voice. + +"It's only about six hundred forty pounds," he added. "It must be an +external effect caused by the flare." + +"Please investigate the effect as thoroughly as possible," the captain +told Perk, then dictated a message to the com officer. + +"'To U.N. Headquarters, Earth, from Captain Naylor Andersen, +commanding Space Lab One. Original assumption that disaster was +attributable to meteoric impact on Project Hot Rod appears mistaken. +Investigation indicates we are under acceleration from an external +magneto-ionic effect which is exerting about--'" he called to Perk. +"Did you say six hundred forty pounds?" + +The astronomer nodded, and the captain continued, "'Which is exerting +about six hundred forty pound pressure against this satellite. We are +now working out corrective measures and will inform you immediately +they are prepared. If your observatories can give us any advice, +please message at once. End.'" + +Then the captain depressed his intercom switch to the morgue. "Dr. +Chi. Please report to the bridge. Repeat. Dr. Chi Tung. Please report +to the bridge at once." + +His own intercom hummed, and a voice came on. "Dr. Chi Tung is not in +the morgue. He left with Mr. Blackhawk some time ago." + +The captain frowned, but pushed the engineering room intercom. "Is Dr. +Chi with you, Mr. Blackhawk?" he asked, and when Mike's voice +answered, "Yes, sir," he said, "Will you both report to the bridge at +once, please?" + +When the two arrived, only a little tardily, on the bridge, the +captain addressed Ishie. + +"You heard of the disaster last night?" The physicist nodded. "We +assumed then," the captain told him, "that a meteor had caused the +disturbance. That it had gone through the balloon making a hole +through which the balloon's nitrogen was escaping, making a jet action +and accelerating the ship. + +"It seems, however, that we are under acceleration, and that the +acceleration is too great to be such jet action, since Hot Rod does +not have sufficient pressure. + +"The computer reports that the acceleration is derived from an +external magneto-ionic effect. Would such an effect be a result of a +flare?" he asked. + +"I believe it could, captain. I should have to do a bit of math, +but...." + +"We will assume, then, that the computer is correct," the captain told +him. "Could such an effect have a sufficiently great effect on this +ship to give it as much as six hundred forty pounds of thrust?" + +"Again, I should have to check the math, captain, but I would assume +so." + +"Mr. Blackhawk," the captain turned to his engineer, "could such a +thrust throw Hot Rod off her communications beam and cause last +night's disaster?" + +"I guess I'd have to check by math, too, captain...." Mike appeared to +debate the question. "It would be a very small acceleration at first, +of course," he said, "from six hundred forty pounds of thrust. But Hot +Rod's cable is slack, and the velocity needn't be great to give it +quite a jolt when the slack was taken up. Yes, I feel sure that could +happen, captain." + +[Illustration] + +The captain relaxed a little, and a half-smile played near the corner +of his mouth as he said to Mike, "I believe, then, we may have found +the _real_ saboteur, Mr. Blackhawk." Then to Ishie. "Doctor, I believe +that your field is the one in which the most experience lies towards +finding a means for counteracting the effect that is now influencing +our orbit. I am putting you in charge of the problem. The pull, +according to the computer, is as I said, six hundred forty pounds. Do +you think you can work out a method for counteraction?" + +"I think ... possibly, yes, captain. Let me say, probably yes." + +"Then please do so, and report the method to me. I will then submit it +to the other scientists aboard that may have some selective knowledge +in the field, and to Earth. You may, of course, call on any of the +personnel of the ship for assistance, and possibly Mr. Blackhawk may +be of assistance to you. He is familiar with the equipment aboard. + +"You probably recognize the urgency of the problem so I shall not +attempt to underline that urgency further, other than to say that it +is of the utmost importance," he ended. + + * * * * * + +Five minutes later the two conspirators were back in the engineering +quarters, grinning like Cheshire cats, and mentally rolling up their +sleeves to go to work. They had, to all intents and purposes, carte +blanche to work out the construction of the device they would need for +an enlarged Confusor with a real thrust, even though they would have +to appear to co-operate with a multitude of other interested parties. +Mike and Ishie were both becoming adept students of the mythical Dr. +Confusion, and neither doubted their combined ability to handle that +part of the problem. + +"Now," said Ishie, "Confusion say he who can fly on wings of mosquito +fly better on wings of eagle. How much thrust do we want, Mike?" + +"What are our limits?" asked the practical engineer. + +"Limits, schlimits. We got _power_. Of course," he added, "we _are_ +limited by the acceptable stress limits on the wheel, and ... yes ... +by the stress limits on our plastic, too." + +"The wheel was designed to stand upwards of 1.5 gee maximum spin--but +that's only radial strength," Mike began figuring. "Don't think +anybody ever calculated the stress of pulling the hub loose, endwise. +No reason to, you know, and it wasn't expected to land or anything. +And really, nobody expected it to stand in service more than a 1.5 gee +spin on the rim. They computed these racks to take all kinds of shock, +but the overall structure is rather flimsily built." He paused for +thought. "We could maybe put a tenth of a gee on the axis, but I +better check some of the stress figures against the structural pattern +with the Cow first. We'll have to give some thought to strengthening +things later, if we really want to go into the fantastic possibility +of landing this monster anywhere." + +Consulted, the Sacred Cow computed a potential maximum stress-safety +at the hub of something over two-tenths of a gee, and the two finally +settled on one-tenth as well within the limits. + +"Now the other limit," said Ishie. "This little piece of plastic will +only stand a pressure approaching the point at which it begins to +distort and run out of the field. This stuff is quoted to have a +compression-yield strength of one hundred ten pounds to the square +inch. We probably shouldn't exceed ... hm-m-m ... ninety pounds. Let's +get the Cow to tell us how big a chunk of surface area that +represents." + +The answer was discouraging. Mike rapidly converted the figure in +centimeters to feet, and came up with nearly an eighty-three foot +diameter for a circular surface. + +"Looks like we'll have to put it out on the spokes," he muttered in +disgust, but Ishie shook his head quickly. + +"No need, Mike. Later on we'll need a few thrust points out on the rim +for good aiming, but we don't have to have all this surface area in +one unit or even in one place. Also, we do not need to consider only +the surface of an homogeneous piece of plastic material. + +"This plastic can be cast. Very easily. In it, we can insert +structures that will absorb the strain from many surfaces within, +rather than only on a front surface. + +"I expect some of the glass thread with which the hull of the ship was +made could be inserted with no trouble. Each thread, then, would take +up the strain, and a mass of them distributed through the plastic +could deliver a greatly increased amount of thrust from a volume of +plastic rather than from a surface area." + + * * * * * + +Mike started to object. "To get an absolutely parallel magnetic field, +the gap between the pole faces can't be very wide." + +"Perhaps I wasn't considering pole faces," Ishie answered. "Our +investigation has already shown that once initiated the thrust-effect +works best in a very low magnetic field. + +"Such a low, parallel magnetic field would quite probably be found +inside of a simple solenoid coil." + +"O.K.," Mike answered, "but you have also found that a very high +magnetic field is required to initiate the action. How do you get that +inside a solenoid without an iron core?" + +"As you say, a strong field must _initiate_ the action. Let us try +another experiment, Mike." + +Ishie turned the Confusor off, selected a piece of wire from Mike's +supplies, and wound a ten-turn coil over the large magnetic coils of +the experimental device. + +The leads from this he ran to a pulse-generator that could be +accurately adjusted to supply pulses of anything from a tenth +microsecond to a tenth second. + +Selecting the shortest possible duration, he then set the magnetic +field adjustment on the experimental device to a point just below that +point on which it had turned on previously. + +"Now we see." Turning on the device, he glanced at the display panel +which still showed zero thrust. Then he triggered a single +one-microsecond pulse into the additional ten turns of winding. The +readout display showed zero thrust. He triggered a ten microsecond +pulse. Nothing happened. One hundred microseconds. Nothing. One +thousand microseconds--the display changed, dropping so quickly into +position that the pulse thrust itself was not recorded--but the figure +turned up seven hundred thirty pounds thrust on the display panel. + +"So," said Ishie, "we can initiate thrust with a one thousand +microsecond pulse. Can you design a power supply that would achieve +that field for that time in a solenoid having ... say ... one per cent +as high a field strength as the one we are using here?" + +"O.K.," said Mike. "I get you. Sounds to me like this thing is going +to look like a barrel when we get through with it. + +"I wish," he added, "that we could get one point one gee. And land +this thing on Earth. And have a big parade, with Space Lab One +hovering just overhead to the cheers and the blaring bands and the--" + +"Confusion say, he who would poke hole in hornets nest had best be +prepared with long legs." Ishie grinned. "You don't think anybody +would really appreciate our doing that, do you Mike? Outside of the +people themselves, that is, that aren't directly concerned with man's +_welfare_? We haven't done this in the proper manner of team research +and billions spent in experiments and planned predicted achievements +made with the proper Madison Avenue bow to the financier that made it +possible. You know what they do to wild-haired individualists down +there, don't you?" + +Mike shrugged. "Oh, well," he said, "you're right of course. But it +was a beautiful dream. How do you suppose we can build these and still +keep all the scientists aboard and on Earth happy that they're just +innocent magneto-ionic effect cancelers? Boy, that was a beauty, +Ishie!" + +"Best we have two sets of drawings. The ones for us can be sketchy, +and need not have too much exactitude of design. We know what we're +doing--at least, I hope we do. + +"But let us make a second set of drawings that is somewhat different, +though of a simpler shape and design, on which other scientists aboard +can speculate, and which can be sent to Earth to confuse the +confusion." + + * * * * * + +The two went to work with a will, and as the two sets of drawings +emerged, they were indeed different. The set from which they would +actually work was only mildly described as sketchy. The papers looked +like the notations a man makes for himself to get the figures he will +set into a formalized pattern as it takes shape, before throwing his +penciled figurings into the wastebasket. + +The second set was exact; created with drawing instruments on Mike's +drafting board, and each of the component circuits would have created +an effect that would have interlocked in the whole, but it would take +the most erudite of persons to figure each into its effect, and its +effect into the whole, and the effect of the whole was somewhat that +somebody might someday figure out--but would possibly cancel a +magneto-ionic effect if such existed. The drawings looked extremely +impressive. + +As the second set of drawings neared completion, Ishie glanced at the +clock, then turned to the Cow's vocoder. + +"How soon will Space Lab One reach the northernmost point of her +present orbit and begin a swing to the south?" he asked. + +Mike looked puzzled, but the Cow answered, "In ten minutes, +thirty-seven seconds. At precisely 05:27:53 ship time." + +"I think," said Ishie, "we'd best put a switch on our magnetic field +so that we can reverse the field and the thrust." + +"Why?" asked Mike. + +"Because," Ishie explained, "when we reach the top of our course +northward, then the thrust of the Confusor and Earth's gravity come +into conflict, moving our entire orbit off-center and bringing us +closer to the pole. In not too many orbits, that eccentricity in our +orbit might pull us into the Van Allen belt. We can't afford that. +Now, if we reverse the thrust at the right time, our orbit will be +enlarged and we stay out of troubled spaces." + +Mike was still puzzled. "I don't see how that works," he said. "Why +wouldn't we just go off in a spiral on our present thrust?" + +"The acceleration of Earth is a much greater influence," Ishie tried +to make it clear, "than our little mosquito here. As long as they work +together, things go well. But when Earth dictates that we will now +swing south, be it ever so few degrees south, our mosquito is +overpowered and can only drag us clear to Earth-center on a closing +spiral, which would eventually lead us to crash somewhere in the +southern hemisphere, a good many orbits from now. + +"I hope," he said, "reversing the magnetic field will indeed reverse +our little mosquito's thrust." He moved toward the Confusor. + +"Hold it," said Mike. "The displacement in orbit won't be very much, +at least on the first few go-arounds, will it? and if we switch it +now, somebody'll start getting suspicious of this magneto-ionic +effect. The effect that's doing all this. A sudden reversal might not +be in its character, if it had a character. And anyhow, we don't want +to give another jerk on Hot Rod. We might jerk something loose this +time. We've already wiped out Thule Base--and there's no use adding +scalps to an already full belt." + +"O.K.," said Ishie. "Then now, I think it is time that we presented +our formal drawings to the captain; and I think that when we present +them we will suggest that we start work immediately on construction, +even while he is checking out our drawings through his experts, so +that the project will not be delayed." + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, the captain received the drawings with relief. + +"Thank you, gentlemen. If these prove out, you may have saved the +satellite by the rapidity of your work. Dr. Kimball calculated that +our present acceleration will take us dangerously close to the Van +Allen belt in about three orbits, and I need not tell you what that +would mean." + +Ishie spoke up immediately. "In that case, captain, perhaps Mr. +Blackhawk and I had better start construction on this device +immediately, without waiting for you to complete the check-out. That +may save us invaluable time." + +"Of course," said the captain. "What assistance will you need?" + +"Of the greatest priority," replied Ishie gravely, "is access to the +machine shop. The solar flare should be about wearing itself out." + +"Oh ... of course. It may be." The captain's face was slightly red as +he realized he had not thought to check this point. "Bessie, ask the +computer...." + +"Yes, sir," she answered quickly, and returned shortly. "The computer +says the radiation count is down to ten M.R. above normal." + +"It's a fairly low reading, even if it is above the Cow's normal-safe +mark. That reading could go on for hours, which we may not have," +commented Ishie. "Perhaps we could disregard so narrow a differential...." + +"In your opinion, doctor," the captain asked, "would it be safe to +return the personnel to the rim? Of course, I would have to return the +entire ship to normal conditions in order to give the machine shop or +any other part of the rim its normal six-foot shielding," he added, +"so please consider your answer carefully." + +"I think you would be quite safe to do so, captain. Considering the +fact that otherwise we may go into the Van Allen belt, I think it +should be done without question." + +To himself, Mike chortled gleefully. This grave, pedantic physicist +was about as unlike the co-conspirator with whom he had worked for the +past nearly ten hours as was possible. "The guy's a genius at a lot of +things," he thought to himself. "Puts on the social mock-up expected +of him like you'd put on a suit of clothes--and takes it off just as +completely," he added as an afterthought. + + * * * * * + +The return to the rim was slower than had been the evacuation--but it +was complete within twenty minutes of the decision to return the +satellite to normal. + +In the machine shop, Paul and Tombu, with Ishie and Mike, were +gathering the materials they'd need for the odd construction--Paul +singing to himself as he worked. + + _"I got in the shuttle, thought it went to the Base;_ + _I'd learned my trade; there I'd take my place_ + _Safely on Earth; but I found me in space--_ + _I'd went where I wasn't going!"_ + +"What's that song?" asked Ishie of the spaceman. + +"Oh, that's just 'The Spaceman's Lament.' You make it up as you go +along." His voice grew louder, taking the minor, wailing key at a +volume the others could hear. + + _"I got on the wheel, thought I'd stay for the ride--_ + _I'd found a funny suit in which to hide--_ + _But I went through a closet--and I was outside!_ + _I'd went where I wasn't going!"_ + +Tombu and Mike joined happily in the chorus, bawling it out at the top +of their lungs as they began the work that would make the big +Confusor. + + _"Oh ... there's a sky-trail leading from here to there_ + _And another yonder showing--_ + _But when I get to the end of the run_ + _It'll be where I wasn't going!"_ + +Meanwhile, facsimile copies of the official drawings had been made for +the other interested scientists aboard, and also sent by transfax to +U.N. headquarters for distribution among Earth's top-level scientists. + +They were innocent enough in concept, and sufficiently complex in +design to require a great deal of study by these conservative +individuals who would never risk a hasty guess as to the consequences +of even so simple an action as sneezing at the wrong time. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson awoke with a start, to see a medic's eyes inches +from his own. For a moment, fearing himself under physical attack, he +struck out convulsively, and then as the face withdrew he sat up +slowly. + +He was slightly nauseous; very dizzy; and his instincts told him that +he needed a gallon of coffee as soon as he could get it. Then the +medic's voice penetrated. + +"Please, sir, you must rest. No excitement." + +Almost, he was persuaded. It would be so easy to relax; to give +someone else the responsibility. But the concept of responsibility +brought him struggling up again. + +Hot Rod was a dangerous weapon. He could not act irresponsibly. + +"How long was I out?" he muttered. + +The medic glanced at the clock. "Just over nineteen hours, sir." + +"Wha-at? You dared to keep me off duty that long? I must report for +duty at once." + +"Please, sir. No excitement. You must rest. Just a moment and I'll +call Dr. Green." With that the medic turned and fled. + +As Dr. Green approached, Steve Elbertson was already on his feet, +swaying dizzily, white as a sheet, but perhaps the latter was more +from anger than from anything else. + +"Major Elbertson. You received a severe dose of radiation. You are +under my personal supervision and will return to bed at once." + +"Is the flare over?" Elbertson asked the question, although already +vaguely aware that the ship was again spinning, that he was standing +on the floor fairly firmly, and that, therefore, the emergency must be +over. + +"Yes." + +"In that case, sir, my duty is to my post on Hot Rod." + +"Hot Rod's out of commission and so are you. I cannot be responsible +for the consequences if you do not follow my orders." + +"Explain that, please. About Hot Rod, I mean." + +"Why, it was struck by a meteor shortly after the flare last night. I +think I heard someone say that it burned out Thule Base before they +managed to turn it off." + +Without waiting for more, Elbertson brushed past the doctor and headed +for the bridge. + +The captain was startled by the mad-looking, unshaven scarecrow of an +officer that approached him, demanding in a near-scream, "What +happened? What have you done? What did you DO to Project Hot Rod? No +one should have tampered with it without my direct order! Captain, if +that mechanism has been ruined, I'll have them nail your hide to the +door!" + +"Major!" The captain stood. "This may be a civilian post, but you are +still an officer and I am your superior. Return to your quarters and +clean up. Then report to me properly!" + +For a moment there was seething rebellion on Elbertson's already wild +features. Then, automatonlike, he turned and walked stiffly away +without saluting. + +But the stiffness left him as he passed through the door. Momentarily +he sagged against a wall for support, far weaker than he thought +possible for a man of his youth and what he thought of as his +condition. Making his way almost blindly to Security's quarters in +rim-section B-5, he staggered through the door and on towards the +latrine, shouting at Chauvenseer to "Get out of that sack and give me +a detailed report on events since the flare. Oh, and send somebody for +coffee--lots of coffee." + + * * * * * + +On the bridge the captain flipped the intercom to Dr. Green's station. +"Is Major Elbertson under the influence of any unusual drugs, doctor?" +he asked when he'd reached the medical staff chief. "Anything that +might make his behavior erratic?" + +"Only sedatives, captain. And, oh yes, those new sulph-hydral +anti-radiation shots. We're not too familiar with what they do, though +the reports indicate the worst effect is a mild anoxemia, which +generally results in something of a headache. Of course, that's if the +quantity of the drug was precisely calibrated. They can be fatal," he +added as an afterthought. + +"Would anoxemia cause a change in character, doctor?" + +"It might. It might make one behave either stupidly or +irrationally--temporarily or permanently, depending on the severity of +the effect." + +"Did Major Elbertson seem normal to you when you discharged him from +hospital?" + +"I did not discharge him, captain. I ordered him to remain under my +care. But he seemed greatly upset, and short of force I could not have +kept him from leaving." + +"I see." The captain paused, then asked: "Doctor, please consider +carefully. Would you consider Major Elbertson's condition serious +enough to warrant confining him to bed by force?" + +"Probably not. He should come out of it in a few hours. Exercise may +possibly be good for him, though I doubt if he's capable of much of +it." The doctor chuckled as though at a private joke with himself, +then added, "He's really quite weak physically, you know, even without +the after effects of radiation and drugs." + +"Thank you, doctor." + + * * * * * + +Back in his quarters, Elbertson was refusing to admit to himself the +fact of his own weakness. He had been quite ill in the shower, had +managed to slash himself rather badly with the razor while shaving, +but was now smartly attired in a clean pair of the regulation +coveralls, with the insignia of his rank properly in place--and so +weak he could hardly move. + +The coffee hadn't helped much. + +The briefing had helped even less. The major knew himself guilty of +negligence while on duty. Inadvertently, but as though by his very +hand, certainly through the agency of some saboteur he had failed to +spot, his weapon had been turned on his own troops at Thule, key post +in the plan. + +It was possible that the entire plan had been sabotaged, though that +seemed quite unlikely. Its ramifications were too great. So long as +Hot Rod still existed, was still within their reach, the plan was +operational. + +The nonsense about a magneto-ionic effect he discarded without +hesitation. Obviously it was sabotage, possibly by someone with a plan +of his own, more probably by someone in the pay of one of the big +power companies that would like to see the operation at least +postponed. Obviously--he gave up. + +Nothing would be obvious until he knew in exact detail what had +occurred, what the plans of the enemy would be, where next they would +strike--and who was the enemy. + +But that last, at least, was almost obvious. Who else, but the man who +had carried the political battle, against all odds, that Hot Rod be +created? Who else but Captain Naylor Andersen could possibly have +delivered this sneaking, underhanded attack against himself and his +comrades? + +Who else, he thought, but a man so callous as to order _him_, sick as +he was, as though he were a mere cadet, to leave the bridge. + +Major Elbertson's mind was made up as to the identity of the enemy. + +But he would have to proceed with care, or he would key the plan +before the time was ripe. There must be no great shake-up in +personnel, or undue attention from Earth to the potentials of Project +Hot Rod. + +Perhaps the saboteur's cover-story of a magneto-ionic effect would +serve his ends as well--at least until his comrades on Earth signaled +that the time was ripe. + +Yet now that Hot Rod had proved its power, the time was ripe. It was +that proof on which the plan had waited. And perhaps this very +sabotage would prove to be the "incident" on which the plan hinged.... + +Even as he fought to clear his normally organized mind of the +weariness of his body that now sapped at its strength, the call came. + +Chauvenseer appeared at his side, saluting smartly. "Com Officer +Clark, sir, reports a message from Earth. _The_ message, sir. 'Begin +Operation Ripe Peach.'" + +Major Elbertson pulled himself to a military stance, returning his +aide's salute with complete precision. + +Briefly he considered gathering all his men, all the Security +personnel, and storming the bridge. + +No, obviously the enemy was organized--an unforeseen circumstance. +Obviously the captain was not alone. Obviously _his_ men included at +least some of these slipstick boys--and he would command the loyalty +of them all, since he was somewhat of their ilk himself. + +No, an officer must seek the most advantageous position from which to +deliver his ultimatum. + +He must use Hot Rod itself to control them. If Hot Rod itself were +actually sabotaged, then the plan must wait until he could have it +repaired. He doubted it was hurt. + +The flare had thrown off all original sequences--but perhaps that was +to his advantage. + +To Chauvenseer he snapped: "This is the detail of our immediate +operation. Get four of our best men besides yourself. Have each of +them come separately and unobtrusively to the south polar lock, where +I will meet them. I will bring Smith with me. + +"Have each of the others take his assigned post for Operation Ripe +Peach--but order them to take no action other than to prevent anyone +on board from doing anything unusual that might be an enemy +operation--until I alert them that Operation Ripe Peach is +operational. + +"Their orders will, of course, come on our personal radios, Security +Band 2Z21. + +"Execute!" he ended, saluting smartly. + + * * * * * + +As the Security squad moved, with individual secrecy, towards their +various posts, Captain Andersen was considering that Elbertson would +probably snap out of it as soon as he had had coffee and a shave. The +man had probably been severely affected by the drugs he had been +given. He would make no further reference to the incident of erratic +behavior, unless it continued. + +[Illustration] + +Bessie, having at the moment nothing else to do, was busily plying the +Sacred Cow not only for her own horoscope for the day, but also those +of the several persons of whom she was most fond, while carefully +keeping a shielding bunch of paper work in a place to make it appear +that she was officially busy. The captain's horoscope, she +recognized, didn't look much worse than the rest of them, but was +definitely the worst. One of those mathematical jumbles that somehow +didn't interpret clearly. None of them looked very good today. + +Out on the rim, things were getting back to normal. The labs were +functioning again, most of them according to their assigned, routine +procedures; but in some, heads were drawn together over the absorbing +diagrams supplied by Mike and Ishie. + +Mike and Ishie themselves had already put in twelve hours almost +without a break. Working under stress, neither of them had remembered +to eat. + +There was a cough at the entrance to the machine shop, and Dr. Millie +Williams' soft voice said "May I come in?" + +The two looked up as the slender figure of the dark-skinned biologist +entered the lab, balancing "trays" with plastic bottles atop. + +"If I know you, Dr. Ishie; and you, too, Mike--you haven't eaten," she +said with a smile. "Now, have you?" + +"Millie," said Mike, "you've just reminded me that I'm as hollow as a +deserted bee-stump after the bears get through with it!" + +"Little Millie," said Ishie, looking up at the figure nearly as tiny +as his own, "you must be telepathic as well as beautiful. Confusion +say 'Gee, I'm hungry!'" + +"I'm told that the fate of the satellite depends on you two," Millie +smiled. "I thought I'd just give our fate a little extra chance. Now +drop what you're doing and light into this. + +"After that, if you've got a job for a mere biologist, I've got my lab +readied up where it can last till I get back and--I'm not bad with a +soldering iron. Meantime, why don't you let Paul and Tombu go eat +while you eat?" + +"Good idea," said Mike. "You two. You heard the lady. We gotta give +our fate the benefit of victuals. Scat." + + * * * * * + +As soon as the physicist and the engineer were settled to the plastic +containers of food and coffee she had brought, wolfing them down +hungrily, Millie opened up. + +"While we're alone, I'm going to speak my piece," she said. "You two +will do me the honor of not taking offense if I say that you have the +most brains and the least consciences aboard--and I happen to share +the latter characteristic." + +The two looked up guiltily and waited. + +"Now don't stop eating, for I'm not through talking," she said. "That +magneto-ionic effect canceler you dreamed up would probably cancel the +six hundred forty pound magneto-ionic effect pull you dreamed up--if +such a thing existed. + +"What I want to know ... don't stop eating until you've decided +whether you're going to let me in on your game or not ... is what +really does exist? I might be of some help, you know." + +"But--" Mike and Ishie simultaneously choked over their food, looked +at each other, and then Mike blurted out, "but how could _she_ know?" + +"Don't worry," said Millie. "I'm probably the only one. It takes a +person with little conscience and much imagination--takes a thief to +catch a thief, I mean--yes, I think I mean that quite literally. +Besides, I can help with some of that glassware that disappeared out +of my supplies several days ago. Oh yes, I knew it was gone and where +it went--but I figured any purpose you had was a good one, Ishie. + +"But for how I personally canceled the idea of your magneto-ionic +effect from the flare--it just happens that last night I was curious +while everybody was asleep. When Bessie first came on duty this +morning, I offered to relieve her while she had a cup of coffee, and I +got a half-hour all by myself with the Cow. The captain wasn't up yet. +Her console's so simple anyone with a basic knowledge of computers and +cybernetics could figure her out. + +"Practically the first question I asked--something about our +orbit--the Cow told me that the information was top secret, and to get +it I must go to the proper channel and identify myself as Mike. I +started to intercom you, Mike, to tell you that your machinations were +showing, but Bessie came back about then. I hung around to see what +would happen, and pretty soon Bessie asked the Cow about the same +question--but instead of getting the same answer, the Cow told her +that an external magneto-ionic field was pulling us out of line. + +"So I went up to your engineering place. I rather thought you'd like +to know what the Cow had told me--but Dr. Ishie was there, and so +instead I went about my own business until I could figure things out. + +"Now I couldn't figure things out. But I could figure there's a monkey +wrench somewhere--and since the two of you have been sticking together +like Siamese twins, I know it will be perfectly all right to ask you +in front of Ishie. + +"Now," she finished, "do I get my girlish curiosity satisfied? You +don't have to tell me. I'll just keep on being puzzled quietly and +without indicating the slightest magneto-ionic dubiousness, if you'd +rather. But I might be helpful; and I _would_ like to know." + +"Confusion say," Ishie declared through the side of his mouth, "that +he who inadvertently puts big foot in mouth is apt to get teeth kicked +loose. We are very lucky, Mike, that it was Millie who asked the +question of the Cow at that time. Besides, we've got to tell somebody +sooner or later. We can't just run off by ourselves. + +"Yes, Millie, I think you have a job," he said. "Your help here will +be appreciated, of course. But what we really need is a way of +bridging the gap between ourselves and the rest of the personnel +before it gets too wide. How's your P.R. these days?" + +"That's something I learned in a hard school, public relations," she +answered nonchalantly. "De-segregation was just beginning when I was a +girl back in Georgia. But maybe I'd better know what the gap is." + + * * * * * + +The two began to talk, interrupting each other, incoherently +outlining the Confusor and the various forces it exerted, and +the--what Mike kept calling the inertial fish hook. + +Finally Mike took over. "To put it simply," he said, "our pet didn't +do at all what we expected--it hooked in on inertia and it took us +off. A confusing little Confusor--but Millie--it's a space drive! A +real, honest-to-gosh space drive!" + +Millie gulped. It was far, far more than she had expected. Perhaps +this was another form of disguise like the magneto-ionic.... + +"Are you sure?" Then she answered her own doubts. "Of course you're +telling the truth now. That's not something you two would play games +about." Then in awe--"You've really got it!" + +"But why, then," she said, uncomprehending, "are you hiding it?" But +before they could answer, she answered her own question again. "You'd +have to. Of course. Otherwise it'll be strangled in red tape. +Otherwise nobody'll let you work on it any more, except as head of a +research team stuck off somewhere. Otherwise, Budget Control would +take it over and make a fifteen-year project out of it--and the two of +you will probably have it in practical operation...." + +She looked at the molds and wiring taking form all across the machine +shop. + +"Oh, no! You'll have it in operation--soon!" + +"Yes, soon--and we hope soon enough." Ishie sighed, then grinned +impudently. "There is," he said, "the little matter of the fact +that--in all innocence but nevertheless quite actually--we wiped out +Thule Base. + +"If we don't get the big Confusor in operation very soon, it may be +that we shall spend a good deal of time in Earth's courts proving our +innocence while someone else botches most thoroughly the job of +creating a Confusor that could take us to the stars. And that," he +added mournfully, "neither of us would enjoy. We might not even be +able to prove our innocence, for there would be many very anxious to +prove us sufficiently guilty to keep us out of the way for many years. + +"So you see," he said, "you have a very real P.R. problem. Our +assistants here could work better if they knew what they were doing. +The people aboard the wheel would be most excited by a space drive, +and would give us every aid. + +"But what the law says, it says--and the captain would have no choice +but to put us in irons if he heard, though I think our captain is such +that he would not want to do it. + +"We must tell everyone what we have, for where the wheel takes us, +they will go. But we can't tell them, for if we tell anyone, it will +get back to Earth--and we murdered Thule, according to the law of +Earth. + +"It is a very neat problem," he said. + + * * * * * + +Major Steve Elbertson arrived first at Project Hot Rod, and trailing +behind him on their scuttlebugs, the other six men. + +As he slipped through the lock and out of his spacesuit, he reached +down the neck of his coveralls and carefully extracted the Security +key in its flat, plastiskin packet, from between his shoulder blades. +At least the villainous captain had not gotten his hands on this, he +thought, and whatever damage had been done to Hot Rod probably could +be quickly repaired. + +He had heard of the hunt for the key, and been silently amused, though +he had volunteered no information to his briefing officer, +Chauvenseer. + +Stepping forward as briskly as a sick rag doll, he fitted the key into +the Security lock and snapped open the bar that prevented Hot Rod's +use. + +As the others entered, he turned to them. Supporting himself against +the edge of the console and managing to look perfectly erect and +capable despite his weakness, he said: "I have instructed each of you +to learn as much as you could of the operation of this device. It is +now necessary that the civilian scientists," he pronounced the +"civilian" as though it were a dirty word, "be relieved of their rule +over this weapon, and that the military take its proper place, as the +masters of the situation. I trust each of you has learned his lessons +carefully, because it is now too late for mistakes--although we have +with us assistance far superior to that of the civilians. + +"Gentlemen," he said, and his voice took on power as he talked, "it is +a pleasure to re-introduce to you a companion whom you have known as +Lathe Smith. + +"This, gentlemen," he said formally, gesturing one of the men forward, +"is the Herr Doktor Heinrich Schmidt, of whom you would have heard +were you familiar with the more erudite of the developments of space +physics. + +"Dr. Schmidt," he added, "it is a pleasure to be able to again accord +you the courtesies and respect that are your due. + +"Now for myself," he continued, "it may surprise you to know that I, +too, have a somewhat more advanced rank than you have suspected." +Deliberately he unpinned the major's insignia that he wore, and +brought out a sealed packet, opened it, and pinned on four stars. + +"Gentlemen," he finished, "may I introduce myself? General Steve +Elbertson, commanding officer of all space forces of the United +Nations Security Forces. + +"Now," he said briskly to his astounded men, his voice crackling with +authority, "take stations. + +"Dr. Schmidt will key in the number one laser bank only. You will +select as your target area that area through which the passenger +spokes of the wheel pass. These will each in turn be your targets if +it becomes necessary to fire. + +"Dr. Schmidt has advised me that, should it become necessary to fire +on the hub, the resultant explosion of the shielding water will wreck +the big wheel. + +"If we should miss and hit the rim, the resultant explosion would +inevitably wreck both the big wheel and Project Hot Rod. + +"Therefore, gentlemen, I caution the most accurate possible aim. + +"And Dr. Schmidt, will you connect the storage power supply you have +readied, please?" + +Quickly then, he slid into the communications officer's seat, as the +Security officers assumed each of the four major posts of the project, +while Chauvenseer took up a stance at his general's right hand, ready +to respond as directed. + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, Captain Nails had been annoyed. Too many queries from +people who really didn't have authority over his satellite. Too many +directives and counter-directives were flooding at him from various +officials on Earth. + +Some one down there even had the temerity to suggest that Security +take over--not officially, just sort of take over. + +If that didn't take the cake, he thought. Trying to put that crumb +Security officer into command, _real_ command, of a scientist? Over +HIS people? Never! + +And just because somebody had a wild idea about sabotage--after all, +the whole thing must be some sort of effect or accident. Why couldn't +they leave people alone long enough to find out what was really going +on? + +And where was Elbertson, anyhow? The man had had plenty of time to +freshen up. Possibly he had caved in some place. The medic had said he +was sick. But even so, I'd best check, he thought. + +Reaching for the intercom switch that would give him a private line to +Security quarters in the rim, his gaze happened to fall on the panel +that still displayed Hot Rod on its taut cable-- + +--And seven figures riding the end of the cable to the air lock. + +Elbertson, of course, he thought furiously. And taking his men out +when the proton level was still too high to go beyond the rim +shielding.... + +Then the captain stopped in mid-thought. This was no idle act of a man +feeling the effects of drugs. + +He switched the intercom quickly to the Hot Rod crew's quarters on the +rim. "Dr. Koblensky!" he almost shouted into the mike. + +"Just a minute, sir," came the answer, and seconds that seemed like +eternities passed before the doctor's calm voice answered, "Dr. +Koblensky speaking." + +"Did you know that seven men were going out to Hot Rod?" + +"Of course not. They mustn't...." + +The captain switched off and changed to the intercom for the machine +shop. "Dr. Ishie. Mr. Blackhawk. To the bridge on the double. _Fast_," +he said. + +It might not be the saboteur, he thought, but the chances looked +grimly real that Earth was right--that the whole thing was sabotage, +and those were the seven saboteurs. While he waited, he checked the +Security quarters for Elbertson. The major was not there, nor was he +in the hospital. + +Elbertson, he thought. I've been blind. + +He decreased the magnification of Hot Rod so that the entire project +showed. + +Mike arrived first, almost skidding to a stop at the captain's +console, Ishie right behind him. + +"The saboteur--seven men that I believe to be saboteurs--are aboard +Hot Rod," the captain told him crisply. "Can they activate it?" + +"Captain, there's no saboteur...." Mike began, but the captain +interrupted. + +"Gentlemen, I'm not asking you to be the judge of that. If they are +saboteurs, is there any way that they can activate Hot Rod?" + +"Oh, they could have storage batteries aboard, I suppose." Mike didn't +even pretend to be excited. + +"Then we will assume they have, Mr. Blackhawk." The tone of the +captain's voice told Mike he'd better darned well believe in those +saboteurs or tell the captain the truth--and that quickly. "Now, +assuming Hot Rod can be activated, we will also assume that their +first aim will be to control the wheel. They would, therefore, aim at +the hub and issue an ultimatum." + +"They might aim at a target on Earth, and issue an ultimatum to us." +Mike would play the game. + +"No. We would refuse such an ultimatum. They would aim at us. Can you +prevent that?" + +Mike thought hard. He'd better come up with an answer to that one, +saboteurs or no. + +"If they shot through the hub, they'd hit our shielding water and +explode the hub-hull. That would wreck the wheel, and they'd need the +wheel. The only place they could safely shoot us would be the +passenger spokes, and that would take some pretty fine target +shooting--with only one laser bank. They could do it though," he said +thoughtfully. + +"Assume, Mr. Blackhawk, that if they couldn't hit the passenger +spokes, they'd be willing to destroy the wheel in order to gain +control. Is there any way to prevent that?" + +Mike stood completely silent for almost a minute. Then he grinned. +"Sure," he said. "If we turned the rim towards Hot Rod, they couldn't +fire into the rim without hitting that shielding--and that would +create an explosion, even from their smallest possible shot, that +would almost inevitably take Hod Rod with it. If we turn the lab so +that only the rim is towards Hot Rod, it's suicide to shoot us." + +"You will swing the rim of the wheel into that alignment as rapidly as +it can possibly be done." The captain's voice practically lifted the +two men off the bridge, and they were on their way to the engineering +quarters with every appearance of the urgency they should have felt if +they had not known who--or rather what--was the real saboteur. + + * * * * * + +Then Mike heard Ishie's soft voice from behind him, slightly +breathless. "At that, you'd better swing the rim and swing her fast, +Mike. The captain sure 'nuff believes in his saboteurs, and it's just +possible they're real." + +O.K., thought Mike, and really moving now he reached the engineering +quarters a good ten strides ahead of his companion. + +As he entered the open bulkhead lock he saw a man that he recognized +as one of the Security personnel, and brushing on past him said, "If +you want to see me, come back later. I'm going to be very busy here +for a while." + +Mike headed for the panel that controlled the air jets and other +devices that spun the wheel. + +The Security man didn't hesitate. Seeing the ship's engineer about to +make important--and possibly subversive--adjustments, he drew his +needle gun and aimed it squarely at Mike's back. "Halt--in the name of +Security!" he barked. + +Slowly Mike swung around, eying the man coldly, and began a question. + +But there was no need. Dr. Chi Tung, having seen what was going on +through the lock before he entered, had held back just long enough for +the Security man to turn fully towards Mike. Now he launched himself +through the lock like a small but well-guided missile, and arriving on +the Security guard's back, had his gun-arm down and half broken before +the man knew what was happening. Had he been alone, it is possible +that the larger man might have won. But Mike had never been fond of +people who pulled guns on him, even if they were only sleepy guns. + +Between the two of them, the Security guard was lucky not to lose his +life in the first two seconds of battle. + +The conflict ended almost before it had begun, with a meaty slap of +Mike's fist connecting with the man's jaw, right below the ear. It +hadn't been a clean punch, Mike thought, but then he wasn't really +used to fighting in this gravity. Anyhow, the man was out. + +And now came the question of what to do with him, but Mike left that +to Ish. + +He turned back to the precession panel a bit more convinced that +perhaps the captain had been right--perhaps there were enemies aboard. + +The precession controls, though operational, had not to date been +required. Carefully, Mike switched the sequence that would put them +into active condition but not operate. That was left to the Cow. + +Turning to the vocoder panel, he directed the Cow to take over control +of the now active precession equipment; to use the sun as a referrant +for the axis of precession, and to move the pole ninety degrees in a +clockwise direction around that axis of precession. + +Under these directions, the big wheel began to turn, not as it had +been turning, but sideways. The operation would take ten minutes, and +the axis of this new turn would be aligned directly on Sol by the +computer. + +The Cow's help in such a maneuver was required, because the precession +could only be accomplished by switching valves between the tanks of +the rim in such a manner that water was switched north on one side of +the wheel, and south on the opposite side of the wheel, and the points +of this switching between the tanks must remain in a stable position +relative to the spin of the wheel. The valves that accomplished this, +seventy-two of them, were spaced at intervals of five degrees around +the rim, but only two out of the seventy-two could be active at any +time; and these must be selected by the computer's controls so that +always the precessive force was properly aligned to produce the +required precession. + +When the precession was finished, the rim of the wheel would be +aligned, still with the sun, but also with Project Hot Rod which had +been to their south. + +As a third thought, Mike switched off the Confuser. + +Having set up the necessary factors, Mike turned back to the problem +of the Security guard, or saboteur, whichever he might be, but found +this problem had already been well taken care of. Not satisfied with +simply tying the man up, Ishie had bound him with wire to somewhat the +resemblance of an Egyptian mummy, and then for added good measure, +given him two sleepy shots with his own needle gun; put electrician +tape across his mouth; and taken from him everything he could possibly +use either as a method of communication or as a weapon. + +At least, Mike thought, Ishie is a thorough workman when he sets his +mind to it. + +Having parked the Security man in a nearby tool locker, with the +feeling that he would keep for a while there, Ishie turned back to +Mike with a grin. + +"Confusion say those who play with firearms should be cautious! Mike, +this convinces me. I've heard snatches of what's going on on Earth, +and it looks like somebody is putting over a fast one down there. +Seems like maybe our own Security boys are part of it. They would be +the ones the captain saw going out to Hot Rod. And that means they've +got a purpose out there. Is good to know they can't shoot us now, at +least in a few minutes now, without getting themselves shot back. But +they can shoot at Earth. Any ideas?" + +"Well ... I thought some time ago that there was a little fallacy +involved in that project when I saw how they hung the beam-director +way out in front on those little old balloon-poles. They've got 'em +bent, and if any one or two of 'em should happen to get punctured, the +other two would move the mirror complete out of the laser beam focus. +Then the only thing they could shoot would be the sun--and I don't +think it'd care. + +"Ishie, you stay here just to keep the home fires burning and make +sure that nobody fiddles with anything we don't want 'em to. All of +the bulkheads leading into this section can be locked from the +inside--a feature I haven't seen fit to point out to other people who +really don't need to know." + + * * * * * + +Walking around the floor, Mike carefully secured the four bulkheads, +two leading back to the morgue; two leading forward to the north pole +end of the hub. And then, jumping catlike upward and grasping the +access ladder to the central axis tube, he carefully bolted that one, +too. + +[Illustration] + +Dropping back to the floor he stepped over to the intercom and +switched in Captain Nails' circuit. + +"Mission accomplished, sir. And you were quite right. One of our +_Security_ servos is off balance. I'm attending to the matter." + +"Thank you, Mr. Blackhawk." The captain's voice was calm, quite unlike +the voice he'd used to them on the bridge. "You would do well to +listen for the ... sound ... of those servos." The captain's voice +stopped but the intercom continued to hum, alive from his end. + +"Ishie," said Mike, "the captain's in trouble, and he's asking us to +listen in on what goes on the bridge. He's left his intercom open. + +"Now I've got a mission to accomplish; and you can't leave here, +because this post's got to be operational. But you can listen and do +whatever the captain tells you. + +"And, Ishie--if anybody takes the bridge away from the captain, you +tell the Cow not to obey any orders or answer any questions unless +they come from here." + +With that, Mike leaned over, loosened an inspection plate in the +floor, and climbed down a ladder through the inspection tube that led +through the six feet of normal-shield water directly beneath the floor +into the seventeen-foot flare-shielding chamber beyond. This was the +tank which surrounded the hub and held all of the waters of the rim +during flare conditions; but was now holding only the air supply +which, during a flare, was pumped to the rim. + +Making his way back towards the center of the hub, Mike considered his +luck in being one of the people most familiar with the entire +structure of the ship. It would be unlikely that enemies operating +aboard would think to cut off the air and water passages, or even keep +them under surveillance. Nevertheless, he would be cautious. + +He must now get to the machine shop, and enter it without triggering +any more of those--he laughed quietly to himself--Security servos. + +The particular tank he was in he had selected carefully. Of the +twenty-one possible combinations, this one he knew would bring him +into the water under the north hall that circled the outer rim. + +In a few strides he reached the three-foot-diameter spoke tube through +which the flood of water would pour during a draw-in action such as +that they had had during the flare; let himself over the side head +first, let go and began falling down the seventy-nine foot length of +the tube, accelerated by the light pseudo-gravity of the spin. Even +so, he spread his legs and arms against the walls of the tube to act +as a brake, so as not to arrive with too much impact at the bottom of +the tube. + +As he hit the water at the bottom, the tube swung around the +circumference of the rim to the point at its far side at which it +entered its particular river. + +The course of his dive carried Mike to the bottom of the curve, and he +started crawling up its far side to where the tunnel entered the +rim-river. There the motion of the fluorescent-lighted water caught +him, and he was swirled quickly to his target, twenty-five feet along, +inspection plate B-36. He grabbed the hand-hold by the plate before he +swirled past, loosened the plate, lifted it only enough to be sure +that the room was empty, and then pushed it off, pulled himself +through, and emerged into the whining dimness of Compressor Room 9, +next to the machine shop. The low whine assaulting his ears was that +created by the air compressors that fed the jets that drove the waters +through the rim. + +Stepping over to the wall locker, Mike took out a dry pair of shorts, +a T-shirt, and moccasins, kept there for the purpose of making changes +after such swimming inspections of the rim tanks. + + * * * * * + +Before entering the machine shop, Mike spotted the Security man +through the open bulkhead--just standing there while Paul and Tombu +grimly worked on; and Millie sat idle, watching. + +Mike entered the machine shop casually, as though intent on business, +brushed past the Security man, and stepped over to the tape-controlled, +laser-activated milling machine as though to inspect its progress. + +Then, as though finding an error, he halted its operation and swung +the laser-head back away from the work piece. + +The head swung free in his hand, attached to the machine but +nevertheless free. Casually, without even looking at the Security man, +he had somehow centered the laser directly on him. Just as casually, +he stepped to one side. + +"The beam from this machine is quite capable of milling the hardest +materials," he said, still casually, as though to himself. "Even a +diamond can't withstand it." + +Now he looked directly at the Security guard. "It's capable," he said +in an even tone, "of milling a hole right through your guts if you +even to much as breathe too deep." + +Then to Chernov, "Move around behind him, out of range of this beam, +and secure the man please. Millie, is there any thing in your +department that will make sure he won't talk for while?" + +"Yes, Mike, but I don't think I'd better go there right now. There +aren't many of them, but these boys seem to be spread out all over." + +Chernov had the gun now; and the personal communicator from the +Security man as well. + +"O.K.," said Mike. "I don't think he can give us much trouble in +there," pointing at the air-lock bulkhead through which he had just +entered. "We can go in and out through the physics lab," he said. +"Best we shut that off now before some more of these boys wander +along." + +When both the lab and the Security man were under control, Paul +Chernov turned to Mike. "That milling-laser," he said. "It's got a +focus of about six inches maximum. How did you fix it so it could burn +the guard at that distance?" + +"I didn't," said Mike briefly. "He already knows that lasers can reach +from here to Earth. Why should I bother to tell him any different?" +Turning to Tombu he handed him the Security man's radio. "See if you +can rig this," he said, "to broadcast everything they say over the +general intercom channel. It's about time we let people know what's +happening." + + * * * * * + +It took Tombu only minutes to hook in the radio. As he turned it on, +Elbertson's voice came over the loud-speaker system. A roll call of +Security men was apparently being completed. The last three man +responded as called. + +The Elbertson's voice, crisp but somewhat labored, came over the +Security beam, booming throughout the ship. "It is obvious that the +renegade scientists and engineer of the wheel have replaced the men +guarding their sectors. + +"As we were informed, the captain had put them in charge. Since they +struck the first blow, it is now up to Security to converge on them +and eliminate them. + +"Jones, Nackolai and Stanziale are detailed to the Dr. Chi mission. +Nilson, Bernard and Cossairt are detailed to get the Indian. The rest +of you will take over where you are posted, and secure all personnel +to their quarters. + +"Clark. Drop your cover and take over control of the bridge. + +"I expect to have Hot Rod operational within five minutes. And Clark. +Instruct the computer to discontinue precession operations that have +been initiated. + +"Take whatever measures are necessary to carry out these +instructions. + +"This is no longer an undercover operation, gentlemen. Security is +taking control. + +"This is war." + + * * * * * + +As the last sentence came over the loud-speaker, Mike sprang to the +intercom. He quickly keyed the direct line to engineering. + +"Ishie," he said, "I gather you're safe?" + +"Yes, Mike. Situation here very secure. I heard announcement of +conflict. You need not tell me to put the Cow under our control. It is +done. She will obey no one else until further instructed from here. I +didn't instruct her to obey only instructions by me, Mike, because we +are all expendable now." + +As he finished speaking, the intercom went dead. Obviously the +communications officer, as his first act, had turned off the central +intercom power system under his control. + + * * * * * + +On the bridge, from the time that Mike and Ishie had left, the picture +of what was occurring had grown more ominous by the minute. + +More than the vague, official messages had been flooding in from +Earth. + +At the captain's command, the communications officer had opened up a +channel for news broadcasts, and put it on the speaker so they could +all hear. + +The news round-ups indicated that various elements and factions in the +world below had had their say--each more vicious than the last. + +From an original rumor of a minor space disaster, it had become a +tremendous accident that had wiped out Thule Base and left a smoking +ruins of Greenland. + +From this it had become--possible sabotage. + +From this, a direct, unprovoked attack by the scientists on Earth +itself. + +Suddenly statesmen were standing forth in the U.N., condemning the +actions of country after country that had made possible the great +wheel; and just as suddenly, word had been announced: + +Earth would be protected. The U.N. would act. + +The U.N., it suddenly was found, controlled the majority of all +weapons on Earth; controlled the majority of all armies, navies, and +all stockpiles of ships and planes and ammunition that it had so +boastingly told everyone that it had scrapped. + +The honeyed phrases of a few years before that there would always be +peace on Earth, and that the U.N. had taken the bite out of war, +changed; and the individual nations were now forgotten. + +Now the U.N. itself was the military power; and now it would be U.N. +telling others what to do. + +Mobilization would be declared. A war footing for the economy. +Everyone must fight back against the insane scientists above with +their inhuman weapon. + +With appalling swiftness, where apparently nothing had been before, a +military force stepped forth in full armor to grind man's hopes for +freedom under an iron heel while waving its fist at the stars. + +At first there had been voices crying out against this monstrous +action, this unbelievable birth, in the U.N. Assembly. But the voices +had become fewer and fewer, weaker and weaker, and in a matter of +hours had been drowned out. + +Amazingly, even now, there were one or two who stood up in an attempt +to stem the tide; but they were ignored, and a ninety-eight per cent +favorable vote was cast. + +The U.N. Security Forces had been granted dictatorial powers. + +For the "duration of the emergency." + +The die was cast, and the yoke fitted, ever so snugly but firmly, +across mankind's back, while he cheered the fitting. + +Captain Nails Andersen sat stunned at his console. + +The communications officer sat back, paying little attention to the +board before him, a light smirk on his face. + +But the smirk dropped from his face suddenly. Rising over the +background chatter of the radio announcements from U.N. Headquarters, +came loudly over the ship general intercom the voice of Major Steve +Elbertson, counting down through the list of Security personnel. + +He, too, sat stunned until, as the voice ended "This is war," he came +to, stood up needle gun in hand, pointed at the captain. + +"I don't know how your slipstick boys cracked our code and picked that +message up," he said, "and I don't really care. As you heard, the +major has ordered me to take command of the bridge. I hereby do so." + +Coming through the bulkhead were two more Security men, each with a +needle gun. His gun unwaveringly pointed at the captain, Com Officer +Clark reached down and flipped the red switch that turned off the +power to all of the ship intercoms. + + * * * * * + +On board Hot Rod, the Security crew was working against an accelerated +time-schedule now. The aiming controls of Hot Rod's big mirror were +infinitely precise--and correspondingly slow. As soon as the storage +power supply had been wired into the big weapon--a precise operation, +requiring both skill and time--the factors had been keyed in that +would bring the mirror in an arc, turning it to bear precisely on that +area of space through which the passenger spokes of the wheel turned; +but the motion of the mirror was infinitesimally slow. + +As the crew of Hot Rod strove to get it into position to fire; and the +computer on the wheel strove to precess the wheel to a position where +firing would be fatal to the firer, it became a race between giant +snails. + +But already the rim of the big wheel had inched slightly ahead in the +race; and the main part of the hub was disappearing behind it. In +spite of Elbertson's orders, the big wheel continued to turn its rim +directly towards the giant balloon with its bulbous nose. + +It was a curious sensation, seeing the big wheel from this angle. +Much the same sensation as that of an ant, staring at the oncoming +wheel of a huge truck. + + * * * * * + +In the machine shop, Mike was rummaging around in one of the tool +lockers. "Any sort of a small telescope," he muttered, almost to +himself. Then "Paul, is there a theodolite or anything like that left +lying around in here?" + +"Yes," said Paul, moving off to a cabinet in another part of the room. +"We needed them when we were putting the wheel together." + +"O.K." Mike turned back to the laser milling machine. "Now can we take +the focusing lens off of this, and rig something to give me a focus at +about 4.5 miles? Or would it need focusing at all? Shooting at that +distance?" + +"Depends on what you shoot, Mike. The unfocused beam can make a black +surface very hot very quick. But from a mirror surface, it would just +bounce, unless it's carefully focused." + +"It ought to take care of the plastic at least, then." + +"Go right through it. You gonna laser Hot Rod?" + +"No. Just the anchor tubes that hold the mirror; and maybe a slash +through the nitrogen tank at the back. Here, make me a bracket to fit +these two things together, so I can see what I'm aiming at." He handed +the theodolite telescope and the laser milling-head to Paul. + +"How much of the machine do I have to take to power that +milling-head?" he asked Tombu. + +"Oh, most of it's just control circuits. This box on the back is the +power supply. Plugs right in to ship's power." + +"Hey!" Mike called over to Paul now busy constructing a bracket. "Make +that bracket to hold this power supply, too. Oh, and round me up about +sixty feet of extension cord, Tombu." + +"But, Mike, how are you going to get out there?" Millie's voice was +concerned. "They've probably got men all over the place out here on +the rim. If you try to go through the corridor towards an emergency +lock, they'll have you sure with their needle guns. You heard +Elbertson delegate three men to kill you!" + +"I expect I can find a place where they aren't." And picking up the +Security radio from the intercom bench, he turned it on and spoke into +it. + +"Elbertson, this is Mike Blackhawk. You now have twenty minutes to +surrender," and he cut off. + +Mike turned to Tombu. "Get me some plastic wrapping material. +Preferably a plastic bag. I've got to make this stuff waterproof." + +When the power supply, telescope, milling head and extension cord were +rigged and carefully wrapped in plastic to make a waterproof package, +he attached them with a shoulder rope. + +"Too bad we didn't make a lock in the wall right here," he muttered. +"But I don't suppose the Security guards will be guarding those empty +labs over in the R-12 sector. Guess I'm going for a swim now." And +with that, Mike reached down and carefully removed the inspection +plate from one of the floor tanks, and lowered himself over the edge +into the racing waters. + +Hanging there with one hand, he carefully pulled his plastic bag into +position beside and slightly behind his body, and let go. Instantly he +was sucked away into the subdued blue fluorescent-lighted glow of the +waters of the rim. + +"Glad they figured these planktons need light," he thought to himself. +"I'd have a time finding where I'm going in the dark." + +Forty-five seconds later, he reached up and snatched at a passing +hand-hold, next to a plate marked with the numbers of the lab he +sought. + +Wrenching the handle of the inspection plate and pushing it free, he +climbed out into the deserted lab; made his way out into the corridor, +his unwieldy package hanging to his shoulder and runlets of water +making a trail behind him--and stepped into the nearby emergency lock. + +In the lock he quickly donned one of the emergency spacesuits that +hung there, gathered up his bundle again, and stepped out on the +catwalk of the inner part of the rim, under the brilliant night sky at +the moment, but turning towards its "sunrise." He opened his plastic +package. + +"Major Elbertson," he said, turning on the Security radio, "you now +have five minutes to surrender." + +Attaching his suit to the guideline nearby, part of the rim's +"hairnet," he crept out over the inside edge of the rim. From this +position he had a full view of the glowing bubble that was Hot Rod for +the few seconds until the movement of the rim took him past the +"sunrise" point and turned him sunwards. + +Last time Mike had been out on the rim, the wheel had not been +turning. There'd been no reference of up and down, other than the rim +itself as an oddly curved floor. Now he felt disoriented. The wheel +was spinning, the hub, therefore, seemed "up." And from the edge of +the rim where he clung to its hairnet, all directions were down. + + * * * * * + +The stars seemed to sweep beneath his feet and over his head; and +though it was a slow pattern, only twice as fast as the crawl of a +second hand around the face of a clock, it was, nevertheless, +disorienting. + +Bracing himself carefully into the net, with his back wedged firmly +against the rim, he adjusted his bizarre "gun" to rest on his knees so +that he could sight in the direction that was, to his body's senses, +straight down. + +Not at all, he thought, like trying to shoot fish in a barrel. More +like being the fish and trying to shoot the people outside the barrel. + +Back in the shadow again. Not really shadow where he sat, but the rim +around him, below him, and curving away from him, had disappeared in +its brief nightside, and there came Hot Rod again. Carefully he +tracked it; then putting his eye to the scope he focused briefly on +one of the high-pressure supporting tubes that formed the rigid +structure from which the aiming mirror was held in place. + +And fired. + +The tube burst, noiselessly but quite spectacularly. And the mirror +itself shuddered shook, as the tube's gases escaped. + +Now he was in bright sunlight again, quickly closing his eyes as the +sun itself looked full into his vision, and slowly passed to be +following by Earth, to be followed by a blank stretch of starry space, +and here again was Hot Rod. + +Carefully he tracked another of the supporting tubes. + +And fired. + +And again a spectacular, writhing collapse--and this time, the mirror +fell free, supported by only two tubes, and permanently out of focus, +incapable of aiming the monster beam. + +This time, Hot Rod was definitely secure from the misapplication of +Security. + +"Three minutes," he spoke into the radio. "Your weapon is dead. My +next shot will be through the nitrogen tank at your air-lock. I +wouldn't advise you to be there." + +The wheel turned once more, as the radio came alive from the other +end. + +"Mr. Blackhawk, do you realize that what you are doing constitutes +mutiny in space and will be dealt with accordingly on Earth? I have +officially taken control of Hot Rod at the command of my superiors in +the new U.N. Security Control Command." + +Mike didn't bother to answer. As the wheel turned him towards Hot Rod +again, he said into the radio, "Two minutes." + +Elbertson's voice came again. "With this new weapon we control Earth. +Don't you realize that you can't stand up against the new people's +government of Earth?" + +The wheel came around. Mike replied: "One minute." + +The lock on the Hot Rod control room opened. Frantic tiny figures +burst forth, activated scuttlebugs, and started on the five-mile trek +back towards the big wheel. + +Mike worked his way back through the clinging net to the catwalk, +failing completely to see the tiny figure that dodged beneath the rim +as he approached. + +Glancing around he carefully scanned over the entire inner rim before +stepping out into the sunlight of the catwalk itself. Nothing. + +Then a blink caught his eye, and he glanced up toward the observatory. +There. In the observatory. + +He thought for a minute it was someone signaling, but it was only a +touch of sunlight on the shiny surface of the automatic tracking +telescope, which was poked out of the open shutters of the airless +observatory, still doing its automatic job of recording solar +phenomena in the absence of the astronomers. + + * * * * * + +Instead of re-entering the lock as he had intended, Mike linked his +safety line to one of the service lines that lay along the nearest +spoke, and kicked up it. + +On Earth, he could have jumped maybe four feet with that motion. But +here, it carried him the full distance to the outer wall of the +hub-shielding tank, where he grasped another line, quickly transferred +his safety line, and began working his way toward the observatory. + +As the intersection of the rim where Mike had been passed into +darkness, another figure moved and jumped up the same line he had +taken. But this Mike did not notice. + +Reaching the bulge at the end of the shielding tank and crawling up +over it, Mike made his way up, at an odd reversed angle, through the +netting; and into the observatory dome through its open shutter. + +Making his way about in the open vacuum in free-fall conditions of the +observatory, Mike carefully checked the lock at the main axis to make +sure that he could get into it without arousing an alarm for any +guards that might be nearby. + +The lock showed vacant, and empty. Just as he was about to enter it, +he saw another figure in a spacesuit come drifting through the open +shutter where he had entered. + +Mike stepped into the lock, closed the door behind him as though he +had not noticed, and cycled the lock. But he did not remove his suit +and did not leave. + +As the lock showed clear, the observatory door opened again, and the +two spacesuited figures stood face to face. Mike with needle gun +raised checked himself in surprise. Then he motioned the other figure +into the lock. + +"And just what are you doing here?" he inquired as the air around them +became sufficient to carry his voice. + +"You might have needed help," answered Dr. Millie Williams in a small, +scared voice as she took off her helmet and shook out her long hair. + +"And just _what_," Mike inquired, "were you planning to do about it +besides having me shoot you by mistake?" + +Millie held up an oversize pair of calipers. "The Security people," +she said, "are not the only ones with weapons. I borrowed this from +the machine shop." + +Mike stared down at the odd-looking "weapon." + +"It's hard," Millie continued, "to look at more than one thing at a +time through a spacesuit helmet. I could've got 'em in the air hose +while you held their attention." + +Mike's chuckle was just a trifle ragged, and his mutter about +blood-thirsty panthers didn't really go unheard as he began shucking +his spacesuit. + +This was the most dangerous point, Mike knew. The axis tube went from +the observatory straight through to the south polar lock, with nothing +to block sight or sound from traveling its length. They'd have to +simply chance it. The spacesuits shucked, he opened the lock. + +Their luck held. No Security man was stationed opposite the mouth of +the axis tube at the south polar lock. + +Halfway to the engineering quarters, Mike stopped, used a special key +to open an inspection plate, and they dropped lightly into the huge +shielding tank that now held only air. From there the pair +back-tracked Mike's original path to the inspection plate in the +engineering quarters, and so into his own bailiwick, where they found +Ishie standing on catlike guard, a wrench in one hand, waiting for +whatever might come up. + +"Confusion say," the grinning Chinese physicist declared, "two for one +is good luck." + + * * * * * + +General Steve Elbertson made his way wearily in through the south lock +and on to the bridge where he found the communications officer in +complete charge with two Security men for assistants. The captain and +Bessie were effectively bound, and placed in spare console seats. + +General Elbertson made his way to the captain's console and seated +himself. + +Hot Rod was dead, but their control was by no means lessened. + +That he himself had not been shot dead on the way from Hot Rod was, to +him, a confirmation of the weakness of his enemies. + +The satellite was under his control. The scientists would repair Hot +Rod--and well he knew how to see to it that they did so. + +U.N. Security Forces were in complete, dictatorial command of Earth. + +He had only to eliminate the renegade Indian, and long before the +Security scuttlebug, now on its way from Earth loaded with crack +troops, should arrive, Security would be in complete command not only +of the Space Lab, but of the weapon, which would by then be in repair. + +As a final test of its operation, it would be amusing to use the +Indian, Blackhawk, as a target; and perhaps the captain as well, +though he might have to use them as examples sooner--the captain and +some others. + +The fortuitous accident that had put Hot Rod in operation ahead of +schedule had also stepped many plans months ahead. No violence had +actually been planned until the weapon had been thoroughly tested; but +now things looked to be working in orderly fashion; working with the +well-oiled precision of a master-plan, properly designed and properly +executed in the proper military manner. + +Only one small difficulty marred the current smoothness of the +operation. The Security men were attempting to instruct the computer +to precess the wheel back to its original position. + +In reply, for every figure of any type sent over the keyboard, the Cow +sent back a half-yard of confused, rambling figures and would do +nothing else. + +General Elbertson snapped a single command. "Turn the thing off. We'll +get to that later." + +Busily the men switched the keys to the "off" position. Just as busily +the Cow continued to pour out figures, interspersed with rambling +pages of physics covering such odd subjects as the yak population of +the Andes, the number of buffalo that were purported to be able to +dance on the rim of the Grand Canyon--a fantastic figure--some +confused statement about the birth rate in Indo-China, and an equally +confused statement about the learning rate in schools in Haddock. + +Eventually, if one cared to sort it out, the Cow might produce the +entire Encyclopedia Britannica for the year 1911; and then again, +possibly for the year 33,310. Actually, it only depended on what you +wished to select. It was a vast mass of material that was being +happily upchucked into the lap of the confused communications officer +and his two, unhelpful assistants. + +[Illustration] + +Not a single one of the view panels, either those at the computer's +console or the ones at the captain's console, were presenting a +readable picture. Hodgepodges and flickerings, yes. Scraps of +star-lit sky--perhaps. Or vaguely wavy electronic patterns that would +have been familiar to anyone who ever looked at a broken TV set. + +The Cow was really wild. + +Leaning back in the captain's chair, watching the screen casually, +General Elbertson chuckled. + +He didn't, he noticed, feel nearly so weary. + +The position actually was good, even if those idiots didn't know what +they were doing with the computer. That could be straightened out. + +Somewhere, he was sure, there was cause for great pride in his +actions. + +The peaceful glow of victory seemed to settle about him. + +He HAD won. He was in the captain's chair of the only space station +that man had ever put in orbit. + +His worst enemy was tied to a chair only a few feet away. + +At times like this a man could glow, could feel expansive even towards +his enemies. + +Naylor wasn't such a bad chap. If he hadn't thrown in with the +scientists he might even now be a fellow officer, entitled to full +respect and honor. + +General Elbertson did not consider it odd that his face was suddenly +flushed with triumph. There was a glow of energy. Why, he could even +get up and dance a jig--and this he proceeded to do. + +Around him, the two Security men joined in, followed by the +communications officer--and then, realizing that their friends +couldn't dance with them, they undid the ropes and invited the captain +and Bessie to join them. + +Soon they were all whirling giddily, though there was hardly the space +for it. Maybe they should go next door, into the large clear area that +was the ship's gymnasium when not being used as a morgue. + +Surprisingly, amidst these dancing figures, a head emerged from the +floor. All of them leaned over to laugh at it; and even the needle gun +failed to frighten them. + + * * * * * + +Bessie had a hangover. She groaned and stretched. There certainly must +have been lots of vodka at that party last night. + +Party? What party? + +It was difficult to separate various concepts and orient herself to a +present where and when. + +Slowly the soft susurrus background song of the big wheel penetrated +consciousness, and another, closer roar. Millie taking a shower, she +realized. + +Suddenly she came out of the vagueness wide awake, the hangover +cleared magically, evaporating much too quickly to have been caused by +alcohol. + +But she had been tied up to a chair on the bridge beside Nails, +prisoner of the Security men, only minutes ago. + +WHAT was going on? + +Millie stepped out of the shower into the compartment the two girls +occupied, and smiled. + +"How're you doing? About to come out of it?" + +"Da, Da eta--" with an effort Bessie switched to English. "Explosion? +What happened?" + +"Oh, Mike just had to get the Security men off guard. Something to do +with the air supply. He asked me to apologize to you if you don't feel +so good. But after all, we got the Lab back and that's the main +thing." + +"Security. Oh! I've got to get to Nails right away. They've taken over +Earth, too, you know. We've got to make sure they don't get control of +the projects. We'll be shot of course. But their ambitions rest on +having control of Hot Rod and the wheel. Probably secret control--" + +"But--" + +"Nails has got to figure out how to destroy the project without too +many casualties. Maybe he can get some of our men back to Earth, +though of course we're all expendable. We can't let these monsters +have the wheel and Hot Rod! That's what they need for power--" + +"Bessie--" + +"Of course, we can stand and fight for as long as possible, but we're +sitting ducks, and even with Hot Rod there's not much we can do--we +can't fire on Earth, we'd hit friend as well as enemy. So I think +we've just got to stand and fight a bit, and then destroy both Hot Rod +and the wheel. Anyhow, that's Nails' decision, and I've got to get to +Nails--" + +"Whoa!" Millie finally managed to stem the flow. "We're not stuck--not +just stuck here in orbit any longer, waiting to see what's going on on +Earth," she said softly, "or what they're going to do about us 'mad +scientists.' Mike and Ishie started this whole thing when one of their +experiments turned out to be a space drive, and the boys are working +real hard on getting a drive unit set up capable of taking our whole +complex out into space. But they need somebody to tell the captain ... +uh ... properly ... as soon as he's awake that is ... uh ... you know +what I mean." + +"Whoa, yourself, girl. What's this--space drive?" + +"Well, they didn't find out themselves until after it had wiped out +Thule Base--nearly ten hours after that, in fact. That magneto-ionic +thing the Sacred Cow's been talking about--they invented that real +quick to cover up. You see ... oh, it's too complicated. + +"Look, we've got a real _space_ drive. We can go to the moon or +Mars--or Pluto if we want to. And we've got to let Nails know real +quick that he can get us out of here--and without making him mad that +we wrecked Thule Base. But really, after the way those Security goons +acted, maybe he won't be mad if you handle it right. How about it?" + +The hangover was disappearing magically. But this flow of information +was nearly as bad. + +A space drive? Bessie knew she couldn't evaluate one way or the other +on that. That would be Nails' problem. + +But they were in a pickle, and it would be up to her to see that Nails +didn't waste too much time evaluating things. Those Security men had +been prepared to play real rough, and more of them were on their way +up. + +"Where is Nails?" + +"The boys put him to bed. In his quarters. He got a dose of the same +stuff that put you out. He ought to be coming to almost any time now. +And probably mad about the whole thing." + +Instantly, Bessie was on her feet, flinging on clothes, and out down +the corridor toward Nails' private stateroom. + + * * * * * + +It had been thirty-two hours since Major--General--whatever it was +Elbertson--had been defeated on the bridge for the final time. + +He and his men were now securely locked in one of the empty labs. The +paralysis effect of the needle gun had probably worn off. Mike hadn't +checked to find out. + +Bessie and her relief operators were watching the prisoners through a +video display on the Sacred Cow's console, and would report anything +unusual that went on to Captain Andersen. + +Mike, Ishie, Millie, Paul and Tombu had completed the new Confusor +drive units, and they were nearly installed. + +More time would be taken arranging the engineering quarters so that +the installation of her control panel and the units themselves would +be completed. + +This part, Mike didn't like too well. It meant re-arranging his +already carefully arranged units, and considerable re-wiring without +interfering with any of the basic functions of the wheel. + +The new units had turned out to look very little like the original. +Fourteen feet long by eighteen inches outside diameter, they looked +very much like a group of stove-pipes arranged in a circular pattern +around the engineering quarters, braced from wall to wall. + +The control console itself, even though made rapidly, had the look of +a carefully planned and well-made unit; something that might have +turned up in one of Earth's better R&D labs, as part of a +multi-million dollar project. + +All together, the drive rods would provide something better than a +tenth of a gee thrust for the combined mass of the wheel, Hot Rod, the +pile and the other subsidiary units around them. + +A tenth of a gee. Not enough to land on Earth; but with things down +there the way they were now, who wanted to? + +With these units, the whole storehouse of the solar system was at +their disposal. + +With these units they could reach the asteroids. + +With these units, they could range as far out as Pluto without fear of +consequences--without, Mike added to himself, even the fear of +radiation that was a constant threat to them here, for the farther +from the sun they went, the less radiation they would have to endure. +The three months would be extended. For those who needed it, better +shielding could be found. + +The system was theirs. + +Possibly, also the stars beyond. + +That, he reminded himself, if they could get these units installed +before the scuttlebug arrived. + +Undoubtedly, Earth Security had sent arms as well as men. + +Where they were, not strictly on course, but still in a satellite-type +orbit, they remained sitting ducks for any number of countermeasures +that Earth might throw against them. + +Once gone from this orbit, there was not sufficient rocket-power on +Earth to track them down. + +If they took Hot Rod with them, there was no single weapon at man's +command that could stop them. And take Hot Rod with them they would. + +In his address to the ship's personnel this morning, Captain Nails +had made it quite clear that they wanted no part of the plots and +counterplots of Earth; that theirs was the job of scientists, not +soldiers; that a path was open to them that they would follow. + +Later, they could return. Later, with the supplies that were free to +be taken from space, they could build strength. + +They could return quietly, one by one, two by two, at times and places +of their own choosing. + +Then, and only then, they could lend aid to those on Earth who would +always fight for freedom. + +But not now. + +They were yet weak; the path of escape and the path of promise lay +before them. + +The only help they could be would be to follow that path. + +It might not be that the path led where they wanted to go--or where +they thought they were going--but nevertheless the path was there, and +follow it they must. + + * * * * * + +Quite a speech, Mike thought. There had been much more, but that, and +the Declaration of the Freedom of Space, were the parts that had +stayed with him. + +That last they had broadcast back to Earth, thrown, as it were, into +the screaming teeth of the new dictatorial leaders. + +Mike leaned back from what he was doing and caught Ishie's eye. + +He chuckled, and said "That was quite a mass of stuff that the Cow +upchucked on your command. Why didn't you just freeze her like I +thought you were going to do?" + +"Confusion say," quoth Ishie blandly, "he who would play poker with +dishonest men should never put all cards on table too soon. Or in +other words, Confusion is the better part of valor. The garbage made +them think that the Cow had sprung a cog somewhere, without ever +guessing that we had control. + +"And by the way, Mike, that was quite a trick you pulled with the air +supply. Having the Cow boost up the oxygen on the bridge until those +idiots got so drunk they were climbing the walls." + +"You don't happen to have any education as a psychologist, do you +Ishie? Or perhaps a brain surgeon?" Mike inquired. "It seems a shame +to drag those Security apes along with us. We can't just dump them +overboard, but it would be nice if we could just confuse them or +something." + +"Sorry, Mike. Techniques of brainwashing are a bit out of my line. +Beside, Confusion say those who run from wolf pack have better chance +if they leave some meat behind for the wolves to fight over. I've +already spoken to Captain Nails about it. We _intend_ to dump them +overboard--just twenty minutes before the scuttlebug arrives. In +suits, of course," he added. "Then we'll take off and see whether +Security takes care of its own." + +There was a possibility, Mike felt grimly, that perhaps Security +wouldn't take care of its own. But then, he asked himself, did he +really care? And found it very difficult to come up with an answer. +But he realized with vast respect that the master of Confusion was not +himself confused as to the issues involved before them. + +"It's lucky for us," Mike said, "that you happened to pick this time +to be aboard. Your work would have gone more smoothly if you'd waited +until the next go-round." + +Ishie grinned, for once slightly embarrassed. "Confusion say," he +said, "luck is for those who make it. I expected that with Hot Rod +coming into operation, some such play would be attempted. I've met +Security before." + +Millie laid down her soldering iron, and disappeared through the +bulkhead, returning shortly with a tray of sandwiches and coffee. + +Coffee in real cups, for there was spin on the satellite, things were +working well, and those bottles--ugh. + +"Relax, boys, we've still got three hours," she told them. "Radar +hasn't spotted the scuttlebug yet. But our new communications officer, +Lal, has them on the line. He's apparently convinced them of his +honorable intentions and gotten an exact prediction of arrival time. +They think Major ... uh, General Elbertson has the situation well in +hand. They even think Hot Rod's operational!" + +The crew relaxed around the circular room, squatting wherever +convenient, and sipping luxuriously at the cups of coffee, munching +sandwiches, and for the moment content. + +Hot Rod had been secured to the ship with extra acceleration cables, +and as soon as practicable a remote-controlled Confusor would be +placed aboard to assist in any fast maneuvers that they might have to +make; but for now there was no acceleration, and the group composed of +the wheel, the big laser, the dump and the pile moved peacefully in +orbit under free-fall conditions. + +Millie began to hum a soft tune. Someone else brought forth a +harmonica that had been smuggled aboard, and suddenly Paul Chernov +burst into song, his deep baritone, perhaps inspired by the captain's +speech earlier in the day, lending the wailing "The Spaceman's +Lament," an extra folk beat: + + _"The captain spoke of stars and bars + Of far-off places like maybe Mars + But the slipsticks slip on this ship of ours-- + And we'll get where I wasn't going!"_ + +Mike looked over at Millie as she drank her coffee, a slender, dark +figure--able with a soldering iron; able as a defending panther; able +as a spaceman's mate. He was glad the captain of the ship was a proper +marrying officer, for he had an idea the feeling he felt was mutual, +as he joined with the crew in the chorus: + + _"There's a sky-trail leading from here to there + And another yonder showing-- + But when we get to the end of the run + It'll be where I wasn't going...."_ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Where I Wasn't Going, by +Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE I WASN'T GOING *** + +***** This file should be named 31116.txt or 31116.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/1/1/31116/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/31116.zip b/31116.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae90faa --- /dev/null +++ b/31116.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c557c4c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #31116 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31116) |
