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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32067-h.zip b/32067-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ba546e --- /dev/null +++ b/32067-h.zip diff --git a/32067-h/32067-h.htm b/32067-h/32067-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0ddd29 --- /dev/null +++ b/32067-h/32067-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1449 @@ +<!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 Atom Drive, by Charles Fontenay. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ +div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + color: #A9A9A9; +} + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: #A9A9A9; +} /* page numbers */ + + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: smaller;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; +} + + +.centerbox { width: 50%; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding: 1em; + } + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Atom Drive, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +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: Atom Drive + +Author: Charles Louis Fontenay + +Release Date: April 20, 2010 [EBook #32067] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATOM DRIVE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="centerbox"> +<p class="center">Transcriber's note:</p> + +<p>This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction April 1956. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright +on this publication was renewed.</p></div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 391px;"> +<img src="images/if195604000.jpg" width="391" height="550" alt="cover" title="" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="500" height="399" alt="" title="spaceship image" /> +</div> +<h1>ATOM DRIVE</h1> + +<h2>BY CHARLES FONTENAY</h2> + +<div class="centerbox"><p><i>It was a race between the tortoise and the hare. But this hare was +using some dirty tricks to make sure the ending would be +different....</i></p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/002.jpg" width="500" height="405" alt="Illustrated by Ed Emsh" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Illustrated by Ed Emsh</span> +</div> + + + + +<p>The two spaceship crews were friendly enemies, sitting across the table +from each other for their last meal before blastoff. Outside the ports, +the sky was nothing but light-streaked blackness, punctured periodically +by Earth glare, for Space Station 2 whirled swiftly on its axis, +creating an artificial gravity.</p> + +<p>"Jonner, I figured you the last man ever to desert the rockets for a +hot-rod tow-job," chided Russo Baat, captain of the Mars Corporation's +gleaming new freighter, <i>Marsward XVIII</i>. Baat was fat and red-faced, +and one of the shrewdest space captains in the business.</p> + +<p>Jonner Jons, at the other end of the table, inclined his grizzled head +and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Times change, Russo," he answered quietly. "Even the Mars Corporation +can't stop that."</p> + +<p>"Is it true that you're pulling five thousand tons of cargo, Captain?" +asked one of the crewmen of the <i>Marsward XVIII</i>.</p> + +<p>"Something like that," agreed Jonner, and his smile broadened. "And I +have only about twice the fuel supply you carry for a 100-ton payload."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>The communicator above them squawked and blared:</p> + +<p>"Captain Jons and Captain Baat of Martian competition run, please report +to control for final briefing."</p> + +<p>"I knew it!" grumbled Baat, getting heavily and reluctantly to his feet. +"I haven't gotten to finish a meal on this blasted merry-go-round yet."</p> + +<p>In the space station's control section, Commander Ortega of the Space +Control Commission, an ascetic officer in plain blues, looked them up +and down severely.</p> + +<p>"As you know, gentlemen," he said, "blastoff time is 0600. Tonnage of +cargo, fuel and empty vessels cannot be a factor, under the law. The +Mars Corporation will retain its exclusive franchise to the Earth-Mars +run, unless the ship sponsored by the Atom-Star Company returns to Earth +with full cargo at least twenty hours ahead of the ship sponsored by the +Mars Corporation. Cargo must be unloaded at Mars and new cargo taken on. +I do not consider the twenty-hour bias in favor of the Mars Corporation +a fair one," said Ortega severely, turning his gaze to Baat, "but the +Space Control Commission does not make the laws. It enforces them. +Docking and loading facilities will be available to both of you on an +equal basis at Phobos and Marsport. Good luck."</p> + +<p>He shook hands with both of them.</p> + +<p>"Saturn, I'm glad to get out of there!" exclaimed Baat, mopping his brow +as they left the control section. "Every time I take a step, I feel like +I'm falling on my face."</p> + +<p>"It's because the control section's so close to the center," replied +Jonner. "The station's spinning to maintain artificial gravity, and your +feet are away from the center. As long as you're standing upright, the +pull is straight up and down to you, but actually your feet are moving +faster than your head, in a larger orbit. When you try to move, as in +normal gravity, your body swings out of that line of pull and you nearly +fall. The best corrective, I've found, is to lean backward slightly when +you start to walk."</p> + +<p>As the two space captains walked back toward the wardroom together, Baat +said:</p> + +<p>"Jonner, I hear the Mars Corporation offered you the <i>Marsward XVIII</i> +for this run first, and you turned them down. Why? You piloted the +<i>Marsward V</i> and the <i>Wayward Lady</i> for Marscorp when those upstarts in +the Argentine were trying to crack the Earth-Mars run. This Atom-Star +couldn't have enough money to buy you away from Marscorp."</p> + +<p>"No, Marscorp offered me more," said Jonner, soberly now. "But this +atomic drive is the future of space travel, Russo. Marscorp has it, but +they're sitting on it because they've got their fingers in hydrazine +interests here, and the atom drive will make hydrazine useless for space +fuel. Unless I can break the franchise for Atom-Star, it may be a +hundred years before we switch to the atom drive in space."</p> + +<p>"What the hell difference does that make to you?" asked Baat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Hydrazine's expensive," replied Jonner. "Reaction mass isn't, and you +use less of it. I was born on Mars, Russo. Mars is my home, and I want +to see my people get the supplies they need from Earth at a reasonable +transport cost, not pay through the nose for every packet of vegetable +seed."</p> + +<p>They reached the wardroom door.</p> + +<p>"Too bad I have to degrav my old chief," said Baat, chuckling. "But I'm +a rocket man, myself, and I say to hell with your hot-rod atom drive. +I'm sorry you got deflected into this run, Jonner; you'll never break +Marscorp's orbit."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The <i>Marsward XVIII</i> was a huge vessel, the biggest the Mars Corporation +ever had put into space. It was a collection of spheres and cylinders, +joined together by a network of steel ties. Nearly 90% of its weight was +fuel, for the one-way trip to Mars.</p> + +<p>Its competitor, the <i>Radiant Hope</i>, riding ten miles away in orbit +around the Earth, was the strangest looking vessel ever to get clearance +from a space station. It looked like a tug towing a barge. The tug was +the atomic power plant. Two miles behind, attached by a thin cable, was +the passenger compartment and cargo.</p> + +<p>On the control deck of the <i>Radiant Hope</i>, Jonner gripped a microphone +and shouted profane instructions at the pilot of a squat ground-to-space +rocket twenty miles away. T'an Li Cho, the ship's engineer, was peering +out the port at the speck of light toward which Jonner was directing his +wrath, while Qoqol, the Martian astrogator, worked at his charts on the +other side of the deck.</p> + +<p>"I thought all cargo was aboard, Jonner," said T'an.</p> + +<p>"It is," said Jonner, laying the mike aside. "That G-boat isn't hauling +cargo. It's going with us. I'm not taking any chances on Marscorp +refusing to ferry our cargo back and forth at Mars."</p> + +<p>"Is plotted, Jonner," boomed Qoqol, turning his head to peer at them +with huge eyes through the spidery tangle of his thin, double-jointed +arms and legs. He reached an eight-foot arm across the deck and handed +Jonner his figures. Jonner gave them to T'an.</p> + +<p>"Figure out power for that one, T'an," ordered Jonner, and took his seat +in the cushioned control chair.</p> + +<p>T'an pulled a slide rule from his tunic pocket, but his black almond +eyes rested quizzically on Jonner.</p> + +<p>"It's four hours before blastoff," he reminded.</p> + +<p>"I've cleared power for this with Space Control," replied Jonner. "That +planet-loving G-boat jockey missed orbit. We'll have to swing out a +little and go to him."</p> + +<p>On a conventional space craft, the order for acceleration would have +sent the engineer to the engine deck to watch his gauges and report by +intercom. But the <i>Radiant Hope</i>'s "engine deck" was the atomic tug two +miles ahead, which T'an, in heavy armor, would enter only in +emergencies. He calculated for a moment, then called softly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> to Jonner:</p> + +<p>"Pile One, in ten."</p> + +<p>"In ten," confirmed Jonner, pulling a lever on the calibrated gauge of +the radio control.</p> + +<p>"Pile Two, in fifteen."</p> + +<p>"In fifteen."</p> + +<p>"Check. I'll have the length of burst figured for you in a jiffy."</p> + +<p>A faint glow appeared around the atomic tug far ahead, and there was the +faintest shiver in the ship. But after a moment, Qoqol said in a puzzled +tone:</p> + +<p>"No Gs, Jonner. Engine not work?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, she's working," said Jonner with a grin. "You'll never get any +more G than we've got now, Qoqol, all the way to Mars. Our maximum +acceleration will be 1/3,000th-G."</p> + +<p>"One three-thousandth?" exclaimed T'an, shaken out of his Oriental calm. +"Jonner, the <i>Marsward</i> will blast away at one or two Gs. How do you +expect to beat that at 1/3,000th?"</p> + +<p>"Because they have to cut off and coast most of the way in an elliptic +orbit, like any other rocket," answered Jonner calmly. "We drive +straight across the system, under power all the time. We accelerate half +way, decelerate the other half."</p> + +<p>"But 1/3,000th!"</p> + +<p>"You'll be surprised at what constant power can do. I know Baat, and I +know the trick he's going to use. It's obvious from the blastoff time +they arranged. He's going to tack off the Moon and use his power right +to cut 20 days off that regular 237-day schedule. But this tug-boat will +make it in 154 days!"</p> + +<p>They took aboard the 200-ton landing boat. By the time they got it +secured, the radio already was sounding warnings for blastoff.</p> + +<p>Zero hour arrived. Again Jonner pulled levers and again the faint glow +appeared around the tail of their distant tug. Across space the exhaust +of the <i>Marsward XVIII</i> flared into blinding flame. In a moment, it +began to pull ahead visibly and soon was receding like a meteor.</p> + +<p>Near the <i>Radiant Hope</i>, the space station seemed not to have changed +position at all.</p> + +<p>"The race is not always to the swift," remarked Jonner philosophically.</p> + +<p>"And we're the tortoise," said T'an. "How about filling us in on this +jaunt, Jonner?"</p> + +<p>"Is should, Jonner," agreed Qoqol. "T'an know all about crazy new +engine, I know all about crazy new orbit. Both not know all. You tell."</p> + +<p>"I planned to, anyway," said Jonner. "I had figured on having Serj in on +it, but he wouldn't understand much of it anyhow. There's no use in +waking him up."</p> + +<p>Serj was the ship's doctor-psychologist and fourth member of the crew. +He was asleep below on the centerdeck.</p> + +<p>"For your information, Qoqol," said Jonner, "the atomic engine produces +electrical energy, which accelerates reaction mass. Actually, it's a +crude ion engine. T'an can explain the details to you later, but the +important thing is that the fuel is cheap, the fuel-to-cargo ratio is +low and constant acceleration is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> practical.</p> + +<p>"As for you, Tan, I was surprised at your not understanding why we'll +use low acceleration. To boost the engine power and give us more Gs, +we'd either have to carry more fuel or coast part of the way on +momentum, like an ordinary rocket. This way's more efficient, and our +63-day margin over the <i>Marsward</i> each way is more than enough for +unloading and loading more cargo and fuel."</p> + +<p>"With those figures, I can't see how Marscorp expects to win this +competition," said T'an.</p> + +<p>"We've got them, flat, on the basis of performance," agreed Jonner. "So +we'll have to watch for tricks. I know Marscorp. That's why I arranged +to take aboard that G-boat at the last minute. Marscorp controls all the +G-boats at Marsport, and they're smart enough to keep us from using +them, in spite of the Space Control Commission. As for refueling for the +return trip, we can knock a chunk off of Phobos for reaction mass."</p> + +<p>The meteor alarm bells clanged suddenly, and the screen lit up once with +a fast-moving red line that traced the path of the approaching object.</p> + +<p>"Miss us about half a mile," said Jonner after a glance at the screen. +"Must be pretty big ... and it's coming <i>up</i>!"</p> + +<p>He and T'an floated to one of the ports, and in a few moments saw the +object speed by.</p> + +<p>"That's no meteor!" exclaimed Jonner with a puzzled frown. "That's +man-made. But it's too small for a G-boat."</p> + +<p>The radio blared: "All craft in orbit near Space Station 2! Warning! All +craft near Space Station 2! Experimental missile misfired from White +Sands! Repeat: experimental missile misfired from White Sands! +Coordinates...."</p> + +<p>"Fine time to tell us," remarked T'an drily.</p> + +<p>"Experimental missile, hell!" snorted Jonner, comprehension dawning. +"Qoqol, what would have happened if we hadn't shifted orbit to take +aboard that G-boat?"</p> + +<p>Qoqol calculated a moment.</p> + +<p>"Hit our engines," he announced. "Dead center."</p> + +<p>Jonner's blue eyes clouded ominously. "Looks like they're playing for +keeps this time, boys."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The brotherhood of spacemen is an exclusive club. Any captain, +astrogator or engineer is likely to be well known to his colleagues, +either personally or by reputation.</p> + +<p>The ship's doctor-psychologist is in a different category. Most of them +sign on for a few runs for the adventure of it, as a means of getting +back and forth between planets without paying the high cost of passage +or to pick up even more money than they can get from lucrative +planetbound practice.</p> + +<p>Jonner did not know Serj, the <i>Radiant Hope</i>'s doctor. Neither T'an nor +Qoqol ever had heard of him. But Serj appeared to know his business well +enough, and was friendly enough.</p> + +<p>It was Serj's first trip and he was very interested in the way the ship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +operated. He nosed into every corner of it and asked a hundred questions +a day.</p> + +<p>"You're as inquisitive as a cadet spaceman, Serj," Jonner told him on +the twenty-fifth day out. Everybody knew everyone else well by then, +which meant that Jonner and Qoqol, who had served together before, had +become acquainted with T'an and Serj.</p> + +<p>"There's a lot to see and learn about space, Captain," said Serj. He was +a young fellow, with fair hair and an easy grin. "Think I could go +outside?"</p> + +<p>"If you keep a lifeline hooked on. The suits have magnetic shoes to hold +you to the hull of the ship, but you can lose your footing."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Serj. He touched his hand to his forehead and left the +control deck.</p> + +<p>Jonner, near the end of his eight-hour duty shift, watched the dials.</p> + +<p>The red light showing the inner airlock door was open blinked on. It +blinked off, then the outer airlock indicator went on, and off.</p> + +<p>A shadow fell across Jonner briefly. He glanced at the port and reached +for the microphone.</p> + +<p>"Careful and don't step on any of the ports," he warned Serj. "The +magnetic soles won't hold on them."</p> + +<p>"I'll be careful, sir," answered Serj.</p> + +<p>No one but a veteran spaceman would have noticed the faint quiver that +ran through the ship, but Jonner felt it. Automatically, he swung his +control chair and his eyes swept the bank of dials.</p> + +<p>At first he saw nothing. The outer lock light blinked on and off, then +the inner lock indicator. That was Serj coming back inside.</p> + +<p>Then Jonner noted that the hand on one dial rested on zero. Above the +dial was the word: "ACCELERATION."</p> + +<p>His eyes snapped to the radio controls. The atomic pile levers were +still at their proper calibration. The dials above them said the engines +were working properly.</p> + +<p>The atomic tug was still accelerating, but passengers and cargo were in +free fall.</p> + +<p>Swearing Jonner jerked at the levers to pull out the piles aboard the +tug.</p> + +<p>A blue flash flared across the control board, momentarily blinding him. +Jonner recoiled, only his webbed safety belt preventing him from +plummeting from the control chair.</p> + +<p>He swung back anxiously to the dials, brushing futilely at the spots +that swam before his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief. The radio +controls had operated. The atomic engines had ceased firing.</p> + +<p>Tentatively, cautiously, he reversed the lever. There was no blue flash +this time, but neither did the dials quiver. He swore. Something had +burned out in the radio controls. He couldn't reverse the tug.</p> + +<p>He punched the general alarm button viciously, and the raucous clangor +of the bell sounded through the confines of the ship. One by one, the +other crew members popped up to the control deck from below.</p> + +<p>He turned the controls over to Qoqol.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Take readings on that damn tug," Jonner ordered. "I think our cable +broke. T'an, let's go take a look."</p> + +<p>When they got outside, they found about a foot of the one-inch cable +still attached to the ship. The rest of it, drawn away by the tug before +Jonner could cut acceleration, was out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Can it be welded, T'an?"</p> + +<p>"It can, but it'll take a while," replied the engineer slowly. "First, +we'll have to reverse that tug and get the other end of that break."</p> + +<p>"Damn, and the radio control's burned out. I tried to reverse it before +I sounded the alarm. T'an, how fast can you get those controls +repaired?"</p> + +<p>"Great space!" exclaimed T'an softly. "Without seeing it, I'd say at +least two days, Jonner. Those controls are complicated as hell."</p> + +<p>They re-entered the ship. Qoqol was working at his diagrams, and Serj +was looking over his shoulder. Jonner took a heat-gun quietly from the +rack and pointed it at Serj.</p> + +<p>"You'll get below, mister," he commanded grimly. "You'll be handcuffed +to your bunk from here on out."</p> + +<p>"Sir?... I don't understand," stammered Serj.</p> + +<p>"Like hell you don't. You cut that cable," Jonner accused.</p> + +<p>Serj started to shrug, but he dropped his eyes.</p> + +<p>"They paid me," he said in a low tone. "They paid me a thousand solars."</p> + +<p>"What good would a thousand solars do you when you're dead, Serj ... +dead of suffocation and drifting forever in space?"</p> + +<p>Serj looked up in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Why, you can still reach Earth by radio, easy," he said. "It wouldn't +take long for a rescue ship to reach us."</p> + +<p>"Chemical rockets have their limitations," said Jonner coldly.</p> + +<p>"And you don't realize what speed we've built up with steady +acceleration. We'd head straight out of the system, and nothing could +intercept us, if that tug had gotten too far before we noticed it was +gone."</p> + +<p>He jabbed the white-faced doctor with the muzzle of the heat-gun.</p> + +<p>"Get below," he ordered. "I'll turn you over to Space Control at Mars."</p> + +<p>When Serj had left the control deck, Jonner turned to the others. His +face was grave.</p> + +<p>"That tug picked up speed before I could shut off the engines, after the +cable was cut," he said. "It's moving away from us slowly, and at a +tangent. And solar gravity's acting on both bodies now. By the time we +get those controls repaired, the drift may be such that we'll waste +weeks maneuvering the tug back."</p> + +<p>"I could jet out to the tug in a spacesuit, before it gets too far +away," said T'an thoughtfully. "But that wouldn't do any good. There's +no way of controlling the engines, at the tug. It has to be done by +radio."</p> + +<p>"If we get out of this, remind me to recommend that atomic ships always +carry a spare cable," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> Jonner gloomily. "If we had one, we could +splice them and hold the ship to the tug until the controls are +repaired."</p> + +<p>"Is cable in cargo strong enough, Jonner?" asked Qoqol.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" exclaimed Jonner, brightening. "Most of our cargo's +cable! That 4,000-ton spool we're hauling back there is 6,000 miles of +cable to lay a television network between the Martian cities."</p> + +<p>"Television cable?" repeated T'an doubtfully. "Will that be strong +enough?"</p> + +<p>"It's bound in flonite, that new fluorine compound. It's strong enough +to tow this whole cargo at a couple of Gs. There's nothing aboard this +ship that would cut off a length of it—a heat-gun at full power +wouldn't even scorch it—but we can unwind enough of it, and block the +spool. It'll hold the ship to the tug until the controls can be +repaired, then we can reverse the tug and weld the cable."</p> + +<p>"You mean the whole 6,000 miles of it's in one piece?" demanded T'an in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"That's not so much. The cable-laying steamer <i>Dominia</i> carried 3,000 +miles in one piece to lay Atlantic cables in the early 20th century."</p> + +<p>"But how'll we ever get 4,000 tons in one piece down to Mars?" asked +T'an. "No G-boat can carry that load."</p> + +<p>Jonner chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Same way they got it up from Earth to the ship," he answered. "They +attached one end of it to a G-boat and sent it up to orbit, then wound +it up on a fast winch. Since the G-boat will be decelerating to Mars, +the unwinding will have to be slowed or the cable would tangle itself +all over Syrtis."</p> + +<p>"Sounds like it's made to order," said T'an, grinning. "I'll get into my +spacesuit."</p> + +<p>"You'll get to work on the radio controls," contradicted Jonner, getting +up. "That's something I can't do, and I can get into a spacesuit and +haul a length of cable out to the tug. Qoqol can handle the winch."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Deveet, the Atom-Star Company's representative at Mars City, and Kruger +of the Space Control Commission were waiting when the <i>Radiant Hope</i>'s +G-boat dropped down from the Phobos station and came to rest in a wash +of jets. They rode out to the G-boat together in a Commission groundcar. +Jonner emerged from the G-boat, following the handcuffed Serj.</p> + +<p>"He's all yours," Jonner told Kruger, gesturing at Serj. "You have my +radio reports on the cable-cutting, and I'll make my log available to +you."</p> + +<p>Kruger put his prisoner in the front seat of the groundcar beside him, +and Jonner climbed in the back seat with Deveet.</p> + +<p>"I brought the crates of dies for the groundcar factory down this time," +Jonner told Deveet. "We'll bring down all the loose cargo before +shooting the television cable down. While they're unloading the G-boat, +I wish you'd get the tanks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> refilled with hydrazine and nitric acid. +I've got enough to get back up, but not enough for a round trip."</p> + +<p>"What do you plan to do?" asked Deveet. He was a dark-skinned, +long-faced man with a sardonic twist to his mouth.</p> + +<p>"I've got to sign on a new ship's doctor to replace Serj. When the +<i>Marsward</i> comes in, Marscorp will have a dozen G-boats working round +the clock to unload and reload her. With only one G-boat, we've got to +make every hour count. We still have reaction mass to pick up on +Phobos."</p> + +<p>"Right," agreed Deveet. "You can take the return cargo up in one load, +though. It's just twenty tons of Martian relics for the Solar Museum. +Mars-to-Earth cargos run light."</p> + +<p>At the administration building, Jonner took his leave of Deveet and went +up to the Space Control Commission's personnel office on the second +floor. He was in luck. On the board as applying for a Mars-Earth run as +ship's doctor-psychologist was one name: Lana Elden.</p> + +<p>He looked up the name in the Mars City directory and dialed into the +city from a nearby telephone booth. A woman's voice answered.</p> + +<p>"Is Lana Elden there?" asked Jonner.</p> + +<p>"I'm Lana Elden," she said.</p> + +<p>Jonner swore under his breath. A woman! But if she weren't qualified, +her name would not have been on the Commission board.</p> + +<p>The verbal contract was made quickly, and Jonner cut the Commission +monitor into the line to make it binding. That was done often when rival +ships, even of the same line, were bidding for the services of crewmen.</p> + +<p>"Blastoff time is 2100 tonight," he said, ending the interview. "Be +here."</p> + +<p>Jonner left the personnel office and walked down the hall. At the +elevator, Deveet and Kruger hurried out, almost colliding with him.</p> + +<p>"Jonner, we've run into trouble!" exclaimed Deveet. "Space Fuels won't +sell us any hydrazine and nitric acid to refill the tanks. They say they +have a new contract with Marscorp that takes all their supply."</p> + +<p>"Contract, hell!" snorted Jonner. "Marscorp owns Space Fuels. What can +be done about it, Kruger?"</p> + +<p>Kruger shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm all for you, but Space Control has no jurisdiction," he said. "If a +private firm wants to restrict its sales to a franchised line, there's +nothing we can do about it. If you had a franchise, we could force them +to allot fuel on the basis of cargo handled, since Space Fuels has a +monopoly here. But you don't have a franchise yet."</p> + +<p>Jonner scratched his grey head thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>It was a serious situation. The atom-powered <i>Radiant Hope</i> could no +more make a planetary landing than the chemically-powered ships. Its +power gave a low, sustained thrust that permitted it to accelerate +constantly over long periods of time. To beat the powerful pull of +planetary surface gravity, the terrific burst of quick energy from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> the +streamlined G-boats, the planetary landing craft, was needed.</p> + +<p>"We can still handle it," Jonner said at last. "With only twenty tons +return cargo, we can take it up this trip. Add some large parachutes to +that, Deveet. We'll shoot the end of the cable down by signal rocket, +out in the lowlands, and stop the winch when we've made contact, long +enough to attach the rest of the cargo to the cable. Pull it down with +the cable and, with Mars' low gravity, the parachutes will keep it from +being damaged."</p> + +<p>But when Jonner got back to the landing field to check on unloading +operations, his plan was smashed. As he approached the G-boat, a +mechanic wearing an ill-concealed smirk came up to him.</p> + +<p>"Captain, looks like you sprung a leak in your fuel line," he said. "All +your hydrazine's leaked out in the sand."</p> + +<p>Jonner swung from the waist and knocked the man flat. Then he turned on +his heel and went back to the administration building to pay the +10-credit fine he would be assessed for assaulting a spaceport employee.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Space Control Commission's hearing room in Mars City was almost +empty. The examiner sat on the bench, resting his chin on his hand as he +listened to testimony. In the plaintiff's section sat Jonner, flanked by +Deveet and Lana Elden. In the defense box were the Mars Corporation +attorney and Captain Russo Baat of the <i>Marsward XVIII</i>. Kruger, seated +near the rear of the room, was the only spectator.</p> + +<p>The Mars Corporation attorney had succeeded in delaying the final +hearing more than a 42-day Martian month by legal maneuvers. Meanwhile, +the <i>Marsward XVIII</i> had blasted down to Phobos, and G-boats had been +shuttling back and forth unloading the vessel and reloading it for the +return trip to Earth.</p> + +<p>When testimony had been completed, the examiner shuffled through his +papers. He put on his spectacles and peered over them at the litigants.</p> + +<p>"It is the ruling of this court," he said formally, "that the plaintiffs +have not presented sufficient evidence to prove tampering with the fuel +line of the G-boat of the spaceship <i>Radiant Hope</i>. There is no evidence +that it was cut or burned, but only that it was broken. The court must +remind the plaintiffs that this could have been done accidentally, +through inept handling of cargo.</p> + +<p>"Since the plaintiffs have not been able to prove their contention, this +court of complaint has no alternative than to dismiss the case."</p> + +<p>The examiner arose and left the hearing room. Baat waddled across the +aisle, puffing.</p> + +<p>"Too bad, Jonner," he said. "I don't like the stuff Marscorp's pulling, +and I think you know I don't have anything to do with it.</p> + +<p>"I want to win, but I want to win fair and square. If there's anything I +can do to help...."</p> + +<p>"Haven't got a spare G-boat in your pocket, have you?" retorted Jonner, +with a rueful smile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>Baat pulled at his jowls.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Marsward</i> isn't carrying G-boats," he said regretfully. "They all +belong to the port, and Marscorp's got them so tied up you'll never get +a sniff of one. But if you want to get back to your ship, Jonner, I can +take you up to Phobos with me, as my guest."</p> + +<p>Jonner shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I figure on taking the <i>Radiant Hope</i> back to Earth," he said. "But I'm +not blasting off without cargo until it's too late for me to beat you on +the run."</p> + +<p>"You sure? This'll be my last ferry trip. The <i>Marsward</i> blasts off for +Earth at 0300 tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"No, thanks, Russo. But I will appreciate your taking my ship's doctor, +Dr. Elden, up to Phobos."</p> + +<p>"Done!" agreed Baat. "Let's go, Dr. Elden. The G-boat leaves Marsport in +two hours."</p> + +<p>Jonner watched Baat puff away, with the slender, white-clad brunette at +his side. Baat personally would see Lana Elden safely aboard the +<i>Radiant Hope</i>, even if it delayed his own blastoff.</p> + +<p>Morosely, he left the hearing room with Deveet.</p> + +<p>"What I can't understand," said the latter, "is why all this dirty work, +why didn't Marscorp just use one of their atom-drive ships for the +competition run?"</p> + +<p>"Because whatever ship is used on a competition run has to be kept in +service on the franchised run," answered Jonner. "Marscorp has millions +tied up in hydrazine interests, and they're more interested in keeping +an atomic ship off this run than they are in a monopoly franchise. But +they tie in together: if Marscorp loses the monopoly franchise and +Atom-Star puts in atom-drive ships, Marscorp will have to switch to +atom-drive to meet the competition."</p> + +<p>"If we had a franchise, we could force Space Fuels to sell us +hydrazine," said Deveet unhappily.</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't. And, at this rate, we'll never get one."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Jonner and Deveet were fishing at the Mars City Recreation Center. It +had been several weeks since the <i>Marsward XVIII</i> blasted off to Earth +with a full cargo. And still the atomic ship <i>Radiant Hope</i> rested on +Phobos with most of her Marsbound cargo still aboard; and still her crew +languished at the Phobos space station; and still Jonner moved back and +forth between Mars City and Marsport daily, racking his brain for a +solution that would not come.</p> + +<p>"How in space do you get twenty tons of cargo up to an orbit 5,800 miles +out, without any rocket fuel?" he demanded of Deveet more than once. He +received no satisfactory answer.</p> + +<p>The Recreation Center was a two-acre park that lay beneath the plastic +dome of Mars City. Above them they could see swift-moving Phobos and +distant Deimos among the other stars that powdered the night. In the +park around them, colonists rode the amusement machines, canoed along +the canal that twisted through the park or sipped refreshment at +scattered tables. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> dozen or more sat, like Jonner and Deveet, around +the edge of the tiny lake, fishing.</p> + +<p>Deveet's line tightened. He pulled in a streamlined, flapping object +from which the light glistened wetly.</p> + +<p>"Good catch," complimented Jonner. "That's worth a full credit."</p> + +<p>Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a +metal fish: live fish were unknown on Mars. They paid for the privilege +of fishing for a certain time and any fish caught were "sold" back to +the management at a fixed price, depending on size, to be put back into +the lake.</p> + +<p>"You're pretty good at it," said Jonner. "That's your third tonight."</p> + +<p>"It's all in the speed at which you reel in your line," explained +Deveet. "The fish move at pre-set speeds. They're made to turn and catch +a hook that moves across their path at a slightly slower speed than +they're swimming. The management changes the speeds once a week to keep +the fishermen from getting too expert."</p> + +<p>"You can't beat the management," chuckled Jonner. "But if it's a matter +of matching orbital speeds to make contact, I ought to do pretty well +when I get the hang of it."</p> + +<p>He cocked an eye up toward the transparent dome. Phobos had moved across +the sky into Capricorn since he last saw her. His memory automatically +ticked off the satellite's orbital speed: 1.32 miles a second; speed in +relation to planetary motion....</p> + +<p>Why go over that again? One had to have fuel first. Meanwhile, the +<i>Radiant Hope</i> lay idle on Phobos and its crew whiled away the hours at +the space station inside the moon, their feet spinning faster than their +heads ... no, that wasn't true on Phobos, because it didn't have a spin +to impart artificial gravity, like the space stations around Earth.</p> + +<p>He sat up suddenly. Deveet looked at him in surprise. Jonner's lips +moved silently for a moment, then he got to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Where can we use a radiophone?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"One in my office," said Deveet, standing up.</p> + +<p>"Let's go. Quick, before Phobos sets."</p> + +<p>They turned in their rods, Deveet collecting the credits for his fish, +and left the Recreation Center.</p> + +<p>When they reached the Atom-Star Company's Martian office Jonner plugged +in the radiophone and called the Phobos space station. He got T'an.</p> + +<p>"All of you get aboard," Jonner ordered. "Then have Qoqol call me."</p> + +<p>He signed off and turned to Deveet. "Can we charter a plane to haul our +Earthbound cargo out of Marsport?"</p> + +<p>"A plane? I suppose so. Where do you want to haul it?"</p> + +<p>"Charax is as good as any other place. But I need a fast plane."</p> + +<p>"I think we can get it. Marscorp still controls all the airlines, but +the Mars government keeps a pretty strict finger on their planetbound +operations. They can't refuse a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> cargo haul without good reason."</p> + +<p>"Just to play safe, have some friend of yours whom they don't know, +charter the plane in his name. They won't know it's us till we start +loading cargo."</p> + +<p>"Right," said Deveet, picking up the telephone. "I know just the man."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Towmotors scuttled across the landing area at Marsport, shifting the +cargo that had been destined for the <i>Radiant Hope</i> from the helpless +G-boat to a jet cargo-plane. Nearby, watching the operation, were Jonner +and Deveet, with the Marsport agent of Mars Air Transport Company.</p> + +<p>"We didn't know Atom-Star was the one chartering the plane until you +ordered the G-boat cargo loaded on it," confessed the Mars-Air agent.</p> + +<p>"I see you and Mr. Deveet are signed up to accompany the cargo. You'll +have to rent suits for the trip. We have to play it safe, and there's +always the possibility of a forced landing."</p> + +<p>"There are a couple of spacesuits aboard the G-boat that we want to take +along," said Jonner casually. "We'll just wear those instead."</p> + +<p>"Okay." The agent spread his hands and shrugged. "Everybody at Marsport +knows about you bucking Marscorp, Captain. What you expect to gain by +transferring your cargo to Charax is beyond me, but it's your business."</p> + +<p>An hour later, the chartered airplane took off with a thunder of jets. +Aboard was the 20-ton cargo the <i>Radiant Hope</i> was supposed to carry to +Earth, plus some large parachutes. The Mars-Air pilot wore a light suit +with plastic helmet designed for survival in the thin, cold Martian air. +Jonner and Deveet wore the bulkier spacesuits.</p> + +<p>Five minutes out of Marsport, Jonner thrust the muzzle of a heat-gun in +the pilot's back.</p> + +<p>"Set it on automatic, strap on your parachute and bail out," he ordered. +"We're taking over."</p> + +<p>The pilot had no choice. He went through the plane's airlock and jumped, +helped by a hearty boost from Jonner. His parachute blossomed out as he +drifted down toward the green Syrtis Major Lowland. Jonner didn't worry +about him. He knew the pilot's helmet radio would reach Marsport and a +helicopter would rescue him shortly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you're trying to do, Jonner," said Deveet +apprehensively over his spacehelmet radio. "But whatever it is, you'd +better do it fast. They'll have every plane on Mars looking for us in +half an hour."</p> + +<p>"Let 'em look, and keep quiet a while," retorted Jonner. "I've got some +figuring to do."</p> + +<p>He put the plane on automatic, took off the spacesuit handhooks and +scribbled figures on a scrap of paper. He tuned in the plane's radio and +called Qoqol on Phobos. They talked to each other briefly in Martian.</p> + +<p>The darker green line of a canal crossed the green lowland below them.</p> + +<p>"Good, there's Drosinas," mut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>tered Jonner. "Let's see, time 1424 hours, +speed 660 miles an hour...."</p> + +<p>Jonner boosted the jets a bit and watched the terrain.</p> + +<p>"By Saturn, I almost overran it!" he exclaimed. "Deveet, smash out those +ports."</p> + +<p>"Break out the ports?" repeated Deveet. "That'll depressurize the +cabin!"</p> + +<p>"That's right. So you'd better be sure your spacesuit's secure."</p> + +<p>Obviously puzzled, Deveet strode up and down the cabin, knocking out its +six windows with the handhooks of his spacesuit. Jonner maneuvered the +plane gently, and set it on automatic. He got out of the pilot's seat +and strode to the right front port.</p> + +<p>Reaching through the broken window, he pulled in a section of cable that +was trailing alongside. While the baffled Deveet watched, he reeled it +in until he brought up the end of it, to which was attached a +fish-shaped finned metal missile.</p> + +<p>Jonner carried the cable end and the attached missile across the cabin +and tossed it out the broken front port on the other side, swinging it +so that the 700-mile-an-hour slipstream snapped it back in through the +rearmost port like a bullet.</p> + +<p>"Pick it up and pass it out the right rear port," he commanded. "We'll +have to pass it to each other from port to port. The slipstream won't +let us swing it forward and through."</p> + +<p>In a few moments, the two of them had worked the missile and the cable +end to the right front port and in through it. Originating above the +plane, it now made a loop through the four open ports. Jonner untied the +missile and tied the end to the portion which came into the cabin, +making a bowline knot of the loop. Deveet picked up the missile from the +floor, where Jonner had thrown it.</p> + +<p>"Looks like a spent rocket shell," he commented.</p> + +<p>"It's a signal rocket," said Jonner. "The flare trigger was +disconnected."</p> + +<p>He picked up the microphone and called the <i>Radiant Hope</i> on Phobos.</p> + +<p>"We've hooked our fish, Qoqol," he told the Martian, and laid the mike +aside.</p> + +<p>"What does that mean?" asked Deveet.</p> + +<p>"Means we'd better strap in," said Jonner, suiting the action to the +words. "You're in for a short trip to Phobos, Deveet."</p> + +<p>Jonner pulled back slowly on the elevator control, and the plane began a +shallow climb. At 700 miles an hour, it began to attain a height at +which its broad wings—broader than those of any terrestrial +plane—would not support it.</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to decide," said Deveet with forced calm, "whether you've +flipped your helmet."</p> + +<p>"Nope," answered Jonner. "Trolling for those fish in Mars City gave me +the idea. The rest was no more than an astrogation problem, like any +rendezvous with a ship in a fixed orbit, which Qoqol could figure. +Remember that 6,000-mile television cable the ship's hauling? Qoqol just +shot the end of it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> down to Mars' surface by signal rocket, we hooked on +and now he'll haul us up to Phobos. He's got the ship's engine hooked +onto the cable winch."</p> + +<p>The jets coughed and stopped. The plane was out of fuel. It was on +momentum—to be drawn by the cable, or to snap it and fall.</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" cried Deveet in alarm. "Phobos' orbital speed is more than +a mile a second! No cable can take the sudden difference in that and the +speed we're traveling. When the slack is gone, it'll break!"</p> + +<p>"The slack's gone already. You're thinking of the speed of Phobos, <i>at +Phobos</i>. At this end of the cable, we're like the head of a man in the +control section of a space station, which is traveling slower than his +feet because its orbit is smaller—but it revolves around the center in +the same time.</p> + +<p>"Look," Jonner added, "I'll put it in round numbers. Figure your cable +as part of a radius of Phobos' orbit. Phobos travels at 1.32, but the +other end of the radius travels at zero because it's at the center. The +cable end, at the Martian surface, travels at a speed in +between—roughly 1,200 miles an hour—but it keeps up with Phobos' +revolution. Since the surface of Mars itself rotates at 500 miles an +hour, all I had to do was boost the plane up to 700 to match the speed +of the cable end.</p> + +<p>"That cable will haul a hell of a lot more than twenty tons, and that's +all that's on it right now. By winching us up slowly, there'll never be +too great a strain on it."</p> + +<p>Deveet looked apprehensively out of the port. The plane was hanging +sidewise now, and the distant Martian surface was straight out the +left-hand ports. The cable was holding.</p> + +<p>"We can make the trip to Earth 83 days faster than the <i>Marsward</i>," said +Jonner, "and they have only about 20 days' start. It won't take us but a +few days to make Phobos and get this cable and the rest of the cargo +shot back to Mars. Atom-Star will get its franchise, and you'll see all +spaceships switching to the atomic drive within the next decade."</p> + +<p>"How about this plane?" asked Deveet. "We stole it, you know."</p> + +<p>"You can hire a G-boat to take it back to Marsport," said Jonner with a +chuckle. "Pay Mars-Air for the time and the broken ports, and settle out +of court with that pilot we dropped. I don't think they'll send you to +jail, Deveet."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Deveet," said Jonner then, "radio Atom-Star to buy some +flonite cable of their own and ship it to Phobos. Damned if I don't +think this is cheaper than G-boats!"</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atom Drive, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATOM DRIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 32067-h.htm or 32067-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/6/32067/ + +Produced by 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. 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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: Atom Drive + +Author: Charles Louis Fontenay + +Release Date: April 20, 2010 [EBook #32067] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATOM DRIVE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction April 1956. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright +on this publication was renewed. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +ATOM DRIVE + +BY CHARLES FONTENAY + + _It was a race between the tortoise and the hare. But this hare was + using some dirty tricks to make sure the ending would be + different...._ + +[Illustration: _Illustrated by Ed Emsh_] + + +The two spaceship crews were friendly enemies, sitting across the table +from each other for their last meal before blastoff. Outside the ports, +the sky was nothing but light-streaked blackness, punctured periodically +by Earth glare, for Space Station 2 whirled swiftly on its axis, +creating an artificial gravity. + +"Jonner, I figured you the last man ever to desert the rockets for a +hot-rod tow-job," chided Russo Baat, captain of the Mars Corporation's +gleaming new freighter, _Marsward XVIII_. Baat was fat and red-faced, +and one of the shrewdest space captains in the business. + +Jonner Jons, at the other end of the table, inclined his grizzled head +and smiled. + +"Times change, Russo," he answered quietly. "Even the Mars Corporation +can't stop that." + +"Is it true that you're pulling five thousand tons of cargo, Captain?" +asked one of the crewmen of the _Marsward XVIII_. + +"Something like that," agreed Jonner, and his smile broadened. "And I +have only about twice the fuel supply you carry for a 100-ton payload." + +The communicator above them squawked and blared: + +"Captain Jons and Captain Baat of Martian competition run, please report +to control for final briefing." + +"I knew it!" grumbled Baat, getting heavily and reluctantly to his feet. +"I haven't gotten to finish a meal on this blasted merry-go-round yet." + +In the space station's control section, Commander Ortega of the Space +Control Commission, an ascetic officer in plain blues, looked them up +and down severely. + +"As you know, gentlemen," he said, "blastoff time is 0600. Tonnage of +cargo, fuel and empty vessels cannot be a factor, under the law. The +Mars Corporation will retain its exclusive franchise to the Earth-Mars +run, unless the ship sponsored by the Atom-Star Company returns to Earth +with full cargo at least twenty hours ahead of the ship sponsored by the +Mars Corporation. Cargo must be unloaded at Mars and new cargo taken on. +I do not consider the twenty-hour bias in favor of the Mars Corporation +a fair one," said Ortega severely, turning his gaze to Baat, "but the +Space Control Commission does not make the laws. It enforces them. +Docking and loading facilities will be available to both of you on an +equal basis at Phobos and Marsport. Good luck." + +He shook hands with both of them. + +"Saturn, I'm glad to get out of there!" exclaimed Baat, mopping his brow +as they left the control section. "Every time I take a step, I feel like +I'm falling on my face." + +"It's because the control section's so close to the center," replied +Jonner. "The station's spinning to maintain artificial gravity, and your +feet are away from the center. As long as you're standing upright, the +pull is straight up and down to you, but actually your feet are moving +faster than your head, in a larger orbit. When you try to move, as in +normal gravity, your body swings out of that line of pull and you nearly +fall. The best corrective, I've found, is to lean backward slightly when +you start to walk." + +As the two space captains walked back toward the wardroom together, Baat +said: + +"Jonner, I hear the Mars Corporation offered you the _Marsward XVIII_ +for this run first, and you turned them down. Why? You piloted the +_Marsward V_ and the _Wayward Lady_ for Marscorp when those upstarts in +the Argentine were trying to crack the Earth-Mars run. This Atom-Star +couldn't have enough money to buy you away from Marscorp." + +"No, Marscorp offered me more," said Jonner, soberly now. "But this +atomic drive is the future of space travel, Russo. Marscorp has it, but +they're sitting on it because they've got their fingers in hydrazine +interests here, and the atom drive will make hydrazine useless for space +fuel. Unless I can break the franchise for Atom-Star, it may be a +hundred years before we switch to the atom drive in space." + +"What the hell difference does that make to you?" asked Baat bluntly. + +"Hydrazine's expensive," replied Jonner. "Reaction mass isn't, and you +use less of it. I was born on Mars, Russo. Mars is my home, and I want +to see my people get the supplies they need from Earth at a reasonable +transport cost, not pay through the nose for every packet of vegetable +seed." + +They reached the wardroom door. + +"Too bad I have to degrav my old chief," said Baat, chuckling. "But I'm +a rocket man, myself, and I say to hell with your hot-rod atom drive. +I'm sorry you got deflected into this run, Jonner; you'll never break +Marscorp's orbit." + + * * * * * + +The _Marsward XVIII_ was a huge vessel, the biggest the Mars Corporation +ever had put into space. It was a collection of spheres and cylinders, +joined together by a network of steel ties. Nearly 90% of its weight was +fuel, for the one-way trip to Mars. + +Its competitor, the _Radiant Hope_, riding ten miles away in orbit +around the Earth, was the strangest looking vessel ever to get clearance +from a space station. It looked like a tug towing a barge. The tug was +the atomic power plant. Two miles behind, attached by a thin cable, was +the passenger compartment and cargo. + +On the control deck of the _Radiant Hope_, Jonner gripped a microphone +and shouted profane instructions at the pilot of a squat ground-to-space +rocket twenty miles away. T'an Li Cho, the ship's engineer, was peering +out the port at the speck of light toward which Jonner was directing his +wrath, while Qoqol, the Martian astrogator, worked at his charts on the +other side of the deck. + +"I thought all cargo was aboard, Jonner," said T'an. + +"It is," said Jonner, laying the mike aside. "That G-boat isn't hauling +cargo. It's going with us. I'm not taking any chances on Marscorp +refusing to ferry our cargo back and forth at Mars." + +"Is plotted, Jonner," boomed Qoqol, turning his head to peer at them +with huge eyes through the spidery tangle of his thin, double-jointed +arms and legs. He reached an eight-foot arm across the deck and handed +Jonner his figures. Jonner gave them to T'an. + +"Figure out power for that one, T'an," ordered Jonner, and took his seat +in the cushioned control chair. + +T'an pulled a slide rule from his tunic pocket, but his black almond +eyes rested quizzically on Jonner. + +"It's four hours before blastoff," he reminded. + +"I've cleared power for this with Space Control," replied Jonner. "That +planet-loving G-boat jockey missed orbit. We'll have to swing out a +little and go to him." + +On a conventional space craft, the order for acceleration would have +sent the engineer to the engine deck to watch his gauges and report by +intercom. But the _Radiant Hope_'s "engine deck" was the atomic tug two +miles ahead, which T'an, in heavy armor, would enter only in +emergencies. He calculated for a moment, then called softly to Jonner: + +"Pile One, in ten." + +"In ten," confirmed Jonner, pulling a lever on the calibrated gauge of +the radio control. + +"Pile Two, in fifteen." + +"In fifteen." + +"Check. I'll have the length of burst figured for you in a jiffy." + +A faint glow appeared around the atomic tug far ahead, and there was the +faintest shiver in the ship. But after a moment, Qoqol said in a puzzled +tone: + +"No Gs, Jonner. Engine not work?" + +"Sure, she's working," said Jonner with a grin. "You'll never get any +more G than we've got now, Qoqol, all the way to Mars. Our maximum +acceleration will be 1/3,000th-G." + +"One three-thousandth?" exclaimed T'an, shaken out of his Oriental calm. +"Jonner, the _Marsward_ will blast away at one or two Gs. How do you +expect to beat that at 1/3,000th?" + +"Because they have to cut off and coast most of the way in an elliptic +orbit, like any other rocket," answered Jonner calmly. "We drive +straight across the system, under power all the time. We accelerate half +way, decelerate the other half." + +"But 1/3,000th!" + +"You'll be surprised at what constant power can do. I know Baat, and I +know the trick he's going to use. It's obvious from the blastoff time +they arranged. He's going to tack off the Moon and use his power right +to cut 20 days off that regular 237-day schedule. But this tug-boat will +make it in 154 days!" + +They took aboard the 200-ton landing boat. By the time they got it +secured, the radio already was sounding warnings for blastoff. + +Zero hour arrived. Again Jonner pulled levers and again the faint glow +appeared around the tail of their distant tug. Across space the exhaust +of the _Marsward XVIII_ flared into blinding flame. In a moment, it +began to pull ahead visibly and soon was receding like a meteor. + +Near the _Radiant Hope_, the space station seemed not to have changed +position at all. + +"The race is not always to the swift," remarked Jonner philosophically. + +"And we're the tortoise," said T'an. "How about filling us in on this +jaunt, Jonner?" + +"Is should, Jonner," agreed Qoqol. "T'an know all about crazy new +engine, I know all about crazy new orbit. Both not know all. You tell." + +"I planned to, anyway," said Jonner. "I had figured on having Serj in on +it, but he wouldn't understand much of it anyhow. There's no use in +waking him up." + +Serj was the ship's doctor-psychologist and fourth member of the crew. +He was asleep below on the centerdeck. + +"For your information, Qoqol," said Jonner, "the atomic engine produces +electrical energy, which accelerates reaction mass. Actually, it's a +crude ion engine. T'an can explain the details to you later, but the +important thing is that the fuel is cheap, the fuel-to-cargo ratio is +low and constant acceleration is practical. + +"As for you, Tan, I was surprised at your not understanding why we'll +use low acceleration. To boost the engine power and give us more Gs, +we'd either have to carry more fuel or coast part of the way on +momentum, like an ordinary rocket. This way's more efficient, and our +63-day margin over the _Marsward_ each way is more than enough for +unloading and loading more cargo and fuel." + +"With those figures, I can't see how Marscorp expects to win this +competition," said T'an. + +"We've got them, flat, on the basis of performance," agreed Jonner. "So +we'll have to watch for tricks. I know Marscorp. That's why I arranged +to take aboard that G-boat at the last minute. Marscorp controls all the +G-boats at Marsport, and they're smart enough to keep us from using +them, in spite of the Space Control Commission. As for refueling for the +return trip, we can knock a chunk off of Phobos for reaction mass." + +The meteor alarm bells clanged suddenly, and the screen lit up once with +a fast-moving red line that traced the path of the approaching object. + +"Miss us about half a mile," said Jonner after a glance at the screen. +"Must be pretty big ... and it's coming _up_!" + +He and T'an floated to one of the ports, and in a few moments saw the +object speed by. + +"That's no meteor!" exclaimed Jonner with a puzzled frown. "That's +man-made. But it's too small for a G-boat." + +The radio blared: "All craft in orbit near Space Station 2! Warning! All +craft near Space Station 2! Experimental missile misfired from White +Sands! Repeat: experimental missile misfired from White Sands! +Coordinates...." + +"Fine time to tell us," remarked T'an drily. + +"Experimental missile, hell!" snorted Jonner, comprehension dawning. +"Qoqol, what would have happened if we hadn't shifted orbit to take +aboard that G-boat?" + +Qoqol calculated a moment. + +"Hit our engines," he announced. "Dead center." + +Jonner's blue eyes clouded ominously. "Looks like they're playing for +keeps this time, boys." + + * * * * * + +The brotherhood of spacemen is an exclusive club. Any captain, +astrogator or engineer is likely to be well known to his colleagues, +either personally or by reputation. + +The ship's doctor-psychologist is in a different category. Most of them +sign on for a few runs for the adventure of it, as a means of getting +back and forth between planets without paying the high cost of passage +or to pick up even more money than they can get from lucrative +planetbound practice. + +Jonner did not know Serj, the _Radiant Hope_'s doctor. Neither T'an nor +Qoqol ever had heard of him. But Serj appeared to know his business well +enough, and was friendly enough. + +It was Serj's first trip and he was very interested in the way the ship +operated. He nosed into every corner of it and asked a hundred questions +a day. + +"You're as inquisitive as a cadet spaceman, Serj," Jonner told him on +the twenty-fifth day out. Everybody knew everyone else well by then, +which meant that Jonner and Qoqol, who had served together before, had +become acquainted with T'an and Serj. + +"There's a lot to see and learn about space, Captain," said Serj. He was +a young fellow, with fair hair and an easy grin. "Think I could go +outside?" + +"If you keep a lifeline hooked on. The suits have magnetic shoes to hold +you to the hull of the ship, but you can lose your footing." + +"Thanks," said Serj. He touched his hand to his forehead and left the +control deck. + +Jonner, near the end of his eight-hour duty shift, watched the dials. + +The red light showing the inner airlock door was open blinked on. It +blinked off, then the outer airlock indicator went on, and off. + +A shadow fell across Jonner briefly. He glanced at the port and reached +for the microphone. + +"Careful and don't step on any of the ports," he warned Serj. "The +magnetic soles won't hold on them." + +"I'll be careful, sir," answered Serj. + +No one but a veteran spaceman would have noticed the faint quiver that +ran through the ship, but Jonner felt it. Automatically, he swung his +control chair and his eyes swept the bank of dials. + +At first he saw nothing. The outer lock light blinked on and off, then +the inner lock indicator. That was Serj coming back inside. + +Then Jonner noted that the hand on one dial rested on zero. Above the +dial was the word: "ACCELERATION." + +His eyes snapped to the radio controls. The atomic pile levers were +still at their proper calibration. The dials above them said the engines +were working properly. + +The atomic tug was still accelerating, but passengers and cargo were in +free fall. + +Swearing Jonner jerked at the levers to pull out the piles aboard the +tug. + +A blue flash flared across the control board, momentarily blinding him. +Jonner recoiled, only his webbed safety belt preventing him from +plummeting from the control chair. + +He swung back anxiously to the dials, brushing futilely at the spots +that swam before his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief. The radio +controls had operated. The atomic engines had ceased firing. + +Tentatively, cautiously, he reversed the lever. There was no blue flash +this time, but neither did the dials quiver. He swore. Something had +burned out in the radio controls. He couldn't reverse the tug. + +He punched the general alarm button viciously, and the raucous clangor +of the bell sounded through the confines of the ship. One by one, the +other crew members popped up to the control deck from below. + +He turned the controls over to Qoqol. + +"Take readings on that damn tug," Jonner ordered. "I think our cable +broke. T'an, let's go take a look." + +When they got outside, they found about a foot of the one-inch cable +still attached to the ship. The rest of it, drawn away by the tug before +Jonner could cut acceleration, was out of sight. + +"Can it be welded, T'an?" + +"It can, but it'll take a while," replied the engineer slowly. "First, +we'll have to reverse that tug and get the other end of that break." + +"Damn, and the radio control's burned out. I tried to reverse it before +I sounded the alarm. T'an, how fast can you get those controls +repaired?" + +"Great space!" exclaimed T'an softly. "Without seeing it, I'd say at +least two days, Jonner. Those controls are complicated as hell." + +They re-entered the ship. Qoqol was working at his diagrams, and Serj +was looking over his shoulder. Jonner took a heat-gun quietly from the +rack and pointed it at Serj. + +"You'll get below, mister," he commanded grimly. "You'll be handcuffed +to your bunk from here on out." + +"Sir?... I don't understand," stammered Serj. + +"Like hell you don't. You cut that cable," Jonner accused. + +Serj started to shrug, but he dropped his eyes. + +"They paid me," he said in a low tone. "They paid me a thousand solars." + +"What good would a thousand solars do you when you're dead, Serj ... +dead of suffocation and drifting forever in space?" + +Serj looked up in astonishment. + +"Why, you can still reach Earth by radio, easy," he said. "It wouldn't +take long for a rescue ship to reach us." + +"Chemical rockets have their limitations," said Jonner coldly. + +"And you don't realize what speed we've built up with steady +acceleration. We'd head straight out of the system, and nothing could +intercept us, if that tug had gotten too far before we noticed it was +gone." + +He jabbed the white-faced doctor with the muzzle of the heat-gun. + +"Get below," he ordered. "I'll turn you over to Space Control at Mars." + +When Serj had left the control deck, Jonner turned to the others. His +face was grave. + +"That tug picked up speed before I could shut off the engines, after the +cable was cut," he said. "It's moving away from us slowly, and at a +tangent. And solar gravity's acting on both bodies now. By the time we +get those controls repaired, the drift may be such that we'll waste +weeks maneuvering the tug back." + +"I could jet out to the tug in a spacesuit, before it gets too far +away," said T'an thoughtfully. "But that wouldn't do any good. There's +no way of controlling the engines, at the tug. It has to be done by +radio." + +"If we get out of this, remind me to recommend that atomic ships always +carry a spare cable," said Jonner gloomily. "If we had one, we could +splice them and hold the ship to the tug until the controls are +repaired." + +"Is cable in cargo strong enough, Jonner?" asked Qoqol. + +"That's right!" exclaimed Jonner, brightening. "Most of our cargo's +cable! That 4,000-ton spool we're hauling back there is 6,000 miles of +cable to lay a television network between the Martian cities." + +"Television cable?" repeated T'an doubtfully. "Will that be strong +enough?" + +"It's bound in flonite, that new fluorine compound. It's strong enough +to tow this whole cargo at a couple of Gs. There's nothing aboard this +ship that would cut off a length of it--a heat-gun at full power +wouldn't even scorch it--but we can unwind enough of it, and block the +spool. It'll hold the ship to the tug until the controls can be +repaired, then we can reverse the tug and weld the cable." + +"You mean the whole 6,000 miles of it's in one piece?" demanded T'an in +astonishment. + +"That's not so much. The cable-laying steamer _Dominia_ carried 3,000 +miles in one piece to lay Atlantic cables in the early 20th century." + +"But how'll we ever get 4,000 tons in one piece down to Mars?" asked +T'an. "No G-boat can carry that load." + +Jonner chuckled. + +"Same way they got it up from Earth to the ship," he answered. "They +attached one end of it to a G-boat and sent it up to orbit, then wound +it up on a fast winch. Since the G-boat will be decelerating to Mars, +the unwinding will have to be slowed or the cable would tangle itself +all over Syrtis." + +"Sounds like it's made to order," said T'an, grinning. "I'll get into my +spacesuit." + +"You'll get to work on the radio controls," contradicted Jonner, getting +up. "That's something I can't do, and I can get into a spacesuit and +haul a length of cable out to the tug. Qoqol can handle the winch." + + * * * * * + +Deveet, the Atom-Star Company's representative at Mars City, and Kruger +of the Space Control Commission were waiting when the _Radiant Hope_'s +G-boat dropped down from the Phobos station and came to rest in a wash +of jets. They rode out to the G-boat together in a Commission groundcar. +Jonner emerged from the G-boat, following the handcuffed Serj. + +"He's all yours," Jonner told Kruger, gesturing at Serj. "You have my +radio reports on the cable-cutting, and I'll make my log available to +you." + +Kruger put his prisoner in the front seat of the groundcar beside him, +and Jonner climbed in the back seat with Deveet. + +"I brought the crates of dies for the groundcar factory down this time," +Jonner told Deveet. "We'll bring down all the loose cargo before +shooting the television cable down. While they're unloading the G-boat, +I wish you'd get the tanks refilled with hydrazine and nitric acid. +I've got enough to get back up, but not enough for a round trip." + +"What do you plan to do?" asked Deveet. He was a dark-skinned, +long-faced man with a sardonic twist to his mouth. + +"I've got to sign on a new ship's doctor to replace Serj. When the +_Marsward_ comes in, Marscorp will have a dozen G-boats working round +the clock to unload and reload her. With only one G-boat, we've got to +make every hour count. We still have reaction mass to pick up on +Phobos." + +"Right," agreed Deveet. "You can take the return cargo up in one load, +though. It's just twenty tons of Martian relics for the Solar Museum. +Mars-to-Earth cargos run light." + +At the administration building, Jonner took his leave of Deveet and went +up to the Space Control Commission's personnel office on the second +floor. He was in luck. On the board as applying for a Mars-Earth run as +ship's doctor-psychologist was one name: Lana Elden. + +He looked up the name in the Mars City directory and dialed into the +city from a nearby telephone booth. A woman's voice answered. + +"Is Lana Elden there?" asked Jonner. + +"I'm Lana Elden," she said. + +Jonner swore under his breath. A woman! But if she weren't qualified, +her name would not have been on the Commission board. + +The verbal contract was made quickly, and Jonner cut the Commission +monitor into the line to make it binding. That was done often when rival +ships, even of the same line, were bidding for the services of crewmen. + +"Blastoff time is 2100 tonight," he said, ending the interview. "Be +here." + +Jonner left the personnel office and walked down the hall. At the +elevator, Deveet and Kruger hurried out, almost colliding with him. + +"Jonner, we've run into trouble!" exclaimed Deveet. "Space Fuels won't +sell us any hydrazine and nitric acid to refill the tanks. They say they +have a new contract with Marscorp that takes all their supply." + +"Contract, hell!" snorted Jonner. "Marscorp owns Space Fuels. What can +be done about it, Kruger?" + +Kruger shook his head. + +"I'm all for you, but Space Control has no jurisdiction," he said. "If a +private firm wants to restrict its sales to a franchised line, there's +nothing we can do about it. If you had a franchise, we could force them +to allot fuel on the basis of cargo handled, since Space Fuels has a +monopoly here. But you don't have a franchise yet." + +Jonner scratched his grey head thoughtfully. + +It was a serious situation. The atom-powered _Radiant Hope_ could no +more make a planetary landing than the chemically-powered ships. Its +power gave a low, sustained thrust that permitted it to accelerate +constantly over long periods of time. To beat the powerful pull of +planetary surface gravity, the terrific burst of quick energy from the +streamlined G-boats, the planetary landing craft, was needed. + +"We can still handle it," Jonner said at last. "With only twenty tons +return cargo, we can take it up this trip. Add some large parachutes to +that, Deveet. We'll shoot the end of the cable down by signal rocket, +out in the lowlands, and stop the winch when we've made contact, long +enough to attach the rest of the cargo to the cable. Pull it down with +the cable and, with Mars' low gravity, the parachutes will keep it from +being damaged." + +But when Jonner got back to the landing field to check on unloading +operations, his plan was smashed. As he approached the G-boat, a +mechanic wearing an ill-concealed smirk came up to him. + +"Captain, looks like you sprung a leak in your fuel line," he said. "All +your hydrazine's leaked out in the sand." + +Jonner swung from the waist and knocked the man flat. Then he turned on +his heel and went back to the administration building to pay the +10-credit fine he would be assessed for assaulting a spaceport employee. + + * * * * * + +The Space Control Commission's hearing room in Mars City was almost +empty. The examiner sat on the bench, resting his chin on his hand as he +listened to testimony. In the plaintiff's section sat Jonner, flanked by +Deveet and Lana Elden. In the defense box were the Mars Corporation +attorney and Captain Russo Baat of the _Marsward XVIII_. Kruger, seated +near the rear of the room, was the only spectator. + +The Mars Corporation attorney had succeeded in delaying the final +hearing more than a 42-day Martian month by legal maneuvers. Meanwhile, +the _Marsward XVIII_ had blasted down to Phobos, and G-boats had been +shuttling back and forth unloading the vessel and reloading it for the +return trip to Earth. + +When testimony had been completed, the examiner shuffled through his +papers. He put on his spectacles and peered over them at the litigants. + +"It is the ruling of this court," he said formally, "that the plaintiffs +have not presented sufficient evidence to prove tampering with the fuel +line of the G-boat of the spaceship _Radiant Hope_. There is no evidence +that it was cut or burned, but only that it was broken. The court must +remind the plaintiffs that this could have been done accidentally, +through inept handling of cargo. + +"Since the plaintiffs have not been able to prove their contention, this +court of complaint has no alternative than to dismiss the case." + +The examiner arose and left the hearing room. Baat waddled across the +aisle, puffing. + +"Too bad, Jonner," he said. "I don't like the stuff Marscorp's pulling, +and I think you know I don't have anything to do with it. + +"I want to win, but I want to win fair and square. If there's anything I +can do to help...." + +"Haven't got a spare G-boat in your pocket, have you?" retorted Jonner, +with a rueful smile. + +Baat pulled at his jowls. + +"The _Marsward_ isn't carrying G-boats," he said regretfully. "They all +belong to the port, and Marscorp's got them so tied up you'll never get +a sniff of one. But if you want to get back to your ship, Jonner, I can +take you up to Phobos with me, as my guest." + +Jonner shook his head. + +"I figure on taking the _Radiant Hope_ back to Earth," he said. "But I'm +not blasting off without cargo until it's too late for me to beat you on +the run." + +"You sure? This'll be my last ferry trip. The _Marsward_ blasts off for +Earth at 0300 tomorrow." + +"No, thanks, Russo. But I will appreciate your taking my ship's doctor, +Dr. Elden, up to Phobos." + +"Done!" agreed Baat. "Let's go, Dr. Elden. The G-boat leaves Marsport in +two hours." + +Jonner watched Baat puff away, with the slender, white-clad brunette at +his side. Baat personally would see Lana Elden safely aboard the +_Radiant Hope_, even if it delayed his own blastoff. + +Morosely, he left the hearing room with Deveet. + +"What I can't understand," said the latter, "is why all this dirty work, +why didn't Marscorp just use one of their atom-drive ships for the +competition run?" + +"Because whatever ship is used on a competition run has to be kept in +service on the franchised run," answered Jonner. "Marscorp has millions +tied up in hydrazine interests, and they're more interested in keeping +an atomic ship off this run than they are in a monopoly franchise. But +they tie in together: if Marscorp loses the monopoly franchise and +Atom-Star puts in atom-drive ships, Marscorp will have to switch to +atom-drive to meet the competition." + +"If we had a franchise, we could force Space Fuels to sell us +hydrazine," said Deveet unhappily. + +"Well, we don't. And, at this rate, we'll never get one." + + * * * * * + +Jonner and Deveet were fishing at the Mars City Recreation Center. It +had been several weeks since the _Marsward XVIII_ blasted off to Earth +with a full cargo. And still the atomic ship _Radiant Hope_ rested on +Phobos with most of her Marsbound cargo still aboard; and still her crew +languished at the Phobos space station; and still Jonner moved back and +forth between Mars City and Marsport daily, racking his brain for a +solution that would not come. + +"How in space do you get twenty tons of cargo up to an orbit 5,800 miles +out, without any rocket fuel?" he demanded of Deveet more than once. He +received no satisfactory answer. + +The Recreation Center was a two-acre park that lay beneath the plastic +dome of Mars City. Above them they could see swift-moving Phobos and +distant Deimos among the other stars that powdered the night. In the +park around them, colonists rode the amusement machines, canoed along +the canal that twisted through the park or sipped refreshment at +scattered tables. A dozen or more sat, like Jonner and Deveet, around +the edge of the tiny lake, fishing. + +Deveet's line tightened. He pulled in a streamlined, flapping object +from which the light glistened wetly. + +"Good catch," complimented Jonner. "That's worth a full credit." + +Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a +metal fish: live fish were unknown on Mars. They paid for the privilege +of fishing for a certain time and any fish caught were "sold" back to +the management at a fixed price, depending on size, to be put back into +the lake. + +"You're pretty good at it," said Jonner. "That's your third tonight." + +"It's all in the speed at which you reel in your line," explained +Deveet. "The fish move at pre-set speeds. They're made to turn and catch +a hook that moves across their path at a slightly slower speed than +they're swimming. The management changes the speeds once a week to keep +the fishermen from getting too expert." + +"You can't beat the management," chuckled Jonner. "But if it's a matter +of matching orbital speeds to make contact, I ought to do pretty well +when I get the hang of it." + +He cocked an eye up toward the transparent dome. Phobos had moved across +the sky into Capricorn since he last saw her. His memory automatically +ticked off the satellite's orbital speed: 1.32 miles a second; speed in +relation to planetary motion.... + +Why go over that again? One had to have fuel first. Meanwhile, the +_Radiant Hope_ lay idle on Phobos and its crew whiled away the hours at +the space station inside the moon, their feet spinning faster than their +heads ... no, that wasn't true on Phobos, because it didn't have a spin +to impart artificial gravity, like the space stations around Earth. + +He sat up suddenly. Deveet looked at him in surprise. Jonner's lips +moved silently for a moment, then he got to his feet. + +"Where can we use a radiophone?" he asked. + +"One in my office," said Deveet, standing up. + +"Let's go. Quick, before Phobos sets." + +They turned in their rods, Deveet collecting the credits for his fish, +and left the Recreation Center. + +When they reached the Atom-Star Company's Martian office Jonner plugged +in the radiophone and called the Phobos space station. He got T'an. + +"All of you get aboard," Jonner ordered. "Then have Qoqol call me." + +He signed off and turned to Deveet. "Can we charter a plane to haul our +Earthbound cargo out of Marsport?" + +"A plane? I suppose so. Where do you want to haul it?" + +"Charax is as good as any other place. But I need a fast plane." + +"I think we can get it. Marscorp still controls all the airlines, but +the Mars government keeps a pretty strict finger on their planetbound +operations. They can't refuse a cargo haul without good reason." + +"Just to play safe, have some friend of yours whom they don't know, +charter the plane in his name. They won't know it's us till we start +loading cargo." + +"Right," said Deveet, picking up the telephone. "I know just the man." + + * * * * * + +Towmotors scuttled across the landing area at Marsport, shifting the +cargo that had been destined for the _Radiant Hope_ from the helpless +G-boat to a jet cargo-plane. Nearby, watching the operation, were Jonner +and Deveet, with the Marsport agent of Mars Air Transport Company. + +"We didn't know Atom-Star was the one chartering the plane until you +ordered the G-boat cargo loaded on it," confessed the Mars-Air agent. + +"I see you and Mr. Deveet are signed up to accompany the cargo. You'll +have to rent suits for the trip. We have to play it safe, and there's +always the possibility of a forced landing." + +"There are a couple of spacesuits aboard the G-boat that we want to take +along," said Jonner casually. "We'll just wear those instead." + +"Okay." The agent spread his hands and shrugged. "Everybody at Marsport +knows about you bucking Marscorp, Captain. What you expect to gain by +transferring your cargo to Charax is beyond me, but it's your business." + +An hour later, the chartered airplane took off with a thunder of jets. +Aboard was the 20-ton cargo the _Radiant Hope_ was supposed to carry to +Earth, plus some large parachutes. The Mars-Air pilot wore a light suit +with plastic helmet designed for survival in the thin, cold Martian air. +Jonner and Deveet wore the bulkier spacesuits. + +Five minutes out of Marsport, Jonner thrust the muzzle of a heat-gun in +the pilot's back. + +"Set it on automatic, strap on your parachute and bail out," he ordered. +"We're taking over." + +The pilot had no choice. He went through the plane's airlock and jumped, +helped by a hearty boost from Jonner. His parachute blossomed out as he +drifted down toward the green Syrtis Major Lowland. Jonner didn't worry +about him. He knew the pilot's helmet radio would reach Marsport and a +helicopter would rescue him shortly. + +"I don't know what you're trying to do, Jonner," said Deveet +apprehensively over his spacehelmet radio. "But whatever it is, you'd +better do it fast. They'll have every plane on Mars looking for us in +half an hour." + +"Let 'em look, and keep quiet a while," retorted Jonner. "I've got some +figuring to do." + +He put the plane on automatic, took off the spacesuit handhooks and +scribbled figures on a scrap of paper. He tuned in the plane's radio and +called Qoqol on Phobos. They talked to each other briefly in Martian. + +The darker green line of a canal crossed the green lowland below them. + +"Good, there's Drosinas," muttered Jonner. "Let's see, time 1424 hours, +speed 660 miles an hour...." + +Jonner boosted the jets a bit and watched the terrain. + +"By Saturn, I almost overran it!" he exclaimed. "Deveet, smash out those +ports." + +"Break out the ports?" repeated Deveet. "That'll depressurize the +cabin!" + +"That's right. So you'd better be sure your spacesuit's secure." + +Obviously puzzled, Deveet strode up and down the cabin, knocking out its +six windows with the handhooks of his spacesuit. Jonner maneuvered the +plane gently, and set it on automatic. He got out of the pilot's seat +and strode to the right front port. + +Reaching through the broken window, he pulled in a section of cable that +was trailing alongside. While the baffled Deveet watched, he reeled it +in until he brought up the end of it, to which was attached a +fish-shaped finned metal missile. + +Jonner carried the cable end and the attached missile across the cabin +and tossed it out the broken front port on the other side, swinging it +so that the 700-mile-an-hour slipstream snapped it back in through the +rearmost port like a bullet. + +"Pick it up and pass it out the right rear port," he commanded. "We'll +have to pass it to each other from port to port. The slipstream won't +let us swing it forward and through." + +In a few moments, the two of them had worked the missile and the cable +end to the right front port and in through it. Originating above the +plane, it now made a loop through the four open ports. Jonner untied the +missile and tied the end to the portion which came into the cabin, +making a bowline knot of the loop. Deveet picked up the missile from the +floor, where Jonner had thrown it. + +"Looks like a spent rocket shell," he commented. + +"It's a signal rocket," said Jonner. "The flare trigger was +disconnected." + +He picked up the microphone and called the _Radiant Hope_ on Phobos. + +"We've hooked our fish, Qoqol," he told the Martian, and laid the mike +aside. + +"What does that mean?" asked Deveet. + +"Means we'd better strap in," said Jonner, suiting the action to the +words. "You're in for a short trip to Phobos, Deveet." + +Jonner pulled back slowly on the elevator control, and the plane began a +shallow climb. At 700 miles an hour, it began to attain a height at +which its broad wings--broader than those of any terrestrial +plane--would not support it. + +"I'm trying to decide," said Deveet with forced calm, "whether you've +flipped your helmet." + +"Nope," answered Jonner. "Trolling for those fish in Mars City gave me +the idea. The rest was no more than an astrogation problem, like any +rendezvous with a ship in a fixed orbit, which Qoqol could figure. +Remember that 6,000-mile television cable the ship's hauling? Qoqol just +shot the end of it down to Mars' surface by signal rocket, we hooked on +and now he'll haul us up to Phobos. He's got the ship's engine hooked +onto the cable winch." + +The jets coughed and stopped. The plane was out of fuel. It was on +momentum--to be drawn by the cable, or to snap it and fall. + +"Impossible!" cried Deveet in alarm. "Phobos' orbital speed is more than +a mile a second! No cable can take the sudden difference in that and the +speed we're traveling. When the slack is gone, it'll break!" + +"The slack's gone already. You're thinking of the speed of Phobos, _at +Phobos_. At this end of the cable, we're like the head of a man in the +control section of a space station, which is traveling slower than his +feet because its orbit is smaller--but it revolves around the center in +the same time. + +"Look," Jonner added, "I'll put it in round numbers. Figure your cable +as part of a radius of Phobos' orbit. Phobos travels at 1.32, but the +other end of the radius travels at zero because it's at the center. The +cable end, at the Martian surface, travels at a speed in +between--roughly 1,200 miles an hour--but it keeps up with Phobos' +revolution. Since the surface of Mars itself rotates at 500 miles an +hour, all I had to do was boost the plane up to 700 to match the speed +of the cable end. + +"That cable will haul a hell of a lot more than twenty tons, and that's +all that's on it right now. By winching us up slowly, there'll never be +too great a strain on it." + +Deveet looked apprehensively out of the port. The plane was hanging +sidewise now, and the distant Martian surface was straight out the +left-hand ports. The cable was holding. + +"We can make the trip to Earth 83 days faster than the _Marsward_," said +Jonner, "and they have only about 20 days' start. It won't take us but a +few days to make Phobos and get this cable and the rest of the cargo +shot back to Mars. Atom-Star will get its franchise, and you'll see all +spaceships switching to the atomic drive within the next decade." + +"How about this plane?" asked Deveet. "We stole it, you know." + +"You can hire a G-boat to take it back to Marsport," said Jonner with a +chuckle. "Pay Mars-Air for the time and the broken ports, and settle out +of court with that pilot we dropped. I don't think they'll send you to +jail, Deveet." + +He was silent for a few minutes. + +"By the way, Deveet," said Jonner then, "radio Atom-Star to buy some +flonite cable of their own and ship it to Phobos. Damned if I don't +think this is cheaper than G-boats!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atom Drive, by Charles Louis Fontenay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATOM DRIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 32067.txt or 32067.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/6/32067/ + +Produced by 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. 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