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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf 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..4124906 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63697 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63697) diff --git a/old/63697-h.zip b/old/63697-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5da54dd..0000000 --- a/old/63697-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63697-h/63697-h.htm b/old/63697-h/63697-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index a285f0d..0000000 --- a/old/63697-h/63697-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1024 +0,0 @@ -<!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=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Space-lane of No-return, by George A. Whittington. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's Space-Lane of No-Return, by George A. Whittington - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Space-Lane of No-Return - -Author: George A. Whittington - -Release Date: November 10, 2020 [EBook #63697] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACE-LANE OF NO-RETURN *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Space-Lane of No-Return</h1> - -<h2>By GEORGE A. WHITTINGTON</h2> - -<p>You were bored—keeping the endless, dull<br /> -space-lanes clear. You wanted excitement,<br /> -danger, to see the weird planets of the System.<br /> -You wanted—And then it happened, all the<br /> -swift, blazing danger of the void—and you<br /> -found yourself being blasted out of existence.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Summer 1946.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Asteroid fishing" was no job for men who joined the Inter-Planetary -Patrol with the lure of distant space frontiers in their heart, Nord -Holber told himself bitterly.</p> - -<p>Your two-man Patrol ship hung less than twenty degrees off the -ecliptic, with sharp, hard starlight from the spangled jet mantle of -space glinting against the top and sides of its maroon plastic hull. -Below, the asteroids rushed through their mad orbits like the vengeful -ghosts of shattered planets and satellites.</p> - -<p>Smaller fragments danced through weird paths above the main body. -They were the hazard that forced space liners to arc far above the -impassable Belt on the run between Jupiter's moons and the inner -planets: and, since you were a fledgeling Patrol Officer, fresh from -Federation University, you wasted the energy that boiled in your blood -hunting these fragments, yanking them out of space!</p> - -<p>"It's fun," Mike Doren admitted, as though reading his partner's -thought. "Like shark fishing. But it's not what I joined the Patrol to -do."</p> - -<p>Nord Holber's answering smile softened the strength a firm chin and -thin, straight nose gave to his long oval face. "More like mine -sweeping in ancient times, Mike," he said quietly—as though the -dispassionate menace of the inanimate chunks of matter they hunted -could answer the call for high adventure! "One of those things could -make a wreck of this ship—as easily as it could a liner."</p> - -<p>Against that possibility, they wore space suits, and, under his -transparent helmet, Nord's grey eyes swept the side view screens for -any fragments they'd missed on the way down. Mike was at the drive -controls, his gaze on the lower screen, watching their prey, an ugly, -angular mass, hardly larger than a man's head, two hundred feet below.</p> - -<p>"O.K.," Mike said, his big mouth curving in a wry smile. "Let go with -the hook."</p> - -<p>Nord pressed two control studs before him. Their ship was standard -except for the little bay that now opened aft, the heavy electro-magnet -that shot downward under tiny automatic jets, and the power-driven -winch that paid out flexible, heavily insulated cable to hold the -magnet captive and carry the current.</p> - -<p>"Sunspot!" Nord said, as the magnet struck the little asteroid fragment -squarely and clung.</p> - -<p>"There's always enough para-magnetic stuff in them," his partner -commented bitterly. "That's what makes this blasted assignment -possible!" His blue eyes brightened. "That's one more toward a full -cargo—a trip back to Mars Base, and some planet leave. Hope I don't -dream about these dirty rocks!" The brightness hardened in his eyes, as -they dropped to the Asteroid Belt below.</p> - -<p>"I'll start hunting another one," Nord said wearily. "You haul this -one in!" He took Mike's chair before the drive controls, and his long -fingers made deft, swift adjustments. Their little ship nosed upward -toward a safer cruising area.</p> - -<p>The other jabbed the winch control studs. The winch began to turn -again, drawing the cable taut. Their ship lurched momentarily, as the -cable tugged against the orbital inertia of the little mass at the end -of the magnet; but winch and ship were built for the struggle, and the -asteroid fragment swung from its course, starting upward on the magnet.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now Mike stores it away in the outer hull with the rest, Nord thought -glumly, and the whole weary routine starts over again. Three days it -took to find this last one—three days of monotonous search just above -the Belt!</p> - -<p>He forced his slim, wiry body erect, and straightened his shoulders. -"They're getting scarcer, Mike. Before long, the System Federation can -lower the safe traffic lanes down to here—that's the closest to the -Belt that'll ever be practical. Maybe the next batch of Patrol College -grads will get a different initiation."</p> - -<p>"Sure," grumbled Mike, watching the ascending magnet. "Maybe the -Federation'll have the Patrol go all out after that pirate, Kadine. -He's got the only ship in space that can navigate the Asteroid Belt! -Get his secret—and liners can go right through the Belt without -bothering about asteroids or fragments!</p> - -<p>"If they'd tried that before, Nord, we wouldn't waste our Patrol career -with this blasted 'asteroid fishing'."</p> - -<p>"The secret's in the steel hull of his ship," Holber agreed, firm jaw -tightening. Dhain Kadine, he remembered, had been a brilliant physicist -before he turned to space piracy. Now his ship, the only steel-hulled -vessel in an age of plastics, operated from a base deep within the -Asteroid Belt itself—sailing untouched where other daring craft had -been battered to wreckage!</p> - -<p>"We can't go in after him," Nord added, "and he picks his own time and -place to come out. But—"</p> - -<p>The visaphone on the instrument panel before him jangled a sudden -warning. His grey eyes widened. A glowing disk indicated general -communications wavelength, but the jangling meant a rider that stamped -the communication; <i>urgent!</i></p> - -<p>He snapped the instrument on, and tuned in the length. The screen -glowed, and blurred, vague images appeared. Broken, unintelligible -words poured out.</p> - -<p>Mike Doren glared at the instrument savagely, and glanced quickly to -the lower view screen. The asteroid fragment was still a few feet -below. "Static from the cable," he growled. "Wait! We don't want to -lose this thing."</p> - -<p>"That's a Patrol Officer on the screen," Holber said doubtfully, and -smiled. "But I can't make out enough to tell his rank, so it's not -insubordination if we wait."</p> - -<p>The current flowing through the cable to the magnet was the same high -frequency used in the ship itself—there was no space in a compact -Patrol vessel for unnecessary converters. But, inside, the current was -screened against interference with visaphone reception; while outside, -pulsing through the cable, it set up an interference field.</p> - -<p>In a matter of seconds, the magnet and its captive were inside the -hull, and the bay doors closed. Mike jabbed off the magnetizing -current, and the two heard the heartening thump of the asteroid -fragment against the outer hull.</p> - -<p>They heard, too, the voice from the visaphone, suddenly clear and -imperative against the still jangling alarm: "... Kadine. Repeating:..."</p> - -<p>Mike's jaw dropped. "Ring of Saturn! Talk about the devil!"</p> - -<p>On the visaphone screen was a Colonel of the Inter-Planetary Patrol. -Behind him could be seen a spacious control room—the nerve center of -a luxury space liner. The Colonel's square, rugged face was white with -anger. His words were clipped.</p> - -<p>"Repeating! All Patrol ships in vicinity of Space Lane 6, be on lookout -for Dhain Kadine, who has halted and robbed Earth Liner, <i>Jovian -Nymph</i>!"</p> - -<p>The words swept the weariness from Nord's face, and brought flame -leaping from the depths of his grey eyes! Space Lane 6 was almost -directly above their position. He saw Mike's features light with -eagerness. Dhain Kadine had struck out from the wild Belt that was his -impregnable stronghold; and now Nord Holber and Mike Doren, hugging the -upper fringe of the Belt, were between the outlaw and safety!</p> - -<p>"It's our chance!" Mike shouted. "Promotion—the end of this rookie -fishing business—if we get him! We—"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In the visaphone, the Colonel went on, his voice bitter with chagrin; -"Valuable scientific documents have been taken under threat of -destruction to an unarmed passenger ship.</p> - -<p>"Kadine traveling in direction of the Eos Family. Imperative that -the Patrol intercept and destroy Dhain Kadine!" He paused, and added -grimly; "<i>Jovian Nymph</i> standing by."</p> - -<p>Mike Doren whistled. "Must be some important papers! Why weren't they -sent by Patrol ship then?"</p> - -<p>Nord's eyes were speculative. "The Patrol's busy off Jupiter's moons. -There's trouble brewing with the underground Jovian League trying to -agitate the moons out of the System Federation. It's ticklish business, -Mike—dynamite, in fact, with the System Congress expecting violence!</p> - -<p>"Kadine's supposed to be in that business up to his ears, so somebody -thought he'd be too busy to intercept a liner."</p> - -<p>The other nodded. "So they send a Patrol Officer with the papers on a -regular liner—and Jovian League spies tip off Kadine to come back from -Jupiter and intercept them over the Belt, where he can jump to safety -into the Asteroids!"</p> - -<p>Nord was already searching the view screens. "Better get below and -stow that fragment away, Mike," he ordered, quietly, asserting his -nominal command for the first time since the two started their initial -assignment. "And check pressure in your suit oxygen tank. The Eos -Family is right below us in the Belt—and this is where Kadine's -heading!"</p> - -<p>His partner grinned. "Yes, sir!" He clambered through the inner -airlock, and squirmed through the narrow space between the hulls. His -voice came back over the suit communication unit: "Aren't you going to -acknowledge the orders?"</p> - -<p>"That would warn Kadine," Holber told him.</p> - -<p>His lips curved in a tight smile that did not soften the long oval of -his face. "The Colonel knows we've begun fishing this section of the -Belt—but Kadine may have been too busy over by Jupiter's moons to keep -track of little details like that."</p> - -<p>Doren came back into the cabin. "Doubt if the Jovian League spies keep -track of routine assignments of rookie Patrol Officers," he agreed. -"What's our move?"</p> - -<p>"We wait." Nord's grey eyes flicked over the top and rear view screens. -"Kadine should come from above and behind. We'll let him overtake us. -That way we'll stay between him and the Belt, and make him fight!"</p> - -<p>"He won't get by this heat ray!" Mike promised savagely.</p> - -<p>His big hands went over the ray tube controls experimentally, and he -grinned as he swung the sights across the rear sector. "I'm sick of -playing with asteroid fragments!"</p> - -<p>Holber didn't move his eyes from the rear screen. A faint, distant -flicker of red splashed against the deep black of space behind them. -The pin point of flame pulsed steadily among the cold stars—it was the -rocket wash of a ship, a ship far below the space lanes, a ship too -black to be visible against its sable backdrop!</p> - -<p>"Here he comes!" Mike said tensely.</p> - -<p>"He's seen us by now." Nord's long fingers brought retarding jets -flaming into brief life.</p> - -<p>Their speed slackened. In the rear screen, the wash of the other ship -swelled suddenly, and the outline of its dark hull cut a silhouette -across the dying radiance of exhaust gasses.</p> - -<p>It was Kadine's ship! In it was the secret of safe passage through -the Asteroid Belt—a secret that would open a space lane for System -Federation ships, give Science access to the guarded secrets of the -mysterious Asteroids!</p> - -<p>In it, too, were the papers which had brought the outlaw back from -Jupiter's moons—gambling possible success there to wrest from the -Federation itself scientific knowledge that might assure a pirate coup -against interplanetary civilization!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dhain Kadine, whose cunning and skill were legendary, had never -hesitated in battle. He did not hesitate now! The black hull of his -ship loomed in the view screen, and a slender, dazzling pencil of white -darted forth—a heat ray stopped down to its most penetrating beam, -concentrating the maximum fiery energy into a tiny area of searing -destruction.</p> - -<p>Nord whipped their vulnerable plastic hull aside, and the beam flared -harmlessly in the view screens, as it lashed past, spending its fury -against cold space. Nord threw the drive control lever forward to the -last notch.</p> - -<p>The Patrol ship surged ahead, matching the speed of Kadine's -vessel—blocking the outlaw from the safety of the Asteroids below!</p> - -<p>"That guy doesn't fool around!" Mike Doren said hoarsely. His big -hands were busy as the ray tube's cross hairs shifted in the rear view -screen. "Neither do I!" he added savagely.</p> - -<p>"Sunspot!" Holber cried. "You hit him, Mike!"</p> - -<p>The thin heat ray danced into the dark hull—drew a spreading circle of -dark, sullen red! Kadine's side jets flared.</p> - -<p>"Stay with him, Mike." Nord ordered calmly. "That steel hull will take -a lot of heat before you do any damage!"</p> - -<p>Doren sent his beam lashing after Kadine's dancing ship, against which -the circle of red faded, then glowed once more as the merciless heat -found the spot again.</p> - -<p>Holber's grey eyes blazed, and his long fingers wove their swift -movements into a smooth pattern on the drive levers—following, like a -dance partner, the wild dartings of the outlaw ship.</p> - -<p>For a few arrested seconds, Kadine's ray tube was cold, as he turned -all his frenzied attention to the drive. Vainly, he spun and twisted. -Mike Doren grinning savagely, traced every desperate motion with the -fiery pencil of his heat ray.</p> - -<p>"He can't get past—and he can't turn back! He's got to keep coming!"</p> - -<p>As though in silent agreement, Kadine whipped his ship out of its -gyrations, and drove a straight course toward the stern of the Patrol -fighter. In the split second it took Nord to react, the pirate drew -closer. His black hull blocked out the stars behind, filled the rear -screen! In the steel nose, the red spot flared brighter, rising toward -the white heat that meant disaster—</p> - -<p>And the view screen was suddenly an incandescent patch of unbearable -brilliance that burned all vision from Nord Holber's brain—brought his -eyelids down instinctively over throbbing eyes! He reeled in his seat, -head spinning, stomach writhing, and realization more sickening than -physical agony in his mind.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Kadine had blinded them with a blast of his retarding jets! It was an -old trick—a veteran space-fighter's trick that took the cool nerve of -blasting your ship's nose forward into your enemy's ray, shielding your -own eyes from his aft jets, until you were so close your nose almost -covered his view screen, then—Risky, but it gained several precious -seconds!</p> - -<p>Seconds in which to strike! Nord's jaw was a piece of sculptured white -rock against which the sagging muscles of his face drew themselves -taut. His eyes—they had to open! He had to see! Kadine would use the -seconds.</p> - -<p>Holber's eyelids came up slowly, and he lifted his head, suddenly -several times its weight, toward the view screen. The cabin swam before -him—a confusion of grey and black shadows. He had an impression of a -distorted blotch beside him, and he heard Mike cursing madly.</p> - -<p>"Can't see, Nord! Can't get my eyes open!"</p> - -<p>"Hold on, Mike!"</p> - -<p>The blacker shadow beside him lurched, and he heard his partner -stumble back to a sitting position. This his eyes were focusing again, -painfully, on a blurred patch of black, dotted with painful pinpoints -of brilliant blue-white—on the screen. The black began to thicken, -harden about the stars—it was torn to shreds by a fiery nova! Kadine's -heat ray was eating into the stern of the Patrol Ship!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Behind the black nightmare that settled again over his tortured -eyeballs, swift reactions prodded at Nord's muscles. His long fingers -found the drive levers, and held tight as they sent the ship off in a -dizzy, twisting tangent to her course.</p> - -<p>In his helmet, the valve clicked shut as outside pressure fell. Air -was rushing from out through a gaping hole in the hull, but the ship -responded perfectly to the controls.</p> - -<p>"He didn't do any real damage," Nord gritted. "Not yet," Again, he -forced his eyelids up, and the screens swam before him in a red haze.</p> - -<p>"Kadine's down below us," his partner cried angrily. "He's running for -the Belt! Saving those papers is worth more to him than our hides."</p> - -<p>Without a word, his eyes bloodshot and terrible, Nord hurled the Patrol -Ship downward after the outlaw.</p> - -<p>"We're pretty close to the Asteroids," Mike warned mechanically. -"Fragments may be pretty thick." His big mouth spread into a sudden -grin. "Blast the fragments! We're after them anyway—if a couple come -through the hull, that's a couple we won't have to fish for." He moved -his big hands over the heat ray controls eagerly.</p> - -<p>"Kadine will have to slow down some before he cuts into that Belt," -Holber reasoned aloud. "Get your beam on his stern jet tubes, just -behind the nozzles—you'll have a better chance than trying to melt his -hull again. The tubes are heat resistant, but they're plenty hot—and -jet tubes have been rayed out before this!"</p> - -<p>The other nodded. "It's an old trick—as old as the one he pulled on -us. Look—he's leveling off!"</p> - -<p>They were gaining rapidly, as the black craft below lost speed. It -lurched suddenly, portraying the amazement of the pirate within, as the -ray flashed in his screen.</p> - -<p>"You found him again, Mike!" Nord exulted grimly. "Right across the -tubes!"</p> - -<p>"He can't run, for those tubes won't last seconds!"</p> - -<p>Kadine's fighter dogged frantically, in a brief, vain effort to shake -the beam which followed every twist. Abruptly, the dark ship swerved -off course.</p> - -<p>"There goes one tube!" Doren shouted jubilantly. "He'll have to cut -down his drive now—to trim the jets!"</p> - -<p>The outlaw ship swung slowly in a climbing turn, and Kadine was -sweeping black space with his fiery beam as he came.</p> - -<p>Like fencing foils, the two dazzling pencils of light crossed and -recrossed—slashing and stabbing for the ships. But it was the duel -of a slower, heavily armored adversary against a faster, unprotected -opponent—for Kadine's metal hull would stand long seconds of heat, and -a touch of his own stopped-down beam could bore into the vitals of the -plastic Patrol Ship at a touch.</p> - -<p>"What's he up to?" growled Mike Doren. Once again, he had the other -ship glowing dangerously red. Still Kadine came on.</p> - -<p>Nord's throbbing eyes were slitted almost shut. The other wouldn't get -away with the same trick twice! As the ship loomed almost upon them, -Nord laughed harshly, touched his own retarding jets briefly. Let the -outlaw—Only then, he realized, suddenly—too late! Desperately, he -threw the drive lever—as the glowing nose of the other ship smashed -into their lower hull!</p> - -<p>The universe spun around him. He saw the stars streak across the view -screens, and the floor beneath his feet bulge upward under the terrible -impact—even as the last surge of her jets wrenched the Patrol Ship -free, sent her staggering drunkenly upward.</p> - -<p>He gripped the control panel with long fingers whose steel clutch -almost lifted him from the seat, and the grey eyes in his white face -were bloodshot and wild! Beside him, Mike's rasping breath deepened -into a groan.</p> - -<p>"Our heat ray's out! That devil—"</p> - -<p>Nord laughed. Their ship swung smoothly enough under its drive, as his -hands shot over the levers. Of all the intricate wiring beneath them, -only the ray circuit had been broken! But the bottom of their fighter -had been torn open under the nose.</p> - -<p>In the lower screen, he saw the asteroid fragments they'd stowed away -below, floating in space, bumping lightly against Kadine's steel hull -as the black ship turned back. <i>Steel hull! Asteroid fragments!</i> In his -brain, the words rushed together into sudden, strange meaning with the -thought of the heat ray!</p> - -<p>Nord laughed again, throwing his body far across the seat to press the -two studs before the astounded Mike. "Mike, maybe we don't need a ray!"</p> - -<p>"I don't get it," his partner gasped.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Behind and below them, the little bay opened in the still undamaged -section of their hull, the electro-magnet shot downward under its tiny -automatic jets, and the winch paid out the cable.</p> - -<p>"Sunspot!" the dazed Mike whispered mechanically. The magnet had struck -Kadine's ship, and clung, the cable falling slack below as the winch -continued to turn. "But what good does it do us, Nord? He can't drag -us into the Belt with him, our mass will throw off his trick drive -correction."</p> - -<p>"Right! Kadine will have to finish us first—he can't ray that cable -off!"</p> - -<p>His partner nodded glumly. "Here he comes! And we can't touch him."</p> - -<p>Nord Holber laughed again. "That's what he thinks! Mike, there's high -frequency current in that cable."</p> - -<p>He shot their battered fighter aside—to port—as the fiery beam -flashed upward. The slack cable passed under and over the pirate's -ship. Nord sent the Patrol vessel down, then to starboard and up again, -as Kadine's fiery pencil of destruction whipped toward them.</p> - -<p>"He doesn't suspect a thing," Holber said tensely. "It looks like fancy -dodging we're doing. But look at the cable, partner! A couple more -times around—"</p> - -<p>The plastic ship was weaving an intricate course, dodging, yet feinting -downward, only to dance upward and away—and the insulated cable was -wound loosely around the enemy craft.</p> - -<p>"O.K., Mike," Nord said at last. "Reverse that winch, and pull the -cable out."</p> - -<p>Doren, understanding breaking at last into his flaming blue eyes, -pressed the stud, and stared into the lower screen. "A high frequency -current," he whispered, "flowing through a coil around a metal -core—Kadine's steel hull!"</p> - -<p>Within the metal hull of Dhain Kadine's spacer induced electrical -current lashed a torrent of irresistible energy against sluggish -electro-magnetic potentialities. Resistance of the steel produced -heat—heat more intense than Mike Doren's beam could create. Despite -the bulk of the outlaw ship within those few turns of cable, the -induced current, surging through the steel drove the temperature -higher—higher—toward the melting point itself! And, in the -inner-hull, it was the same—rising temperature, heat radiating, -warming the air within the cabin—</p> - -<p>"An induction furnace," said Nord Holber quietly. "It must be pretty -warm inside there now!"</p> - -<p>Before him, the visaphone jangled suddenly. The screen glowed as he -snapped it on. In it the dark, hawklike face of Dhain Kadine, was a -blurred, flickering, terror-white, blob. His voice shouted hoarse -unintelligible words—rose almost to a shriek. Sweat drenched his -clothes—poured from every pore of his skin, flashed dancing highlights -on the screen.</p> - -<p>Nord Holber's fist and arm gestured in unmistakable pantomime—<i>jump!</i></p> - -<p>"Shut the current off quick, Mike," he ordered, as the space suited -figure of Dhain Kadine leaped frantically through the port of the black -ship below them. "The Patrol will want everything that's in that ship!"</p> - -<p>Mike Doren pressed the stud, and his big mouth spread in a contented -smile as the other swung their fighter through space at top speed, -uncoiling the cable.</p> - -<p>"When it cools down," Nord said, "we'll go aboard. After we give Kadine -and the papers to the <i>Jovian Nymph</i>, we'll go back to base in his -ship. I don't want to make the trip all the way in this space suit."</p> - -<p>His partner's eyes lit up. "O.K. But, when we get to Mars Base, we'll -ride our ship and drag that steel monstrosity in on the cable. After -all, it's the last catch of 'asteroid fishing,' and the biggest!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Space-Lane of No-Return, by George A. 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Whittington - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Space-Lane of No-Return - -Author: George A. Whittington - -Release Date: November 10, 2020 [EBook #63697] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACE-LANE OF NO-RETURN *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Space-Lane of No-Return - - By GEORGE A. WHITTINGTON - - You were bored--keeping the endless, dull - space-lanes clear. You wanted excitement, - danger, to see the weird planets of the System. - You wanted--And then it happened, all the - swift, blazing danger of the void--and you - found yourself being blasted out of existence. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1946. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"Asteroid fishing" was no job for men who joined the Inter-Planetary -Patrol with the lure of distant space frontiers in their heart, Nord -Holber told himself bitterly. - -Your two-man Patrol ship hung less than twenty degrees off the -ecliptic, with sharp, hard starlight from the spangled jet mantle of -space glinting against the top and sides of its maroon plastic hull. -Below, the asteroids rushed through their mad orbits like the vengeful -ghosts of shattered planets and satellites. - -Smaller fragments danced through weird paths above the main body. -They were the hazard that forced space liners to arc far above the -impassable Belt on the run between Jupiter's moons and the inner -planets: and, since you were a fledgeling Patrol Officer, fresh from -Federation University, you wasted the energy that boiled in your blood -hunting these fragments, yanking them out of space! - -"It's fun," Mike Doren admitted, as though reading his partner's -thought. "Like shark fishing. But it's not what I joined the Patrol to -do." - -Nord Holber's answering smile softened the strength a firm chin and -thin, straight nose gave to his long oval face. "More like mine -sweeping in ancient times, Mike," he said quietly--as though the -dispassionate menace of the inanimate chunks of matter they hunted -could answer the call for high adventure! "One of those things could -make a wreck of this ship--as easily as it could a liner." - -Against that possibility, they wore space suits, and, under his -transparent helmet, Nord's grey eyes swept the side view screens for -any fragments they'd missed on the way down. Mike was at the drive -controls, his gaze on the lower screen, watching their prey, an ugly, -angular mass, hardly larger than a man's head, two hundred feet below. - -"O.K.," Mike said, his big mouth curving in a wry smile. "Let go with -the hook." - -Nord pressed two control studs before him. Their ship was standard -except for the little bay that now opened aft, the heavy electro-magnet -that shot downward under tiny automatic jets, and the power-driven -winch that paid out flexible, heavily insulated cable to hold the -magnet captive and carry the current. - -"Sunspot!" Nord said, as the magnet struck the little asteroid fragment -squarely and clung. - -"There's always enough para-magnetic stuff in them," his partner -commented bitterly. "That's what makes this blasted assignment -possible!" His blue eyes brightened. "That's one more toward a full -cargo--a trip back to Mars Base, and some planet leave. Hope I don't -dream about these dirty rocks!" The brightness hardened in his eyes, as -they dropped to the Asteroid Belt below. - -"I'll start hunting another one," Nord said wearily. "You haul this -one in!" He took Mike's chair before the drive controls, and his long -fingers made deft, swift adjustments. Their little ship nosed upward -toward a safer cruising area. - -The other jabbed the winch control studs. The winch began to turn -again, drawing the cable taut. Their ship lurched momentarily, as the -cable tugged against the orbital inertia of the little mass at the end -of the magnet; but winch and ship were built for the struggle, and the -asteroid fragment swung from its course, starting upward on the magnet. - - * * * * * - -Now Mike stores it away in the outer hull with the rest, Nord thought -glumly, and the whole weary routine starts over again. Three days it -took to find this last one--three days of monotonous search just above -the Belt! - -He forced his slim, wiry body erect, and straightened his shoulders. -"They're getting scarcer, Mike. Before long, the System Federation can -lower the safe traffic lanes down to here--that's the closest to the -Belt that'll ever be practical. Maybe the next batch of Patrol College -grads will get a different initiation." - -"Sure," grumbled Mike, watching the ascending magnet. "Maybe the -Federation'll have the Patrol go all out after that pirate, Kadine. -He's got the only ship in space that can navigate the Asteroid Belt! -Get his secret--and liners can go right through the Belt without -bothering about asteroids or fragments! - -"If they'd tried that before, Nord, we wouldn't waste our Patrol career -with this blasted 'asteroid fishing'." - -"The secret's in the steel hull of his ship," Holber agreed, firm jaw -tightening. Dhain Kadine, he remembered, had been a brilliant physicist -before he turned to space piracy. Now his ship, the only steel-hulled -vessel in an age of plastics, operated from a base deep within the -Asteroid Belt itself--sailing untouched where other daring craft had -been battered to wreckage! - -"We can't go in after him," Nord added, "and he picks his own time and -place to come out. But--" - -The visaphone on the instrument panel before him jangled a sudden -warning. His grey eyes widened. A glowing disk indicated general -communications wavelength, but the jangling meant a rider that stamped -the communication; _urgent!_ - -He snapped the instrument on, and tuned in the length. The screen -glowed, and blurred, vague images appeared. Broken, unintelligible -words poured out. - -Mike Doren glared at the instrument savagely, and glanced quickly to -the lower view screen. The asteroid fragment was still a few feet -below. "Static from the cable," he growled. "Wait! We don't want to -lose this thing." - -"That's a Patrol Officer on the screen," Holber said doubtfully, and -smiled. "But I can't make out enough to tell his rank, so it's not -insubordination if we wait." - -The current flowing through the cable to the magnet was the same high -frequency used in the ship itself--there was no space in a compact -Patrol vessel for unnecessary converters. But, inside, the current was -screened against interference with visaphone reception; while outside, -pulsing through the cable, it set up an interference field. - -In a matter of seconds, the magnet and its captive were inside the -hull, and the bay doors closed. Mike jabbed off the magnetizing -current, and the two heard the heartening thump of the asteroid -fragment against the outer hull. - -They heard, too, the voice from the visaphone, suddenly clear and -imperative against the still jangling alarm: "... Kadine. Repeating:..." - -Mike's jaw dropped. "Ring of Saturn! Talk about the devil!" - -On the visaphone screen was a Colonel of the Inter-Planetary Patrol. -Behind him could be seen a spacious control room--the nerve center of -a luxury space liner. The Colonel's square, rugged face was white with -anger. His words were clipped. - -"Repeating! All Patrol ships in vicinity of Space Lane 6, be on lookout -for Dhain Kadine, who has halted and robbed Earth Liner, _Jovian -Nymph_!" - -The words swept the weariness from Nord's face, and brought flame -leaping from the depths of his grey eyes! Space Lane 6 was almost -directly above their position. He saw Mike's features light with -eagerness. Dhain Kadine had struck out from the wild Belt that was his -impregnable stronghold; and now Nord Holber and Mike Doren, hugging the -upper fringe of the Belt, were between the outlaw and safety! - -"It's our chance!" Mike shouted. "Promotion--the end of this rookie -fishing business--if we get him! We--" - - * * * * * - -In the visaphone, the Colonel went on, his voice bitter with chagrin; -"Valuable scientific documents have been taken under threat of -destruction to an unarmed passenger ship. - -"Kadine traveling in direction of the Eos Family. Imperative that -the Patrol intercept and destroy Dhain Kadine!" He paused, and added -grimly; "_Jovian Nymph_ standing by." - -Mike Doren whistled. "Must be some important papers! Why weren't they -sent by Patrol ship then?" - -Nord's eyes were speculative. "The Patrol's busy off Jupiter's moons. -There's trouble brewing with the underground Jovian League trying to -agitate the moons out of the System Federation. It's ticklish business, -Mike--dynamite, in fact, with the System Congress expecting violence! - -"Kadine's supposed to be in that business up to his ears, so somebody -thought he'd be too busy to intercept a liner." - -The other nodded. "So they send a Patrol Officer with the papers on a -regular liner--and Jovian League spies tip off Kadine to come back from -Jupiter and intercept them over the Belt, where he can jump to safety -into the Asteroids!" - -Nord was already searching the view screens. "Better get below and -stow that fragment away, Mike," he ordered, quietly, asserting his -nominal command for the first time since the two started their initial -assignment. "And check pressure in your suit oxygen tank. The Eos -Family is right below us in the Belt--and this is where Kadine's -heading!" - -His partner grinned. "Yes, sir!" He clambered through the inner -airlock, and squirmed through the narrow space between the hulls. His -voice came back over the suit communication unit: "Aren't you going to -acknowledge the orders?" - -"That would warn Kadine," Holber told him. - -His lips curved in a tight smile that did not soften the long oval of -his face. "The Colonel knows we've begun fishing this section of the -Belt--but Kadine may have been too busy over by Jupiter's moons to keep -track of little details like that." - -Doren came back into the cabin. "Doubt if the Jovian League spies keep -track of routine assignments of rookie Patrol Officers," he agreed. -"What's our move?" - -"We wait." Nord's grey eyes flicked over the top and rear view screens. -"Kadine should come from above and behind. We'll let him overtake us. -That way we'll stay between him and the Belt, and make him fight!" - -"He won't get by this heat ray!" Mike promised savagely. - -His big hands went over the ray tube controls experimentally, and he -grinned as he swung the sights across the rear sector. "I'm sick of -playing with asteroid fragments!" - -Holber didn't move his eyes from the rear screen. A faint, distant -flicker of red splashed against the deep black of space behind them. -The pin point of flame pulsed steadily among the cold stars--it was the -rocket wash of a ship, a ship far below the space lanes, a ship too -black to be visible against its sable backdrop! - -"Here he comes!" Mike said tensely. - -"He's seen us by now." Nord's long fingers brought retarding jets -flaming into brief life. - -Their speed slackened. In the rear screen, the wash of the other ship -swelled suddenly, and the outline of its dark hull cut a silhouette -across the dying radiance of exhaust gasses. - -It was Kadine's ship! In it was the secret of safe passage through -the Asteroid Belt--a secret that would open a space lane for System -Federation ships, give Science access to the guarded secrets of the -mysterious Asteroids! - -In it, too, were the papers which had brought the outlaw back from -Jupiter's moons--gambling possible success there to wrest from the -Federation itself scientific knowledge that might assure a pirate coup -against interplanetary civilization! - - * * * * * - -Dhain Kadine, whose cunning and skill were legendary, had never -hesitated in battle. He did not hesitate now! The black hull of his -ship loomed in the view screen, and a slender, dazzling pencil of white -darted forth--a heat ray stopped down to its most penetrating beam, -concentrating the maximum fiery energy into a tiny area of searing -destruction. - -Nord whipped their vulnerable plastic hull aside, and the beam flared -harmlessly in the view screens, as it lashed past, spending its fury -against cold space. Nord threw the drive control lever forward to the -last notch. - -The Patrol ship surged ahead, matching the speed of Kadine's -vessel--blocking the outlaw from the safety of the Asteroids below! - -"That guy doesn't fool around!" Mike Doren said hoarsely. His big -hands were busy as the ray tube's cross hairs shifted in the rear view -screen. "Neither do I!" he added savagely. - -"Sunspot!" Holber cried. "You hit him, Mike!" - -The thin heat ray danced into the dark hull--drew a spreading circle of -dark, sullen red! Kadine's side jets flared. - -"Stay with him, Mike." Nord ordered calmly. "That steel hull will take -a lot of heat before you do any damage!" - -Doren sent his beam lashing after Kadine's dancing ship, against which -the circle of red faded, then glowed once more as the merciless heat -found the spot again. - -Holber's grey eyes blazed, and his long fingers wove their swift -movements into a smooth pattern on the drive levers--following, like a -dance partner, the wild dartings of the outlaw ship. - -For a few arrested seconds, Kadine's ray tube was cold, as he turned -all his frenzied attention to the drive. Vainly, he spun and twisted. -Mike Doren grinning savagely, traced every desperate motion with the -fiery pencil of his heat ray. - -"He can't get past--and he can't turn back! He's got to keep coming!" - -As though in silent agreement, Kadine whipped his ship out of its -gyrations, and drove a straight course toward the stern of the Patrol -fighter. In the split second it took Nord to react, the pirate drew -closer. His black hull blocked out the stars behind, filled the rear -screen! In the steel nose, the red spot flared brighter, rising toward -the white heat that meant disaster-- - -And the view screen was suddenly an incandescent patch of unbearable -brilliance that burned all vision from Nord Holber's brain--brought his -eyelids down instinctively over throbbing eyes! He reeled in his seat, -head spinning, stomach writhing, and realization more sickening than -physical agony in his mind. - -Kadine had blinded them with a blast of his retarding jets! It was an -old trick--a veteran space-fighter's trick that took the cool nerve of -blasting your ship's nose forward into your enemy's ray, shielding your -own eyes from his aft jets, until you were so close your nose almost -covered his view screen, then--Risky, but it gained several precious -seconds! - -Seconds in which to strike! Nord's jaw was a piece of sculptured white -rock against which the sagging muscles of his face drew themselves -taut. His eyes--they had to open! He had to see! Kadine would use the -seconds. - -Holber's eyelids came up slowly, and he lifted his head, suddenly -several times its weight, toward the view screen. The cabin swam before -him--a confusion of grey and black shadows. He had an impression of a -distorted blotch beside him, and he heard Mike cursing madly. - -"Can't see, Nord! Can't get my eyes open!" - -"Hold on, Mike!" - -The blacker shadow beside him lurched, and he heard his partner -stumble back to a sitting position. This his eyes were focusing again, -painfully, on a blurred patch of black, dotted with painful pinpoints -of brilliant blue-white--on the screen. The black began to thicken, -harden about the stars--it was torn to shreds by a fiery nova! Kadine's -heat ray was eating into the stern of the Patrol Ship! - - * * * * * - -Behind the black nightmare that settled again over his tortured -eyeballs, swift reactions prodded at Nord's muscles. His long fingers -found the drive levers, and held tight as they sent the ship off in a -dizzy, twisting tangent to her course. - -In his helmet, the valve clicked shut as outside pressure fell. Air -was rushing from out through a gaping hole in the hull, but the ship -responded perfectly to the controls. - -"He didn't do any real damage," Nord gritted. "Not yet," Again, he -forced his eyelids up, and the screens swam before him in a red haze. - -"Kadine's down below us," his partner cried angrily. "He's running for -the Belt! Saving those papers is worth more to him than our hides." - -Without a word, his eyes bloodshot and terrible, Nord hurled the Patrol -Ship downward after the outlaw. - -"We're pretty close to the Asteroids," Mike warned mechanically. -"Fragments may be pretty thick." His big mouth spread into a sudden -grin. "Blast the fragments! We're after them anyway--if a couple come -through the hull, that's a couple we won't have to fish for." He moved -his big hands over the heat ray controls eagerly. - -"Kadine will have to slow down some before he cuts into that Belt," -Holber reasoned aloud. "Get your beam on his stern jet tubes, just -behind the nozzles--you'll have a better chance than trying to melt his -hull again. The tubes are heat resistant, but they're plenty hot--and -jet tubes have been rayed out before this!" - -The other nodded. "It's an old trick--as old as the one he pulled on -us. Look--he's leveling off!" - -They were gaining rapidly, as the black craft below lost speed. It -lurched suddenly, portraying the amazement of the pirate within, as the -ray flashed in his screen. - -"You found him again, Mike!" Nord exulted grimly. "Right across the -tubes!" - -"He can't run, for those tubes won't last seconds!" - -Kadine's fighter dogged frantically, in a brief, vain effort to shake -the beam which followed every twist. Abruptly, the dark ship swerved -off course. - -"There goes one tube!" Doren shouted jubilantly. "He'll have to cut -down his drive now--to trim the jets!" - -The outlaw ship swung slowly in a climbing turn, and Kadine was -sweeping black space with his fiery beam as he came. - -Like fencing foils, the two dazzling pencils of light crossed and -recrossed--slashing and stabbing for the ships. But it was the duel -of a slower, heavily armored adversary against a faster, unprotected -opponent--for Kadine's metal hull would stand long seconds of heat, and -a touch of his own stopped-down beam could bore into the vitals of the -plastic Patrol Ship at a touch. - -"What's he up to?" growled Mike Doren. Once again, he had the other -ship glowing dangerously red. Still Kadine came on. - -Nord's throbbing eyes were slitted almost shut. The other wouldn't get -away with the same trick twice! As the ship loomed almost upon them, -Nord laughed harshly, touched his own retarding jets briefly. Let the -outlaw--Only then, he realized, suddenly--too late! Desperately, he -threw the drive lever--as the glowing nose of the other ship smashed -into their lower hull! - -The universe spun around him. He saw the stars streak across the view -screens, and the floor beneath his feet bulge upward under the terrible -impact--even as the last surge of her jets wrenched the Patrol Ship -free, sent her staggering drunkenly upward. - -He gripped the control panel with long fingers whose steel clutch -almost lifted him from the seat, and the grey eyes in his white face -were bloodshot and wild! Beside him, Mike's rasping breath deepened -into a groan. - -"Our heat ray's out! That devil--" - -Nord laughed. Their ship swung smoothly enough under its drive, as his -hands shot over the levers. Of all the intricate wiring beneath them, -only the ray circuit had been broken! But the bottom of their fighter -had been torn open under the nose. - -In the lower screen, he saw the asteroid fragments they'd stowed away -below, floating in space, bumping lightly against Kadine's steel hull -as the black ship turned back. _Steel hull! Asteroid fragments!_ In his -brain, the words rushed together into sudden, strange meaning with the -thought of the heat ray! - -Nord laughed again, throwing his body far across the seat to press the -two studs before the astounded Mike. "Mike, maybe we don't need a ray!" - -"I don't get it," his partner gasped. - - * * * * * - -Behind and below them, the little bay opened in the still undamaged -section of their hull, the electro-magnet shot downward under its tiny -automatic jets, and the winch paid out the cable. - -"Sunspot!" the dazed Mike whispered mechanically. The magnet had struck -Kadine's ship, and clung, the cable falling slack below as the winch -continued to turn. "But what good does it do us, Nord? He can't drag -us into the Belt with him, our mass will throw off his trick drive -correction." - -"Right! Kadine will have to finish us first--he can't ray that cable -off!" - -His partner nodded glumly. "Here he comes! And we can't touch him." - -Nord Holber laughed again. "That's what he thinks! Mike, there's high -frequency current in that cable." - -He shot their battered fighter aside--to port--as the fiery beam -flashed upward. The slack cable passed under and over the pirate's -ship. Nord sent the Patrol vessel down, then to starboard and up again, -as Kadine's fiery pencil of destruction whipped toward them. - -"He doesn't suspect a thing," Holber said tensely. "It looks like fancy -dodging we're doing. But look at the cable, partner! A couple more -times around--" - -The plastic ship was weaving an intricate course, dodging, yet feinting -downward, only to dance upward and away--and the insulated cable was -wound loosely around the enemy craft. - -"O.K., Mike," Nord said at last. "Reverse that winch, and pull the -cable out." - -Doren, understanding breaking at last into his flaming blue eyes, -pressed the stud, and stared into the lower screen. "A high frequency -current," he whispered, "flowing through a coil around a metal -core--Kadine's steel hull!" - -Within the metal hull of Dhain Kadine's spacer induced electrical -current lashed a torrent of irresistible energy against sluggish -electro-magnetic potentialities. Resistance of the steel produced -heat--heat more intense than Mike Doren's beam could create. Despite -the bulk of the outlaw ship within those few turns of cable, the -induced current, surging through the steel drove the temperature -higher--higher--toward the melting point itself! And, in the -inner-hull, it was the same--rising temperature, heat radiating, -warming the air within the cabin-- - -"An induction furnace," said Nord Holber quietly. "It must be pretty -warm inside there now!" - -Before him, the visaphone jangled suddenly. The screen glowed as he -snapped it on. In it the dark, hawklike face of Dhain Kadine, was a -blurred, flickering, terror-white, blob. His voice shouted hoarse -unintelligible words--rose almost to a shriek. Sweat drenched his -clothes--poured from every pore of his skin, flashed dancing highlights -on the screen. - -Nord Holber's fist and arm gestured in unmistakable pantomime--_jump!_ - -"Shut the current off quick, Mike," he ordered, as the space suited -figure of Dhain Kadine leaped frantically through the port of the black -ship below them. "The Patrol will want everything that's in that ship!" - -Mike Doren pressed the stud, and his big mouth spread in a contented -smile as the other swung their fighter through space at top speed, -uncoiling the cable. - -"When it cools down," Nord said, "we'll go aboard. After we give Kadine -and the papers to the _Jovian Nymph_, we'll go back to base in his -ship. I don't want to make the trip all the way in this space suit." - -His partner's eyes lit up. "O.K. But, when we get to Mars Base, we'll -ride our ship and drag that steel monstrosity in on the cable. After -all, it's the last catch of 'asteroid fishing,' and the biggest!" - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Space-Lane of No-Return, by George A. Whittington - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACE-LANE OF NO-RETURN *** - -***** This file should be named 63697.txt or 63697.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/9/63697/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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 print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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