NormalizeHEADmain

11 files changed, 17 insertions, 3384 deletions

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..9c7ecc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #68208 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68208)
diff --git a/old/68208-0.txt b/old/68208-0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 8086649..0000000
--- a/old/68208-0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1592 +0,0 @@
-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Circle of Confusion, by Wesley Long
-
-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
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Circle of Confusion
-
-Author: Wesley Long
-
-Illustrator: Williams
-
-Release Date: May 30, 2022 [eBook #68208]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCLE OF CONFUSION ***
-
-
-
-
-
-                          Circle of Confusion
-
-                            By WESLEY LONG
-
-                        Illustrated by Williams
-
-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
-                Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1944.
-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
-
-
-Pluto is a strange planet in many ways. Perhaps it may even be classed
-as a "man-made" planet, since if it were not for man and his works,
-Pluto might as well have never been. But Pluto was found abundant
-in uranium, and then came man to change the ultra-frigidity of
-Pluto's surface, and to endow Pluto with a breathable atmosphere by
-transporting great shiploads of the frozen gases found on Umbriel. Then
-man set up cities, and since the face of Pluto had never been scarred
-by any kind of intelligent life, the planners had a free and open hand.
-
-So uranium was mined near the region known on the Plutonian maps as
-_The Styx Valley_, but which, with characteristic lack of foresight,
-was across the Devil's Mountains from the River Styx. Across the
-Devil's Range went the uranium to Mephisto, where it was smelted down
-into pigs. It was then put on barges and floated down the River Styx
-to Hell, which lies across the River Styx from Sharon; both cities
-quartering on the Sulphur Sea.
-
-It was loaded onto the ships of space at Hell, and then raced across
-the void, sunward to the Inner System where it was used.
-
-But the names are but locationally appropriate. Hell is no fuming,
-torrid city. It is temperate with a perfect climate. Mephisto's only
-claim to the nether regions was the dancing flames of her smelting
-mills that danced on the night sky. The Devil's Range was a small ridge
-of less than fifteen thousand feet and it was more than amply supplied
-with passes and near-sea-level breaches.
-
-And the cities at the mouth of the River Styx lived in cheerful
-rivalry, their main source of jealousy being the lush produce that
-came from the hinterland behind each. And the River Styx itself was a
-garden-spot for yachting clubs; bathing beaches lined the mouth for
-fifteen miles inward and they were clear-watered and pearly sanded.
-
-Pluto had been a man-made paradise for a number of years, only because
-Man, the Adaptable, found it economically expedient to make it so.
-
-No, it was not done with mirrors.
-
-It was done with a lens!
-
-The sun should have been a piddling little disk of ineffective yellow.
-Its warmth should have been negligible, just as it had been for a
-million years before the coming of man. Pluto had been ordained to be
-cold and forbidding, but it was not.
-
-The sun was a huge, irregular disk of flaming yellow that had peculiar,
-symmetrical streamers flowing off; twelve of the main ones and a
-constantly opening and closing twenty-four minor streamers that flowed
-outward from the duodecagonal pattern of Sol. These streamers rotated,
-and looked for all the world like the pattern made by rotating two
-gratings above one another.
-
-Sol, from Pluto, was as big as a washtub, because of a series of
-man-made stations in space halfway between Sol and Pluto. These
-stations warped space by the maintenance of subelectronic charges that
-produced a subetheric gradient which bent the usable radiations of
-Sol into a focus. The fact that they were points in space instead of
-mighty, million mile rings of metal to carry the space-warping charge
-made the focus of Sol irregular instead of circular, but it served its
-purpose and men grew used to the scintillating sun.
-
-Certainly, it cost like the very devil, but uranium is not plentiful
-anywhere else, and men found it economically sound--
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-John McBride cocked his feet on his desk at Station 1, and began to
-read his mail. At the fifth memo, he jumped, startled by what was on
-the page before him, and his feet hit the floor with a resounding
-crash. Angrily, he punched a buzzer, and a younger man entered.
-
-"Yes sir?" he asked. "What's wrong, Mr. McBride?" he finished noting
-McBride's startled expression.
-
-"Tommy, take a 'gram and slam it out of here on the rush. Some fool
-dame is going to try to fly through the lens!"
-
-"Oh, no!"
-
-"Yes! Can't get Terra on the phone, confound it, so fire a 'gram, but
-quick! Tell her that the restrictions are still in force, and that we
-aren't fooling! Also that it is illegal, dangerous, and foolhardy and
-that we absolutely forbid her to try!"
-
-"Yes sir!" answered Tommy and left immediately. The ticking of the
-teletype machine in the outer office came faintly to John's ears, but
-the knowledge of the message's departure did not ease the tension.
-
-Ten minutes later an answer came back:
-
-    HAVE RECEIVED PERMISSION FROM TRIPLANET COUNCIL TO FLY FROM TERRA
-    TO PLUTO THROUGH AXIS OF LENS. PERMISSION GRANTED BECAUSE OF
-    STATEMENT OF NO DANGER EXPRESSED BY DOCTOR HOLMANN OF THE
-    DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRO-GRAVITIC PHENOMENA. SAVE YOUR ELECTRICITY,
-    I LEFT TERRA ON TUESDAY MORNING!
-
-                                                           SANDRA DRAKE
-
-"Holy St. Peter!" exploded McBride. Tommy winced in sympathy,
-because he knew what was coming. "Doc Holmann! My father studied
-electro-gravitics under him. He was an old fuddy-duddy then. The old
-drip owns that university, that's why he's still in the E. G. chair.
-I'll bet you a hunk of the lens itself that the old goat doesn't even
-know that we are now using magneto-gravitics in the front lens element.
-That's the stinker!"
-
-"Is it so dangerous?" asked Tommy. "If she uses the usual methods of
-coming to Pluto, she'll be going well towards ten thousand miles per
-second by the time she passes the front surface."
-
-"That's the trouble," groaned McBride. "Like all other space crates,
-her hull will be made of cupralum alloy, which is as paramagnetic as
-alnico is diamagnetic. She'll hit that magneto-gravitic warp that
-makes up the fore element, with that antimagnetic hull and it will be
-like a pane of glass being struck by a minute pellet of steel. She'll
-cause the collapse of the front element, and with the load-loss,
-the electro-gravitic elements of the aft element will fall out of
-alignment. Heaven only knows what'll happen. Well, we'll all know soon
-enough!"
-
-"How long?" asked Tommy.
-
-"Well, she left Terra Tuesday morning. She didn't say what time, but
-there's little sense in finding out right now. That hop would take
-sixty-eight hours at a standard 5-G from Sol. Say sixty-something,
-and let's see, this is about Thursday evening--Greenwich Time, but
-that screwball might give zonal time and have taken off from Hawaii
-or Sevastopol as the fancy hit her. I'd say sit tight and expect
-anything from attar of roses to total extinction within the next couple
-of hours. Also get on the lens network and tell the gang to oil up
-their trouble-wagons. Everything from spacesuits to hand generators.
-Oh Peter! I'm going to quit this ding-busted job and take up truck
-farming!"
-
-"Ever hear of Sandra Drake before?" asked Tommy.
-
-"Yeah, she's one of those fool females that isn't content with being
-equal to any man--she's got to prove she's better! And she doesn't care
-how many people she hurts doing it. If Sandra Drake gets through the
-lens to Pluto, she'll get her ears toasted right."
-
-"O.K., John. I'll get on the lens network and warn the boys to prepare
-for trouble."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Messages began to fly around the periphery of the great lens, and
-the station attendants swore and began to collect tools that would
-be necessary to make any conceivable repairs. Small flitters were
-powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was
-inspected and cleaned for action.
-
-But Sandra Drake did not wait for the completion of the preparatory
-work. It was three hours after the first message flew around the lens
-that Sandra's ship, the _Lady Luck_, came roaring out of space and slid
-its nose into the magneto-gravitic warp of the front surface.
-
-The _Lady Luck_ came to a stop within five thousand miles, which was
-remarkable, since she was hitting almost eight thousand miles per
-second. If it were not for the fact that space itself was warped behind
-the front surface, the _Lady Luck_ and Sandra Drake might both have
-been reduced to a flaming mass; but no one really knows what goes on
-behind the surface of a magneto-gravitic warp, and the laws that rule
-mass, velocity, and inertia must operate under a new principle. Sandra
-Drake, the ship no longer capable of any but minor operation, limped
-aimlessly, and Sandra, semiconscious did not direct the _Lady Luck_.
-
-In the twelve stations that made up the periphery of the fore element,
-the electrical equipment went crazy. Fuses blew, and circuit breakers
-crashed open. The magneto-gravitic warp collapsed, and the power
-regulation of the generating equipment could not hold the power to a
-safe level. Excesses went into the operating equipment and raised the
-operating levels to overload values. Relays welded shut; relay coils
-blew. Switches arced across their open contacts, and closed switches
-took the overload until their contact points melted: the melting stub
-ends made sputtering arcs of copper-green hue until the gap was too
-wide. The pungent smell of burning insulation filled the stations,
-and the personnel covered themselves with the space-suit helmets and
-breathed canned air.
-
-The careful positioning of the stations that held the warp of the
-collapsed fore element was lost as the tractor-pressor beam system
-took the unleashed overload current. The regular duodecagon pattern
-warped into a space pattern as the alignment lost not only its
-regularity of distance-between-stations, but its perfection of flatness.
-
-Then as the raging current was stopped by open circuits, burned
-or broken, the internal damage stopped also. The stations that
-held the magneto-gravitic warp began to drift aimlessly, pulled at
-cross-purposes by the undirected tractor-pressor system.
-
-The electro-gravitic warp of the second element thickened as the
-fore surface moved into the space formerly occupied by the fractured
-lens. The effect was similar to that of restraining a spring and then
-releasing it. The rear element went into a damped cycle of expansion
-and contraction, alternately shortening and lengthening the focal
-length. The series of stations that held the rear element were shaken
-in long, sickening swells as the electro-gravitic warp oscillated back
-and forth along the axis of the lens.
-
-Here, in the stations that held this warp, there was no danger from
-electrical failure. But the long swells of back and forth movement
-shook the mechanical equipment until the bearings of rotating
-machinery began to rattle. An occasional relay would snap shut for the
-briefest of instants and make instantaneous circuits that caused minor
-imperfections of the lens.
-
-The cycle damped to zero in ten minutes, and then the men in the
-second element stations surveyed their bruises and began to pick up
-the mess; from every cabinet, from every bench, from every shelf,
-tools, supplies, and instruments had been thrown. They lay in profusion
-throughout the stations and must be replaced before the men could make
-a move toward repair.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On Pluto, all was serene. Light that had passed through the distorted
-lens had not reached the far planet yet, and so they did not know.
-
-Men toiled in the uranium mines in the Styx Valley and men fought
-the low passes of the Devil's Range to bring the ore to Mephisto,
-and in Mephisto, children were just getting out of school. Women
-were shopping, and chatting with their friends and haggling with the
-shopkeepers over the prices and quality of their proposed dinners.
-Two hundred miles down the River Styx, at the twin cities of Hell
-and Sharon, men and women lolled in the warm river and played on the
-perfect miles of beach. The Sulphur Sea, which was as misnamed as
-any of the other places on Pluto, was dotted with the white sails of
-pleasure craft, and the occasional white wake of a power speedboat.
-
-A foursome on the fifth green at the Tantalus Country Club was arguing
-about a handicap, since one of their number was ten strokes better than
-the rest. A big league baseball game was in progress at Imps Park in
-Hell, and the home team was beating the Red Devils by a score of 9 to
-8. It cannot be recorded that Satan was pitching, though that would
-have been a nice touch. The pitcher's name was a staid and simple Jones.
-
-And there were the sordid sides, too. Three men and a woman had been
-hit by automobiles during the course of the afternoon between the twin
-cities. A burglar had plied his trade to the tune of thirty-three
-hundred dollars from Faust's Playhouse, and was later apprehended
-trying to make a getaway along the Road to Hell, which connected the
-twin cities and was always spoken of as being named "The Road To Hell"
-because it permitted the citizens of either city to go across the
-bridge to the opposite side. The planned name of Bifrost Bridge now
-appeared only on maps and formal writings since the informal name was
-by far the more popular.
-
-Then without warning, the scintillating sun went out, and left Pluto
-once more the God of Darkness. It came on again, as the rear element
-extended and shortened the focal length once more to a degree slightly
-less than the length of the complex lens. It oscillated, and it
-wavered, and it danced from spot to spot on Pluto. Where it touched
-with perfect focus, it seared the ground and sent up huge gouts of
-flame and tortured earth as the whole output of the sun bore down
-upon a small circle. It hit the Sulphur Sea, and sent great steaming
-clouds of vapor floating across the twin cities. It cut a sear across
-the center of Bifrost Bridge, and cut the famed bridge in the middle
-of the span. Bifrost broke and fell into the River Styx--and like the
-famed tale of Ragnarok, the falling of Bifrost Bridge preceded a period
-of terror.
-
-The dancing spot of pure solar hell settled down, and with the
-characteristic perversity of uncontrolled things, it came to a perfect
-focal point of some six hundred feet in diameter, under which spot
-everything went molten.
-
-Without waiting for any further information, the astronomers at the
-Pluto Observatory made rapid and precise calculations, and issued
-orders to the effect that all people must evacuate along the expected
-trail of destruction.
-
-It was their quick work that stopped the casualty list short.
-
-And Pluto, writhing in one tiny spot from terrific heat, began to cool
-everywhere else. Men looked at one another in fear as the cooling
-breezes began to sweep across the face of Pluto.
-
-The production of uranium stopped, as did everything but the overworked
-communications system.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-John McBride glared at the telephone. "They should know by now," he
-snapped, "that we can't take time to use the phone with all of this
-devilment going on."
-
-Tommy handed him a spacegram. "Someone knows," he said cryptically.
-
-McBride tore the 'gram open. "Oh, great ache! Tommy, pass the word on
-the lens network. Tell 'em to cut the electro-gravitic warp, too.
-The thing is focused right on the middle of Pluto and is cutting a
-six-hundred-foot swath across the face of Pluto like an oxy-atomic
-torch cuts butter."
-
-"Can't we refocus it?" asked Tommy anxiously.
-
-"Not without moving the stations. Or playing hob with the
-warp-generators. Either way would take a week to adjust. Tell Adkins to
-pull the big switch and hope for the best. Oh yes! Tell every mother's
-son not to tinker with the P-T network. When we get this mess cleaned
-up, we're going to need the placement again and there's little sense
-in letting the stations run free. Thank the Lord the warp will tend to
-align them again, once it goes on, or we'd have a six-month's space
-surveying job to do."
-
-The lens-network phone rang, and McBride answered.
-
-"John? This is Fuller on 9. We just found Carlson under the alphatron.
-He's knocked colder than last week's wash and he's got a bad alpha
-burn."
-
-"Better get him into an interstation flitter and bring him over. Or is
-Doc Caldwell there?"
-
-"No, he isn't!"
-
-"Bring him over anyway. I'll broadcast a call for the doc."
-
-"What'll we do without him?" asked Fuller in a helpless tone.
-
-"What'll you do with him in an unconscious condition?" asked McBride
-unsympathetically. "Before Carlson can do anything, we've got to bring
-him into the open. Besides, we won't be ready for Carlson until we get
-the mess cleared up."
-
-"O.K.," said Fuller in an abashed tone. He hung up, and McBride snapped
-the button that sent a loud-speaker call through the entire system.
-
-"Is Doc Caldwell within hearing? Call McBride."
-
-Automatic tapes took up the call and repeated it at intervals until the
-doctor heard and put in a call to McBride.
-
-"Yes, John?"
-
-"Doc, where are you?"
-
-"Station 27."
-
-"What's doing?"
-
-"Few minor cuts and a fractured skull."
-
-"What does that mean in time?"
-
-"Half hour."
-
-"Then take it, and then get to 1 as soon as you can. Carlson needs
-attention."
-
-"Right-o!"
-
-McBride called Station 9 again. "Fuller? Look, Bob, how's 9?"
-
-"Not good," said Fuller glumly. "Only one thing outbalances the rest.
-The alphatron went up with the rest of the stuff or Carlson would have
-been burned to a crisp by now. That means we'll have to run over to 1
-and get a new alphatron."
-
-"Can you repair it?"
-
-"Nope. The field coils are melted right down into a copper ring and the
-insulation, which was vaporized, is now deposited all over the walls
-of the station in about two hundred atomic thicknesses. The latter
-is the worst, I think. That means that every single relay contact
-in the place has got to be gone over with trichloroethylene and a
-five-hundred-point file."
-
-"O.K., Bob. Send Tiny Hanson over with Carlson and we'll send him back
-with the alphatron. Need anything else?"
-
-"Might send something that'll either precipitate or absorb the smell of
-insulation. The whole joint stinks."
-
-"Cheer up," said McBride. "Think of how it would stink if we were using
-rubber like the old boys did. That, Bob, would really make your eyes
-water! No, I haven't anything here that you haven't there. It'll go
-away as the atmosphere clarifier takes up the impurities. Better keep
-a close watch on the filter screens, though, or you'll get the system
-fouled and the atmosphere will not be cleared."
-
-"O.K. We're about to start right now. Tiny will be over in just as long
-as it takes to go around the lens."
-
-"Wait a minute! Cut across, Bob. After all, the lens is down, and we
-needn't worry about crossing direct."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The phone rang again. McBride picked it up and bellowed: "Hello!"
-
-"Dr. McBride? This is Charles Holloway."
-
-McBride swallowed. Holloway was the planet governor at Pluto. "Yes?" he
-said in a quieter tone.
-
-"You are aware that Pluto is without his artificial sun?"
-
-"We are also aware that the lens system is without power for some
-stations, without space-warping equipment for others, and without
-personnel for still others. There may even be a few in which any
-combination of the three vital factors in mathematical permutation may
-be applied. If you're looking for encouragement, grasp this straw:
-We're working like a pack of fools to re-instate the lens. And if
-you care for my advice, I'd suggest that you issue orders that the
-lens-to-planet telephone be restricted to calls made from Station 1. We
-might need something in a tearing hurry."
-
-"I shall issue such orders," promised Holloway. "I have also been
-informed by the astrophysicists that Pluto will lose about two degrees
-per hour until the lens is re-instated. There is still a lot of very
-cold material down in the interior of the planet, they say, and it will
-tend to draw heat from the surface. You know how the heat gradient is
-from midnight to noon."
-
-"I understand," said McBride. "But we're not sitting around
-contemplating the temperature on Pluto, or calculating how soon it will
-be before you can go ice skating on the River Styx. Good-by!"
-
-John's sense of humor asserted itself, and he picked up a cryptic
-little card that said: "Do Not Disturb" and hung it over the telephone.
-He picked up the other phone, and called Station 6.
-
-The telephone rang endlessly at the other end, and McBride cursed.
-After ten minutes of solid ringing, McBride hung up in futility.
-"Tommy," he yelled, and a young man came running. "Tommy," he said,
-"get the number two flitter hot. You and I are going to go over to 6!"
-
-Tommy left, and McBride called Station 8. The answer was prompt. "Look,
-Jimmy, 6 doesn't answer. You send a couple of your men over--not your
-best, but a couple that you can spare. I'm going to call 4 and get Jud
-to send a couple of his assistant specialists over, too. I'll be over
-myself as soon as I can get there; but it will be a long haul for me.
-It's near the full diameter of the lens, and twenty-two million miles
-is no stone's throw."
-
-"O.K.," said Jimmy Allen. "Too bad about this charge business or you
-could call 5 and 7."
-
-"I know. It's bad enough that I have to change charge to get from 1 to
-6, but I'll have enough time to do it, coming from here. Are you on?"
-
-"Sure. We're not in too bad a shape. Mostly ruined wiring and welded
-relays. The alphatron is still in fine shape, and the space-warp
-generator can still do a job. As soon as we get cooking again, I'd
-suggest a replacement, but the darned thing will hold up fine for a few
-weeks until we have time and a breathing spell."
-
-"O.K., on the way!"
-
-"Right, boss!"
-
-McBride's next call was to 4. "Jud," he said.
-
-"Jud's nursing a set of busted arms," came the disconsolate answer.
-"This is Pete Jackson."
-
-"How bad is Jud?"
-
-"Conscious, and madder than the devil. He can't even hold the phone,
-you know, and so I'm acting as his mouthpiece."
-
-"How's the station?"
-
-"Mostly a mess of secondary damage, but it is pretty widespread.
-Everything in the place caught hell, including the typewriter in the
-office, which fell off the desk. Got a space-warp generator?"
-
-"Yup, but can you repair yours?"
-
-"I think so."
-
-"Then take a stab at it. I've only got three replacements, and there
-may be more than that blown out completely. All the results aren't in
-yet."
-
-"O.K., and we'll make repair right up to the point where we need the
-generator anyway, whether we can repair ours or not. Then if we need
-it, all we have to do is to hand it in and hook it up."
-
-"Fine, Pete. Now look, 6 doesn't answer. Send Timkins out there with
-Joyce. Must be pretty bad."
-
-"O.K., boss. We're on our way."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-At Tommy's call, McBride went to the big air lock and the flitter took
-off for 6. As they went, McBride operated the generator that reversed
-their charge so that they could land on 6 without difficulty. Halfway
-across the lens, the telephone in the flitter rang, and McBride dropped
-the generator controls and picked up the instrument. "John," came the
-voice, "this is Hastings, on 10. A space-ship just came limping into
-the station, falling free. We slung out a line and caught it. We cut
-her open and found the dame that was the cause of all this. What shall
-I do now?"
-
-"My better instincts say to slug her. The stuff I was taught at my
-mother's knee says to spare the violence. Keep her there until I get
-finished at 6."
-
-"She insists on going to the main office."
-
-"Y'might let her," said McBride thoughtfully, his voice slightly sour
-with distaste.
-
-"Gosh, boss, you can't do that."
-
-"I know. Well, she can't get out of the lock without your assistance.
-Unless I'm mistaken, all of you are far too busy to bother with a
-headstrong female."
-
-The phone was silent for a few seconds, and the sounds of a light
-scuffle came over the line. Then a cool contralto came.
-
-"I'm Sandra Drake," it said with a world of impertinence. "No man is
-going to tell me where I can't go!"
-
-"Sister," snapped McBride, "you keep that up and we'll jolly well tell
-you where you _can_ go!" McBride hung up and redoubled his efforts
-on the charge-reversal generator. "Women," he snarled, twisting the
-generator controls as though he had the Drake woman by the throat.
-
-Ten minutes before they landed at 6, McBride picked up the phone and
-called 1. He spoke to his apartment. "Hello Enid," he said.
-
-"John! What's all the shouting about?"
-
-"La Drake tried to run her crate through the lens. She broke it."
-
-"Who's la Drake?"
-
-"Some dame. Look, Enid, what do you do to handle a headstrong female?
-Besides giving her enough rope to commit self-destruction?"
-
-"What's her purpose in life?" asked Enid McBride.
-
-"Proving that men are inferior animals."
-
-"I won't answer that one," chuckled McBride's wife. "Look, John, where
-is this man-killer?"
-
-"At 10."
-
-"That's negative, isn't it?"
-
-"Bright woman, yes," laughed McBride.
-
-"Well, I'm no space-warp expert. How would I know?"
-
-"Look, dear," said McBride patiently, "you divide them by two, as I've
-said before a million times, and if they come out with nothing left
-over, they're negative."
-
-"But we're on 1--and you can't even divide one by two--"
-
-"I know. One's positive anyway, Enid. Look, kiddo, leave things like
-screwdrivers and volt-meters and calipers to me and you continue with
-the can opener as your only tool. What are we going to do to Drake?"
-
-"You stop on your way back and pick her up. I'll take care of Drake.
-What did you say her first name was?"
-
-"I didn't, but it's Sandra."
-
-"Oh! You mean Sandra Drake, the novelist-adventuress?"
-
-"I mean Sandra Drake, the she space-barnacle on the hull of progress."
-
-"Oh, I've heard of her. And, John, I'll take care of her!"
-
-"O.K., Enid. I'll see you when I get there."
-
-"'By."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Six was as silent as the proverbial tomb. They breached the lock from
-the outside and went in slowly, to find the station a shambles. Fred
-Atlock, the superintendent of 6, they found after some search. He was
-unconscious, suffering from superficial shock, and he had a four-inch
-cut on his shoulder which was slowly seeping blood from a large clot.
-Dan Wilkins, the only other man on that station, they discovered in the
-generator room, clinging speechlessly to the output terminals of the
-alphatronic power supply. McBride cut the switch, which was one of the
-few that hadn't welded shut, and the generator stopped immediately,
-permitting Wilkins to free himself. "Great Lord," he gasped. "I've been
-sitting there for nine years!"
-
-"By actual count, it's been one hour and twenty-three minutes," McBride
-told him. "How do you feel?"
-
-"O.K.," said Wilkins in a matter-of-fact tone, and with a slight
-eye-brow-raising look of surprise on his face that anyone should ask.
-"After all, anything under twelve hundred alphons merely paralyzes all
-of the voluntary muscles. The involuntary muscles are as good as gold
-up to that figure. I just feel a little stiff, like I'd been sitting in
-one position for an hour and better--which I have. I did everything
-but explode when that phone rang, but I couldn't will myself loose.
-When you're across one of those things, you can't even wink an eye at
-will, but must wait until the involuntary nervous system winks it for
-you. And, funny thing, you can't even stop your own breath; you just go
-on breathing automatically, since that's what the involuntary system
-demands."
-
-"O.K. Where's the gang from 4 and 8?"
-
-"I dunno. Are they coming?"
-
-"Coming? I thought they were here by now."
-
-McBride found the telephone and called 8. "Jimmy? Where is that gang
-you were going to send to 6?"
-
-"Sorry, Mac," answered Jimmy. "They were needed here to do a heavy job,
-and so I kept them for a bit. They're on their way now."
-
-"O.K., as long as they're on their way."
-
-McBride's call to 4 was less productive. "Pete? Where is your crowd for
-6?"
-
-"Can't send more than one," returned Pete. "Still want him?"
-
-"Why didn't you contact me?"
-
-"Line was busy."
-
-"O.K., send one man. The gang at 6 was indisposed, that's all, and Dan
-can work now. Fred is going to be out of commission for the duration,
-but he can still direct as soon as we get him patched."
-
-To Wilkins, he said: "Dan, we're going to trot. There'll be help out
-here soon. Tommy and I are needed on 10."
-
-The flitter took off again and began to cross the lens for 10.
-
-Allison, at 2, called and said: "McBride? Good news. Two and 3 are
-ready for service."
-
-"Swell," said McBride. "Now look, call the stations and ask who needs
-help. You and Fellowes go out and assist."
-
-"Right."
-
-McBride hung up the phone, and it rang almost immediately.
-
-"Mac? This is Caldwell."
-
-"Yes, Doc?"
-
-"Look, Carlson is in bad shape."
-
-"Can you jack him up? Not now, but say in three hours?"
-
-"Probably, but not more than a few minutes. He'd be better in
-twenty-four hours."
-
-"Gad, Doc, Pluto'll be forty-eight degrees colder in that time! Knock
-forty-eight degrees off of the temperature on any planet, and you'll
-probably knock the whole thing for a loop. Better patch him up, Doc,
-because he's one of the mainsprings that'll be needed when we're about
-to restore the lens."
-
-"O.K.--and say, John, you don't mind my making a hospital out of your
-lab?"
-
-"Go ahead. How's the casualty situation?"
-
-"Nothing fatal. Mostly an assortment of cuts, bruises, fractures, and
-shock. I've been checking the stations, and we've been calling all bad
-injuries in here for treatment. Takes a little longer, but I can keep
-my eye on more men if they come than I could if I went traveling. Never
-can tell what'll happen."
-
-"Have you contacted the after stations? They got a shaking up, but
-I don't believe that it was anything compared to the fore element
-stations."
-
-"No, most of the trouble in the back was due to being hit by slowly
-moving objects of high inertia. They're mostly annoyed, back there.
-The front system got it, though, what with flying spots of molten
-metal, electrical discharges that convulsed muscles, and burns from
-the alphatrons when they went load-free. A few of the boys got hurt
-when the mechano-gravitic generators collected the full load of the
-power sources and let them have anything from 10 to 15-G until the
-gravity-switches cut out. That did more than haul the men to the floor;
-it also hauled a lot of what would have been light stuff down on top of
-them at weights from ten to fifteen times normal. That's what hurt the
-most of them."
-
-"What fell, mostly?"
-
-"Light fixtures, and ceiling equipment. The busbar hangers on 7 gave
-way and dropped a bus line on one fellow, breaking both legs. Eleven's
-mechano-gravitic generator misfocused and hauled everything slaunchwise
-into a corner of every room. The men picked themselves out of a pile of
-material; everything from loose generators to odds and ends of wire.
-The latter didn't hurt, but the heavy machinery did."
-
-"Fine business, Doc. Keep 'em patched!"
-
-"That's my business," said Caldwell. McBride could hear him muttering
-as the doctor hung up.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-McBride's flitter landed at 10, and inside of the lock, he was met by a
-picturesque red-headed woman of extreme beauty. There was green fire in
-her eyes, and her anger possibly made her more beautiful. McBride took
-everything from her expensively-shod feet to her exquisitely coiffed
-hair in one sweeping glance and decided immediately that it was a shame
-that a woman like Sandra Drake should have been a stinker.
-
-"Mr. McBride, I assume?" she said in that contralto voice.
-
-"Dr. McBride," he corrected, standing upon his dignity for the first
-time in seven years.
-
-"Doctor?" said Sandra scornfully. "Doctor of what?"
-
-"Doctor of Philosophy, major in sublevel energies including the
-gravitic spectrums; electro, magnetic, and mechanical. Master of
-Mathematics, Bachelor of Arts, and Doctor of Language and Literature
-Honorary. Is that sufficient weight to gain me a modicum of respect?"
-
-"I have no respect for someone who stands in my way!"
-
-"I see that. Nor anything, either. Do you know what stopped you?"
-
-"No, but--"
-
-"Your precious Dr. Holmann is an old goat who is still living in the
-past. But even he should have known that you can't ram a space-ship
-made of cupralum alloy through a magneto-gravitic space warp.
-Permalloy, or alnico, or anything diamagnetic will zip through such
-a warp and pick up velocity on the way--probably enough in this case
-to crush you flat against the bottom of your ship. But a paramagnetic
-alloy such as cupralum has about as much penetrative power as a
-forty-five caliber slug of wet soap against tungsten-carballoy. But
-at your velocity, not only did you stop in something short of nothing
-flat--God knows what your deceleration added up to--but you fractured
-the space warp, too."
-
-"A man will do anything to prove his point," snapped Sandra. "And I
-have no doubt that you would do anything, too. What did you use on the
-_Lady Luck_?"
-
-"Nothing."
-
-"I don't believe you."
-
-"I don't give a care! You want to go to Station 1? Then come along!"
-
-"You lead in your ship, I'll drive the _Lady Luck_," said Sandra.
-
-"Not on your life. You're going to leave the _Lady Luck_ right here."
-
-"I don't see why--or do you intend to steal my ship?"
-
-McBride gritted his teeth. "Look, beautiful and senseless. This is
-Station 10. It is electronegative. One is electropositive. You haven't
-got a charge-reversal generator in that crate of yours, because I know
-darned well that the only place where they have 'em is right here in
-the lens itself. It's the only place they're needed. Now, Miss Drake,
-the lens is twenty-two million miles in diameter. It is that size
-because a disk of that diameter subtends the same arc as the sun does
-when viewed from Terra. Since the lens is situated halfway between Sol
-and Pluto, the magnification amounts to the projection of the sun on
-Pluto equal to the sun on Terra. Or don't you understand the simpler
-mathematics of optical systems?
-
-"Now, out across six and a half million miles of space, from here, are
-Stations 9 and 1, both electropositive. It so happens, Miss Sandra
-Drake, that _if the density of matter in space were as high as the
-atmosphere of Terra at twenty thousand feet, the difference in charge
-between Station 9 and this one, 10, would be high enough to cause an
-ionization discharge_! Now put that in that jade cigarette holder and
-choke on it! Can you possibly--is that microscopic mind of yours large
-enough--conceive of the effect upon contact? Sister, you'd not only be
-electrocuted, but you'd light up the sky with the electronic explosion
-to a degree that would make some Sirian astronomer think that there was
-a supernova right in his back yard. Now quit acting like the spoiled
-brat you are, and come along."
-
-"Nice, high-sounding, technical words," sniffed the red-headed girl. "I
-presume that you have such a thing in that little can of yours? I mean
-something that will change the charge on it while in flight?"
-
-"I wouldn't have survived the first crossing if I hadn't," snapped
-McBride.
-
-"And pray tell, how do you detect the change in the electronic charge
-from within?"
-
-"The electronic charge is so great that a heavy active atom such as
-bromine will, under the positive charge, lose enough of the outer ring
-electrons as to inhibit the formation of the more complex atoms, while
-under the negative charge there will be such an excess of electrons
-that a heavy element of the zero group, such as xenon, will actually
-be forced to accept an additional planetary electron and will then
-combine with some of the more active elements. So when xenon bromide
-forms, we know we're highly electronegative, while the chemical
-dissolution of tetrachlorodibromomethane indicates a hellishly high
-positive charge. When we approach the station, we use a little gadget
-known as an electrostatic gradient indicator which is useful over short
-distances, and with which we adjust our charge-difference to a sane
-value. Pluto and the solar system in general can thank their stars that
-the carbon-chain molecules that go into the human system are stable
-enough to resist dissolution. We are able to maintain the lens on less
-than enough charge to kill us all, though the boys in the odd-numbered
-stations report a lower metabolism than those in the even numbered
-ones."
-
-McBride paused. "And if you're worried about that space-warp-wrecked
-can of yours, I'll be more than glad to give you a receipt for it.
-Coming? I've got to go."
-
-Sandra Drake was still skeptical, but she followed in spite of it.
-
-John McBride was met at the space lock of Station 1 by one of the
-lesser casualties from 3, Douglas Whitlock. McBride said: "How's the
-arm, Doug?"
-
-"Broken, but on the mend. Doc will put a stader on it in a couple of
-days and I'll be able to use it again."
-
-"How's 3?"
-
-"Not too bad. But, brother, there's a million miles of loose wire
-floating around the place. Tonk and Harry are rewinding the alphatron
-leader-coils which developed a shorted turn down near the core."
-
-"How are they doing that?" asked McBride.
-
-"It was tricky, all right. And this'll slay you. They're using the
-nine-inch lathe!"
-
-"Huh?" McBride was thunder-struck.
-
-"Well, as Tonky said, it was an emergency. So they used the acetylene
-torch to cut the lathe bed off right before the headstock. They moved
-the rest of the bed back about twelve feet and welded it to one wall
-of the room. Now, there's room to get that big core in the lathe. The
-lathe is ruined, of course, or rather the bed is, but the alphatron
-will be ticking them off in another couple of hours." Whitlock looked
-at the girl and asked McBride: "Where did you find her?"
-
-"This," said McBride, "is Miss Sandra Drake."
-
-"Oh yes," said Whitlock brightly, "Drake, the human cannon ball ... or
-is it screwball?"
-
-"And what happened to you?" asked Sandra caustically. "Did you step
-into an open port in the dark?"
-
-"Frankly, I was hit by a falling busbar--"
-
-"Probably the real cause of this whole failure."
-
-There was fire and blood in Whitlock's eye as he looked at Sandra
-Drake. Actual bloodshed was averted by a very scant margin when Enid
-McBride entered and stepped before Sandra, cutting off any attempt of
-Whitlock's to advance upon the red-headed female with intent to inflict
-damage.
-
-Enid McBride was three or four years older than the other woman,
-and it must be reluctantly admitted that she was not the four-alarm
-all-out beauty that was capable of matching looks with Sandra. On
-the other--and most important--hand, Enid had the ability to make
-men and women like her; in her less boisterous way, Enid's charm and
-personality made itself felt even before she spoke to Sandra.
-
-"You're needed," she told Sandra quietly.
-
-"For what?" asked the Drake girl, and her cool contralto sounded
-scratchy in contrast.
-
-"We've a number of hurt men here and we need help. You're elected."
-
-"I've never helped a man in my life."
-
-"You are getting no younger," said Enid with a short laugh. "I'd say it
-was about time you started."
-
-"Oh men!"
-
-Enid looked at McBride, and with that almost telepathy that seems to
-exist between husband and wife, John understood that he was to leave
-this to Enid. He thought with a smile: Enid's smaller, but I'll bet she
-packs a better wallop! Then he motioned to Whitlock, and they left as
-Enid said: "You're a complete washout, my dear, and your not knowing
-that makes you even more complete. Why don't you get smart?"
-
-"Are you trying to tell me how to manage my life?"
-
-"It's time someone did. Obviously you aren't capable of managing it."
-
-"I do all right."
-
-"Nuts. If this is a sample of your brilliance, I say, 'bring back the
-good old days!' Look, Sandra, what are you trying to prove?"
-
-"That I'm as good as any man."
-
-"Spinach. Ask any man and he'll probably admit it. What you're trying
-to prove is that you're better than all men, isn't that it?"
-
-"Well--"
-
-"And since you are superior to men, no doubt you'd prefer legal
-protection for them--marriage laws designed to assist and protect the
-weaker and inferior male; labor restrictions so that grasping women may
-not take advantage of them; protection so that avaricious women will
-not be able to take advantage of his lesser experience?"
-
-"Why that's ridiculous!"
-
-"Is it? A few hundred years ago, men set up such laws to protect women
-because they realized that there were among their own sex, men who
-would think nothing of taking advantage of an unwary woman. As soon
-as the women decided that they were equals, men reluctantly removed
-that protection. Now, Sandra, if you are equal or superior to men, you
-should be civic-minded enough to want to protect the weaker."
-
-"Bah! You talk like a man!"
-
-"Nonsense. I'd scream like a stuck pig if any man decided that I
-couldn't take care of myself. But I have enough sense to realize that
-all of the courtesies that men offer me are tokens of their affection
-and not gestures toward someone who cannot get in out of the rain
-without help. As for the weak, what would you say to a man who slugged
-a woman and then ran off and left her to suffer?"
-
-"He's a rat!"
-
-"How about the dame who does the same to a man?"
-
-"That's--"
-
-"Be careful, Sandra Drake. The girl I'm speaking of is you!"
-
-"Well--" Sandra let the sentence die in midstream.
-
-"Think it over, lady wrestler. And when you make up your mind, come on
-in and help."
-
-Enid left Sandra standing in the room. She went to the improvised
-hospital and began to work. Her touch was gentle, but within her, Enid
-burned. To Enid, Sandra Drake was as representative of the female sex
-as poison ivy is representative of the plant family.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-John McBride faced the men in his office. "Give it to me in rotation,"
-he said. "Starting with Station 1."
-
-"We're down to the ruined relays and a few hundred feet of burned
-cable. A half hour with help."
-
-"Two is running O.K. on test power. She can stand a little sprucing,
-but that can wait."
-
-"Three is ready for test power, or will be within the next ten minutes
-or so."
-
-"Four will be O.K. as soon as we get the space-warp generator tuned. We
-managed to repair the input circuits."
-
-"Five is running on test power."
-
-"Six is ditto."
-
-"Seven is still cleaning up some of the mess, but can go on test power
-as soon as the time is ripe."
-
-"Eight is O.K. except for some burned cable and some messiness. We
-never were in really bad shape."
-
-"We're still cleaning relay contacts with files. Take another hour at
-least, and we've got so much help that the boys on the upper panels
-are standing on the shoulders of the men working on the lower panels.
-Also, they're so close together that they need a hortator to beat time
-so their elbows won't clash. That's how we stand on 9."
-
-"Ten's in shape for test."
-
-"Eleven needs a new alphatron, which is being hooked into place right
-now."
-
-"Twelve is ready to go on test, according to Ben, who called just
-before you came."
-
-McBride smiled wearily. "That's the fore element," he said. "They tell
-me that the rear element is all ready and waiting. So all we need now
-is Carlson. Give orders to have the propulsion operators start aligning
-their stations. And get me Doc Caldwell."
-
-The phone rang and McBride picked it up. "This is Doc," said the man on
-the other end. "Look, Mac, can you come over to my office?"
-
-"Sure," answered McBride. To the men in the room, he said: "Fight it
-out among you. Give help to any station that still needs it. We're
-going back in service as soon as we can--in an hour, I'd estimate.
-That's if Carlson is capable of handling his end."
-
-McBride went to Doc's office. Caldwell smiled bleakly. "He's conscious.
-He insists on talking to you."
-
-"Is he O.K.?"
-
-"He's weak, but he'll be all right for a few minutes."
-
-"Look, Doc, I don't want to kill anybody by making him work when he's
-likely to keel over, but we need Carlson if we ever needed any man.
-Darn it, why are there so very few men with supersensitive balance?"
-
-"It's hereditary, and the human race is still mongrel by its own law,"
-said Doc with a smile. "By which I mean that it is illegal to marry
-your own brother--or sister."
-
-McBride laughed, and then went in to see Carlson.
-
-"Carl," said McBride, "how do you feel?"
-
-"Wobbly."
-
-"How wobbly?"
-
-"Not too bad. How're things?"
-
-"We've been running around like waltzing mice for the past few hours,
-but we'll be ready for business in a few hours."
-
-"I'll be needed."
-
-"In an hour."
-
-"I'll be up."
-
-"He'll be up," said Doc. "How long will he be needed?"
-
-"Perhaps an hour."
-
-"He won't be up that long."
-
-"What can we do?"
-
-"Get everything ready. If he can hold out, or if you can set things
-so that the warp can be established in a shorter time, we're in. You
-couldn't hold a partial warp for any length of time?"
-
-"Not a chance. It's one of those yes or no things. You can't stand
-still while building a space warp. You must either build up or let
-fall."
-
-"If you could use something less than perfect, supersensitive balance,
-I could buck him up with a bit of dope and he'd last longer."
-
-"Why not stand by with the needle? Or could you give him something
-that will wear off in a half hour and sort of increase that balance as
-the time passes--giving him the buck-up at the first and saving that
-strength for later?"
-
-"Might work, but I sort of hate to take finely-cut chances like that,"
-said Caldwell. "We'll try it!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The last report was in, and all stations were ready and operating on
-test power. McBride spoke into the broadcast communicator, so that the
-superintendents of all stations could hear him simultaneously.
-
-"Rear element, fore stations, set up primary warp."
-
-Generators whined up the musical scale in the twelve stations that
-circled the junction between the fore and aft elements. Slowly and
-ponderously, the stations began to fall into a true plane, and as they
-began to align, the electro-gravitic generators began to work more
-efficiently.
-
-Before the warp had started to form, McBride called: "Rear element,
-rear stations, set up secondary warp!"
-
-The rearmost twelve began to fling their power across the circle, and
-the space between the two regular polygons began to take lenticular
-shape. As it formed, it thickened, and the massiveness of the space
-between the warps set the stations more firmly in place. They
-oscillated gently back and forth, in a damped cycle and would be
-moving in gentler and smaller excursions for days before they came to
-total rest.
-
-"Fore ring, set up magneto-gravitic warp!"
-
-The heavy alphatrons began to fill the space between the fore
-stations with alpha particles. Circling in ever-decreasing spirals,
-the particles set up a super-powerful magnetic field parallel to the
-axis of the lens. As they reached the center of the lens, the alpha
-particles lost velocity and with their lost speed, they also lost their
-effect. They died out, and to all effects, disappeared.
-
-The space between the electro-gravitic warp and the magneto-gravitic
-warp decreased as the fore warp thickened, and then with a sickening
-swell on the part of the stations themselves, the center of the fore
-warp touched the center of the aft warp.
-
-Cohesion took place, and the fore warp, not completely formed, snapped
-back against the electro-gravitic warp, drawing the fore stations
-back a few miles with it. Their mass made them pass the point of
-balance, and then the overly-convex surface exerted pressure against
-the stations, and they moved forward into damped oscillation. The
-oscillation continued for four long, slow swings, and then McBride
-decided that they were stable enough for continued action.
-
-"Doc," he yelled. "Get Carlson, take the surface flitter, and keep an
-eye on him while he keeps an eye on the lens!"
-
-Out across the fore surface of the magneto-gravitic warp went the
-surface flitter. Out across the firm surface of warped space went the
-flitter, running on the way of magnetic power where pseudo-gravity was
-made at will. It ran across the lens to the center, and Carlson seated
-himself in a stiff chair and put his head against a niche in the hard
-back. Before his mouth a microphone was placed, and every bit of motion
-was stopped in the flitter. Even the doctor sat quiet in order that he
-would not disturb Carlson's perfect balance.
-
-"We're thick on the 5 edge," he said, and McBride turned and spoke to
-Station 5.
-
-"Decrease alphatron output," he said.
-
-"Now about one quarter that amount on 6."
-
-The adjustments were made, and Carlson's perfect balance told him
-whether or not the optical axis of the lens was correct by its pull
-upon the semicircular canals of his inner ear. A half hour passed,
-during which the power output of the various stations were adjusted,
-and after each adjustment, there was a period of waiting as the new
-output demanded a new positioning of the station to meet the curve of
-the lens. Then Carlson said, in a tired voice: "Mac, they're O.K., I
-think. Circle 'em!"
-
-"How's he, Doc?" asked McBride.
-
-"O.K., but weak. He'll last another fifteen minutes."
-
-"Make him rest for that time. We'll need him then."
-
-McBride gave the signal, and the three rings began to rotate; the
-fore and aft rings going clockwise and the center ring moving in the
-opposite direction.
-
-Then, fifteen minutes later, when the rings had gained their orbital
-velocity, Carlson resumed his post.
-
-For ten minutes he sat stiffly in the chair, his eyes closed and his
-every nerve straining to catch imperfections in the thickness of the
-gravitic warps. He was the key to success, and he had no equal. For the
-strength of the pseudo-gravities and the power of the magnetic field
-that coupled with the fore element prevented any of the more intricate
-machinery from functioning. Only man, whose nervous system was not
-interrupted by magnetic fields, and whose chemistry and physical
-attributes were not overly disturbed by electronic charges, could have
-established the correction of the lens.
-
-Carlson and Dr. Caldwell sat out in the center of a magneto-gravitic
-field that would have destroyed the finest of balance-mechanism, and
-above an electro-gravitic field that would have prevented the operation
-of an instrument sensitive enough to detect imperfections in gravitic
-alignment.
-
-Always there would be men with Carlson's gift of super-perfect balance,
-and they would find their life work in maintaining the life-giving
-lenticular warp in space.
-
-Carlson slumped wearily in his chair and smiled tiredly. "O.K.," he
-said. Caldwell started the crude drive and the surface flitter started
-to cross the lens to Station 1.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On Pluto, the first sign of renewed life was a flash of light in the
-sky. It started as an expanding pinpoint and burst out over a quarter
-of the sky before it diminished to a safe value. The scintillating
-fingers that darted from the twelve-scalloped sun were still. Then,
-as the magneto-gravitic warp was established, the color of the sun
-changed slightly, as the compounded lens removed harmful radiations
-by controlled chromatic aberration. The size of pseudo-sol expanded
-and contracted, and then settled down to a familiar size. The long
-fingers of light, that were leakages through the interstices between
-the stations, began to change as the stations took up their orbital
-movement. Then the streamers began to spread outward from the sun,
-detaching themselves as they reached maximum length and dying as their
-inner ends crept out to meet the far extension of the streamer. Between
-them, other streamers started to grow.
-
-The pattern became familiar, and the men and women of Pluto ceased to
-look at the wonder of their returned sun.
-
-Then they returned to their everyday lives.
-
-
-                               THE END.
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCLE OF CONFUSION ***
-
-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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
-license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country other than the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 will have to check the laws of the country where
-  you are located before using this eBook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that:
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
-  Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
-  works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
-  receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
-the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
-forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website
-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without
-widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/old/68208-0.zip b/old/68208-0.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index ff288b6..0000000
--- a/old/68208-0.zip
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/68208-h.zip b/old/68208-h.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index 3800c7c..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h.zip
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/68208-h/68208-h.htm b/old/68208-h/68208-h.htm
deleted file mode 100644
index b97f521..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h/68208-h.htm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1792 +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 Circle of Confusion, by Wesley Long.
-    </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;}
-
-.blockquot {
-    margin-left: 5%;
-    margin-right: 10%;
-}
-
-/* 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;
-}
-
-.ph1 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; }
-.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .67em auto; }
-
-.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }
-.ph2 { font-size: medium; margin: .67em auto; }
-
-
-    </style>
-  </head>
-<body>
-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Circle of Confusion, by Wesley Long</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Circle of Confusion</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Wesley Long</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Williams</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 30, 2022 [eBook #68208]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCLE OF CONFUSION ***</div>
-
-<div class="titlepage">
-
-<h1>Circle of Confusion</h1>
-
-<h2>By WESLEY LONG</h2>
-
-<p>Illustrated by Williams</p>
-
-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />
-Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1944.<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>Pluto is a strange planet in many ways. Perhaps it may even be classed
-as a "man-made" planet, since if it were not for man and his works,
-Pluto might as well have never been. But Pluto was found abundant
-in uranium, and then came man to change the ultra-frigidity of
-Pluto's surface, and to endow Pluto with a breathable atmosphere by
-transporting great shiploads of the frozen gases found on Umbriel. Then
-man set up cities, and since the face of Pluto had never been scarred
-by any kind of intelligent life, the planners had a free and open hand.</p>
-
-<p>So uranium was mined near the region known on the Plutonian maps as
-<i>The Styx Valley</i>, but which, with characteristic lack of foresight,
-was across the Devil's Mountains from the River Styx. Across the
-Devil's Range went the uranium to Mephisto, where it was smelted down
-into pigs. It was then put on barges and floated down the River Styx
-to Hell, which lies across the River Styx from Sharon; both cities
-quartering on the Sulphur Sea.</p>
-
-<p>It was loaded onto the ships of space at Hell, and then raced across
-the void, sunward to the Inner System where it was used.</p>
-
-<p>But the names are but locationally appropriate. Hell is no fuming,
-torrid city. It is temperate with a perfect climate. Mephisto's only
-claim to the nether regions was the dancing flames of her smelting
-mills that danced on the night sky. The Devil's Range was a small ridge
-of less than fifteen thousand feet and it was more than amply supplied
-with passes and near-sea-level breaches.</p>
-
-<p>And the cities at the mouth of the River Styx lived in cheerful
-rivalry, their main source of jealousy being the lush produce that
-came from the hinterland behind each. And the River Styx itself was a
-garden-spot for yachting clubs; bathing beaches lined the mouth for
-fifteen miles inward and they were clear-watered and pearly sanded.</p>
-
-<p>Pluto had been a man-made paradise for a number of years, only because
-Man, the Adaptable, found it economically expedient to make it so.</p>
-
-<p>No, it was not done with mirrors.</p>
-
-<p>It was done with a lens!</p>
-
-<p>The sun should have been a piddling little disk of ineffective yellow.
-Its warmth should have been negligible, just as it had been for a
-million years before the coming of man. Pluto had been ordained to be
-cold and forbidding, but it was not.</p>
-
-<p>The sun was a huge, irregular disk of flaming yellow that had peculiar,
-symmetrical streamers flowing off; twelve of the main ones and a
-constantly opening and closing twenty-four minor streamers that flowed
-outward from the duodecagonal pattern of Sol. These streamers rotated,
-and looked for all the world like the pattern made by rotating two
-gratings above one another.</p>
-
-<p>Sol, from Pluto, was as big as a washtub, because of a series of
-man-made stations in space halfway between Sol and Pluto. These
-stations warped space by the maintenance of subelectronic charges that
-produced a subetheric gradient which bent the usable radiations of
-Sol into a focus. The fact that they were points in space instead of
-mighty, million mile rings of metal to carry the space-warping charge
-made the focus of Sol irregular instead of circular, but it served its
-purpose and men grew used to the scintillating sun.</p>
-
-<p>Certainly, it cost like the very devil, but uranium is not plentiful
-anywhere else, and men found it economically sound&mdash;</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>John McBride cocked his feet on his desk at Station 1, and began to
-read his mail. At the fifth memo, he jumped, startled by what was on
-the page before him, and his feet hit the floor with a resounding
-crash. Angrily, he punched a buzzer, and a younger man entered.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes sir?" he asked. "What's wrong, Mr. McBride?" he finished noting
-McBride's startled expression.</p>
-
-<p>"Tommy, take a 'gram and slam it out of here on the rush. Some fool
-dame is going to try to fly through the lens!"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, no!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes! Can't get Terra on the phone, confound it, so fire a 'gram, but
-quick! Tell her that the restrictions are still in force, and that we
-aren't fooling! Also that it is illegal, dangerous, and foolhardy and
-that we absolutely forbid her to try!"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes sir!" answered Tommy and left immediately. The ticking of the
-teletype machine in the outer office came faintly to John's ears, but
-the knowledge of the message's departure did not ease the tension.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes later an answer came back:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p>HAVE RECEIVED PERMISSION FROM TRIPLANET COUNCIL TO FLY FROM TERRA TO
-PLUTO THROUGH AXIS OF LENS. PERMISSION GRANTED BECAUSE OF STATEMENT
-OF NO DANGER EXPRESSED BY DOCTOR HOLMANN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
-ELECTRO-GRAVITIC PHENOMENA. SAVE YOUR ELECTRICITY, I LEFT TERRA ON
-TUESDAY MORNING!</p>
-
-<p class="ph1">SANDRA DRAKE</p></div>
-
-<p>"Holy St. Peter!" exploded McBride. Tommy winced in sympathy,
-because he knew what was coming. "Doc Holmann! My father studied
-electro-gravitics under him. He was an old fuddy-duddy then. The old
-drip owns that university, that's why he's still in the E. G. chair.
-I'll bet you a hunk of the lens itself that the old goat doesn't even
-know that we are now using magneto-gravitics in the front lens element.
-That's the stinker!"</p>
-
-<p>"Is it so dangerous?" asked Tommy. "If she uses the usual methods of
-coming to Pluto, she'll be going well towards ten thousand miles per
-second by the time she passes the front surface."</p>
-
-<p>"That's the trouble," groaned McBride. "Like all other space crates,
-her hull will be made of cupralum alloy, which is as paramagnetic as
-alnico is diamagnetic. She'll hit that magneto-gravitic warp that
-makes up the fore element, with that antimagnetic hull and it will be
-like a pane of glass being struck by a minute pellet of steel. She'll
-cause the collapse of the front element, and with the load-loss,
-the electro-gravitic elements of the aft element will fall out of
-alignment. Heaven only knows what'll happen. Well, we'll all know soon
-enough!"</p>
-
-<p>"How long?" asked Tommy.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, she left Terra Tuesday morning. She didn't say what time, but
-there's little sense in finding out right now. That hop would take
-sixty-eight hours at a standard 5-G from Sol. Say sixty-something,
-and let's see, this is about Thursday evening&mdash;Greenwich Time, but
-that screwball might give zonal time and have taken off from Hawaii
-or Sevastopol as the fancy hit her. I'd say sit tight and expect
-anything from attar of roses to total extinction within the next couple
-of hours. Also get on the lens network and tell the gang to oil up
-their trouble-wagons. Everything from spacesuits to hand generators.
-Oh Peter! I'm going to quit this ding-busted job and take up truck
-farming!"</p>
-
-<p>"Ever hear of Sandra Drake before?" asked Tommy.</p>
-
-<p>"Yeah, she's one of those fool females that isn't content with being
-equal to any man&mdash;she's got to prove she's better! And she doesn't care
-how many people she hurts doing it. If Sandra Drake gets through the
-lens to Pluto, she'll get her ears toasted right."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., John. I'll get on the lens network and warn the boys to prepare
-for trouble."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Messages began to fly around the periphery of the great lens, and
-the station attendants swore and began to collect tools that would
-be necessary to make any conceivable repairs. Small flitters were
-powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was
-inspected and cleaned for action.</p>
-
-<p>But Sandra Drake did not wait for the completion of the preparatory
-work. It was three hours after the first message flew around the lens
-that Sandra's ship, the <i>Lady Luck</i>, came roaring out of space and slid
-its nose into the magneto-gravitic warp of the front surface.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Lady Luck</i> came to a stop within five thousand miles, which was
-remarkable, since she was hitting almost eight thousand miles per
-second. If it were not for the fact that space itself was warped behind
-the front surface, the <i>Lady Luck</i> and Sandra Drake might both have
-been reduced to a flaming mass; but no one really knows what goes on
-behind the surface of a magneto-gravitic warp, and the laws that rule
-mass, velocity, and inertia must operate under a new principle. Sandra
-Drake, the ship no longer capable of any but minor operation, limped
-aimlessly, and Sandra, semiconscious did not direct the <i>Lady Luck</i>.</p>
-
-<p>In the twelve stations that made up the periphery of the fore element,
-the electrical equipment went crazy. Fuses blew, and circuit breakers
-crashed open. The magneto-gravitic warp collapsed, and the power
-regulation of the generating equipment could not hold the power to a
-safe level. Excesses went into the operating equipment and raised the
-operating levels to overload values. Relays welded shut; relay coils
-blew. Switches arced across their open contacts, and closed switches
-took the overload until their contact points melted: the melting stub
-ends made sputtering arcs of copper-green hue until the gap was too
-wide. The pungent smell of burning insulation filled the stations,
-and the personnel covered themselves with the space-suit helmets and
-breathed canned air.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-  <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<p>The careful positioning of the stations that held the warp of the
-collapsed fore element was lost as the tractor-pressor beam system
-took the unleashed overload current. The regular duodecagon pattern
-warped into a space pattern as the alignment lost not only its
-regularity of distance-between-stations, but its perfection of flatness.</p>
-
-<p>Then as the raging current was stopped by open circuits, burned
-or broken, the internal damage stopped also. The stations that
-held the magneto-gravitic warp began to drift aimlessly, pulled at
-cross-purposes by the undirected tractor-pressor system.</p>
-
-<p>The electro-gravitic warp of the second element thickened as the
-fore surface moved into the space formerly occupied by the fractured
-lens. The effect was similar to that of restraining a spring and then
-releasing it. The rear element went into a damped cycle of expansion
-and contraction, alternately shortening and lengthening the focal
-length. The series of stations that held the rear element were shaken
-in long, sickening swells as the electro-gravitic warp oscillated back
-and forth along the axis of the lens.</p>
-
-<p>Here, in the stations that held this warp, there was no danger from
-electrical failure. But the long swells of back and forth movement
-shook the mechanical equipment until the bearings of rotating
-machinery began to rattle. An occasional relay would snap shut for the
-briefest of instants and make instantaneous circuits that caused minor
-imperfections of the lens.</p>
-
-<p>The cycle damped to zero in ten minutes, and then the men in the
-second element stations surveyed their bruises and began to pick up
-the mess; from every cabinet, from every bench, from every shelf,
-tools, supplies, and instruments had been thrown. They lay in profusion
-throughout the stations and must be replaced before the men could make
-a move toward repair.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>On Pluto, all was serene. Light that had passed through the distorted
-lens had not reached the far planet yet, and so they did not know.</p>
-
-<p>Men toiled in the uranium mines in the Styx Valley and men fought
-the low passes of the Devil's Range to bring the ore to Mephisto,
-and in Mephisto, children were just getting out of school. Women
-were shopping, and chatting with their friends and haggling with the
-shopkeepers over the prices and quality of their proposed dinners.
-Two hundred miles down the River Styx, at the twin cities of Hell
-and Sharon, men and women lolled in the warm river and played on the
-perfect miles of beach. The Sulphur Sea, which was as misnamed as
-any of the other places on Pluto, was dotted with the white sails of
-pleasure craft, and the occasional white wake of a power speedboat.</p>
-
-<p>A foursome on the fifth green at the Tantalus Country Club was arguing
-about a handicap, since one of their number was ten strokes better than
-the rest. A big league baseball game was in progress at Imps Park in
-Hell, and the home team was beating the Red Devils by a score of 9 to
-8. It cannot be recorded that Satan was pitching, though that would
-have been a nice touch. The pitcher's name was a staid and simple Jones.</p>
-
-<p>And there were the sordid sides, too. Three men and a woman had been
-hit by automobiles during the course of the afternoon between the twin
-cities. A burglar had plied his trade to the tune of thirty-three
-hundred dollars from Faust's Playhouse, and was later apprehended
-trying to make a getaway along the Road to Hell, which connected the
-twin cities and was always spoken of as being named "The Road To Hell"
-because it permitted the citizens of either city to go across the
-bridge to the opposite side. The planned name of Bifrost Bridge now
-appeared only on maps and formal writings since the informal name was
-by far the more popular.</p>
-
-<p>Then without warning, the scintillating sun went out, and left Pluto
-once more the God of Darkness. It came on again, as the rear element
-extended and shortened the focal length once more to a degree slightly
-less than the length of the complex lens. It oscillated, and it
-wavered, and it danced from spot to spot on Pluto. Where it touched
-with perfect focus, it seared the ground and sent up huge gouts of
-flame and tortured earth as the whole output of the sun bore down
-upon a small circle. It hit the Sulphur Sea, and sent great steaming
-clouds of vapor floating across the twin cities. It cut a sear across
-the center of Bifrost Bridge, and cut the famed bridge in the middle
-of the span. Bifrost broke and fell into the River Styx&mdash;and like the
-famed tale of Ragnarok, the falling of Bifrost Bridge preceded a period
-of terror.</p>
-
-<p>The dancing spot of pure solar hell settled down, and with the
-characteristic perversity of uncontrolled things, it came to a perfect
-focal point of some six hundred feet in diameter, under which spot
-everything went molten.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-  <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<p>Without waiting for any further information, the astronomers at the
-Pluto Observatory made rapid and precise calculations, and issued
-orders to the effect that all people must evacuate along the expected
-trail of destruction.</p>
-
-<p>It was their quick work that stopped the casualty list short.</p>
-
-<p>And Pluto, writhing in one tiny spot from terrific heat, began to cool
-everywhere else. Men looked at one another in fear as the cooling
-breezes began to sweep across the face of Pluto.</p>
-
-<p>The production of uranium stopped, as did everything but the overworked
-communications system.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>John McBride glared at the telephone. "They should know by now," he
-snapped, "that we can't take time to use the phone with all of this
-devilment going on."</p>
-
-<p>Tommy handed him a spacegram. "Someone knows," he said cryptically.</p>
-
-<p>McBride tore the 'gram open. "Oh, great ache! Tommy, pass the word on
-the lens network. Tell 'em to cut the electro-gravitic warp, too.
-The thing is focused right on the middle of Pluto and is cutting a
-six-hundred-foot swath across the face of Pluto like an oxy-atomic
-torch cuts butter."</p>
-
-<p>"Can't we refocus it?" asked Tommy anxiously.</p>
-
-<p>"Not without moving the stations. Or playing hob with the
-warp-generators. Either way would take a week to adjust. Tell Adkins to
-pull the big switch and hope for the best. Oh yes! Tell every mother's
-son not to tinker with the P-T network. When we get this mess cleaned
-up, we're going to need the placement again and there's little sense
-in letting the stations run free. Thank the Lord the warp will tend to
-align them again, once it goes on, or we'd have a six-month's space
-surveying job to do."</p>
-
-<p>The lens-network phone rang, and McBride answered.</p>
-
-<p>"John? This is Fuller on 9. We just found Carlson under the alphatron.
-He's knocked colder than last week's wash and he's got a bad alpha
-burn."</p>
-
-<p>"Better get him into an interstation flitter and bring him over. Or is
-Doc Caldwell there?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, he isn't!"</p>
-
-<p>"Bring him over anyway. I'll broadcast a call for the doc."</p>
-
-<p>"What'll we do without him?" asked Fuller in a helpless tone.</p>
-
-<p>"What'll you do with him in an unconscious condition?" asked McBride
-unsympathetically. "Before Carlson can do anything, we've got to bring
-him into the open. Besides, we won't be ready for Carlson until we get
-the mess cleared up."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K.," said Fuller in an abashed tone. He hung up, and McBride snapped
-the button that sent a loud-speaker call through the entire system.</p>
-
-<p>"Is Doc Caldwell within hearing? Call McBride."</p>
-
-<p>Automatic tapes took up the call and repeated it at intervals until the
-doctor heard and put in a call to McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, John?"</p>
-
-<p>"Doc, where are you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Station 27."</p>
-
-<p>"What's doing?"</p>
-
-<p>"Few minor cuts and a fractured skull."</p>
-
-<p>"What does that mean in time?"</p>
-
-<p>"Half hour."</p>
-
-<p>"Then take it, and then get to 1 as soon as you can. Carlson needs
-attention."</p>
-
-<p>"Right-o!"</p>
-
-<p>McBride called Station 9 again. "Fuller? Look, Bob, how's 9?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not good," said Fuller glumly. "Only one thing outbalances the rest.
-The alphatron went up with the rest of the stuff or Carlson would have
-been burned to a crisp by now. That means we'll have to run over to 1
-and get a new alphatron."</p>
-
-<p>"Can you repair it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nope. The field coils are melted right down into a copper ring and the
-insulation, which was vaporized, is now deposited all over the walls
-of the station in about two hundred atomic thicknesses. The latter
-is the worst, I think. That means that every single relay contact
-in the place has got to be gone over with trichloroethylene and a
-five-hundred-point file."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., Bob. Send Tiny Hanson over with Carlson and we'll send him back
-with the alphatron. Need anything else?"</p>
-
-<p>"Might send something that'll either precipitate or absorb the smell of
-insulation. The whole joint stinks."</p>
-
-<p>"Cheer up," said McBride. "Think of how it would stink if we were using
-rubber like the old boys did. That, Bob, would really make your eyes
-water! No, I haven't anything here that you haven't there. It'll go
-away as the atmosphere clarifier takes up the impurities. Better keep
-a close watch on the filter screens, though, or you'll get the system
-fouled and the atmosphere will not be cleared."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K. We're about to start right now. Tiny will be over in just as long
-as it takes to go around the lens."</p>
-
-<p>"Wait a minute! Cut across, Bob. After all, the lens is down, and we
-needn't worry about crossing direct."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The phone rang again. McBride picked it up and bellowed: "Hello!"</p>
-
-<p>"Dr. McBride? This is Charles Holloway."</p>
-
-<p>McBride swallowed. Holloway was the planet governor at Pluto. "Yes?" he
-said in a quieter tone.</p>
-
-<p>"You are aware that Pluto is without his artificial sun?"</p>
-
-<p>"We are also aware that the lens system is without power for some
-stations, without space-warping equipment for others, and without
-personnel for still others. There may even be a few in which any
-combination of the three vital factors in mathematical permutation may
-be applied. If you're looking for encouragement, grasp this straw:
-We're working like a pack of fools to re-instate the lens. And if
-you care for my advice, I'd suggest that you issue orders that the
-lens-to-planet telephone be restricted to calls made from Station 1. We
-might need something in a tearing hurry."</p>
-
-<p>"I shall issue such orders," promised Holloway. "I have also been
-informed by the astrophysicists that Pluto will lose about two degrees
-per hour until the lens is re-instated. There is still a lot of very
-cold material down in the interior of the planet, they say, and it will
-tend to draw heat from the surface. You know how the heat gradient is
-from midnight to noon."</p>
-
-<p>"I understand," said McBride. "But we're not sitting around
-contemplating the temperature on Pluto, or calculating how soon it will
-be before you can go ice skating on the River Styx. Good-by!"</p>
-
-<p>John's sense of humor asserted itself, and he picked up a cryptic
-little card that said: "Do Not Disturb" and hung it over the telephone.
-He picked up the other phone, and called Station 6.</p>
-
-<p>The telephone rang endlessly at the other end, and McBride cursed.
-After ten minutes of solid ringing, McBride hung up in futility.
-"Tommy," he yelled, and a young man came running. "Tommy," he said,
-"get the number two flitter hot. You and I are going to go over to 6!"</p>
-
-<p>Tommy left, and McBride called Station 8. The answer was prompt. "Look,
-Jimmy, 6 doesn't answer. You send a couple of your men over&mdash;not your
-best, but a couple that you can spare. I'm going to call 4 and get Jud
-to send a couple of his assistant specialists over, too. I'll be over
-myself as soon as I can get there; but it will be a long haul for me.
-It's near the full diameter of the lens, and twenty-two million miles
-is no stone's throw."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K.," said Jimmy Allen. "Too bad about this charge business or you
-could call 5 and 7."</p>
-
-<p>"I know. It's bad enough that I have to change charge to get from 1 to
-6, but I'll have enough time to do it, coming from here. Are you on?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sure. We're not in too bad a shape. Mostly ruined wiring and welded
-relays. The alphatron is still in fine shape, and the space-warp
-generator can still do a job. As soon as we get cooking again, I'd
-suggest a replacement, but the darned thing will hold up fine for a few
-weeks until we have time and a breathing spell."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., on the way!"</p>
-
-<p>"Right, boss!"</p>
-
-<p>McBride's next call was to 4. "Jud," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Jud's nursing a set of busted arms," came the disconsolate answer.
-"This is Pete Jackson."</p>
-
-<p>"How bad is Jud?"</p>
-
-<p>"Conscious, and madder than the devil. He can't even hold the phone,
-you know, and so I'm acting as his mouthpiece."</p>
-
-<p>"How's the station?"</p>
-
-<p>"Mostly a mess of secondary damage, but it is pretty widespread.
-Everything in the place caught hell, including the typewriter in the
-office, which fell off the desk. Got a space-warp generator?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yup, but can you repair yours?"</p>
-
-<p>"I think so."</p>
-
-<p>"Then take a stab at it. I've only got three replacements, and there
-may be more than that blown out completely. All the results aren't in
-yet."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., and we'll make repair right up to the point where we need the
-generator anyway, whether we can repair ours or not. Then if we need
-it, all we have to do is to hand it in and hook it up."</p>
-
-<p>"Fine, Pete. Now look, 6 doesn't answer. Send Timkins out there with
-Joyce. Must be pretty bad."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., boss. We're on our way."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>At Tommy's call, McBride went to the big air lock and the flitter took
-off for 6. As they went, McBride operated the generator that reversed
-their charge so that they could land on 6 without difficulty. Halfway
-across the lens, the telephone in the flitter rang, and McBride dropped
-the generator controls and picked up the instrument. "John," came the
-voice, "this is Hastings, on 10. A space-ship just came limping into
-the station, falling free. We slung out a line and caught it. We cut
-her open and found the dame that was the cause of all this. What shall
-I do now?"</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-  <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<p>"My better instincts say to slug her. The stuff I was taught at my
-mother's knee says to spare the violence. Keep her there until I get
-finished at 6."</p>
-
-<p>"She insists on going to the main office."</p>
-
-<p>"Y'might let her," said McBride thoughtfully, his voice slightly sour
-with distaste.</p>
-
-<p>"Gosh, boss, you can't do that."</p>
-
-<p>"I know. Well, she can't get out of the lock without your assistance.
-Unless I'm mistaken, all of you are far too busy to bother with a
-headstrong female."</p>
-
-<p>The phone was silent for a few seconds, and the sounds of a light
-scuffle came over the line. Then a cool contralto came.</p>
-
-<p>"I'm Sandra Drake," it said with a world of impertinence. "No man is
-going to tell me where I can't go!"</p>
-
-<p>"Sister," snapped McBride, "you keep that up and we'll jolly well tell
-you where you <i>can</i> go!" McBride hung up and redoubled his efforts
-on the charge-reversal generator. "Women," he snarled, twisting the
-generator controls as though he had the Drake woman by the throat.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes before they landed at 6, McBride picked up the phone and
-called 1. He spoke to his apartment. "Hello Enid," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"John! What's all the shouting about?"</p>
-
-<p>"La Drake tried to run her crate through the lens. She broke it."</p>
-
-<p>"Who's la Drake?"</p>
-
-<p>"Some dame. Look, Enid, what do you do to handle a headstrong female?
-Besides giving her enough rope to commit self-destruction?"</p>
-
-<p>"What's her purpose in life?" asked Enid McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"Proving that men are inferior animals."</p>
-
-<p>"I won't answer that one," chuckled McBride's wife. "Look, John, where
-is this man-killer?"</p>
-
-<p>"At 10."</p>
-
-<p>"That's negative, isn't it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Bright woman, yes," laughed McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I'm no space-warp expert. How would I know?"</p>
-
-<p>"Look, dear," said McBride patiently, "you divide them by two, as I've
-said before a million times, and if they come out with nothing left
-over, they're negative."</p>
-
-<p>"But we're on 1&mdash;and you can't even divide one by two&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"I know. One's positive anyway, Enid. Look, kiddo, leave things like
-screwdrivers and volt-meters and calipers to me and you continue with
-the can opener as your only tool. What are we going to do to Drake?"</p>
-
-<p>"You stop on your way back and pick her up. I'll take care of Drake.
-What did you say her first name was?"</p>
-
-<p>"I didn't, but it's Sandra."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! You mean Sandra Drake, the novelist-adventuress?"</p>
-
-<p>"I mean Sandra Drake, the she space-barnacle on the hull of progress."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, I've heard of her. And, John, I'll take care of her!"</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., Enid. I'll see you when I get there."</p>
-
-<p>"'By."</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Six was as silent as the proverbial tomb. They breached the lock from
-the outside and went in slowly, to find the station a shambles. Fred
-Atlock, the superintendent of 6, they found after some search. He was
-unconscious, suffering from superficial shock, and he had a four-inch
-cut on his shoulder which was slowly seeping blood from a large clot.
-Dan Wilkins, the only other man on that station, they discovered in the
-generator room, clinging speechlessly to the output terminals of the
-alphatronic power supply. McBride cut the switch, which was one of the
-few that hadn't welded shut, and the generator stopped immediately,
-permitting Wilkins to free himself. "Great Lord," he gasped. "I've been
-sitting there for nine years!"</p>
-
-<p>"By actual count, it's been one hour and twenty-three minutes," McBride
-told him. "How do you feel?"</p>
-
-<p>"O.K.," said Wilkins in a matter-of-fact tone, and with a slight
-eye-brow-raising look of surprise on his face that anyone should ask.
-"After all, anything under twelve hundred alphons merely paralyzes all
-of the voluntary muscles. The involuntary muscles are as good as gold
-up to that figure. I just feel a little stiff, like I'd been sitting in
-one position for an hour and better&mdash;which I have. I did everything
-but explode when that phone rang, but I couldn't will myself loose.
-When you're across one of those things, you can't even wink an eye at
-will, but must wait until the involuntary nervous system winks it for
-you. And, funny thing, you can't even stop your own breath; you just go
-on breathing automatically, since that's what the involuntary system
-demands."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K. Where's the gang from 4 and 8?"</p>
-
-<p>"I dunno. Are they coming?"</p>
-
-<p>"Coming? I thought they were here by now."</p>
-
-<p>McBride found the telephone and called 8. "Jimmy? Where is that gang
-you were going to send to 6?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sorry, Mac," answered Jimmy. "They were needed here to do a heavy job,
-and so I kept them for a bit. They're on their way now."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., as long as they're on their way."</p>
-
-<p>McBride's call to 4 was less productive. "Pete? Where is your crowd for
-6?"</p>
-
-<p>"Can't send more than one," returned Pete. "Still want him?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why didn't you contact me?"</p>
-
-<p>"Line was busy."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., send one man. The gang at 6 was indisposed, that's all, and Dan
-can work now. Fred is going to be out of commission for the duration,
-but he can still direct as soon as we get him patched."</p>
-
-<p>To Wilkins, he said: "Dan, we're going to trot. There'll be help out
-here soon. Tommy and I are needed on 10."</p>
-
-<p>The flitter took off again and began to cross the lens for 10.</p>
-
-<p>Allison, at 2, called and said: "McBride? Good news. Two and 3 are
-ready for service."</p>
-
-<p>"Swell," said McBride. "Now look, call the stations and ask who needs
-help. You and Fellowes go out and assist."</p>
-
-<p>"Right."</p>
-
-<p>McBride hung up the phone, and it rang almost immediately.</p>
-
-<p>"Mac? This is Caldwell."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Doc?"</p>
-
-<p>"Look, Carlson is in bad shape."</p>
-
-<p>"Can you jack him up? Not now, but say in three hours?"</p>
-
-<p>"Probably, but not more than a few minutes. He'd be better in
-twenty-four hours."</p>
-
-<p>"Gad, Doc, Pluto'll be forty-eight degrees colder in that time! Knock
-forty-eight degrees off of the temperature on any planet, and you'll
-probably knock the whole thing for a loop. Better patch him up, Doc,
-because he's one of the mainsprings that'll be needed when we're about
-to restore the lens."</p>
-
-<p>"O.K.&mdash;and say, John, you don't mind my making a hospital out of your
-lab?"</p>
-
-<p>"Go ahead. How's the casualty situation?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing fatal. Mostly an assortment of cuts, bruises, fractures, and
-shock. I've been checking the stations, and we've been calling all bad
-injuries in here for treatment. Takes a little longer, but I can keep
-my eye on more men if they come than I could if I went traveling. Never
-can tell what'll happen."</p>
-
-<p>"Have you contacted the after stations? They got a shaking up, but
-I don't believe that it was anything compared to the fore element
-stations."</p>
-
-<p>"No, most of the trouble in the back was due to being hit by slowly
-moving objects of high inertia. They're mostly annoyed, back there.
-The front system got it, though, what with flying spots of molten
-metal, electrical discharges that convulsed muscles, and burns from
-the alphatrons when they went load-free. A few of the boys got hurt
-when the mechano-gravitic generators collected the full load of the
-power sources and let them have anything from 10 to 15-G until the
-gravity-switches cut out. That did more than haul the men to the floor;
-it also hauled a lot of what would have been light stuff down on top of
-them at weights from ten to fifteen times normal. That's what hurt the
-most of them."</p>
-
-<p>"What fell, mostly?"</p>
-
-<p>"Light fixtures, and ceiling equipment. The busbar hangers on 7 gave
-way and dropped a bus line on one fellow, breaking both legs. Eleven's
-mechano-gravitic generator misfocused and hauled everything slaunchwise
-into a corner of every room. The men picked themselves out of a pile of
-material; everything from loose generators to odds and ends of wire.
-The latter didn't hurt, but the heavy machinery did."</p>
-
-<p>"Fine business, Doc. Keep 'em patched!"</p>
-
-<p>"That's my business," said Caldwell. McBride could hear him muttering
-as the doctor hung up.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>McBride's flitter landed at 10, and inside of the lock, he was met by a
-picturesque red-headed woman of extreme beauty. There was green fire in
-her eyes, and her anger possibly made her more beautiful. McBride took
-everything from her expensively-shod feet to her exquisitely coiffed
-hair in one sweeping glance and decided immediately that it was a shame
-that a woman like Sandra Drake should have been a stinker.</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. McBride, I assume?" she said in that contralto voice.</p>
-
-<p>"Dr. McBride," he corrected, standing upon his dignity for the first
-time in seven years.</p>
-
-<p>"Doctor?" said Sandra scornfully. "Doctor of what?"</p>
-
-<p>"Doctor of Philosophy, major in sublevel energies including the
-gravitic spectrums; electro, magnetic, and mechanical. Master of
-Mathematics, Bachelor of Arts, and Doctor of Language and Literature
-Honorary. Is that sufficient weight to gain me a modicum of respect?"</p>
-
-<p>"I have no respect for someone who stands in my way!"</p>
-
-<p>"I see that. Nor anything, either. Do you know what stopped you?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, but&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Your precious Dr. Holmann is an old goat who is still living in the
-past. But even he should have known that you can't ram a space-ship
-made of cupralum alloy through a magneto-gravitic space warp.
-Permalloy, or alnico, or anything diamagnetic will zip through such
-a warp and pick up velocity on the way&mdash;probably enough in this case
-to crush you flat against the bottom of your ship. But a paramagnetic
-alloy such as cupralum has about as much penetrative power as a
-forty-five caliber slug of wet soap against tungsten-carballoy. But
-at your velocity, not only did you stop in something short of nothing
-flat&mdash;God knows what your deceleration added up to&mdash;but you fractured
-the space warp, too."</p>
-
-<p>"A man will do anything to prove his point," snapped Sandra. "And I
-have no doubt that you would do anything, too. What did you use on the
-<i>Lady Luck</i>?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing."</p>
-
-<p>"I don't believe you."</p>
-
-<p>"I don't give a care! You want to go to Station 1? Then come along!"</p>
-
-<p>"You lead in your ship, I'll drive the <i>Lady Luck</i>," said Sandra.</p>
-
-<p>"Not on your life. You're going to leave the <i>Lady Luck</i> right here."</p>
-
-<p>"I don't see why&mdash;or do you intend to steal my ship?"</p>
-
-<p>McBride gritted his teeth. "Look, beautiful and senseless. This is
-Station 10. It is electronegative. One is electropositive. You haven't
-got a charge-reversal generator in that crate of yours, because I know
-darned well that the only place where they have 'em is right here in
-the lens itself. It's the only place they're needed. Now, Miss Drake,
-the lens is twenty-two million miles in diameter. It is that size
-because a disk of that diameter subtends the same arc as the sun does
-when viewed from Terra. Since the lens is situated halfway between Sol
-and Pluto, the magnification amounts to the projection of the sun on
-Pluto equal to the sun on Terra. Or don't you understand the simpler
-mathematics of optical systems?</p>
-
-<p>"Now, out across six and a half million miles of space, from here, are
-Stations 9 and 1, both electropositive. It so happens, Miss Sandra
-Drake, that <i>if the density of matter in space were as high as the
-atmosphere of Terra at twenty thousand feet, the difference in charge
-between Station 9 and this one, 10, would be high enough to cause an
-ionization discharge</i>! Now put that in that jade cigarette holder and
-choke on it! Can you possibly&mdash;is that microscopic mind of yours large
-enough&mdash;conceive of the effect upon contact? Sister, you'd not only be
-electrocuted, but you'd light up the sky with the electronic explosion
-to a degree that would make some Sirian astronomer think that there was
-a supernova right in his back yard. Now quit acting like the spoiled
-brat you are, and come along."</p>
-
-<p>"Nice, high-sounding, technical words," sniffed the red-headed girl. "I
-presume that you have such a thing in that little can of yours? I mean
-something that will change the charge on it while in flight?"</p>
-
-<p>"I wouldn't have survived the first crossing if I hadn't," snapped
-McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"And pray tell, how do you detect the change in the electronic charge
-from within?"</p>
-
-<p>"The electronic charge is so great that a heavy active atom such as
-bromine will, under the positive charge, lose enough of the outer ring
-electrons as to inhibit the formation of the more complex atoms, while
-under the negative charge there will be such an excess of electrons
-that a heavy element of the zero group, such as xenon, will actually
-be forced to accept an additional planetary electron and will then
-combine with some of the more active elements. So when xenon bromide
-forms, we know we're highly electronegative, while the chemical
-dissolution of tetrachlorodibromomethane indicates a hellishly high
-positive charge. When we approach the station, we use a little gadget
-known as an electrostatic gradient indicator which is useful over short
-distances, and with which we adjust our charge-difference to a sane
-value. Pluto and the solar system in general can thank their stars that
-the carbon-chain molecules that go into the human system are stable
-enough to resist dissolution. We are able to maintain the lens on less
-than enough charge to kill us all, though the boys in the odd-numbered
-stations report a lower metabolism than those in the even numbered
-ones."</p>
-
-<p>McBride paused. "And if you're worried about that space-warp-wrecked
-can of yours, I'll be more than glad to give you a receipt for it.
-Coming? I've got to go."</p>
-
-<p>Sandra Drake was still skeptical, but she followed in spite of it.</p>
-
-<p>John McBride was met at the space lock of Station 1 by one of the
-lesser casualties from 3, Douglas Whitlock. McBride said: "How's the
-arm, Doug?"</p>
-
-<p>"Broken, but on the mend. Doc will put a stader on it in a couple of
-days and I'll be able to use it again."</p>
-
-<p>"How's 3?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not too bad. But, brother, there's a million miles of loose wire
-floating around the place. Tonk and Harry are rewinding the alphatron
-leader-coils which developed a shorted turn down near the core."</p>
-
-<p>"How are they doing that?" asked McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"It was tricky, all right. And this'll slay you. They're using the
-nine-inch lathe!"</p>
-
-<p>"Huh?" McBride was thunder-struck.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, as Tonky said, it was an emergency. So they used the acetylene
-torch to cut the lathe bed off right before the headstock. They moved
-the rest of the bed back about twelve feet and welded it to one wall
-of the room. Now, there's room to get that big core in the lathe. The
-lathe is ruined, of course, or rather the bed is, but the alphatron
-will be ticking them off in another couple of hours." Whitlock looked
-at the girl and asked McBride: "Where did you find her?"</p>
-
-<p>"This," said McBride, "is Miss Sandra Drake."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh yes," said Whitlock brightly, "Drake, the human cannon ball ... or
-is it screwball?"</p>
-
-<p>"And what happened to you?" asked Sandra caustically. "Did you step
-into an open port in the dark?"</p>
-
-<p>"Frankly, I was hit by a falling busbar&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Probably the real cause of this whole failure."</p>
-
-<p>There was fire and blood in Whitlock's eye as he looked at Sandra
-Drake. Actual bloodshed was averted by a very scant margin when Enid
-McBride entered and stepped before Sandra, cutting off any attempt of
-Whitlock's to advance upon the red-headed female with intent to inflict
-damage.</p>
-
-<p>Enid McBride was three or four years older than the other woman,
-and it must be reluctantly admitted that she was not the four-alarm
-all-out beauty that was capable of matching looks with Sandra. On
-the other&mdash;and most important&mdash;hand, Enid had the ability to make
-men and women like her; in her less boisterous way, Enid's charm and
-personality made itself felt even before she spoke to Sandra.</p>
-
-<p>"You're needed," she told Sandra quietly.</p>
-
-<p>"For what?" asked the Drake girl, and her cool contralto sounded
-scratchy in contrast.</p>
-
-<p>"We've a number of hurt men here and we need help. You're elected."</p>
-
-<p>"I've never helped a man in my life."</p>
-
-<p>"You are getting no younger," said Enid with a short laugh. "I'd say it
-was about time you started."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh men!"</p>
-
-<p>Enid looked at McBride, and with that almost telepathy that seems to
-exist between husband and wife, John understood that he was to leave
-this to Enid. He thought with a smile: Enid's smaller, but I'll bet she
-packs a better wallop! Then he motioned to Whitlock, and they left as
-Enid said: "You're a complete washout, my dear, and your not knowing
-that makes you even more complete. Why don't you get smart?"</p>
-
-<p>"Are you trying to tell me how to manage my life?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's time someone did. Obviously you aren't capable of managing it."</p>
-
-<p>"I do all right."</p>
-
-<p>"Nuts. If this is a sample of your brilliance, I say, 'bring back the
-good old days!' Look, Sandra, what are you trying to prove?"</p>
-
-<p>"That I'm as good as any man."</p>
-
-<p>"Spinach. Ask any man and he'll probably admit it. What you're trying
-to prove is that you're better than all men, isn't that it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Well&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"And since you are superior to men, no doubt you'd prefer legal
-protection for them&mdash;marriage laws designed to assist and protect the
-weaker and inferior male; labor restrictions so that grasping women may
-not take advantage of them; protection so that avaricious women will
-not be able to take advantage of his lesser experience?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why that's ridiculous!"</p>
-
-<p>"Is it? A few hundred years ago, men set up such laws to protect women
-because they realized that there were among their own sex, men who
-would think nothing of taking advantage of an unwary woman. As soon
-as the women decided that they were equals, men reluctantly removed
-that protection. Now, Sandra, if you are equal or superior to men, you
-should be civic-minded enough to want to protect the weaker."</p>
-
-<p>"Bah! You talk like a man!"</p>
-
-<p>"Nonsense. I'd scream like a stuck pig if any man decided that I
-couldn't take care of myself. But I have enough sense to realize that
-all of the courtesies that men offer me are tokens of their affection
-and not gestures toward someone who cannot get in out of the rain
-without help. As for the weak, what would you say to a man who slugged
-a woman and then ran off and left her to suffer?"</p>
-
-<p>"He's a rat!"</p>
-
-<p>"How about the dame who does the same to a man?"</p>
-
-<p>"That's&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Be careful, Sandra Drake. The girl I'm speaking of is you!"</p>
-
-<p>"Well&mdash;" Sandra let the sentence die in midstream.</p>
-
-<p>"Think it over, lady wrestler. And when you make up your mind, come on
-in and help."</p>
-
-<p>Enid left Sandra standing in the room. She went to the improvised
-hospital and began to work. Her touch was gentle, but within her, Enid
-burned. To Enid, Sandra Drake was as representative of the female sex
-as poison ivy is representative of the plant family.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>John McBride faced the men in his office. "Give it to me in rotation,"
-he said. "Starting with Station 1."</p>
-
-<p>"We're down to the ruined relays and a few hundred feet of burned
-cable. A half hour with help."</p>
-
-<p>"Two is running O.K. on test power. She can stand a little sprucing,
-but that can wait."</p>
-
-<p>"Three is ready for test power, or will be within the next ten minutes
-or so."</p>
-
-<p>"Four will be O.K. as soon as we get the space-warp generator tuned. We
-managed to repair the input circuits."</p>
-
-<p>"Five is running on test power."</p>
-
-<p>"Six is ditto."</p>
-
-<p>"Seven is still cleaning up some of the mess, but can go on test power
-as soon as the time is ripe."</p>
-
-<p>"Eight is O.K. except for some burned cable and some messiness. We
-never were in really bad shape."</p>
-
-<p>"We're still cleaning relay contacts with files. Take another hour at
-least, and we've got so much help that the boys on the upper panels
-are standing on the shoulders of the men working on the lower panels.
-Also, they're so close together that they need a hortator to beat time
-so their elbows won't clash. That's how we stand on 9."</p>
-
-<p>"Ten's in shape for test."</p>
-
-<p>"Eleven needs a new alphatron, which is being hooked into place right
-now."</p>
-
-<p>"Twelve is ready to go on test, according to Ben, who called just
-before you came."</p>
-
-<p>McBride smiled wearily. "That's the fore element," he said. "They tell
-me that the rear element is all ready and waiting. So all we need now
-is Carlson. Give orders to have the propulsion operators start aligning
-their stations. And get me Doc Caldwell."</p>
-
-<p>The phone rang and McBride picked it up. "This is Doc," said the man on
-the other end. "Look, Mac, can you come over to my office?"</p>
-
-<p>"Sure," answered McBride. To the men in the room, he said: "Fight it
-out among you. Give help to any station that still needs it. We're
-going back in service as soon as we can&mdash;in an hour, I'd estimate.
-That's if Carlson is capable of handling his end."</p>
-
-<p>McBride went to Doc's office. Caldwell smiled bleakly. "He's conscious.
-He insists on talking to you."</p>
-
-<p>"Is he O.K.?"</p>
-
-<p>"He's weak, but he'll be all right for a few minutes."</p>
-
-<p>"Look, Doc, I don't want to kill anybody by making him work when he's
-likely to keel over, but we need Carlson if we ever needed any man.
-Darn it, why are there so very few men with supersensitive balance?"</p>
-
-<p>"It's hereditary, and the human race is still mongrel by its own law,"
-said Doc with a smile. "By which I mean that it is illegal to marry
-your own brother&mdash;or sister."</p>
-
-<p>McBride laughed, and then went in to see Carlson.</p>
-
-<p>"Carl," said McBride, "how do you feel?"</p>
-
-<p>"Wobbly."</p>
-
-<p>"How wobbly?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not too bad. How're things?"</p>
-
-<p>"We've been running around like waltzing mice for the past few hours,
-but we'll be ready for business in a few hours."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll be needed."</p>
-
-<p>"In an hour."</p>
-
-<p>"I'll be up."</p>
-
-<p>"He'll be up," said Doc. "How long will he be needed?"</p>
-
-<p>"Perhaps an hour."</p>
-
-<p>"He won't be up that long."</p>
-
-<p>"What can we do?"</p>
-
-<p>"Get everything ready. If he can hold out, or if you can set things
-so that the warp can be established in a shorter time, we're in. You
-couldn't hold a partial warp for any length of time?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not a chance. It's one of those yes or no things. You can't stand
-still while building a space warp. You must either build up or let
-fall."</p>
-
-<p>"If you could use something less than perfect, supersensitive balance,
-I could buck him up with a bit of dope and he'd last longer."</p>
-
-<p>"Why not stand by with the needle? Or could you give him something
-that will wear off in a half hour and sort of increase that balance as
-the time passes&mdash;giving him the buck-up at the first and saving that
-strength for later?"</p>
-
-<p>"Might work, but I sort of hate to take finely-cut chances like that,"
-said Caldwell. "We'll try it!"</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The last report was in, and all stations were ready and operating on
-test power. McBride spoke into the broadcast communicator, so that the
-superintendents of all stations could hear him simultaneously.</p>
-
-<p>"Rear element, fore stations, set up primary warp."</p>
-
-<p>Generators whined up the musical scale in the twelve stations that
-circled the junction between the fore and aft elements. Slowly and
-ponderously, the stations began to fall into a true plane, and as they
-began to align, the electro-gravitic generators began to work more
-efficiently.</p>
-
-<p>Before the warp had started to form, McBride called: "Rear element,
-rear stations, set up secondary warp!"</p>
-
-<p>The rearmost twelve began to fling their power across the circle, and
-the space between the two regular polygons began to take lenticular
-shape. As it formed, it thickened, and the massiveness of the space
-between the warps set the stations more firmly in place. They
-oscillated gently back and forth, in a damped cycle and would be
-moving in gentler and smaller excursions for days before they came to
-total rest.</p>
-
-<p>"Fore ring, set up magneto-gravitic warp!"</p>
-
-<p>The heavy alphatrons began to fill the space between the fore
-stations with alpha particles. Circling in ever-decreasing spirals,
-the particles set up a super-powerful magnetic field parallel to the
-axis of the lens. As they reached the center of the lens, the alpha
-particles lost velocity and with their lost speed, they also lost their
-effect. They died out, and to all effects, disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>The space between the electro-gravitic warp and the magneto-gravitic
-warp decreased as the fore warp thickened, and then with a sickening
-swell on the part of the stations themselves, the center of the fore
-warp touched the center of the aft warp.</p>
-
-<p>Cohesion took place, and the fore warp, not completely formed, snapped
-back against the electro-gravitic warp, drawing the fore stations
-back a few miles with it. Their mass made them pass the point of
-balance, and then the overly-convex surface exerted pressure against
-the stations, and they moved forward into damped oscillation. The
-oscillation continued for four long, slow swings, and then McBride
-decided that they were stable enough for continued action.</p>
-
-<p>"Doc," he yelled. "Get Carlson, take the surface flitter, and keep an
-eye on him while he keeps an eye on the lens!"</p>
-
-<p>Out across the fore surface of the magneto-gravitic warp went the
-surface flitter. Out across the firm surface of warped space went the
-flitter, running on the way of magnetic power where pseudo-gravity was
-made at will. It ran across the lens to the center, and Carlson seated
-himself in a stiff chair and put his head against a niche in the hard
-back. Before his mouth a microphone was placed, and every bit of motion
-was stopped in the flitter. Even the doctor sat quiet in order that he
-would not disturb Carlson's perfect balance.</p>
-
-<p>"We're thick on the 5 edge," he said, and McBride turned and spoke to
-Station 5.</p>
-
-<p>"Decrease alphatron output," he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Now about one quarter that amount on 6."</p>
-
-<p>The adjustments were made, and Carlson's perfect balance told him
-whether or not the optical axis of the lens was correct by its pull
-upon the semicircular canals of his inner ear. A half hour passed,
-during which the power output of the various stations were adjusted,
-and after each adjustment, there was a period of waiting as the new
-output demanded a new positioning of the station to meet the curve of
-the lens. Then Carlson said, in a tired voice: "Mac, they're O.K., I
-think. Circle 'em!"</p>
-
-<p>"How's he, Doc?" asked McBride.</p>
-
-<p>"O.K., but weak. He'll last another fifteen minutes."</p>
-
-<p>"Make him rest for that time. We'll need him then."</p>
-
-<p>McBride gave the signal, and the three rings began to rotate; the
-fore and aft rings going clockwise and the center ring moving in the
-opposite direction.</p>
-
-<p>Then, fifteen minutes later, when the rings had gained their orbital
-velocity, Carlson resumed his post.</p>
-
-<p>For ten minutes he sat stiffly in the chair, his eyes closed and his
-every nerve straining to catch imperfections in the thickness of the
-gravitic warps. He was the key to success, and he had no equal. For the
-strength of the pseudo-gravities and the power of the magnetic field
-that coupled with the fore element prevented any of the more intricate
-machinery from functioning. Only man, whose nervous system was not
-interrupted by magnetic fields, and whose chemistry and physical
-attributes were not overly disturbed by electronic charges, could have
-established the correction of the lens.</p>
-
-<p>Carlson and Dr. Caldwell sat out in the center of a magneto-gravitic
-field that would have destroyed the finest of balance-mechanism, and
-above an electro-gravitic field that would have prevented the operation
-of an instrument sensitive enough to detect imperfections in gravitic
-alignment.</p>
-
-<p>Always there would be men with Carlson's gift of super-perfect balance,
-and they would find their life work in maintaining the life-giving
-lenticular warp in space.</p>
-
-<p>Carlson slumped wearily in his chair and smiled tiredly. "O.K.," he
-said. Caldwell started the crude drive and the surface flitter started
-to cross the lens to Station 1.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>On Pluto, the first sign of renewed life was a flash of light in the
-sky. It started as an expanding pinpoint and burst out over a quarter
-of the sky before it diminished to a safe value. The scintillating
-fingers that darted from the twelve-scalloped sun were still. Then,
-as the magneto-gravitic warp was established, the color of the sun
-changed slightly, as the compounded lens removed harmful radiations
-by controlled chromatic aberration. The size of pseudo-sol expanded
-and contracted, and then settled down to a familiar size. The long
-fingers of light, that were leakages through the interstices between
-the stations, began to change as the stations took up their orbital
-movement. Then the streamers began to spread outward from the sun,
-detaching themselves as they reached maximum length and dying as their
-inner ends crept out to meet the far extension of the streamer. Between
-them, other streamers started to grow.</p>
-
-<p>The pattern became familiar, and the men and women of Pluto ceased to
-look at the wonder of their returned sun.</p>
-
-<p>Then they returned to their everyday lives.</p>
-
-
-<p class="ph2">THE END.</p>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CIRCLE OF CONFUSION ***</div>
-<div style='text-align:left'>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will
-be renamed.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away&#8212;you may
-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
-license, especially commercial redistribution.
-</div>
-
-<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div>
-<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div>
-<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project
-Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
-or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the
-Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country other than the United States.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work
-on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the
-phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-</div>
-
-<blockquote>
-  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-    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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
-    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
-  </div>
-</blockquote>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project
-Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; License.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format
-other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain
-Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
-provided that:
-</div>
-
-<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>
-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
-        &#8226; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method
-        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
-        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has
-        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
-        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
-        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
-        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
-        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
-        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;
-    </div>
-
-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
-        &#8226; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
-        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
-        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-        works.
-    </div>
-
-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
-        &#8226; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
-        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
-        receipt of the work.
-    </div>
-
-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
-        &#8226; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.
-    </div>
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
-the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
-forth in Section 3 below.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right
-of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;&#8217;s
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state&#8217;s laws.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website
-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
-public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
-visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
-facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-</div>
-
-</div>
-</body>
-</html>
diff --git a/old/68208-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/68208-h/images/cover.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 55c309f..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h/images/cover.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/68208-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/68208-h/images/illus1.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index d9cfd51..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h/images/illus1.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/68208-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/68208-h/images/illus2.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 4589be8..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h/images/illus2.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/68208-h/images/illus3.jpg b/old/68208-h/images/illus3.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 9579315..0000000
--- a/old/68208-h/images/illus3.jpg
+++ /dev/null