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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1343c54 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68223 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68223) diff --git a/old/68223-0.txt b/old/68223-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1f4641f..0000000 --- a/old/68223-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2158 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The fixer, 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: The fixer - -Author: Wesley Long - -Illustrator: Kramer - -Release Date: June 2, 2022 [eBook #68223] - -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 THE FIXER *** - - - - - - The Fixer - - By WESLEY LONG - - Illustrated by Kramer - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1945. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Sandra Drake sat in her perfect apartment on Telfu, and cursed in an -unladylike manner. She was plying a needle with some difficulty, and -the results of her work were decidedly amateurish. But her clothing -was slowly going to pieces, and there was not a good tailor in nine -light-years of Sandra Drake. - -The Telfan tailors didn't understand Solarian tailoring; Sandra was -forced to admit that they were good--for Telfans. But for Solarians, -they didn't come up to the accepted standards. - -They had tried, she gave them credit for that. But the Telfan figure -did not match the Solarian, especially the four-breasted female Telfan -woman did not match Sandra's thin-waisted, high breasted figure. Her -total lack of the Telfan skin; part feathers, part hair, but actually -classifiable as neither, caused a different "hang" to the clothing. -Telfans wore practically nothing because of the pelt and though -Sandra's figure was one of those that should have been adorned in -practically nothing, Telfu was not sufficiently warm to go running -around in a sunsuit. - -And making over Telfan clothing to fit her was out of the question. She -stood half a head above their tallest women, and the only clothing that -would have fit was clothing made in outsizes for extremely huge Telfan -women. Needless to say this size of garment was shapeless. - -Sandra finished her mending, tried on the garment and made a wry face. -"I used to curse the lack of humans here," she told her image in the -mirror, "but now I'm glad I'm the only one. I'd sure hate to have any -of my old friends see me looking like this." - -The image that repeated silently was not too far a cry from the Sandra -Drake that had called the _Haywire Queen_ in for a landing on Telfu -some months ago. But they hadn't waited, and she now knew why. Well, -she was forced to admit that her try at either trapping them here or -getting off with them had failed, and therefore she had been outguessed. - -That made her burn. Being outguessed by a man was something that Sandra -didn't care to have happen. She could live through it; but it was the -aftermath that really hurt. The Telfans came to understand her too well -after that incident. They no longer looked upon her as a leading figure -in her system. They knew that her knowledge of Solarian science was -sketchy and incomplete. Therefore she had lost her hold upon Telfu, -and was now forced to do her own mending. - -On the other hand, Sandra Drake was an intelligent woman. Her contempt -for the Telfan language was gone. It went on that memorable day when -she discovered that everyone who understood any Terran had gone to -greet the landing _Haywire Queen_ and had left her unable to convey her -desires. From that time on, Sandra plied herself and was quite capable -of conversing in Telfan, and fluently. - -So Sandra Drake had been living with the Telfans for several months. -She had been forced to live with her wits and her mind and she found -it interesting. Telfans were quite cold to her charms, which made her -angry at times; on Terra she was used to admiration from anything -masculine from fourteen to ninety-eight. Below fourteen they didn't -know any better and over ninety-eight they didn't care, but the years -between were aware of Sandra Drake. On Telfu, posturing, posing, and -offering had no effect. They looked upon her as an encyclopedia; an -animate phonograph, which, upon proper stimulation, could be made to -sound interesting. - -They had their machinery of action, too. Either Sandra assisted -them--or she did not find things easy. It was adjustable, too, and the -better assistance she gave, the better she found things. - -Well, thought Sandra, it has been interesting-- - -She was startled by a knock upon her door. She admitted two Telfan men -and a Telfan woman. The woman she knew. - -"Yes, Thuni?" she asked the woman. - -"Sandrake," announced the woman, putting the Telfan pronunciation on -the Terran name, "These are Orfall and Theodi, both of whom are among -the leading medico-physicists of Telfu. They desire your help." - -Sandra reflected quickly. After all, this ability to be of assistance -did give her a sop to her vanity. The fact that as little as she really -knew of Terran science she could assist, and at times direct, gave her -first feeling of real self-assurance. - -"I shall, if I can," she told them. - -"You, in spite of your untrained mind, have been extremely valuable," -Orfall said simply. "While you do not know the details, you at least -have some knowledge of the channels of Terran science, and you may, and -have, explained down which channel lies truth, and along which line of -endeavor lies but a blank wall. That in itself is valuable." - -"Another item of interest," said Theodi, "is the fact that the books -left us by the _Haywire Queen_ are ponderous and often obscure; they -assume that we have a basic knowledge which we have not. You have been -able to direct us to the proper place in them to find the proper answer -to many of our questions." - -"I see," said Sandra. All too seldom had anyone told her she was -valuable and interesting. It had been more likely a statement of her -headstrong nature, her utter uselessness, and her nuisance value. - -"As you know, we of Telfu are slightly ahead of you in chemistry. -Yet there are things in chemistry that can not be solved without an -advanced knowledge in the gravitic spectrum that Terra has exploited. -Perhaps it was the lack of a channel in the gravitic that drove us into -higher chemical development; but we are planet-locked until your people -return to remove the block." - -"Go on," said Sandra impatiently. "I gather that you are in trouble of -some sort?" - -"We are, indeed. A plague of ... ah, there is no word for it in -Terran"--he switched to Telfan, "Andryorelitis," and back again -to Terran--"which is an air-borne disease of the virus type. No -inoculation has been discovered, and no immunity zone can be -established. Telfu is in danger of halving the population." - -"Bad, huh?" - -"It is terrible. It strikes unknown. Its incubation period is several -days, and then the victim gets the first symptoms. Nine days later, the -victim is dead. Unfortunately, the victim is a carrier of andryorelitis -during the incubation period, and therefore isolation is impossible." - -"Sounds like real trouble to me," said Sandra. "Will examination reveal -it?" - -"Of course," answered Orfall. "But what planet can examine the -population daily?" - -"I see the impossibilities. Then what do you hope? We have nothing -that will combat it; knowing nothing of it in Sol would preclude any -possibility. What can we do?" - -"To return to chemistry," said Theodi, "I will explain. Our -chemico-physicists have predicted the combination of a molecule which -will combat the virus selectively. It is a complex protein molecule of -unstable nature--so unstable, unfortunately, that it will not permit us -to compound it. We have used every catalyst in the book, and nothing -works. Follow?" - -"I think so," said Sandra. "What keeps it from forming?" - -"As I said, it is very unstable. The atomic lattice appears to be -structurally unsound. That happens in a lot of cases, you know. At any -rate, we can make this molecule--and have made it successfully. But its -yield is less than four ten-thousandths of one percent, and the residue -precipitates out in an insoluble compound that can not be reprocessed." - -"Otherwise you would keep the process going until completion?" - -"Precisely. If reprocessing would work, we could leave the batch to -cook until all of it went into combination. Or we could add fresh 'mix' -to the processing batch and make the process continuous. But the stuff -is not re-processable. We must complete each batch, and then go on a -long process of fractionation to distill the proper compound out of -the useless residue." - -"I can see that a process of that inefficiency would be bothersome," -said Sandra. - -"Not bothersome, Sandrake. Impossible. Imagine going into a project -giving about .000,37% yield for two hundred-fifty billion Telfans. -The required dose of the antibody is forty-seven milligrams. Call it -fifty, for round numbers, Sandrake, and you get a total figure of -one trillion, two hundred-fifty billion milligrams, or one million -two hundred fifty thousand kilograms. At four ten-thousandths of one -percent yield, we'd have to process something like three hundred -billion kilograms of raw material and then rectify it through that -long and laborious process of fractional crystallization, partial -electrolysis, and fractional distillation--with a final partial -crystallization. Processing that much raw material would be a lifetime -job at best. Doing it under pressure, with the planning and procurement -problems intensified by the certainty of the few short weeks we -have ... ah, Sandrake, it is impossible." - -"What is this trouble specifically?" - -"The final addition of silicon. It will not enter the compound, but -forces something less active from the combination." - -"Making it useless?" - -"Right." - -"You've tried it?" - -"And it works," nodded Orfall. - -"And knowing that you of Terra have some wonders in science, we would -like to know--" - -"You see," interrupted Orfall, "they've figured that the catalyst would -be less than sixty-one percent efficient, if we could combine the -silicon with it and let it replace into the other compound. That would -work. But again we are stuck. The catalyst is stable as it is. What has -Terra done to assist in forcing combination in unstable compounds?" - -"Must be something," said Sandra, thoughtfully. "May I have a moment to -think?" - -"Certainly." - -"And one thing more. Haven't you anything that even resembles tobacco -on this sterile planet?" - -"I'm afraid not," said Theodi. "Believe me, we have sought it." - -"Thanks," said Sandra. "I know it was for me. But, fellows, I think -better with a cigarette." - -"We have analyzed the one you gave us, and haven't found a similar -weed--" - -"O.K., I'll do my thinking in a higher plane," smiled Sandra. - - * * * * * - -A thought, fleeting as the touch of a moth's wing, crossed Sandra's -mind. She fought to reclaim it. It had some association with an -experience--some experience in which she had failed, somewhere. - -Recently? It might have been. - -Long ago? - -Sandra didn't think so. - -She sat there silent, and the Telfans left with a short statement to -the effect that she might be able to think better alone. They would -return later. - -It had to do with something highly scientific; something of a nature -that staggered her imagination. It was coupled with something vast, -something deep, something complex. - -Her eyes fastened on a spot of brilliant light, reflected from a -polished and silvered glass vase at her bedside, and as she sat there -with her eyes unseeing, deep in concentrated thought, her mind focused -upon the one thing of vastness that she had been involved in. - -Sandra's mind was good, in spite of her inferiority complex. It was -sharp, retentive, and above all, imaginative. It is a point for -speculation whether the imaginative qualities might not have been -responsible for her antics; certainly her escapades were the result -of some imaginative desire to excel. At any rate, she fastened her -eyes on the spot of light, and concentrated herself into a partial -self-hypnosis. The train of thought went on before her unseeing eyes -with the vividness of a color moving picture, and she was not living -the scene, but seeing herself live through a train of events that -seemed to jump the unimportant parts like a well-planned motion picture. - -Her semihypnotized mind seemed to know the right track, though Sandra's -wide-awake mind either ignored the key to the problem or was not -certain of the right path to follow. - -She was in a room of steel. Steel and machinery and gleaming silver -bars. There was some chaos there, too. The silver busbars had lost -their die-straightness, and in one place, a single lamination of the -main bus hung down askew. It was about a foot wide and one inch thick, -and the nine-foot section that hung from the ceiling was slightly lower -than the top of her head. - -There was blood on the sharp corner, and Sandra looked down to see the -red splotch on the floor. She shuddered. - -Cables ran in wriggly tangles across the floor. Some were still smoking -from some overload, and others, still new from their reels, were -obviously part of a jury-rigged circuit. Boxes of equipment were broken -open and their contents missing, though the spare parts in the boxes -were intact. The whole scene spelled-- - -Trouble! - -The floor was not level; a slight tilt made standing difficult, until a -man from some other room shouted: - -"The mechanograv is working--hold on!" - -And the floor rotated until it was the usual, level platform. The huge -busbar swung gently on its loose mooring like a ponderous, irresistible -mass. - -And there was a man who came striding in. His contempt for her still -hurt, and Sandra winced. Even in that motion-picture dreaming, wherein -the girl in the picture seemed apart from Sandra Drake, the ire vented -upon the red-headed image made Sandra writhe in sympathy. - -And then she heard the words come from the man's lips. They were clear -and concise, and seemed to come from the man himself instead of from -within her own memory: - -"The electronic charge is great enough to force an inert -element--xenon--to accept an additional electron in its ring-system. -This permits combination with active elements such as bromine. When -xenon-bromide forms, we know that our intrinsic charge is highly -electro-negative. See?" - - * * * * * - -The scene within Sandra's mind dissolved, and she shook her head. It -cleared, but the words remained. - -"Orfall," she called. "Theodi! Thuni--bring them here!" - -They returned. "McBride," she said. "He can do it!" - -"How?" asked Theodi skeptically. - -"You've read their books," said Sandra Drake. "You know the principle -of the Plutonian Lens--and also that the alternating stations require -terrible electronic charges to maintain the lens that focuses Sol -on Pluto. They check that with the formation of xenon-bromide for -negative, and decomposition of tetrachloro dibromo-methane for the -positive charge. They can do it." - -"Can't they do it on a planet?" asked Orfall sadly. - -"Not unless they can raise the whole planet to a high negative charge," -snapped Sandra. "What do you think?" - -"I don't know--none of us do. Can they?" - -"No." - -"Then--?" - -"We'll call them, tell McBride what's the matter and what we need. -He'll fix it." - -"It sounds like a fool's gesture to me," said Theodi. - -"Utterly impossible. How are we going to get in touch with them in the -first place?" - -"Look," said Theodi. "We can call them. See what McBride says and put -the problem to them. If there's a way out, fine. If not, we've lost -nothing." - -"But how are we going to call them over nine light-years of space?" - -"Ah--yes," said Theodi. "We can't." - -"Maybe I can," said Sandra. "That'll be my contribution. I think I can -call them." - -"Nine light-years--" objected Theodi. - -"Remember that the gravitic spectrum propagates at the speed of light -raised to the 2.71828 ... th power. That'll make talking to Terra like -calling across the room. May I try?" - -"You think they'll be listening for you?" - -"Can't miss," said Sandra with a positive gesture. "My ship, the -_Lady Luck_, is equipped with the standard communications set. It -puts out right in the middle of the main communications band of the -electrogravitic. If I can get enough power to beam towards Sol, it'll -hit them right in the middle." - -"You intend to use the set in the _Lady Luck_?" - -"Overloaded to the utmost. They tell me that they'll take one hundred -percent overloads for an hour. Make that one thousand percent, and -it may last ten minutes. Ten minutes is all I need to give them our -trouble--they have recorders if McBride isn't there to hear it in -person." - -"Where are you going to get that power?" asked Theodi. - -"From you." - -"Impossible, Sandrake. You know that there is not sufficient power -available to make such a program possible." - -"Ridiculous. The resources of a planet are unmeasurable." - -"Perhaps so," said Theodi. "But remember that our power, like Terra's -power, is spread out all over the face. The transmission of power such -as you will require would be impossible because the line losses will -be greater than the power input. It might be possible to connect the -networks together and draw the entire power output of Telfu into one -district, but line losses would prohibit its operation." - -"I only need ten minutes maximum," said Sandra. - -"You're asking us to sacrifice--? You mean--overload every plant within -efficiency-distance of your ship until it breaks down?" - -"What have you to lose?" - -"Can we do it?" asked Orfall. - -"Of course," said Sandra. "You run your machinery at low load until it -is running at ten times the velocity, and then I cram on the power. -Momentum will carry me through." - -"And if one machine goes, under that load, the entire district will go -completely dead." - -"Oh no," said Sandra. "The closer and most powerful one will not be -used. That one will be used to talk to the boys when they arrive. -They'll only have a distress signal, and the details must be held until -they come investigating. They can't land, and so we'll have to tell 'em -the story while they're in space. We'll need that power." - -"Small consolation. Then Indilee will be an oasis of power in a radius -of powerless country." - -Sandra looked Theodi in the eye and said in a cold voice: - -"Then go on out and die with the rest of your kind. What good will -your machinery do you if you're all dead?" - -"This is a democracy, Sandrake. We cannot just take the machinery and -the equipment of others--even to save ourselves." - -"How's your red tape factory?" she asked with a smile. - -"Meaning?" - -"Either you get those power plants or die. I don't care if you steal -them, buy them, or borrow them. But get them--and quick." - -"But there is a chance to save Telfu," suggested Orfall. - -"Sensible fellow," smiled Sandra. In her mind she cursed the whole -planet. This was a place for Sandra to undulate a bit; to turn on those -two-million kilovolt-ampere eyes; to stretch one rounded arm out -straight, putting the other hand below the ear and raising the elbow to -a level just above those eyes and shielding the victim from the warmth -in them. This showed off Sandra's svelte figure to perfection, and -few men in Sol could have refused Sandra anything after that perfect -performance. - -But they were very few. - -The Telfan ideal of beauty did not include Sandra Drake's perfection. -She could have postured from now until galaxy's end, and they wouldn't -have known her intent. Against their women, Sandra was alien--not -sickeningly ugly or deformed, but alien and acceptable--and totally -undesirable. - -Sandra sighed, told the subconscious mind not to bother with the -spotlights and provocative sultriness, and tried to think her way to -the mastery of these Telfans. - - * * * * * - -"Couldn't we divert the electrical supply plants across Telfu?" -objected Theodi. "Seems to me--" - -"Not a chance," said Sandra. "You have no idea of the power required. -I must shoot the works all at once. The set, the generators, and the -supply lines will all go out at once. That'll give me ten minutes, I -hope." - -"But the dissipation of such power--Where can we collect it?" - -"There's only one place on Telfu. That's in the power room of the _Lady -Luck_. That is still intact?" - -"Yes. Handled, inspected, photographed, and manipulated without -driving power, of course, but it is still intact." - -"Should be," commented Sandra wryly. "After all, my trouble was not -being able to make the drive work. Couldn't get any push. Used up my -entire stock of cupralum. So, do we?" - -"I hate to say 'yes,'" said Theodi. - -"Look," said Sandra, realizing something for the first time. "We have -lots of gravitic machinery. Give me your useless power plants and I'll -see that you get gravitic machinery to replace them." - -"Um-m-m." - -"Look, Theodi, you're used to thinking in Telfan terms--which means -no gravitics. Think in Terran terms. You are no longer alone in the -universe. You are in contact with a race that has gravitic power." - -"Well--" - -Sandra smiled. "Take it or leave it--and die," she told him. "Think of -it. Andryorelitis comes like a thief in the night, giving no warning. -Like the black wings of a gigantic, clutching bat, silent and ominous -and unseen it comes and spreads its horde of hell on the city. Men go -on in their way, meeting other men and inoculating them, passing the -germ of death to whomever the black visitor may have missed on his -visit. Men take it to their families and spread it from hand to hand, -from lip to lip, from mother to babe to grandparent and beyond. The -unborn is as cursed as the almost-dead, for it is within their bodies. -The days pass in which every soul is given the opportunity of catching -and spreading the dread disease. - -"Then in this peaceful, unawareness of the terror, nine days pass and -one sees a red spot on his arm. He shies away from his friends not -knowing that they, too, have red blotches. The city is made of slinking -men, ashamed women, and scared children. The newspaper headlines scream -of the plague, but none will buy, for they fear inoculation on the part -of the newsboy. They fight and fear one another, and the plague has its -way, spreading across the city like the falling of night and missing -none. - -"The Grim Reaper swings his sharp scythe, and the populace falls like -shorn wheat. - -"And the stricken city becomes a place of horror. The smell of rotting -bodies taints the air and makes life impossible for those unlucky few -who have not been given the peace of death. None are interested in the -cries of the dying, and no one sees the sunken cheeks, the withered -bodies, the redding flesh. Do you like that picture, Theodi?" - -"You speak harshly, Sandrake." - -"You paint a prettier one," said Sandra, scorning him. "Go home -and dream. Let your imagination roam--or haven't you Telfans got -imagination?" - -"We have, but--" - -"You utter fool! To stand there like a stick of wood between Telfu and -some lumps of worthless metal! Like the drowning man that clutched his -gold--which pulled him under. Fool's gold. Theodi." - -"There is much in what she says, Theodi," added Orfall. - -"It is hard to think, sometimes," said Theodi slowly. - -"Men!" sneered Sandra. "The whole sex is the same, here or on any -inhabited planet. You know so much! Your vaunted power of reasoning -is so brilliant. You pride yourselves on your inflexible wills or -your willingness to accept new ideas, depending upon which your utter -self-esteem thinks is best to exhibit at the instant. Thuni, what do -you think?" - -"The metal is of little importance to dead men," said Thuni promptly. -"And you claim that Terra and Pluto have machines in abundance. The -answer is obvious." - -"You see?" said Sandra triumphantly. - -"I've forgotten," admitted Theodi. "I'd been taught from childhood that -high power was hard to get. It is hard to think that another star has -it a-plenty and is willing, and able, to give us enough for our needs. -It is a revolutionary thought and seems unreal. A story, perhaps. Yes, -Sandrake, you shall have your power." - -"Good," said Sandra, taking a deep breath. "And thanks. I'll also need -your best students for the job." - -"Our best are poor enough. Gravitics were known in theory only. A -detectable phenomenon, utterly useless. We could not pass the initial -doorway--the power generating bands--because of our satellite's -absorption of the primary effects. To study the higher and more -complex effects was impossible save in theory. But you shall have them." - -"I have some practical working knowledge of the stuff," said Sandra. -"One can't live and work with McBride and Hammond and the rest without -getting a bit of it. Oh, I was only with them for a few weeks at best, -but they are ardent teachers. I'll get along with the help of your -students." - -"You're certain?" - -"Not certain--but fairly sure. At best, you have nothing to lose and -everything to gain." - -"I think we have misjudged you," said Theodi. "You're fundamentally -fine--" - -"Thank you," said Sandra, simply. "Convincing you was the hardest job -I've ever done, believe me." - -"Convincing the Terrans--?" - -"Will be the second hardest job. Darn it, we can't use television." - - * * * * * - -McBride shook his head at Steve Hammond. "Don't believe it," he said. - -"You don't." - -"No, I don't. Drake has something up her sleeve." - -"It's a pretty big sleeve, then," grinned Hammond. "Rigging anything to -call from Telfu to Sol is no small potatoes." - -"She overloaded everything in sight. That'd about make it right," -said McBride. "It went blooey right in the middle of the third -sentence--'McBride or Hammond: Telfu in grip of serious epidemic. -Need highly charged laboratory to prepare mis-valenced compound for -synthetic serum. Danger is imminent, so implore your help for the lives -of--' and that's all. Either she's as dramatic as Shakespeare, or this -is the real juice." - -"And you think it is joy-juice." - -"Her past record--and yet we can't afford to pass this up. She should -know, though, that if this is the malarkey, she'll be scorned out of -the system. Both systems." - -"She wrecked the lens--and she's still here," reminded Hammond. - -"'Here' is right," said the pilot cheerfully. "In case you birds are -wondering about our position, Telfu is right below us by ten million -miles." - -"Suppose she's got anything left of that set?" asked McBride. - -"Imagine so. The thing couldn't have gone to pieces like the Wonderful -One Horse Shay. Give a call and see. If Sandra's not kidding, she'll be -listening." - -"Kidding or not," laughed McBride, "Sandra will be listening." - -Hammond turned on the communications set and coughed into the -microphone, watching the meters swing. Then, satisfied, he said: "This -is the _Haywire Queen_ answering S. D. I. from Telfu. Calling Sandra -Drake. If you are listening, break in. This is Hammond of the _Haywire -Queen_ listening for a repeat of previous S. D. I." Hammond broke into -Telfan and repeated the message. - -Then the answer-light winked on the panel and he heard: - -"This is Sandra Drake. Is it really you?" - -"No," said Hammond. "Just a reasonable facsimile. What's the matter?" - -"Oh!" said Sandra. There was a world of feeling in the word. "This has -been the longest seven days in my life. It worked, then." - -"What worked then?" - -"The communications set." - -"Obviously. What did you do to it?" - -"Not much, personally. I sort of managered it, though. They lent me -their best gravitic students and we went to work on the thing. We -remade everything in the set--everything that could stand it, that -is--about four times their size. That's where I came in. Some things -couldn't be increased in size without ruining the tuning, and I knew -which ones. Is my output all right?" - -"Shaky, but strong enough for service." - -"I'm running without an output stage. We used the output stage to drive -a super-power stage made of the beefed-up parts and when the works went -blooey, it took the Telfan output and my output with it. I'm running -off to my own driver stage." - -"You've been a busy little girl," said Hammond. "What did you use for -power?" - -"I talked them into giving me every power plant in the district so that -I could call you. It all went in eight minutes flat. The _Lady Luck_ is -a mess--again." - -"Are you brave or foolish?" asked Hammond. - -"Both," answered Sandra. "After all, this is no tea party. There isn't -a good generator on the _Lady Luck_; I ruined them all trying to call -you. Can you understand how urgent this is?" - -"I think so," said Hammond. "How did you wreck the whole -shooting-match?" - -"I used the gravitic generators to generate local fields and used 'em -as communications-band reflectors. Part of it was theory on the part of -the Telfans and part of it was ideas given me by your experiments with -the super-drive. Anyhow, I'll bet that Soaky is fifty degrees hotter, -now, with all the soup we put into the transmitter. That'll make your -problem easier--hey?" - -"Yup," smiled Hammond. "Just like the guy whose only reason for sending -telegrams was that he hated to see the mail-carrier work so hard." - -"Well, fifty degrees is one percent of the way, anyway." - -"That's right," grinned Hammond. "But look, we're killing valuable time -if this is as important as it sounds. What's needed?"' - -Sandra explained. - - * * * * * - -"And you say the silicon won't combine? Shucks, we can do that all -right," said John McBride. - -"Fine." - -"Our problem is delivering the goods." - -"Why?" - -"Name me a container that will carry the electronic charge." - -"Oh? I was thinking--" - -"Don't bother," said McBride. "There isn't anything better than ten -million miles of pure and absolute space. She'll corona, and then -arc, and then she'll assume the normal charge and the stuff will come -unstuck again. And you couldn't possibly send every Telfan out into -space for a treatment. There aren't enough years in a century to do -that." - -"First, we'll have to do away with Soaky," said Hammond. - -"We can do that," said McBride. "The converted spacecraft are about -ready. We can get 'em off in twenty-four hours. But landing this -compound is the tricky job. How are we going to do it?" - -"Let's assume that we can think of something and get the rest of this -yarn. How do you feel, Sandra?" - -"Tired, sort of. I've been busy." - -"I gather." - -"But this slight relaxation is doing me a lot of good. Is the Lady -Thani with you? Her sister, Thuni, asked me to ask." - -"She and her husband are on Terra. We didn't pass that way. But you -may tell Thuni that they are well, happy, and being treated with -Terra's best. Our main trouble is shooing away vaudeville agents, flesh -merchants, and screwball politicians who either want to tie their wagon -on behind or run their wagon up against." - -"You'll never get rid of them," said Sandra. "Are they pointing with -pride or viewing with alarm?" - -"The pointers-with-pride hold a very slight majority." - -"That's a fair sign." - -"You're right. It is. Luckily, most of the newspapers follow the -pointers-with-pride and the general feeling is that way. Most of the -malcontents fear that Telfu will have a finger in the division of the -universe and they are not going to get as much because of it. They -think we should step in and run Telfu, or Telfu may step in and run us." - -"We're far enough apart to save 'em the trouble," said Sandra. "But -look, fellows, you're running back to Terra--or Sol, anyway. Can you -bring me something the next time you come? Please?" - -"If possible," said Hammond. - -"I need cigarettes, and clothing. I look seedy. I'm frantic for a -smoke; I know where you can buy a corpus delectable, dressed in old -clothing, for a pack of smokes." - -"Willing to sell your body for a mess of potash?" - -"Just about. But remember the old one--_Caveat Emptor!_" - -"Knowing you--I'll remember," laughed Hammond. "How have you enjoyed -your visit?" - -"So-so. It's been an experience. A lonely experience, believe me. I've -had my troubles, and I've had my triumph. Aside from the complete lack -of human companionship, it's been interesting enough." - -"You mean male adoration?" - -"Might as well admit it," said Sandra. "These birds look upon me -as they might view one of those platter-lipped Ubangis. I'm not -interesting nor disgustingly repulsive. Here I am, and I'd have been -washing floors for a living if it hadn't been for the fact that I do -have some experience and knowledge in gravitics. At least, I know where -to find the answer." - -"Well, take it easy, Sandra, and we'll be back. Look, I'm dropping a -message-carrier with a radio spotter in it. It'll carry all of our -spare cigarettes. Can't do much about clothing. None of us wear lace -undies." - -"I'll bear up," answered Sandra with a laugh. "Thanks." - -"O.K., then, see you later." - -"Right," said Sandra. "So long!" the set died, but before it went -completely off, they heard her say to someone in the background: "You -can turn the lights on again." - -"What did she mean by that?" asked Hammond. - -"I'll bet a cooky that they had the entire output of some city diverted -into her communications set. After all, what with Soaky's absorption -plus the normal power-gravitic communication, they'd do a lot of -running on a waterfall plant, or a coal burning plant to make up for -what we accomplish with a single machine in Sol. Our power took a -beating, as far as we are from it, and we know what kind of power it -takes to do anything with the gravitics on Telfu. Well, let's get -going. This seems to be the beginning of Our Busy Week." - -At Hellsport, on Pluto, twenty-four huge ships were grouped. They -looked like the Devil's spawn; their upright ovoid shapes set in the -glimmering background of the light that danced from the open-hearth -furnaces of Mephisto. In the sky, the reflection glowed, and it was -known for hundreds of miles as The Eternal Fire. - -But the men that were arriving were too busy to notice the picture it -presented. They were too close to that scene, although they had seen -the photographs in the _News From Hell_ and _Sharon's Post_, where -almost identical pictures filled a whole page in the roto-gravure -sections. - -They kept arriving, these men who were going to Sirius to set up -another Lens. They came from resorts on the Sulphur Sea near Hell and -they all asked the reason. They came from Sharon, which lies across the -River Styx from Hell, and they asked the same question. The hurried -call sought men from their play-spots in the Devil's Mountains and from -the vacation wonderlands of the Nergal Canyon. The Great Cave of Loki -in the Æsir Plains lost a dozen or so, and Fafnir's Abyss no longer -rang to the click of camera shutters as the group left for Hellsport. -Vulcan, the frustrated volcano, felt the downward-moving footsteps of -the seven who were studying the embryonic crater that was beginning to -show signs of life under the heat of Pluto's synthetic sun; the men -left eagerly to be on their way to Sirius, but they all prayed that -the cold of Pluto's interior would remain cold until they returned. - -The Hall of the Mountain King rang to their laughter as they returned -to their hotel accommodations near Hellsport, and then again was silent -as they went to Hellsport and made the last finishing touches on their -equipment. - -Just before take-off time, the old familiar cry of "Where's Carlson?" -went the rounds until Carlson himself took up the general communicator -microphone and called "Here, dammit!" and was informed that it was good -because they couldn't start the lens without him. That cooled Carlson -off, because it was true and all of them knew it. - -Then the two dozen mighty ships lifted in the air above Pluto and -headed for Sirius. They joined the _Haywire Queen_ on her way from the -Plutonian Lens, and after a few minutes of discussion--all done while -accelerating at one hundred and fifty feet per second per second--they -fell silent and started on the run to Sirius, nine light-years away. - -The trip was made without mishap. - -"Now," said McBride, through the general communicator, "in order that -we understand, I'm going to repeat the general plan again. - -"This is a problem different from the central heating system. We are -not going to make a planet livable--_we are going to destroy it_! -Honestly, it is but a satellite, but the problem is only made more -difficult since it is harder to hit with a stellar beam. But enough of -that, we've got the calculations necessary. - -"We intend to burn Soaky. Our trick, then, is to set up the maximum -possible heat-energy field around or on Soaky. Therefore a lens-system -such as the Plutonian Lens is out of the question. Far better is a -duplex system. We shall, therefore, send twelve of our ships to a point -in space less than thirty million miles from Sirius. This will give -us a solid-angle of considerable magnitude--a power intake, if you -will--that will extract about all that we can handle. - -"The front lens-element will cause the divergent rays from Sirius to -become parallel or nearly so. We can't help but lose some. - -"Now these parallel rays will hit the second element, which will be -set up less than ten million miles from Telfu. That's about as close as -we can get without losing our control due to Soaky's field-absorption. -And it will focus the entire possible bundle of energy on Soaky. Unless -Soaky is utterly impossible, we'll cook his goose. Right?" - -The answer came with a laugh. Then someone asked about Soaky. - -"Soaky," continued McBride, "is a satellite of Telfu. It is -approximately one quarter million miles from the planet, and is -invisible from Telfu, being less than a hundred miles in diameter. The -Telfans, by means of crude gravitic detectors, have discovered Soaky -plotted his orbit pretty well, and so we really have little to do." - -Steve Hammond went to the microphone and laughed. "McBride is a master -at the art of understatement," he said. "But my contribution to the -art of eliminating planets is an anachronism. We have, on the _Haywire -Queen_, one of the most useless things in the universe. I shudder to -mention it, fellows, but there must be some good place for everything, -no matter how useless it may seem. We--and hold your hats--have a -rocket ship." - -A series of groans and catcalls returned over the communicator, and -there was the shrill whistle of someone outrageously murdering "_La -Miserere_." - -"Yep," continued Hammond, "Skyways, who boast that they can furnish -transportation anywhere within reason or realm of operating practice, -have furnished the _Pyromaniac_, which, named, appropriately, may -operate on or near Soaky. It is a useless bit of machinery for anything -else, and once the _Pyromaniac_ has landed on Soaky and planted spotter -generators for us to get a precise 'fix' on, the _Pyromaniac_ will be -relegated to some museum--if she doesn't get scuttled on the way in." - -At this point McBride returned and finished by saying: "We shall set up -our lens, and exceeding Archimedes, 'Having a place to stand, we shall -burn up a satellite.' So now go on and make the thing cook, fellows. -You all have your orders. The _Haywire Queen_ will be a roving factor, -feel free to call us for any trouble. We've got our own job cut out for -us." - - * * * * * - -The twenty-four great ships of space, already spread out across the -space between Sirius I and Telfu, began to jockey for their selected -positions in space. McBride listened to the quick-running patter of -the lens-technicians and the astrogators as they juggled their ships -into the first semblance of order. Then he turned and nodded to Larry -Timkins. Larry shook his head and left, going aloft to the rocket ship. - -The loft opened and the _Pyromaniac_ diverged from the opening. -Hannigan, the _Haywire Queen's_ regular pilot, snapped the switches -briefly and the _Queen_ darted away from the free-running _Pyromaniac_ -for several miles. Then the first burst of flame came searing out -in a mushroom, which lengthened to a long rapier of white fire. The -_Pyromaniac_ moved off ponderously, and the sky was cut into two parts -by the river of flame that burned in the rocket's jets. The rapier of -flame curved slightly and pointed toward Telfu. - -"No worrying about him," said McBride. "We'll know where he is." - -"So will the rest of the system. O.K., Jawn, you've got -the boys running--now for our problem. How do we make -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid?" - -"Yeah. How?" - -"Well, according to La Drake, their trouble is the lack of stability. -We can probably make it under high electronic charge--in fact, that's -what she was suggesting." - -"What'll it do when we remove the intrinsic charge? Remember the -xenon-bromide. It falls apart when we leave the high negative." - -"It's more than likely that the stuff will collapse when we neutralize." - -"Do you suppose we could get it there before it falls apart?" - -"You mean like the guy who used to put the light switch off and get -into bed before it got dark?" laughed McBride. "What would happen to -our xenon-bromide if we were to get it to zero charge all at once?" - -"I don't know, but file that one away for future reference," said -Hammond, thoughtfully. "Make up a batch of xenon krypto-neide, or -any of that ilk which might be crystalline, and then heave it in an -electrostatically charged shell at the enemy. Upon neutralization, what -with the hellish electronic charge plus the reversion to gas--probably -white-hot from electrical discharges--we'd have an explosive that would -really be good." - -"Good!" exploded McBride. "Look, my little munitions expert, the -neutralizing charge--happening instantaneously--would paralyze -everything electronic in nature for seventy miles even in space, and -the electronic charge, reaching zero in nothing flat, would cause -instantaneous decomposition of the compound. Since it is held together -electrically, the decomposition, or _burning_ rate, would propagate at -the speed of light, or approaching that velocity. _Whoooo._ Blooey for -everything in sight!" - -"Funny how the human animal can always dream up a scheme for something -lethal out of every invention." - -"Yeah--even while they're trying to figure out something to save a -planetful of people, they'll invent something deadly. That's one of the -things that makes us _us_. But what do we do with the Telfans?" - -"Theodi says it is stable once made--do you suppose it would be stable -even if made in the forced process?" - -"Let's try. Got the stuff?" - -"Barrels of it," said McBride. He went to the shelves of bottles -and removed the ingredients for Telfu's antibody. He weighed the -chemicals, and placed them in a combustion boat. This he placed under -a cover-glass and then called for Hannigan to run the intrinsic-charge -generator. - - * * * * * - -As the collectors began to load the ship with electrons, and the -various chemical indicators began to change color at various levels of -charge, McBride and Hammond set up long-focus microscopes to watch the -compound. - -The final tube on the indicator panel changed from the mixture of xenon -and bromine to a gray-green gas, and then McBride called: "Enough, -Hannigan." - -"Right, boss," said Hannigan. - -"Any action?" - -"Not yet. First the atmosphere of pure nothing so the stuff won't try -to combine with the aforementioned atmosphere. Then twelve hundred -degrees Kelvin, and finally the slow-cooling to form large crystals." -McBride opened a valve and the trapped air under the sealed glass -whipped out into space. "This stuff is stubborn," he added, turning on -the heater. The mixture grayed a bit, and then started to turn cherry -red all over at once. Hammond manipulated the color-temperature meter -and when the color was right, he motioned and McBride cut the heater, -riding the control all the way to room temperature. - -"Anything?" - -"Won't form." - -"Huh?" asked Hammond. "I thought we could form anything." - -"We can. But we might not live to tell about it. Some items of -unstable planetary systems are easily converted from their normal -valence-ratings to others of wide and ridiculous values. We picked -xenon for our final indicator because it fits in nice with the negative -value we need. But this stuff has valence-inertia beyond that value. -According to this stuff here, I'd say that its instability was less -than that of the carbon-chains that go into the human body." - -Hammond whistled. - -"And that means, little brother, that by the time we hit the right -negative charge to make this stuff combine, we'll end up with being -completely and irreplaceably dead." - -"Ugh!" grunted Hammond. "Did we get anything?" - -"Can't tell," said McBride. "Darned stuff sets like cement when it -cools. Warm up the tensile strength machine and we'll crush it and paw -through the wreckage." - -He inspected the crushed mass a few minutes later and managed to -separate two minute crystalline specks under the microscope. "I don't -know whether these are the stuff, Steve," he said, "or whether it is -just wishful thinking. Is it better than that four ten-thousands of one -percent yield?" - -"Not if you can weigh it. We started off with a hundred grams. One -percent is one gram; four ten-thousandths of one gram is four hundred -micrograms. The balance will swing over on less than ten micrograms. -This isn't even that much. No good, Mac." - -"Call Theodi and ask about that catalyst-conversion stunt." - -"Huh?" - -"He intimated that if they could combine the silicon with the catalyst, -they'd be able to cause metathesis at better than sixty-one percent -efficient. Trick is getting silicon to combine with an already-filled -compound." - -"They are better at chemistry than we," admitted Hammond. "I'll call." - -Apparently the receiver in the _Lady Luck_ was attended constantly, for -the sleepy voice of a Telfan answered. He answered that he would get -Theodi, and as he was about to shut off the transmitter, another voice -came over. It was Thuni. - -"Hello, Thuni," said Hammond cheerfully. "How goes it?" - -"Bad," said the woman. "But I must go." - -"I wouldn't," advised Steve. "Your sister Thani and her husband would -like to talk to you." - -"Oh," said Thuni in a strained voice. "I'd like to speak, too. But this -expenditure of power ... I fear--" - -"Nonsense. Thani has been nine light-years away for almost a year. -Think, Thuni, the light that started from our star is only one ninth of -the distance on the way, and Thani has been there and back." - -"I know, but this power--" - -"What's power?" laughed Hammond. "We've plenty of power." - -"But we have not. Realize that the entire city of Indilee is in -darkness because of my desire to speak." - -"So what?" asked Hammond. "You have the chance, have you not?" - -"But I am not Sandrake, who would think nothing of expending the entire -power-availability of a whole city just to talk." - -"Sandra is pretty much a human being in spite of her faults," said -Hammond. "I'm certain that any of us would have done it, just in the -same manner. In fact, I'm not too certain that Drake is inclined to be -a little inefficient, not knowing too much about the finer points of -operation. _I'd_ probably divert the power output of the whole planet -just to be sure I was heard." - -"Does nothing stop Terrans?" - -"Not for long," laughed Hammond. "And here's Thani. And the operator -won't be asking for another thirty thousand dollars after the first -three minutes, because there's no operator." - -"I fear," started Thuni, and then ceased her worry. She finished: "I'll -hold this open until Theodi comes, at least." - -"Good. That's learning to use the gifts of the universe to your own -comfort and pleasure. See you later, Thuni." To Thani, standing at his -side, he said: "Here's your sister. She needs cheering up." - -Thani flashed him a smile that might have been enticing in a Terran -woman, and then turned to talk to her sister. - - * * * * * - -"Meanwhile," said McBride, "I've a thought. Not a good one, but a -couple of dark ones. We know that silicon is a tough character. It -doesn't take to planetary changes with the ease of xenon, for instance. -It is way high up on the electronic-stability table." - -"That's correct," said Hammond. "But we've been thinking in terms of -not trying to add the silicon, but to combine the sulphur to the rest -of the compound containing the silicon already." - -"Frankly, not too much is known about the electro-combining processes -with the more complex organic compounds. But what I'm thinking is -this: A chain is as strong as its weakest link, and the attempt to -add silicon to the compound only fails. When the more active sulphur -is added, it automatically forces the silicon out of the compound, -and will continue to do so until the right electro-negative charge -is reached. Electro-combining silicon at a level less than its -electro-stability level is impossible." - -"That means trouble, Mac," said Hammond slowly. "Want to try the -decomposition of silicon-fluoride?" - -"Might, to kill some time." McBride reacted fluorine with silicon in a -combustion chamber and then called for Hannigan to run the charge down -again. They watched, and as they expected, nothing happened. - -"That's it," said McBride. "We're stumped." - -"I wonder--" mused Hammond. - -"Have you any doubt? Are you thinking of automatically -operated space-chambers set up for the formation of -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid?" - -"That might work if we had time to build 'em. But look, Mac. Suppose we -generate a terrific electrogravitic field, monopolar as according to -the first orders of gravitic fields. Generate this field in a volume -of less than a foot in diameter, and accordingly intense. Then we'll -negatize the ship, and at the same time bombard the electrogravitic -sphere with electrons from a standard electron-gun. It'll take gobs of -power, John, to drive 'em in, but the field will help, and also keep -'em there. What do you think?" - -"Sort of localizing our collection of electrons, hey? Hm-m-m. We'll -have to do that in vacuo--but that'll keep the atmosphere from -combining, too, and is better as she goes. We have plenty of electrons -when the ship runs negative, and that'll tend to collect them in the -place where they're needed the most. Might work, Steve. Break out the -E-grav and we'll try." - -Hammond called Pete Thurman and James Wilson and told them what he -wanted. They all set to work, but an interruption came for Hammond and -Hannigan as the _Pyromaniac_ returned in a blaze of fire. - -The rocket went off, and the _Haywire Queen's_ pilot did some fancy -work until the inert rocket ship entered the space lock above. Larry -Timkins emerged, holding his head between his hands. "It's murder," he -said. "Downright murder!" - -"What's murder?" - -"Manipulating that fire-breathing gargoyle. Y'know how the regular -drive takes hold all at once? Well, this thing sort of hangs fire. -There's a bit of a lag--ever so little--since the jets are sheer -mechanical and the time-function requires that the mechanical linkages -from lever-turn to fuel-release, ignition, and ultimate movement--well, -they act in considerably less time than the electrogravitic drive." - -"Do you have to use it again?" - -"Nope. I planted the spotter-generators and--picked up a souvenir of -Soaky. Look," and he pulled a piece of crystal from his spacesuit pouch -and dropped it on the table. - -"Dirty looking hunk of glass," said Hammond. "Going to use it for a -paperweight?" - -"It'd go better on the gal friend's finger, but I'm going to sell it -and lay away the profits for my edification and amusement. It'll assay -four karats if it's worth a dime, and that ain't quartz." - -"Diamond?" asked Hammond in surprise. - -"It has an index of refraction higher than 2.4, and is harder than -Sandra Drake's heart." - -"Sounds like. How did it get there?" - -"Ask the bird that dropped it. I only picked it up. If I'd found it in -a blue-clay flue, I'd have mined Soaky for fair, but a loose diamond -lying on the surface is strictly a changeling. Soaky must have known -high-falutin' friends in his younger and more promising days. Call it -one of those inexplicable mysteries and forget it. I give up." - -"Hm-m-m. Might be more there, hey?" - -"Yeah, but the life of Telfu depends upon our getting rid of Soaky." - -Thani, who heard the latter part of the discussion, came over and -looked at the uncut stone in wonder. "You will want to inspect our -satellite?" she asked Hammond. - -"I'd like to," he said. "But we have no time. While we've never -synthesized anything larger than fractional-karat diamonds, and this -four to five karats worth of crystallized carbon will be worth a small -fortune to Timkins, here, the idea of forestalling help to Telfu whilst -we chase a will-of-the-wisp is strictly a phony. Besides, it looks to -us as though this one was a sport--an impossible find. Chances are that -Larry was extremely lucky." - -Thani shook her head. The chances of a huge fortune in precious stones -going up the chimney because of danger to an alien race gave her food -for thought. - - * * * * * - -McBride's shout cut all future conversation along this line. Hammond -called for Larry to follow, and they went to the room in which the -electrogravitic generator was being worked on. - -McBride met them. "We're about ready," he said. "There's peepholes for -all." - -"Peepholes?" - -"Unless you want to be in an airless room along with umpty-gewhillion -electron volts. Better take a peephole." - -McBride's hole was equipped with telescope and controls for the -equipment. They set their eyes to the windows and watched. McBride -explained: "First off, I open the space cock and let the vacuum of -space in. Said vacuum drives the air out, leaving the place filled -with hard nothing. That eliminates the possibility of corona with the -voltages we are going to use." - -Then he depressed the generator-on control button, and the pilot lights -winked. He read the meters through the telescope, and adjusted the -variable controls until a faintly outlined sphere formed between the -radiator gravitodes of the generator. This sphere was invisible in that -it reflected no light and was transparent, but the light from the wall -beyond was refracted slightly, and the sphere was constantly changing -in index of refraction, so that the sphere shimmered like heat waves -over a meadow. - -"We set the spherical warp, so. Now on the boom we insert the -combustion tube containing the mix. The insertion of the boom is easy -due to the heavy gravitic field, which attracts proportional to the -square of the distance. I think it increases the inertia-constant--" - -"_Woah_, Mac. Inertia is a _property_ of matter, not a phenomenon." - -"You can stir up a good argument later, here or at the annual meeting -of the Gravitic Society. Right now I'm about to turn on the heat." -McBride withdrew the boom, leaving the combustion tube in the warp, -where it was fixed against the infinitesimal point of zero-attraction, -with all sides of the boat in contracting-urge. He snapped the button -and watched through the color-temperature meter. Then, as the color was -reached, he threw over a series of controls, and the spherical field -became a riot of color. - -It fluoresced, as the bombardment of electrons hit it, coming from all -sides. The sphere grew, and McBride tightened the warp by applying more -power. Still it grew as the repulsion of the electrons tried to nullify -the gravitic attraction, and McBride continued to step up the power of -the electrogravitic generator to keep the sphere from expanding. - -"Hannigan," he called. "Give me just a bit more?" - -"We can stand about six more electrons," laughed Hannigan. "No more." - -"Give 'em to me," returned McBride cheerfully. - -And then the sphere refused to be confined. It grew, and McBride made -comic motions with the hand that held the control, as if to turn the -knob from its shaft in a supreme effort to increase the power by a -single alphon. - -The sphere grew to huge proportions, and McBride cranked the control -to zero just as the surface of the sphere grew instable and threatened -to expand without limit. - -His other hand turned the heat control slowly down, and the color of -the combustion tube died. A hiss of air entered, and they ran inside to -see the result. - -The combustion boat was ablaze with scintillating crystals. Beautiful -blue-green crystals that were half-hidden in the gray-yellow powder of -the catalyst. Their surfaces caught the lights, and sent little darting -spots of blue fire dancing over the approaching people. - -McBride lifted the combustion tube with a pair of tongs. "This is the -pure stuff," he said quietly. "Looks like a good crop this year, too. -What's it insoluble in, Steve?" - -"Sulphur dioxide, according to Theodi." - -"Good. We'll remove the catalyst with that and weigh the residue which -will be the entire output of our hundred grams of stuff. The percentage -will be higher than .004%, I'd say. Come on--" - -The communicator barked: "McBride! McBride! This is Peters on Number -One, Telfan element." - -McBride answered: "What's the matter?" - -"Nothing. We're in! We had a bit of trouble getting the warp going at -this end. The image-size of Sirius when projected by a lens as close as -the fore element is larger in diameter than Sirius is according to the -distances involved, you know, and getting the warp started across the -face of the Telfan Lens was some going. But we're about to thicken the -center and shorten the focal length of the aft element right now." - -"O.K. No trouble, hey?" - -"Excepting it is hot in the hind-end stations. The interstices that -give the spill-overs from Lens One do a swell job of heating up the -stations when it hits." - -"Sirius is hot stuff." - -"Look, Mac, how much energy will it take to ruin Soaky?" - -"Well," grinned McBride, "Lothar's 'Handbook of Useless Facts' says -that a globe of ice the size of Terra, if dropped into Sol, would melt -and boil so quick it wouldn't go '_Psssst_.' Is Carlson handy?" - -"Here, Mac. On the hind surface in the flitter and it is hotter than -the hinges of Hell." - -"The one on Pluto?" - -"No, the one in the real Nether Regions." - -"O.K., Carl. You're the balance wheel in this outfit. If you must -aberrate, lean outward a bit, will you? I'd hate to singe the pants off -of a couple of billion Telfans whilst trying to save their lives." - -"I'll keep an eye on it," promised Carlson. - -"_Eye?_" grunted Peters. "He means _ear_. Or has Carlson got his -semicircular canals in his eyes?" - -Hammond interrupted with a gloating shout. "Mac! We're in! Ninety-one -percent. Pure, crystalline Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid. And the -charge is almost equal to the galactic mean; meaning that the stuff is -stable." - -McBride nodded and said into the communicator: "Our half is did, boys. -All that stands between we-all and Telfu is a stinking, one-hundred -mile satellite. Frankly, I'm agin it!" - -Peters did not answer McBride. He shouted, his voice strained with -excitement: "Here comes Soaky now, around the edge of Telfu. This is -it, gang. Bore him deep and give him Hell!" - -Sandra Drake sat down on the edge of a hard bench and took a deep -breath. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes and pushed the stray -hair out of them. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffed with lack of -sleep. She stretched and took a longing look at the surface of the hard -bench; one of those looks that was calculating not the hardness of -the bench but wondering if she could catch forty winks without having -trouble call her away again. She decided not. She knew herself, and she -knew that as long as she kept going she could stay awake, but if she -slowed down for a moment, she'd drop off and nothing would awaken her. -And forty winks would actually make her feel worse than no sleep at all. - -Outside of the window, dawn was just breaking. It was a strange dawn, -an alien sunrise, but one that was nothing new to Sandra Drake. Sirius -II was just above the horizon, but almost lost in the mists because of -its low radiation. Sirius I was not above the horizon yet, but his -strong radiation was coloring the sky blue-gray. - -Sandra looked out of the window at the graying sky above. Carefully -and hopefully she scanned it but she was not surprised that nothing -was there for her to see. The idea of doing away with a hundred-mile -satellite was too much, even for McBride, Hammond, and the rest -of their gang. A hundred miles of celestial body was not large as -celestial bodies go, but against man's futile efforts it was simply -vast. - -In all of the man-made works on Terra, Pluto, Venus, Mars, and Luna, -considerably less than the volume of a hundred-mile sphere had been -moved. Affected, perhaps, but not man-moved; the pile-up of rivers -behind a dam could not be counted. - -So man pitting himself against a celestial object seemed almost like -sacrilege, though Sandra Drake knew that these men would take a job of -analyzing the course-constants of the Star of Bethlehem if they thought -they knew where it was now. - -And as small as Soaky was against the giants of the galaxy, it was none -the less a celestial object. - -So she searched the sky hopefully and was not surprised that nothing -was there. Her search was more "Will it happen" instead of "When will -it happen?" - -And then a Telfan stuck his head in the room and called: "Sandrake! Can -you come?" - -Sandra shook her head, rubbed her eyes again, and went. - -"Now what?" she asked wearily. "We don't have to evacuate another -district?" - -"No," smiled Theodi, "not that bad this time. But we are going out to -Loana--a small town not too far from here--and try out some of this -latest stuff." - -"Have any hope for it?" - -"I must have hope," said Theodi. - -"That's selling yourself a bill of goods," said Sandra. - -"I know. But unless I play self-deception to the limit, I'll quit from -sheer futility. No, Sandrake, I must hope with all my soul and I must -force myself to believe that this may work." - -"I won't even mention my friends," she said. - -"You are beginning to give up?" - -"I hate to think of it," said Sandra honestly. "It'll be the first -time that they failed to do what they said they could do. I know they -planned it, perhaps it takes longer than they think. Or perhaps they -came unprepared; their equipment not complete. After all," and Sandra -managed a reminiscent smile in spite of her feelings, "I've seen them -running some of the haywirest equipment in the world and making it -perform. Maybe this time the law of averages caught up with them." - -"You think perhaps they are finding that our satellite is too much for -them?" - -"I hate to think of it. I'd hate to admit that they could fail." - -"You have changed, Sandrake." - -"Have I? I wonder if it is my hope that they will take me home. No, -Theodi, in spite of what I may say about them, they know their -potatoes. They're the typical genius-type. Whether they rate as -genius I wouldn't know, but they're that kind of people. Give them a -situation, and from somewhere in their memory they can bring forth the -darnedest things which fit in like jigsaw pieces to complete the whole -picture." - -"I hope they continue," said Theodi. "Feel up to coming along?" - -"Sure." - -"Good. We need you." - -"Who, me?" asked Sandra. - -"Yes." - -"Why?" - -"Because you are alien. You are impartially alien. Though you have -friends on Telfu, they are few, and in your secret mind you class -us all as 'Telfan' and forget about sub-classifications. This -experimentation is just that, to you, and we are the subjects. -Therefore when you select one hundred victims out of a district, we get -a perfect, impartial selection; a true cross-section of the district." - -"Any of you could do that." - -"No. We'd be biased by our knowledge of who is important, who is the -sicker, who is young and who is old. And, though it may seem strange to -you, you have absolutely no idea of beauty. Therefore you are impartial -among the ugly and the beautiful." - -"So what?" - -"In experimentation on humans, we are inclined to pick those of less -value to the community. We pick the lame and the halt and the ugly. We -are inclined to pick those who are likely not to live anyway, and this -biases our selection. Come, let's get going." - -"O.K. Lead on." - - * * * * * - -Three hours later, and still without sleep, Sandra strode up the line -of Telfans and pointed out one after the other. Those selected followed -silently to the auditorium in the center of the village and seated -themselves. They looked neither happy nor regretful, but rather a -resignation was upon them. - -Sandra said: "Is this the best place you could pick?" - -"Sorry," smiled Theodi. "I didn't know it made any difference." - -"I suppose it is good from a functional standpoint," said Sandra. -"Being on the stage permits them to pass before us from one side to the -other. It is the only clear place in the auditorium in which to work, -and as far as I could see, there isn't any other suitable place in -town. But being on the stage sort of makes me ... oh, come on. I'm just -tired, I guess. Where's the pills?" - -"No pills on this deal," said Theodi, opening a case and removing a set -of large hypodermics. "This goes into the vein. Right in the main line. -You'll have to help." - -"Me? Look, Theodi, I don't feel well enough to go shoving needles into -people." - -Theodi looked up sharply. Her brash-sounding statement was made in a -hard voice in spite of its humanitarian and pleading sound. Sandrake, -to Theodi's opinion, was really feeling ill. - -"It must be done," he said simply. "You fill and hand them to me." - -Sandra took the first hypo, inserted it into the disinfectant, and -then filled it from an ampule. She handed it to Theodi and watched him -with fascination as he took the first Telfan in line and thrust the -needle into his arm. It went in and in, and Theodi felt around with the -needle-point until he found the vein, and then he emptied the cylinder. -"Next!" he called, and so on until the hundred had been inoculated. - -"Now," said Theodi, "we'll proceed to Dorana and do likewise." - -Sandra was silent all the way to the next village, and as she started -down the line of people, picking them out one by one, her face began to -whiten. - -Halfway through, Sandra stopped. - -"Go on," urged Theodi. - -"_Go on?_" screamed Sandra. "Go on? No!" - -"But--" - -"Go on and on and on and on and on?" shrieked Sandra in a crescendo -that ended in a toneless, inarticulate screech. She stopped the -sentence only because her voice had no more range and she had no more -breath. "Theodi, I feel like a murderess! I go on selecting people as -I would select specimens to be speared with a mounting pin and stuck -on a cardboard. I point them out. They follow dumbly with a look of -resignation. They come and you try something new on them--every time it -is something new, and you don't know whether it'll kill 'em or not! I -can't stand it." - -"But who can we have to do this?" - -"Get one of your own to do your own dirty work! You need me! Bah! -Suppose--?" - -"Suppose we have the right combination?" - -"Suppose you have? You haven't--and you know it." - -"I wouldn't say that." - -"I would. You're just experimenting." Sandra's lip curled over her -perfect teeth in a perfect sneer. "Experimenting on your own kind. And -I'm no better. You should hate me--and I'm beginning to hate you and -every one of you." - -"This must go on--" - -"It'll go on without me." - -"Come on, Sandrake. Buck up. Here, I'll give you a sedative and you -sleep for an hour. You're over-tired. Then--" - -"Then nothing. I can't go on murdering your people any more." - -"It's not murder. It's--" - -"It's worse than murder. You go on filling them with colored water and -telling them that you think that this is the works--and you know it -is just another blind try! Go away!" Sandra whirled and ran blindly. -Across the field she ran, out and away from the village. On and on she -ran, until she fell breathless beside a small brook. - -Thankfully, she dabbled in the brook with her tired feet, and laved the -cool water on her wrists and forehead. She drank sparingly, and then -stretched on her back to relieve the strained muscles that seemed to -make her back arch almost to the breaking point. - -Unknowing, Sandra relaxed as the ground supported her back, and with -the suddenness of falling night, Sandra slept. - -Her dreams were less restful than the sleep. They were filled with a -whirling panorama of lights, disembodied faces, grinning, leering faces -who watched long, brutal needles find the vitals of mute sufferers -whose only visible admission of unbearable pain was the tortured look -on their mobile faces. And through the dream, McBride and Hammond -fought against a huge metal barrier against which their mightiest -efforts were futile. - - * * * * * - -The day wore on as Sandra slept, and night came, and in all that time -Sandra had hardly moved. As the darkness fell, she aroused enough to -drink from the brook and settle herself in a more comfortable position. -Afterward she did not recall awakening at all but she did select a -thick thatch of soft moss the second time and she wondered about it -later. And it was about midnight when Sandra awoke. - -She was slept out, rested. But the self-hatred was still vivid. The -dream had kept it there, and though her body was rested, her mind was -still tired from the furious mental action that went on even as she -slept. - -She stretched, rolled over on her back, and considered her actions -of before with distaste. That had been a spectacle, and she hated -spectacles except when they made her appear in a better light. She -searched the sky wearily, picking out Garna, which was Telfu's sister -planet, and Ordana, the behemoth of the Sirian system, both of which -were shining close to the bright Geggenschein of Sirius. Above her, -she spotted the place where all Telfans watched--the spot where Soaky -should be according to their calculations. It was not a spot, but an -area, and Sandra scanned it in a futile manner. - -Nothing yet. - -A minute change in the sky along the horizon made her turn quickly, -hopefully. She scanned the sky carefully, and yet she knew that looking -at the starry curtain was futile unless the scene became so evident -that it could not be missed. She could see nothing, and besides, Soaky -was supposed to be above, not on the horizon. - -She looked above again, but there was nothing to see. Puzzled at -that--that _something_ that had caught her attention along the horizon. -She shrugged, and in trying to rationalize she admitted that it might -have been a meteorite; and she knew that she was overanxious. - -It was the same, she knew. - -But was it? Was it? - -_Was it?_ - -No, but what in the name of--? - -Garna and Ordana and Geggenschein were gone from the Telfan sky. What -was this? Why should planets disappear? - -Planets were about as permanent as--but they must still remain, it -was their light that was gone! Sandra shouted. McBride! The lens. In -her mind she saw the scaled layout; Sirius, Telfu, the other planets, -and Soaky, the satellite that was oh, so close to Telfu. Place two -biconvex lenses, one near Sirius and one near Telfu--and any light from -Sirius that could normally reach Telfu--and the planets in line from -Sirius--would be cut off by the lens, refracted into the energy beam -that would ultimately be focused on Soaky. - -They'd started at last! Sandra looked upward into the area containing -Soaky. - -And as she looked, a mite of colored pinpoint appeared in the sky -above. It did not rise into the incandescence, it leaped. It passed -upward through the red, the orange, the yellow, and the blue with -lightning-flash speed, and then settled down in color to an intolerable -white. It seared the eyes, that microscopic speck, and its brightness -made it appear huge. - -Sandra shook her head and looked down. The darkness was fading, and -sharp shadows of the low bushes and herself marked the ground. The -stars beside Soaky began to fade to the eye, and as the brightness took -on solar brilliance, it was like the sudden return of daylight. - -A flicker of the light caused Sandra to look into that intolerable -light again. No, Soaky was still going strong. But it was -scintillating, now, and there were streamers of incandescent vapor -leaving the coruscating nucleus that was Soaky. - -Full against Soaky the Sirian beam drove, and the surface vaporized. -The streamers were the high-temperature vapors of incandescent metal, -being driven away from the tortured satellite by the radiation pressure -of that intolerable brilliance. The vapors condensed in finely divided -droplets of metal, but still floated away in lines and whorls. - -The landscape around Sandra was in full light, now, and the shadows -were no longer sharp. The boiling, blue-white vapors were rushing from -the satellite at high velocity, and they spoiled the point-source of -light. They danced and flickered in the sky, and as Sandra watched, a -slight twinge of terror crossed her, and she caught her breath. - -This was not right. This was--was defying God Himself. And Sandra, -never awed by the men themselves, fell in fear before the visible -evidence of their ability. It was not right, this utter destruction -of a celestial body by man. Men were supposed to be motes--bacterium -on the skin of an apple--not mighty motes capable of almost literally -eating the apple that--not eating but destroying ruthlessly--the apple -that was spoiling their barrel. - -And Sandra, not even awed by the God of her people, prayed to Him -in fear. Fear, because people of her race dared to tamper with the -universe. - -But then the light passed away, and no omnipotent lightning flashed -across the universe to destroy it. The night fell again, and darkness, -unspoiled, crowded the landscape leaving Sandra light-blind. She -fumbled aimlessly in the darkness that was by contrast the utter -blackness of no-light. - -Sandra Drake was not alone in that. Half of the people on the planet of -Telfu were blinking in the darkness; silently groping their way into -their houses. Their tongues were stilled by the awesome sight. - -Sandra brushed her tattered skirt and smiled. She was a long way from -Indilee and she wanted to be there as soon as she could. She was -beginning to feel the pinch of the months of loneliness; before, it was -futility to lie awake at night and think of the touch of a human hand -and the sound of a human voice. Yes, she even admitted to the desire -for a bit of admiration, after all, it had been her meat and drink. - -But now it was a dream about to come true. There would be people of -her own kind. People who could laugh at the hardy jokes of her race, -and appreciate the casual acceptance of doing absolutely nothing for -periods of time. The verbal sparring and blocking would be there, -too; the nice trick of forcing someone into a trap of his own making -and springing it with--not double talk--but triple talk. The sound of -people who could discuss both downright earthy things and high theory -with the same words but with slightly different inflections in their -voices, and be understood by others who knew both lines of talk. - -She gave a short laugh. They would never know whether she did it from -sheer altruism or because she was scared to death at the idea of being -exposed to andryorelitis. - -She blinked. The sky flared briefly ahead of her in a brilliant and -colorful display of some auroral discharge. It illuminated one full -quarter of the celestial hemisphere in flowing color. Sandra thought -and remembered a man saying: "The charge on Station One is so great -that at twenty thousand feet it would arc a million miles or more." The -words and the distances were forgotten, and probably wrong due to her -faulty memory for those details, but she did remember something of that -nature. - -Obviously, one of the Stations had landed with a load of -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid. The not-quite-perfectly neutralized -electronic charge must have ionized the upper air in a sprinkling -corona. - -From another corner of the sky, a similar flare of color flashed, and -it was followed by flashes from near and far, each one creating a -streaking display of celestial fireworks. - -At the sight of that auroral display, Sandra's head went up, her -shoulders went back, and there returned to her step a bit of that -lilting walk. She smiled crookedly and then broke into that saucy grin. -She set her foot on the road to Dorana, from where she could get a ride -back to Indilee. - -There were Terrans here, all right. Her Terrans that nothing ever -stopped. They came--and brought the goods with them. - -But--who brought them? - -Sandra Drake. - -Throughout the night, the flashing of the celestial fireworks told -the whole planet that Terrans were bringing the needed drug to Telfu. -And with each flash, as with each mile, a bit of the old Sandra Drake -returned. - -There were a lot of miles back to the _Haywire Queen_. - - THE END. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIXER *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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: The fixer</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: Kramer</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 2, 2022 [eBook #68223]</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 THE FIXER ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>The Fixer</h1> - -<h2>By WESLEY LONG</h2> - -<p>Illustrated by Kramer</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1945.<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>Sandra Drake sat in her perfect apartment on Telfu, and cursed in an -unladylike manner. She was plying a needle with some difficulty, and -the results of her work were decidedly amateurish. But her clothing -was slowly going to pieces, and there was not a good tailor in nine -light-years of Sandra Drake.</p> - -<p>The Telfan tailors didn't understand Solarian tailoring; Sandra was -forced to admit that they were good—for Telfans. But for Solarians, -they didn't come up to the accepted standards.</p> - -<p>They had tried, she gave them credit for that. But the Telfan figure -did not match the Solarian, especially the four-breasted female Telfan -woman did not match Sandra's thin-waisted, high breasted figure. Her -total lack of the Telfan skin; part feathers, part hair, but actually -classifiable as neither, caused a different "hang" to the clothing. -Telfans wore practically nothing because of the pelt and though -Sandra's figure was one of those that should have been adorned in -practically nothing, Telfu was not sufficiently warm to go running -around in a sunsuit.</p> - -<p>And making over Telfan clothing to fit her was out of the question. She -stood half a head above their tallest women, and the only clothing that -would have fit was clothing made in outsizes for extremely huge Telfan -women. Needless to say this size of garment was shapeless.</p> - -<p>Sandra finished her mending, tried on the garment and made a wry face. -"I used to curse the lack of humans here," she told her image in the -mirror, "but now I'm glad I'm the only one. I'd sure hate to have any -of my old friends see me looking like this."</p> - -<p>The image that repeated silently was not too far a cry from the Sandra -Drake that had called the <i>Haywire Queen</i> in for a landing on Telfu -some months ago. But they hadn't waited, and she now knew why. Well, -she was forced to admit that her try at either trapping them here or -getting off with them had failed, and therefore she had been outguessed.</p> - -<p>That made her burn. Being outguessed by a man was something that Sandra -didn't care to have happen. She could live through it; but it was the -aftermath that really hurt. The Telfans came to understand her too well -after that incident. They no longer looked upon her as a leading figure -in her system. They knew that her knowledge of Solarian science was -sketchy and incomplete. Therefore she had lost her hold upon Telfu, -and was now forced to do her own mending.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, Sandra Drake was an intelligent woman. Her contempt -for the Telfan language was gone. It went on that memorable day when -she discovered that everyone who understood any Terran had gone to -greet the landing <i>Haywire Queen</i> and had left her unable to convey her -desires. From that time on, Sandra plied herself and was quite capable -of conversing in Telfan, and fluently.</p> - -<p>So Sandra Drake had been living with the Telfans for several months. -She had been forced to live with her wits and her mind and she found -it interesting. Telfans were quite cold to her charms, which made her -angry at times; on Terra she was used to admiration from anything -masculine from fourteen to ninety-eight. Below fourteen they didn't -know any better and over ninety-eight they didn't care, but the years -between were aware of Sandra Drake. On Telfu, posturing, posing, and -offering had no effect. They looked upon her as an encyclopedia; an -animate phonograph, which, upon proper stimulation, could be made to -sound interesting.</p> - -<p>They had their machinery of action, too. Either Sandra assisted -them—or she did not find things easy. It was adjustable, too, and the -better assistance she gave, the better she found things.</p> - -<p>Well, thought Sandra, it has been interesting—</p> - -<p>She was startled by a knock upon her door. She admitted two Telfan men -and a Telfan woman. The woman she knew.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Thuni?" she asked the woman.</p> - -<p>"Sandrake," announced the woman, putting the Telfan pronunciation on -the Terran name, "These are Orfall and Theodi, both of whom are among -the leading medico-physicists of Telfu. They desire your help."</p> - -<p>Sandra reflected quickly. After all, this ability to be of assistance -did give her a sop to her vanity. The fact that as little as she really -knew of Terran science she could assist, and at times direct, gave her -first feeling of real self-assurance.</p> - -<p>"I shall, if I can," she told them.</p> - -<p>"You, in spite of your untrained mind, have been extremely valuable," -Orfall said simply. "While you do not know the details, you at least -have some knowledge of the channels of Terran science, and you may, and -have, explained down which channel lies truth, and along which line of -endeavor lies but a blank wall. That in itself is valuable."</p> - -<p>"Another item of interest," said Theodi, "is the fact that the books -left us by the <i>Haywire Queen</i> are ponderous and often obscure; they -assume that we have a basic knowledge which we have not. You have been -able to direct us to the proper place in them to find the proper answer -to many of our questions."</p> - -<p>"I see," said Sandra. All too seldom had anyone told her she was -valuable and interesting. It had been more likely a statement of her -headstrong nature, her utter uselessness, and her nuisance value.</p> - -<p>"As you know, we of Telfu are slightly ahead of you in chemistry. -Yet there are things in chemistry that can not be solved without an -advanced knowledge in the gravitic spectrum that Terra has exploited. -Perhaps it was the lack of a channel in the gravitic that drove us into -higher chemical development; but we are planet-locked until your people -return to remove the block."</p> - -<p>"Go on," said Sandra impatiently. "I gather that you are in trouble of -some sort?"</p> - -<p>"We are, indeed. A plague of ... ah, there is no word for it in -Terran"—he switched to Telfan, "Andryorelitis," and back again -to Terran—"which is an air-borne disease of the virus type. No -inoculation has been discovered, and no immunity zone can be -established. Telfu is in danger of halving the population."</p> - -<p>"Bad, huh?"</p> - -<p>"It is terrible. It strikes unknown. Its incubation period is several -days, and then the victim gets the first symptoms. Nine days later, the -victim is dead. Unfortunately, the victim is a carrier of andryorelitis -during the incubation period, and therefore isolation is impossible."</p> - -<p>"Sounds like real trouble to me," said Sandra. "Will examination reveal -it?"</p> - -<p>"Of course," answered Orfall. "But what planet can examine the -population daily?"</p> - -<p>"I see the impossibilities. Then what do you hope? We have nothing -that will combat it; knowing nothing of it in Sol would preclude any -possibility. What can we do?"</p> - -<p>"To return to chemistry," said Theodi, "I will explain. Our -chemico-physicists have predicted the combination of a molecule which -will combat the virus selectively. It is a complex protein molecule of -unstable nature—so unstable, unfortunately, that it will not permit us -to compound it. We have used every catalyst in the book, and nothing -works. Follow?"</p> - -<p>"I think so," said Sandra. "What keeps it from forming?"</p> - -<p>"As I said, it is very unstable. The atomic lattice appears to be -structurally unsound. That happens in a lot of cases, you know. At any -rate, we can make this molecule—and have made it successfully. But its -yield is less than four ten-thousandths of one percent, and the residue -precipitates out in an insoluble compound that can not be reprocessed."</p> - -<p>"Otherwise you would keep the process going until completion?"</p> - -<p>"Precisely. If reprocessing would work, we could leave the batch to -cook until all of it went into combination. Or we could add fresh 'mix' -to the processing batch and make the process continuous. But the stuff -is not re-processable. We must complete each batch, and then go on a -long process of fractionation to distill the proper compound out of -the useless residue."</p> - -<p>"I can see that a process of that inefficiency would be bothersome," -said Sandra.</p> - -<p>"Not bothersome, Sandrake. Impossible. Imagine going into a project -giving about .000,37% yield for two hundred-fifty billion Telfans. -The required dose of the antibody is forty-seven milligrams. Call it -fifty, for round numbers, Sandrake, and you get a total figure of -one trillion, two hundred-fifty billion milligrams, or one million -two hundred fifty thousand kilograms. At four ten-thousandths of one -percent yield, we'd have to process something like three hundred -billion kilograms of raw material and then rectify it through that -long and laborious process of fractional crystallization, partial -electrolysis, and fractional distillation—with a final partial -crystallization. Processing that much raw material would be a lifetime -job at best. Doing it under pressure, with the planning and procurement -problems intensified by the certainty of the few short weeks we -have ... ah, Sandrake, it is impossible."</p> - -<p>"What is this trouble specifically?"</p> - -<p>"The final addition of silicon. It will not enter the compound, but -forces something less active from the combination."</p> - -<p>"Making it useless?"</p> - -<p>"Right."</p> - -<p>"You've tried it?"</p> - -<p>"And it works," nodded Orfall.</p> - -<p>"And knowing that you of Terra have some wonders in science, we would -like to know—"</p> - -<p>"You see," interrupted Orfall, "they've figured that the catalyst would -be less than sixty-one percent efficient, if we could combine the -silicon with it and let it replace into the other compound. That would -work. But again we are stuck. The catalyst is stable as it is. What has -Terra done to assist in forcing combination in unstable compounds?"</p> - -<p>"Must be something," said Sandra, thoughtfully. "May I have a moment to -think?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly."</p> - -<p>"And one thing more. Haven't you anything that even resembles tobacco -on this sterile planet?"</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid not," said Theodi. "Believe me, we have sought it."</p> - -<p>"Thanks," said Sandra. "I know it was for me. But, fellows, I think -better with a cigarette."</p> - -<p>"We have analyzed the one you gave us, and haven't found a similar -weed—"</p> - -<p>"O.K., I'll do my thinking in a higher plane," smiled Sandra.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A thought, fleeting as the touch of a moth's wing, crossed Sandra's -mind. She fought to reclaim it. It had some association with an -experience—some experience in which she had failed, somewhere.</p> - -<p>Recently? It might have been.</p> - -<p>Long ago?</p> - -<p>Sandra didn't think so.</p> - -<p>She sat there silent, and the Telfans left with a short statement to -the effect that she might be able to think better alone. They would -return later.</p> - -<p>It had to do with something highly scientific; something of a nature -that staggered her imagination. It was coupled with something vast, -something deep, something complex.</p> - -<p>Her eyes fastened on a spot of brilliant light, reflected from a -polished and silvered glass vase at her bedside, and as she sat there -with her eyes unseeing, deep in concentrated thought, her mind focused -upon the one thing of vastness that she had been involved in.</p> - -<p>Sandra's mind was good, in spite of her inferiority complex. It was -sharp, retentive, and above all, imaginative. It is a point for -speculation whether the imaginative qualities might not have been -responsible for her antics; certainly her escapades were the result -of some imaginative desire to excel. At any rate, she fastened her -eyes on the spot of light, and concentrated herself into a partial -self-hypnosis. The train of thought went on before her unseeing eyes -with the vividness of a color moving picture, and she was not living -the scene, but seeing herself live through a train of events that -seemed to jump the unimportant parts like a well-planned motion picture.</p> - -<p>Her semihypnotized mind seemed to know the right track, though Sandra's -wide-awake mind either ignored the key to the problem or was not -certain of the right path to follow.</p> - -<p>She was in a room of steel. Steel and machinery and gleaming silver -bars. There was some chaos there, too. The silver busbars had lost -their die-straightness, and in one place, a single lamination of the -main bus hung down askew. It was about a foot wide and one inch thick, -and the nine-foot section that hung from the ceiling was slightly lower -than the top of her head.</p> - -<p>There was blood on the sharp corner, and Sandra looked down to see the -red splotch on the floor. She shuddered.</p> - -<p>Cables ran in wriggly tangles across the floor. Some were still smoking -from some overload, and others, still new from their reels, were -obviously part of a jury-rigged circuit. Boxes of equipment were broken -open and their contents missing, though the spare parts in the boxes -were intact. The whole scene spelled—</p> - -<p>Trouble!</p> - -<p>The floor was not level; a slight tilt made standing difficult, until a -man from some other room shouted:</p> - -<p>"The mechanograv is working—hold on!"</p> - -<p>And the floor rotated until it was the usual, level platform. The huge -busbar swung gently on its loose mooring like a ponderous, irresistible -mass.</p> - -<p>And there was a man who came striding in. His contempt for her still -hurt, and Sandra winced. Even in that motion-picture dreaming, wherein -the girl in the picture seemed apart from Sandra Drake, the ire vented -upon the red-headed image made Sandra writhe in sympathy.</p> - -<p>And then she heard the words come from the man's lips. They were clear -and concise, and seemed to come from the man himself instead of from -within her own memory:</p> - -<p>"The electronic charge is great enough to force an inert -element—xenon—to accept an additional electron in its ring-system. -This permits combination with active elements such as bromine. When -xenon-bromide forms, we know that our intrinsic charge is highly -electro-negative. See?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The scene within Sandra's mind dissolved, and she shook her head. It -cleared, but the words remained.</p> - -<p>"Orfall," she called. "Theodi! Thuni—bring them here!"</p> - -<p>They returned. "McBride," she said. "He can do it!"</p> - -<p>"How?" asked Theodi skeptically.</p> - -<p>"You've read their books," said Sandra Drake. "You know the principle -of the Plutonian Lens—and also that the alternating stations require -terrible electronic charges to maintain the lens that focuses Sol -on Pluto. They check that with the formation of xenon-bromide for -negative, and decomposition of tetrachloro dibromo-methane for the -positive charge. They can do it."</p> - -<p>"Can't they do it on a planet?" asked Orfall sadly.</p> - -<p>"Not unless they can raise the whole planet to a high negative charge," -snapped Sandra. "What do you think?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know—none of us do. Can they?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Then—?"</p> - -<p>"We'll call them, tell McBride what's the matter and what we need. -He'll fix it."</p> - -<p>"It sounds like a fool's gesture to me," said Theodi.</p> - -<p>"Utterly impossible. How are we going to get in touch with them in the -first place?"</p> - -<p>"Look," said Theodi. "We can call them. See what McBride says and put -the problem to them. If there's a way out, fine. If not, we've lost -nothing."</p> - -<p>"But how are we going to call them over nine light-years of space?"</p> - -<p>"Ah—yes," said Theodi. "We can't."</p> - -<p>"Maybe I can," said Sandra. "That'll be my contribution. I think I can -call them."</p> - -<p>"Nine light-years—" objected Theodi.</p> - -<p>"Remember that the gravitic spectrum propagates at the speed of light -raised to the 2.71828 ... th power. That'll make talking to Terra like -calling across the room. May I try?"</p> - -<p>"You think they'll be listening for you?"</p> - -<p>"Can't miss," said Sandra with a positive gesture. "My ship, the -<i>Lady Luck</i>, is equipped with the standard communications set. It -puts out right in the middle of the main communications band of the -electrogravitic. If I can get enough power to beam towards Sol, it'll -hit them right in the middle."</p> - -<p>"You intend to use the set in the <i>Lady Luck</i>?"</p> - -<p>"Overloaded to the utmost. They tell me that they'll take one hundred -percent overloads for an hour. Make that one thousand percent, and -it may last ten minutes. Ten minutes is all I need to give them our -trouble—they have recorders if McBride isn't there to hear it in -person."</p> - -<p>"Where are you going to get that power?" asked Theodi.</p> - -<p>"From you."</p> - -<p>"Impossible, Sandrake. You know that there is not sufficient power -available to make such a program possible."</p> - -<p>"Ridiculous. The resources of a planet are unmeasurable."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps so," said Theodi. "But remember that our power, like Terra's -power, is spread out all over the face. The transmission of power such -as you will require would be impossible because the line losses will -be greater than the power input. It might be possible to connect the -networks together and draw the entire power output of Telfu into one -district, but line losses would prohibit its operation."</p> - -<p>"I only need ten minutes maximum," said Sandra.</p> - -<p>"You're asking us to sacrifice—? You mean—overload every plant within -efficiency-distance of your ship until it breaks down?"</p> - -<p>"What have you to lose?"</p> - -<p>"Can we do it?" asked Orfall.</p> - -<p>"Of course," said Sandra. "You run your machinery at low load until it -is running at ten times the velocity, and then I cram on the power. -Momentum will carry me through."</p> - -<p>"And if one machine goes, under that load, the entire district will go -completely dead."</p> - -<p>"Oh no," said Sandra. "The closer and most powerful one will not be -used. That one will be used to talk to the boys when they arrive. -They'll only have a distress signal, and the details must be held until -they come investigating. They can't land, and so we'll have to tell 'em -the story while they're in space. We'll need that power."</p> - -<p>"Small consolation. Then Indilee will be an oasis of power in a radius -of powerless country."</p> - -<p>Sandra looked Theodi in the eye and said in a cold voice:</p> - -<p>"Then go on out and die with the rest of your kind. What good will -your machinery do you if you're all dead?"</p> - -<p>"This is a democracy, Sandrake. We cannot just take the machinery and -the equipment of others—even to save ourselves."</p> - -<p>"How's your red tape factory?" she asked with a smile.</p> - -<p>"Meaning?"</p> - -<p>"Either you get those power plants or die. I don't care if you steal -them, buy them, or borrow them. But get them—and quick."</p> - -<p>"But there is a chance to save Telfu," suggested Orfall.</p> - -<p>"Sensible fellow," smiled Sandra. In her mind she cursed the whole -planet. This was a place for Sandra to undulate a bit; to turn on those -two-million kilovolt-ampere eyes; to stretch one rounded arm out -straight, putting the other hand below the ear and raising the elbow to -a level just above those eyes and shielding the victim from the warmth -in them. This showed off Sandra's svelte figure to perfection, and -few men in Sol could have refused Sandra anything after that perfect -performance.</p> - -<p>But they were very few.</p> - -<p>The Telfan ideal of beauty did not include Sandra Drake's perfection. -She could have postured from now until galaxy's end, and they wouldn't -have known her intent. Against their women, Sandra was alien—not -sickeningly ugly or deformed, but alien and acceptable—and totally -undesirable.</p> - -<p>Sandra sighed, told the subconscious mind not to bother with the -spotlights and provocative sultriness, and tried to think her way to -the mastery of these Telfans.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Couldn't we divert the electrical supply plants across Telfu?" -objected Theodi. "Seems to me—"</p> - -<p>"Not a chance," said Sandra. "You have no idea of the power required. -I must shoot the works all at once. The set, the generators, and the -supply lines will all go out at once. That'll give me ten minutes, I -hope."</p> - -<p>"But the dissipation of such power—Where can we collect it?"</p> - -<p>"There's only one place on Telfu. That's in the power room of the <i>Lady -Luck</i>. That is still intact?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Handled, inspected, photographed, and manipulated without -driving power, of course, but it is still intact."</p> - -<p>"Should be," commented Sandra wryly. "After all, my trouble was not -being able to make the drive work. Couldn't get any push. Used up my -entire stock of cupralum. So, do we?"</p> - -<p>"I hate to say 'yes,'" said Theodi.</p> - -<p>"Look," said Sandra, realizing something for the first time. "We have -lots of gravitic machinery. Give me your useless power plants and I'll -see that you get gravitic machinery to replace them."</p> - -<p>"Um-m-m."</p> - -<p>"Look, Theodi, you're used to thinking in Telfan terms—which means -no gravitics. Think in Terran terms. You are no longer alone in the -universe. You are in contact with a race that has gravitic power."</p> - -<p>"Well—"</p> - -<p>Sandra smiled. "Take it or leave it—and die," she told him. "Think of -it. Andryorelitis comes like a thief in the night, giving no warning. -Like the black wings of a gigantic, clutching bat, silent and ominous -and unseen it comes and spreads its horde of hell on the city. Men go -on in their way, meeting other men and inoculating them, passing the -germ of death to whomever the black visitor may have missed on his -visit. Men take it to their families and spread it from hand to hand, -from lip to lip, from mother to babe to grandparent and beyond. The -unborn is as cursed as the almost-dead, for it is within their bodies. -The days pass in which every soul is given the opportunity of catching -and spreading the dread disease.</p> - -<p>"Then in this peaceful, unawareness of the terror, nine days pass and -one sees a red spot on his arm. He shies away from his friends not -knowing that they, too, have red blotches. The city is made of slinking -men, ashamed women, and scared children. The newspaper headlines scream -of the plague, but none will buy, for they fear inoculation on the part -of the newsboy. They fight and fear one another, and the plague has its -way, spreading across the city like the falling of night and missing -none.</p> - -<p>"The Grim Reaper swings his sharp scythe, and the populace falls like -shorn wheat.</p> - -<p>"And the stricken city becomes a place of horror. The smell of rotting -bodies taints the air and makes life impossible for those unlucky few -who have not been given the peace of death. None are interested in the -cries of the dying, and no one sees the sunken cheeks, the withered -bodies, the redding flesh. Do you like that picture, Theodi?"</p> - -<p>"You speak harshly, Sandrake."</p> - -<p>"You paint a prettier one," said Sandra, scorning him. "Go home -and dream. Let your imagination roam—or haven't you Telfans got -imagination?"</p> - -<p>"We have, but—"</p> - -<p>"You utter fool! To stand there like a stick of wood between Telfu and -some lumps of worthless metal! Like the drowning man that clutched his -gold—which pulled him under. Fool's gold. Theodi."</p> - -<p>"There is much in what she says, Theodi," added Orfall.</p> - -<p>"It is hard to think, sometimes," said Theodi slowly.</p> - -<p>"Men!" sneered Sandra. "The whole sex is the same, here or on any -inhabited planet. You know so much! Your vaunted power of reasoning -is so brilliant. You pride yourselves on your inflexible wills or -your willingness to accept new ideas, depending upon which your utter -self-esteem thinks is best to exhibit at the instant. Thuni, what do -you think?"</p> - -<p>"The metal is of little importance to dead men," said Thuni promptly. -"And you claim that Terra and Pluto have machines in abundance. The -answer is obvious."</p> - -<p>"You see?" said Sandra triumphantly.</p> - -<p>"I've forgotten," admitted Theodi. "I'd been taught from childhood that -high power was hard to get. It is hard to think that another star has -it a-plenty and is willing, and able, to give us enough for our needs. -It is a revolutionary thought and seems unreal. A story, perhaps. Yes, -Sandrake, you shall have your power."</p> - -<p>"Good," said Sandra, taking a deep breath. "And thanks. I'll also need -your best students for the job."</p> - -<p>"Our best are poor enough. Gravitics were known in theory only. A -detectable phenomenon, utterly useless. We could not pass the initial -doorway—the power generating bands—because of our satellite's -absorption of the primary effects. To study the higher and more -complex effects was impossible save in theory. But you shall have them."</p> - -<p>"I have some practical working knowledge of the stuff," said Sandra. -"One can't live and work with McBride and Hammond and the rest without -getting a bit of it. Oh, I was only with them for a few weeks at best, -but they are ardent teachers. I'll get along with the help of your -students."</p> - -<p>"You're certain?"</p> - -<p>"Not certain—but fairly sure. At best, you have nothing to lose and -everything to gain."</p> - -<p>"I think we have misjudged you," said Theodi. "You're fundamentally -fine—"</p> - -<p>"Thank you," said Sandra, simply. "Convincing you was the hardest job -I've ever done, believe me."</p> - -<p>"Convincing the Terrans—?"</p> - -<p>"Will be the second hardest job. Darn it, we can't use television."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>McBride shook his head at Steve Hammond. "Don't believe it," he said.</p> - -<p>"You don't."</p> - -<p>"No, I don't. Drake has something up her sleeve."</p> - -<p>"It's a pretty big sleeve, then," grinned Hammond. "Rigging anything to -call from Telfu to Sol is no small potatoes."</p> - -<p>"She overloaded everything in sight. That'd about make it right," -said McBride. "It went blooey right in the middle of the third -sentence—'McBride or Hammond: Telfu in grip of serious epidemic. -Need highly charged laboratory to prepare mis-valenced compound for -synthetic serum. Danger is imminent, so implore your help for the lives -of—' and that's all. Either she's as dramatic as Shakespeare, or this -is the real juice."</p> - -<p>"And you think it is joy-juice."</p> - -<p>"Her past record—and yet we can't afford to pass this up. She should -know, though, that if this is the malarkey, she'll be scorned out of -the system. Both systems."</p> - -<p>"She wrecked the lens—and she's still here," reminded Hammond.</p> - -<p>"'Here' is right," said the pilot cheerfully. "In case you birds are -wondering about our position, Telfu is right below us by ten million -miles."</p> - -<p>"Suppose she's got anything left of that set?" asked McBride.</p> - -<p>"Imagine so. The thing couldn't have gone to pieces like the Wonderful -One Horse Shay. Give a call and see. If Sandra's not kidding, she'll be -listening."</p> - -<p>"Kidding or not," laughed McBride, "Sandra will be listening."</p> - -<p>Hammond turned on the communications set and coughed into the -microphone, watching the meters swing. Then, satisfied, he said: "This -is the <i>Haywire Queen</i> answering S. D. I. from Telfu. Calling Sandra -Drake. If you are listening, break in. This is Hammond of the <i>Haywire -Queen</i> listening for a repeat of previous S. D. I." Hammond broke into -Telfan and repeated the message.</p> - -<p>Then the answer-light winked on the panel and he heard:</p> - -<p>"This is Sandra Drake. Is it really you?"</p> - -<p>"No," said Hammond. "Just a reasonable facsimile. What's the matter?"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said Sandra. There was a world of feeling in the word. "This has -been the longest seven days in my life. It worked, then."</p> - -<p>"What worked then?"</p> - -<p>"The communications set."</p> - -<p>"Obviously. What did you do to it?"</p> - -<p>"Not much, personally. I sort of managered it, though. They lent me -their best gravitic students and we went to work on the thing. We -remade everything in the set—everything that could stand it, that -is—about four times their size. That's where I came in. Some things -couldn't be increased in size without ruining the tuning, and I knew -which ones. Is my output all right?"</p> - -<p>"Shaky, but strong enough for service."</p> - -<p>"I'm running without an output stage. We used the output stage to drive -a super-power stage made of the beefed-up parts and when the works went -blooey, it took the Telfan output and my output with it. I'm running -off to my own driver stage."</p> - -<p>"You've been a busy little girl," said Hammond. "What did you use for -power?"</p> - -<p>"I talked them into giving me every power plant in the district so that -I could call you. It all went in eight minutes flat. The <i>Lady Luck</i> is -a mess—again."</p> - -<p>"Are you brave or foolish?" asked Hammond.</p> - -<p>"Both," answered Sandra. "After all, this is no tea party. There isn't -a good generator on the <i>Lady Luck</i>; I ruined them all trying to call -you. Can you understand how urgent this is?"</p> - -<p>"I think so," said Hammond. "How did you wreck the whole -shooting-match?"</p> - -<p>"I used the gravitic generators to generate local fields and used 'em -as communications-band reflectors. Part of it was theory on the part of -the Telfans and part of it was ideas given me by your experiments with -the super-drive. Anyhow, I'll bet that Soaky is fifty degrees hotter, -now, with all the soup we put into the transmitter. That'll make your -problem easier—hey?"</p> - -<p>"Yup," smiled Hammond. "Just like the guy whose only reason for sending -telegrams was that he hated to see the mail-carrier work so hard."</p> - -<p>"Well, fifty degrees is one percent of the way, anyway."</p> - -<p>"That's right," grinned Hammond. "But look, we're killing valuable time -if this is as important as it sounds. What's needed?"'</p> - -<p>Sandra explained.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"And you say the silicon won't combine? Shucks, we can do that all -right," said John McBride.</p> - -<p>"Fine."</p> - -<p>"Our problem is delivering the goods."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"Name me a container that will carry the electronic charge."</p> - -<p>"Oh? I was thinking—"</p> - -<p>"Don't bother," said McBride. "There isn't anything better than ten -million miles of pure and absolute space. She'll corona, and then -arc, and then she'll assume the normal charge and the stuff will come -unstuck again. And you couldn't possibly send every Telfan out into -space for a treatment. There aren't enough years in a century to do -that."</p> - -<p>"First, we'll have to do away with Soaky," said Hammond.</p> - -<p>"We can do that," said McBride. "The converted spacecraft are about -ready. We can get 'em off in twenty-four hours. But landing this -compound is the tricky job. How are we going to do it?"</p> - -<p>"Let's assume that we can think of something and get the rest of this -yarn. How do you feel, Sandra?"</p> - -<p>"Tired, sort of. I've been busy."</p> - -<p>"I gather."</p> - -<p>"But this slight relaxation is doing me a lot of good. Is the Lady -Thani with you? Her sister, Thuni, asked me to ask."</p> - -<p>"She and her husband are on Terra. We didn't pass that way. But you -may tell Thuni that they are well, happy, and being treated with -Terra's best. Our main trouble is shooing away vaudeville agents, flesh -merchants, and screwball politicians who either want to tie their wagon -on behind or run their wagon up against."</p> - -<p>"You'll never get rid of them," said Sandra. "Are they pointing with -pride or viewing with alarm?"</p> - -<p>"The pointers-with-pride hold a very slight majority."</p> - -<p>"That's a fair sign."</p> - -<p>"You're right. It is. Luckily, most of the newspapers follow the -pointers-with-pride and the general feeling is that way. Most of the -malcontents fear that Telfu will have a finger in the division of the -universe and they are not going to get as much because of it. They -think we should step in and run Telfu, or Telfu may step in and run us."</p> - -<p>"We're far enough apart to save 'em the trouble," said Sandra. "But -look, fellows, you're running back to Terra—or Sol, anyway. Can you -bring me something the next time you come? Please?"</p> - -<p>"If possible," said Hammond.</p> - -<p>"I need cigarettes, and clothing. I look seedy. I'm frantic for a -smoke; I know where you can buy a corpus delectable, dressed in old -clothing, for a pack of smokes."</p> - -<p>"Willing to sell your body for a mess of potash?"</p> - -<p>"Just about. But remember the old one—<i>Caveat Emptor!</i>"</p> - -<p>"Knowing you—I'll remember," laughed Hammond. "How have you enjoyed -your visit?"</p> - -<p>"So-so. It's been an experience. A lonely experience, believe me. I've -had my troubles, and I've had my triumph. Aside from the complete lack -of human companionship, it's been interesting enough."</p> - -<p>"You mean male adoration?"</p> - -<p>"Might as well admit it," said Sandra. "These birds look upon me -as they might view one of those platter-lipped Ubangis. I'm not -interesting nor disgustingly repulsive. Here I am, and I'd have been -washing floors for a living if it hadn't been for the fact that I do -have some experience and knowledge in gravitics. At least, I know where -to find the answer."</p> - -<p>"Well, take it easy, Sandra, and we'll be back. Look, I'm dropping a -message-carrier with a radio spotter in it. It'll carry all of our -spare cigarettes. Can't do much about clothing. None of us wear lace -undies."</p> - -<p>"I'll bear up," answered Sandra with a laugh. "Thanks."</p> - -<p>"O.K., then, see you later."</p> - -<p>"Right," said Sandra. "So long!" the set died, but before it went -completely off, they heard her say to someone in the background: "You -can turn the lights on again."</p> - -<p>"What did she mean by that?" asked Hammond.</p> - -<p>"I'll bet a cooky that they had the entire output of some city diverted -into her communications set. After all, what with Soaky's absorption -plus the normal power-gravitic communication, they'd do a lot of -running on a waterfall plant, or a coal burning plant to make up for -what we accomplish with a single machine in Sol. Our power took a -beating, as far as we are from it, and we know what kind of power it -takes to do anything with the gravitics on Telfu. Well, let's get -going. This seems to be the beginning of Our Busy Week."</p> - -<p>At Hellsport, on Pluto, twenty-four huge ships were grouped. They -looked like the Devil's spawn; their upright ovoid shapes set in the -glimmering background of the light that danced from the open-hearth -furnaces of Mephisto. In the sky, the reflection glowed, and it was -known for hundreds of miles as The Eternal Fire.</p> - -<p>But the men that were arriving were too busy to notice the picture it -presented. They were too close to that scene, although they had seen -the photographs in the <i>News From Hell</i> and <i>Sharon's Post</i>, where -almost identical pictures filled a whole page in the roto-gravure -sections.</p> - -<p>They kept arriving, these men who were going to Sirius to set up -another Lens. They came from resorts on the Sulphur Sea near Hell and -they all asked the reason. They came from Sharon, which lies across the -River Styx from Hell, and they asked the same question. The hurried -call sought men from their play-spots in the Devil's Mountains and from -the vacation wonderlands of the Nergal Canyon. The Great Cave of Loki -in the Æsir Plains lost a dozen or so, and Fafnir's Abyss no longer -rang to the click of camera shutters as the group left for Hellsport. -Vulcan, the frustrated volcano, felt the downward-moving footsteps of -the seven who were studying the embryonic crater that was beginning to -show signs of life under the heat of Pluto's synthetic sun; the men -left eagerly to be on their way to Sirius, but they all prayed that -the cold of Pluto's interior would remain cold until they returned.</p> - -<p>The Hall of the Mountain King rang to their laughter as they returned -to their hotel accommodations near Hellsport, and then again was silent -as they went to Hellsport and made the last finishing touches on their -equipment.</p> - -<p>Just before take-off time, the old familiar cry of "Where's Carlson?" -went the rounds until Carlson himself took up the general communicator -microphone and called "Here, dammit!" and was informed that it was good -because they couldn't start the lens without him. That cooled Carlson -off, because it was true and all of them knew it.</p> - -<p>Then the two dozen mighty ships lifted in the air above Pluto and -headed for Sirius. They joined the <i>Haywire Queen</i> on her way from the -Plutonian Lens, and after a few minutes of discussion—all done while -accelerating at one hundred and fifty feet per second per second—they -fell silent and started on the run to Sirius, nine light-years away.</p> - -<p>The trip was made without mishap.</p> - -<p>"Now," said McBride, through the general communicator, "in order that -we understand, I'm going to repeat the general plan again.</p> - -<p>"This is a problem different from the central heating system. We are -not going to make a planet livable—<i>we are going to destroy it</i>! -Honestly, it is but a satellite, but the problem is only made more -difficult since it is harder to hit with a stellar beam. But enough of -that, we've got the calculations necessary.</p> - -<p>"We intend to burn Soaky. Our trick, then, is to set up the maximum -possible heat-energy field around or on Soaky. Therefore a lens-system -such as the Plutonian Lens is out of the question. Far better is a -duplex system. We shall, therefore, send twelve of our ships to a point -in space less than thirty million miles from Sirius. This will give -us a solid-angle of considerable magnitude—a power intake, if you -will—that will extract about all that we can handle.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"The front lens-element will cause the divergent rays from Sirius to -become parallel or nearly so. We can't help but lose some.</p> - -<p>"Now these parallel rays will hit the second element, which will be -set up less than ten million miles from Telfu. That's about as close as -we can get without losing our control due to Soaky's field-absorption. -And it will focus the entire possible bundle of energy on Soaky. Unless -Soaky is utterly impossible, we'll cook his goose. Right?"</p> - -<p>The answer came with a laugh. Then someone asked about Soaky.</p> - -<p>"Soaky," continued McBride, "is a satellite of Telfu. It is -approximately one quarter million miles from the planet, and is -invisible from Telfu, being less than a hundred miles in diameter. The -Telfans, by means of crude gravitic detectors, have discovered Soaky -plotted his orbit pretty well, and so we really have little to do."</p> - -<p>Steve Hammond went to the microphone and laughed. "McBride is a master -at the art of understatement," he said. "But my contribution to the -art of eliminating planets is an anachronism. We have, on the <i>Haywire -Queen</i>, one of the most useless things in the universe. I shudder to -mention it, fellows, but there must be some good place for everything, -no matter how useless it may seem. We—and hold your hats—have a -rocket ship."</p> - -<p>A series of groans and catcalls returned over the communicator, and -there was the shrill whistle of someone outrageously murdering "<i>La -Miserere</i>."</p> - -<p>"Yep," continued Hammond, "Skyways, who boast that they can furnish -transportation anywhere within reason or realm of operating practice, -have furnished the <i>Pyromaniac</i>, which, named, appropriately, may -operate on or near Soaky. It is a useless bit of machinery for anything -else, and once the <i>Pyromaniac</i> has landed on Soaky and planted spotter -generators for us to get a precise 'fix' on, the <i>Pyromaniac</i> will be -relegated to some museum—if she doesn't get scuttled on the way in."</p> - -<p>At this point McBride returned and finished by saying: "We shall set up -our lens, and exceeding Archimedes, 'Having a place to stand, we shall -burn up a satellite.' So now go on and make the thing cook, fellows. -You all have your orders. The <i>Haywire Queen</i> will be a roving factor, -feel free to call us for any trouble. We've got our own job cut out for -us."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The twenty-four great ships of space, already spread out across the -space between Sirius I and Telfu, began to jockey for their selected -positions in space. McBride listened to the quick-running patter of -the lens-technicians and the astrogators as they juggled their ships -into the first semblance of order. Then he turned and nodded to Larry -Timkins. Larry shook his head and left, going aloft to the rocket ship.</p> - -<p>The loft opened and the <i>Pyromaniac</i> diverged from the opening. -Hannigan, the <i>Haywire Queen's</i> regular pilot, snapped the switches -briefly and the <i>Queen</i> darted away from the free-running <i>Pyromaniac</i> -for several miles. Then the first burst of flame came searing out -in a mushroom, which lengthened to a long rapier of white fire. The -<i>Pyromaniac</i> moved off ponderously, and the sky was cut into two parts -by the river of flame that burned in the rocket's jets. The rapier of -flame curved slightly and pointed toward Telfu.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"No worrying about him," said McBride. "We'll know where he is."</p> - -<p>"So will the rest of the system. O.K., Jawn, you've got -the boys running—now for our problem. How do we make -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah. How?"</p> - -<p>"Well, according to La Drake, their trouble is the lack of stability. -We can probably make it under high electronic charge—in fact, that's -what she was suggesting."</p> - -<p>"What'll it do when we remove the intrinsic charge? Remember the -xenon-bromide. It falls apart when we leave the high negative."</p> - -<p>"It's more than likely that the stuff will collapse when we neutralize."</p> - -<p>"Do you suppose we could get it there before it falls apart?"</p> - -<p>"You mean like the guy who used to put the light switch off and get -into bed before it got dark?" laughed McBride. "What would happen to -our xenon-bromide if we were to get it to zero charge all at once?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know, but file that one away for future reference," said -Hammond, thoughtfully. "Make up a batch of xenon krypto-neide, or -any of that ilk which might be crystalline, and then heave it in an -electrostatically charged shell at the enemy. Upon neutralization, what -with the hellish electronic charge plus the reversion to gas—probably -white-hot from electrical discharges—we'd have an explosive that would -really be good."</p> - -<p>"Good!" exploded McBride. "Look, my little munitions expert, the -neutralizing charge—happening instantaneously—would paralyze -everything electronic in nature for seventy miles even in space, and -the electronic charge, reaching zero in nothing flat, would cause -instantaneous decomposition of the compound. Since it is held together -electrically, the decomposition, or <i>burning</i> rate, would propagate at -the speed of light, or approaching that velocity. <i>Whoooo.</i> Blooey for -everything in sight!"</p> - -<p>"Funny how the human animal can always dream up a scheme for something -lethal out of every invention."</p> - -<p>"Yeah—even while they're trying to figure out something to save a -planetful of people, they'll invent something deadly. That's one of the -things that makes us <i>us</i>. But what do we do with the Telfans?"</p> - -<p>"Theodi says it is stable once made—do you suppose it would be stable -even if made in the forced process?"</p> - -<p>"Let's try. Got the stuff?"</p> - -<p>"Barrels of it," said McBride. He went to the shelves of bottles -and removed the ingredients for Telfu's antibody. He weighed the -chemicals, and placed them in a combustion boat. This he placed under -a cover-glass and then called for Hannigan to run the intrinsic-charge -generator.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As the collectors began to load the ship with electrons, and the -various chemical indicators began to change color at various levels of -charge, McBride and Hammond set up long-focus microscopes to watch the -compound.</p> - -<p>The final tube on the indicator panel changed from the mixture of xenon -and bromine to a gray-green gas, and then McBride called: "Enough, -Hannigan."</p> - -<p>"Right, boss," said Hannigan.</p> - -<p>"Any action?"</p> - -<p>"Not yet. First the atmosphere of pure nothing so the stuff won't try -to combine with the aforementioned atmosphere. Then twelve hundred -degrees Kelvin, and finally the slow-cooling to form large crystals." -McBride opened a valve and the trapped air under the sealed glass -whipped out into space. "This stuff is stubborn," he added, turning on -the heater. The mixture grayed a bit, and then started to turn cherry -red all over at once. Hammond manipulated the color-temperature meter -and when the color was right, he motioned and McBride cut the heater, -riding the control all the way to room temperature.</p> - -<p>"Anything?"</p> - -<p>"Won't form."</p> - -<p>"Huh?" asked Hammond. "I thought we could form anything."</p> - -<p>"We can. But we might not live to tell about it. Some items of -unstable planetary systems are easily converted from their normal -valence-ratings to others of wide and ridiculous values. We picked -xenon for our final indicator because it fits in nice with the negative -value we need. But this stuff has valence-inertia beyond that value. -According to this stuff here, I'd say that its instability was less -than that of the carbon-chains that go into the human body."</p> - -<p>Hammond whistled.</p> - -<p>"And that means, little brother, that by the time we hit the right -negative charge to make this stuff combine, we'll end up with being -completely and irreplaceably dead."</p> - -<p>"Ugh!" grunted Hammond. "Did we get anything?"</p> - -<p>"Can't tell," said McBride. "Darned stuff sets like cement when it -cools. Warm up the tensile strength machine and we'll crush it and paw -through the wreckage."</p> - -<p>He inspected the crushed mass a few minutes later and managed to -separate two minute crystalline specks under the microscope. "I don't -know whether these are the stuff, Steve," he said, "or whether it is -just wishful thinking. Is it better than that four ten-thousands of one -percent yield?"</p> - -<p>"Not if you can weigh it. We started off with a hundred grams. One -percent is one gram; four ten-thousandths of one gram is four hundred -micrograms. The balance will swing over on less than ten micrograms. -This isn't even that much. No good, Mac."</p> - -<p>"Call Theodi and ask about that catalyst-conversion stunt."</p> - -<p>"Huh?"</p> - -<p>"He intimated that if they could combine the silicon with the catalyst, -they'd be able to cause metathesis at better than sixty-one percent -efficient. Trick is getting silicon to combine with an already-filled -compound."</p> - -<p>"They are better at chemistry than we," admitted Hammond. "I'll call."</p> - -<p>Apparently the receiver in the <i>Lady Luck</i> was attended constantly, for -the sleepy voice of a Telfan answered. He answered that he would get -Theodi, and as he was about to shut off the transmitter, another voice -came over. It was Thuni.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Hello, Thuni," said Hammond cheerfully. "How goes it?"</p> - -<p>"Bad," said the woman. "But I must go."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't," advised Steve. "Your sister Thani and her husband would -like to talk to you."</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Thuni in a strained voice. "I'd like to speak, too. But this -expenditure of power ... I fear—"</p> - -<p>"Nonsense. Thani has been nine light-years away for almost a year. -Think, Thuni, the light that started from our star is only one ninth of -the distance on the way, and Thani has been there and back."</p> - -<p>"I know, but this power—"</p> - -<p>"What's power?" laughed Hammond. "We've plenty of power."</p> - -<p>"But we have not. Realize that the entire city of Indilee is in -darkness because of my desire to speak."</p> - -<p>"So what?" asked Hammond. "You have the chance, have you not?"</p> - -<p>"But I am not Sandrake, who would think nothing of expending the entire -power-availability of a whole city just to talk."</p> - -<p>"Sandra is pretty much a human being in spite of her faults," said -Hammond. "I'm certain that any of us would have done it, just in the -same manner. In fact, I'm not too certain that Drake is inclined to be -a little inefficient, not knowing too much about the finer points of -operation. <i>I'd</i> probably divert the power output of the whole planet -just to be sure I was heard."</p> - -<p>"Does nothing stop Terrans?"</p> - -<p>"Not for long," laughed Hammond. "And here's Thani. And the operator -won't be asking for another thirty thousand dollars after the first -three minutes, because there's no operator."</p> - -<p>"I fear," started Thuni, and then ceased her worry. She finished: "I'll -hold this open until Theodi comes, at least."</p> - -<p>"Good. That's learning to use the gifts of the universe to your own -comfort and pleasure. See you later, Thuni." To Thani, standing at his -side, he said: "Here's your sister. She needs cheering up."</p> - -<p>Thani flashed him a smile that might have been enticing in a Terran -woman, and then turned to talk to her sister.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Meanwhile," said McBride, "I've a thought. Not a good one, but a -couple of dark ones. We know that silicon is a tough character. It -doesn't take to planetary changes with the ease of xenon, for instance. -It is way high up on the electronic-stability table."</p> - -<p>"That's correct," said Hammond. "But we've been thinking in terms of -not trying to add the silicon, but to combine the sulphur to the rest -of the compound containing the silicon already."</p> - -<p>"Frankly, not too much is known about the electro-combining processes -with the more complex organic compounds. But what I'm thinking is -this: A chain is as strong as its weakest link, and the attempt to -add silicon to the compound only fails. When the more active sulphur -is added, it automatically forces the silicon out of the compound, -and will continue to do so until the right electro-negative charge -is reached. Electro-combining silicon at a level less than its -electro-stability level is impossible."</p> - -<p>"That means trouble, Mac," said Hammond slowly. "Want to try the -decomposition of silicon-fluoride?"</p> - -<p>"Might, to kill some time." McBride reacted fluorine with silicon in a -combustion chamber and then called for Hannigan to run the charge down -again. They watched, and as they expected, nothing happened.</p> - -<p>"That's it," said McBride. "We're stumped."</p> - -<p>"I wonder—" mused Hammond.</p> - -<p>"Have you any doubt? Are you thinking of automatically -operated space-chambers set up for the formation of -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid?"</p> - -<p>"That might work if we had time to build 'em. But look, Mac. Suppose we -generate a terrific electrogravitic field, monopolar as according to -the first orders of gravitic fields. Generate this field in a volume -of less than a foot in diameter, and accordingly intense. Then we'll -negatize the ship, and at the same time bombard the electrogravitic -sphere with electrons from a standard electron-gun. It'll take gobs of -power, John, to drive 'em in, but the field will help, and also keep -'em there. What do you think?"</p> - -<p>"Sort of localizing our collection of electrons, hey? Hm-m-m. We'll -have to do that in vacuo—but that'll keep the atmosphere from -combining, too, and is better as she goes. We have plenty of electrons -when the ship runs negative, and that'll tend to collect them in the -place where they're needed the most. Might work, Steve. Break out the -E-grav and we'll try."</p> - -<p>Hammond called Pete Thurman and James Wilson and told them what he -wanted. They all set to work, but an interruption came for Hammond and -Hannigan as the <i>Pyromaniac</i> returned in a blaze of fire.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The rocket went off, and the <i>Haywire Queen's</i> pilot did some fancy -work until the inert rocket ship entered the space lock above. Larry -Timkins emerged, holding his head between his hands. "It's murder," he -said. "Downright murder!"</p> - -<p>"What's murder?"</p> - -<p>"Manipulating that fire-breathing gargoyle. Y'know how the regular -drive takes hold all at once? Well, this thing sort of hangs fire. -There's a bit of a lag—ever so little—since the jets are sheer -mechanical and the time-function requires that the mechanical linkages -from lever-turn to fuel-release, ignition, and ultimate movement—well, -they act in considerably less time than the electrogravitic drive."</p> - -<p>"Do you have to use it again?"</p> - -<p>"Nope. I planted the spotter-generators and—picked up a souvenir of -Soaky. Look," and he pulled a piece of crystal from his spacesuit pouch -and dropped it on the table.</p> - -<p>"Dirty looking hunk of glass," said Hammond. "Going to use it for a -paperweight?"</p> - -<p>"It'd go better on the gal friend's finger, but I'm going to sell it -and lay away the profits for my edification and amusement. It'll assay -four karats if it's worth a dime, and that ain't quartz."</p> - -<p>"Diamond?" asked Hammond in surprise.</p> - -<p>"It has an index of refraction higher than 2.4, and is harder than -Sandra Drake's heart."</p> - -<p>"Sounds like. How did it get there?"</p> - -<p>"Ask the bird that dropped it. I only picked it up. If I'd found it in -a blue-clay flue, I'd have mined Soaky for fair, but a loose diamond -lying on the surface is strictly a changeling. Soaky must have known -high-falutin' friends in his younger and more promising days. Call it -one of those inexplicable mysteries and forget it. I give up."</p> - -<p>"Hm-m-m. Might be more there, hey?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah, but the life of Telfu depends upon our getting rid of Soaky."</p> - -<p>Thani, who heard the latter part of the discussion, came over and -looked at the uncut stone in wonder. "You will want to inspect our -satellite?" she asked Hammond.</p> - -<p>"I'd like to," he said. "But we have no time. While we've never -synthesized anything larger than fractional-karat diamonds, and this -four to five karats worth of crystallized carbon will be worth a small -fortune to Timkins, here, the idea of forestalling help to Telfu whilst -we chase a will-of-the-wisp is strictly a phony. Besides, it looks to -us as though this one was a sport—an impossible find. Chances are that -Larry was extremely lucky."</p> - -<p>Thani shook her head. The chances of a huge fortune in precious stones -going up the chimney because of danger to an alien race gave her food -for thought.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>McBride's shout cut all future conversation along this line. Hammond -called for Larry to follow, and they went to the room in which the -electrogravitic generator was being worked on.</p> - -<p>McBride met them. "We're about ready," he said. "There's peepholes for -all."</p> - -<p>"Peepholes?"</p> - -<p>"Unless you want to be in an airless room along with umpty-gewhillion -electron volts. Better take a peephole."</p> - -<p>McBride's hole was equipped with telescope and controls for the -equipment. They set their eyes to the windows and watched. McBride -explained: "First off, I open the space cock and let the vacuum of -space in. Said vacuum drives the air out, leaving the place filled -with hard nothing. That eliminates the possibility of corona with the -voltages we are going to use."</p> - -<p>Then he depressed the generator-on control button, and the pilot lights -winked. He read the meters through the telescope, and adjusted the -variable controls until a faintly outlined sphere formed between the -radiator gravitodes of the generator. This sphere was invisible in that -it reflected no light and was transparent, but the light from the wall -beyond was refracted slightly, and the sphere was constantly changing -in index of refraction, so that the sphere shimmered like heat waves -over a meadow.</p> - -<p>"We set the spherical warp, so. Now on the boom we insert the -combustion tube containing the mix. The insertion of the boom is easy -due to the heavy gravitic field, which attracts proportional to the -square of the distance. I think it increases the inertia-constant—"</p> - -<p>"<i>Woah</i>, Mac. Inertia is a <i>property</i> of matter, not a phenomenon."</p> - -<p>"You can stir up a good argument later, here or at the annual meeting -of the Gravitic Society. Right now I'm about to turn on the heat." -McBride withdrew the boom, leaving the combustion tube in the warp, -where it was fixed against the infinitesimal point of zero-attraction, -with all sides of the boat in contracting-urge. He snapped the button -and watched through the color-temperature meter. Then, as the color was -reached, he threw over a series of controls, and the spherical field -became a riot of color.</p> - -<p>It fluoresced, as the bombardment of electrons hit it, coming from all -sides. The sphere grew, and McBride tightened the warp by applying more -power. Still it grew as the repulsion of the electrons tried to nullify -the gravitic attraction, and McBride continued to step up the power of -the electrogravitic generator to keep the sphere from expanding.</p> - -<p>"Hannigan," he called. "Give me just a bit more?"</p> - -<p>"We can stand about six more electrons," laughed Hannigan. "No more."</p> - -<p>"Give 'em to me," returned McBride cheerfully.</p> - -<p>And then the sphere refused to be confined. It grew, and McBride made -comic motions with the hand that held the control, as if to turn the -knob from its shaft in a supreme effort to increase the power by a -single alphon.</p> - -<p>The sphere grew to huge proportions, and McBride cranked the control -to zero just as the surface of the sphere grew instable and threatened -to expand without limit.</p> - -<p>His other hand turned the heat control slowly down, and the color of -the combustion tube died. A hiss of air entered, and they ran inside to -see the result.</p> - -<p>The combustion boat was ablaze with scintillating crystals. Beautiful -blue-green crystals that were half-hidden in the gray-yellow powder of -the catalyst. Their surfaces caught the lights, and sent little darting -spots of blue fire dancing over the approaching people.</p> - -<p>McBride lifted the combustion tube with a pair of tongs. "This is the -pure stuff," he said quietly. "Looks like a good crop this year, too. -What's it insoluble in, Steve?"</p> - -<p>"Sulphur dioxide, according to Theodi."</p> - -<p>"Good. We'll remove the catalyst with that and weigh the residue which -will be the entire output of our hundred grams of stuff. The percentage -will be higher than .004%, I'd say. Come on—"</p> - -<p>The communicator barked: "McBride! McBride! This is Peters on Number -One, Telfan element."</p> - -<p>McBride answered: "What's the matter?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing. We're in! We had a bit of trouble getting the warp going at -this end. The image-size of Sirius when projected by a lens as close as -the fore element is larger in diameter than Sirius is according to the -distances involved, you know, and getting the warp started across the -face of the Telfan Lens was some going. But we're about to thicken the -center and shorten the focal length of the aft element right now."</p> - -<p>"O.K. No trouble, hey?"</p> - -<p>"Excepting it is hot in the hind-end stations. The interstices that -give the spill-overs from Lens One do a swell job of heating up the -stations when it hits."</p> - -<p>"Sirius is hot stuff."</p> - -<p>"Look, Mac, how much energy will it take to ruin Soaky?"</p> - -<p>"Well," grinned McBride, "Lothar's 'Handbook of Useless Facts' says -that a globe of ice the size of Terra, if dropped into Sol, would melt -and boil so quick it wouldn't go '<i>Psssst</i>.' Is Carlson handy?"</p> - -<p>"Here, Mac. On the hind surface in the flitter and it is hotter than -the hinges of Hell."</p> - -<p>"The one on Pluto?"</p> - -<p>"No, the one in the real Nether Regions."</p> - -<p>"O.K., Carl. You're the balance wheel in this outfit. If you must -aberrate, lean outward a bit, will you? I'd hate to singe the pants off -of a couple of billion Telfans whilst trying to save their lives."</p> - -<p>"I'll keep an eye on it," promised Carlson.</p> - -<p>"<i>Eye?</i>" grunted Peters. "He means <i>ear</i>. Or has Carlson got his -semicircular canals in his eyes?"</p> - -<p>Hammond interrupted with a gloating shout. "Mac! We're in! Ninety-one -percent. Pure, crystalline Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid. And the -charge is almost equal to the galactic mean; meaning that the stuff is -stable."</p> - -<p>McBride nodded and said into the communicator: "Our half is did, boys. -All that stands between we-all and Telfu is a stinking, one-hundred -mile satellite. Frankly, I'm agin it!"</p> - -<p>Peters did not answer McBride. He shouted, his voice strained with -excitement: "Here comes Soaky now, around the edge of Telfu. This is -it, gang. Bore him deep and give him Hell!"</p> - -<p>Sandra Drake sat down on the edge of a hard bench and took a deep -breath. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes and pushed the stray -hair out of them. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffed with lack of -sleep. She stretched and took a longing look at the surface of the hard -bench; one of those looks that was calculating not the hardness of -the bench but wondering if she could catch forty winks without having -trouble call her away again. She decided not. She knew herself, and she -knew that as long as she kept going she could stay awake, but if she -slowed down for a moment, she'd drop off and nothing would awaken her. -And forty winks would actually make her feel worse than no sleep at all.</p> - -<p>Outside of the window, dawn was just breaking. It was a strange dawn, -an alien sunrise, but one that was nothing new to Sandra Drake. Sirius -II was just above the horizon, but almost lost in the mists because of -its low radiation. Sirius I was not above the horizon yet, but his -strong radiation was coloring the sky blue-gray.</p> - -<p>Sandra looked out of the window at the graying sky above. Carefully -and hopefully she scanned it but she was not surprised that nothing -was there for her to see. The idea of doing away with a hundred-mile -satellite was too much, even for McBride, Hammond, and the rest -of their gang. A hundred miles of celestial body was not large as -celestial bodies go, but against man's futile efforts it was simply -vast.</p> - -<p>In all of the man-made works on Terra, Pluto, Venus, Mars, and Luna, -considerably less than the volume of a hundred-mile sphere had been -moved. Affected, perhaps, but not man-moved; the pile-up of rivers -behind a dam could not be counted.</p> - -<p>So man pitting himself against a celestial object seemed almost like -sacrilege, though Sandra Drake knew that these men would take a job of -analyzing the course-constants of the Star of Bethlehem if they thought -they knew where it was now.</p> - -<p>And as small as Soaky was against the giants of the galaxy, it was none -the less a celestial object.</p> - -<p>So she searched the sky hopefully and was not surprised that nothing -was there. Her search was more "Will it happen" instead of "When will -it happen?"</p> - -<p>And then a Telfan stuck his head in the room and called: "Sandrake! Can -you come?"</p> - -<p>Sandra shook her head, rubbed her eyes again, and went.</p> - -<p>"Now what?" she asked wearily. "We don't have to evacuate another -district?"</p> - -<p>"No," smiled Theodi, "not that bad this time. But we are going out to -Loana—a small town not too far from here—and try out some of this -latest stuff."</p> - -<p>"Have any hope for it?"</p> - -<p>"I must have hope," said Theodi.</p> - -<p>"That's selling yourself a bill of goods," said Sandra.</p> - -<p>"I know. But unless I play self-deception to the limit, I'll quit from -sheer futility. No, Sandrake, I must hope with all my soul and I must -force myself to believe that this may work."</p> - -<p>"I won't even mention my friends," she said.</p> - -<p>"You are beginning to give up?"</p> - -<p>"I hate to think of it," said Sandra honestly. "It'll be the first -time that they failed to do what they said they could do. I know they -planned it, perhaps it takes longer than they think. Or perhaps they -came unprepared; their equipment not complete. After all," and Sandra -managed a reminiscent smile in spite of her feelings, "I've seen them -running some of the haywirest equipment in the world and making it -perform. Maybe this time the law of averages caught up with them."</p> - -<p>"You think perhaps they are finding that our satellite is too much for -them?"</p> - -<p>"I hate to think of it. I'd hate to admit that they could fail."</p> - -<p>"You have changed, Sandrake."</p> - -<p>"Have I? I wonder if it is my hope that they will take me home. No, -Theodi, in spite of what I may say about them, they know their -potatoes. They're the typical genius-type. Whether they rate as -genius I wouldn't know, but they're that kind of people. Give them a -situation, and from somewhere in their memory they can bring forth the -darnedest things which fit in like jigsaw pieces to complete the whole -picture."</p> - -<p>"I hope they continue," said Theodi. "Feel up to coming along?"</p> - -<p>"Sure."</p> - -<p>"Good. We need you."</p> - -<p>"Who, me?" asked Sandra.</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"Because you are alien. You are impartially alien. Though you have -friends on Telfu, they are few, and in your secret mind you class -us all as 'Telfan' and forget about sub-classifications. This -experimentation is just that, to you, and we are the subjects. -Therefore when you select one hundred victims out of a district, we get -a perfect, impartial selection; a true cross-section of the district."</p> - -<p>"Any of you could do that."</p> - -<p>"No. We'd be biased by our knowledge of who is important, who is the -sicker, who is young and who is old. And, though it may seem strange to -you, you have absolutely no idea of beauty. Therefore you are impartial -among the ugly and the beautiful."</p> - -<p>"So what?"</p> - -<p>"In experimentation on humans, we are inclined to pick those of less -value to the community. We pick the lame and the halt and the ugly. We -are inclined to pick those who are likely not to live anyway, and this -biases our selection. Come, let's get going."</p> - -<p>"O.K. Lead on."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Three hours later, and still without sleep, Sandra strode up the line -of Telfans and pointed out one after the other. Those selected followed -silently to the auditorium in the center of the village and seated -themselves. They looked neither happy nor regretful, but rather a -resignation was upon them.</p> - -<p>Sandra said: "Is this the best place you could pick?"</p> - -<p>"Sorry," smiled Theodi. "I didn't know it made any difference."</p> - -<p>"I suppose it is good from a functional standpoint," said Sandra. -"Being on the stage permits them to pass before us from one side to the -other. It is the only clear place in the auditorium in which to work, -and as far as I could see, there isn't any other suitable place in -town. But being on the stage sort of makes me ... oh, come on. I'm just -tired, I guess. Where's the pills?"</p> - -<p>"No pills on this deal," said Theodi, opening a case and removing a set -of large hypodermics. "This goes into the vein. Right in the main line. -You'll have to help."</p> - -<p>"Me? Look, Theodi, I don't feel well enough to go shoving needles into -people."</p> - -<p>Theodi looked up sharply. Her brash-sounding statement was made in a -hard voice in spite of its humanitarian and pleading sound. Sandrake, -to Theodi's opinion, was really feeling ill.</p> - -<p>"It must be done," he said simply. "You fill and hand them to me."</p> - -<p>Sandra took the first hypo, inserted it into the disinfectant, and -then filled it from an ampule. She handed it to Theodi and watched him -with fascination as he took the first Telfan in line and thrust the -needle into his arm. It went in and in, and Theodi felt around with the -needle-point until he found the vein, and then he emptied the cylinder. -"Next!" he called, and so on until the hundred had been inoculated.</p> - -<p>"Now," said Theodi, "we'll proceed to Dorana and do likewise."</p> - -<p>Sandra was silent all the way to the next village, and as she started -down the line of people, picking them out one by one, her face began to -whiten.</p> - -<p>Halfway through, Sandra stopped.</p> - -<p>"Go on," urged Theodi.</p> - -<p>"<i>Go on?</i>" screamed Sandra. "Go on? No!"</p> - -<p>"But—"</p> - -<p>"Go on and on and on and on and on?" shrieked Sandra in a crescendo -that ended in a toneless, inarticulate screech. She stopped the -sentence only because her voice had no more range and she had no more -breath. "Theodi, I feel like a murderess! I go on selecting people as -I would select specimens to be speared with a mounting pin and stuck -on a cardboard. I point them out. They follow dumbly with a look of -resignation. They come and you try something new on them—every time it -is something new, and you don't know whether it'll kill 'em or not! I -can't stand it."</p> - -<p>"But who can we have to do this?"</p> - -<p>"Get one of your own to do your own dirty work! You need me! Bah! -Suppose—?"</p> - -<p>"Suppose we have the right combination?"</p> - -<p>"Suppose you have? You haven't—and you know it."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't say that."</p> - -<p>"I would. You're just experimenting." Sandra's lip curled over her -perfect teeth in a perfect sneer. "Experimenting on your own kind. And -I'm no better. You should hate me—and I'm beginning to hate you and -every one of you."</p> - -<p>"This must go on—"</p> - -<p>"It'll go on without me."</p> - -<p>"Come on, Sandrake. Buck up. Here, I'll give you a sedative and you -sleep for an hour. You're over-tired. Then—"</p> - -<p>"Then nothing. I can't go on murdering your people any more."</p> - -<p>"It's not murder. It's—"</p> - -<p>"It's worse than murder. You go on filling them with colored water and -telling them that you think that this is the works—and you know it -is just another blind try! Go away!" Sandra whirled and ran blindly. -Across the field she ran, out and away from the village. On and on she -ran, until she fell breathless beside a small brook.</p> - -<p>Thankfully, she dabbled in the brook with her tired feet, and laved the -cool water on her wrists and forehead. She drank sparingly, and then -stretched on her back to relieve the strained muscles that seemed to -make her back arch almost to the breaking point.</p> - -<p>Unknowing, Sandra relaxed as the ground supported her back, and with -the suddenness of falling night, Sandra slept.</p> - -<p>Her dreams were less restful than the sleep. They were filled with a -whirling panorama of lights, disembodied faces, grinning, leering faces -who watched long, brutal needles find the vitals of mute sufferers -whose only visible admission of unbearable pain was the tortured look -on their mobile faces. And through the dream, McBride and Hammond -fought against a huge metal barrier against which their mightiest -efforts were futile.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The day wore on as Sandra slept, and night came, and in all that time -Sandra had hardly moved. As the darkness fell, she aroused enough to -drink from the brook and settle herself in a more comfortable position. -Afterward she did not recall awakening at all but she did select a -thick thatch of soft moss the second time and she wondered about it -later. And it was about midnight when Sandra awoke.</p> - -<p>She was slept out, rested. But the self-hatred was still vivid. The -dream had kept it there, and though her body was rested, her mind was -still tired from the furious mental action that went on even as she -slept.</p> - -<p>She stretched, rolled over on her back, and considered her actions -of before with distaste. That had been a spectacle, and she hated -spectacles except when they made her appear in a better light. She -searched the sky wearily, picking out Garna, which was Telfu's sister -planet, and Ordana, the behemoth of the Sirian system, both of which -were shining close to the bright Geggenschein of Sirius. Above her, -she spotted the place where all Telfans watched—the spot where Soaky -should be according to their calculations. It was not a spot, but an -area, and Sandra scanned it in a futile manner.</p> - -<p>Nothing yet.</p> - -<p>A minute change in the sky along the horizon made her turn quickly, -hopefully. She scanned the sky carefully, and yet she knew that looking -at the starry curtain was futile unless the scene became so evident -that it could not be missed. She could see nothing, and besides, Soaky -was supposed to be above, not on the horizon.</p> - -<p>She looked above again, but there was nothing to see. Puzzled at -that—that <i>something</i> that had caught her attention along the horizon. -She shrugged, and in trying to rationalize she admitted that it might -have been a meteorite; and she knew that she was overanxious.</p> - -<p>It was the same, she knew.</p> - -<p>But was it? Was it?</p> - -<p><i>Was it?</i></p> - -<p>No, but what in the name of—?</p> - -<p>Garna and Ordana and Geggenschein were gone from the Telfan sky. What -was this? Why should planets disappear?</p> - -<p>Planets were about as permanent as—but they must still remain, it -was their light that was gone! Sandra shouted. McBride! The lens. In -her mind she saw the scaled layout; Sirius, Telfu, the other planets, -and Soaky, the satellite that was oh, so close to Telfu. Place two -biconvex lenses, one near Sirius and one near Telfu—and any light from -Sirius that could normally reach Telfu—and the planets in line from -Sirius—would be cut off by the lens, refracted into the energy beam -that would ultimately be focused on Soaky.</p> - -<p>They'd started at last! Sandra looked upward into the area containing -Soaky.</p> - -<p>And as she looked, a mite of colored pinpoint appeared in the sky -above. It did not rise into the incandescence, it leaped. It passed -upward through the red, the orange, the yellow, and the blue with -lightning-flash speed, and then settled down in color to an intolerable -white. It seared the eyes, that microscopic speck, and its brightness -made it appear huge.</p> - -<p>Sandra shook her head and looked down. The darkness was fading, and -sharp shadows of the low bushes and herself marked the ground. The -stars beside Soaky began to fade to the eye, and as the brightness took -on solar brilliance, it was like the sudden return of daylight.</p> - -<p>A flicker of the light caused Sandra to look into that intolerable -light again. No, Soaky was still going strong. But it was -scintillating, now, and there were streamers of incandescent vapor -leaving the coruscating nucleus that was Soaky.</p> - -<p>Full against Soaky the Sirian beam drove, and the surface vaporized. -The streamers were the high-temperature vapors of incandescent metal, -being driven away from the tortured satellite by the radiation pressure -of that intolerable brilliance. The vapors condensed in finely divided -droplets of metal, but still floated away in lines and whorls.</p> - -<p>The landscape around Sandra was in full light, now, and the shadows -were no longer sharp. The boiling, blue-white vapors were rushing from -the satellite at high velocity, and they spoiled the point-source of -light. They danced and flickered in the sky, and as Sandra watched, a -slight twinge of terror crossed her, and she caught her breath.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>This was not right. This was—was defying God Himself. And Sandra, -never awed by the men themselves, fell in fear before the visible -evidence of their ability. It was not right, this utter destruction -of a celestial body by man. Men were supposed to be motes—bacterium -on the skin of an apple—not mighty motes capable of almost literally -eating the apple that—not eating but destroying ruthlessly—the apple -that was spoiling their barrel.</p> - -<p>And Sandra, not even awed by the God of her people, prayed to Him -in fear. Fear, because people of her race dared to tamper with the -universe.</p> - -<p>But then the light passed away, and no omnipotent lightning flashed -across the universe to destroy it. The night fell again, and darkness, -unspoiled, crowded the landscape leaving Sandra light-blind. She -fumbled aimlessly in the darkness that was by contrast the utter -blackness of no-light.</p> - -<p>Sandra Drake was not alone in that. Half of the people on the planet of -Telfu were blinking in the darkness; silently groping their way into -their houses. Their tongues were stilled by the awesome sight.</p> - -<p>Sandra brushed her tattered skirt and smiled. She was a long way from -Indilee and she wanted to be there as soon as she could. She was -beginning to feel the pinch of the months of loneliness; before, it was -futility to lie awake at night and think of the touch of a human hand -and the sound of a human voice. Yes, she even admitted to the desire -for a bit of admiration, after all, it had been her meat and drink.</p> - -<p>But now it was a dream about to come true. There would be people of -her own kind. People who could laugh at the hardy jokes of her race, -and appreciate the casual acceptance of doing absolutely nothing for -periods of time. The verbal sparring and blocking would be there, -too; the nice trick of forcing someone into a trap of his own making -and springing it with—not double talk—but triple talk. The sound of -people who could discuss both downright earthy things and high theory -with the same words but with slightly different inflections in their -voices, and be understood by others who knew both lines of talk.</p> - -<p>She gave a short laugh. They would never know whether she did it from -sheer altruism or because she was scared to death at the idea of being -exposed to andryorelitis.</p> - -<p>She blinked. The sky flared briefly ahead of her in a brilliant and -colorful display of some auroral discharge. It illuminated one full -quarter of the celestial hemisphere in flowing color. Sandra thought -and remembered a man saying: "The charge on Station One is so great -that at twenty thousand feet it would arc a million miles or more." The -words and the distances were forgotten, and probably wrong due to her -faulty memory for those details, but she did remember something of that -nature.</p> - -<p>Obviously, one of the Stations had landed with a load of -Silicon-acetyldiethyl-sulfanomid. The not-quite-perfectly neutralized -electronic charge must have ionized the upper air in a sprinkling -corona.</p> - -<p>From another corner of the sky, a similar flare of color flashed, and -it was followed by flashes from near and far, each one creating a -streaking display of celestial fireworks.</p> - -<p>At the sight of that auroral display, Sandra's head went up, her -shoulders went back, and there returned to her step a bit of that -lilting walk. She smiled crookedly and then broke into that saucy grin. -She set her foot on the road to Dorana, from where she could get a ride -back to Indilee.</p> - -<p>There were Terrans here, all right. Her Terrans that nothing ever -stopped. They came—and brought the goods with them.</p> - -<p>But—who brought them?</p> - -<p>Sandra Drake.</p> - -<p>Throughout the night, the flashing of the celestial fireworks told -the whole planet that Terrans were bringing the needed drug to Telfu. -And with each flash, as with each mile, a bit of the old Sandra Drake -returned.</p> - -<p>There were a lot of miles back to the <i>Haywire Queen</i>.</p> - -<p class="ph1">THE END.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIXER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—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. 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