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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..7466a4f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68783 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68783) diff --git a/old/68783-0.txt b/old/68783-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 92074be..0000000 --- a/old/68783-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2545 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The swamp was upside down, by Murray -Leinster - -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 swamp was upside down - -Author: Murray Leinster - -Release Date: August 18, 2022 [eBook #68783] - -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 SWAMP WAS UPSIDE -DOWN *** - - - - - - THE SWAMP WAS UPSIDE DOWN - - BY MURRAY LEINSTER - - Illustrated by Freas - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Astounding Science Fiction September 1956. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - I - - -Hardwick knew the Survey ship had turned end-for-end, because though -there was artificial gravity, it does not affect the semicircular -canals of the human ear. He knew he was turning head-over-heels, -even though his feet stayed firmly on the floor. It was not a normal -sensation, and he felt that queasy, instinctive tightening of the -muscles with which one reacts to the abnormal, whether in things seen -or felt. - -But the reason for turning the ship end-for-end was obvious. It had -arrived very near its destination, and was killing its Lawlor-drive -momentum. Just as Hardwick was assured that the turning motion was -finished, young Barnes--the ship's lowest-ranking commissioned -officer--came into the wardroom and beamed at him kindly. - -"The ship's not landing, sir," he said gently, like one explaining -something to somebody under ten years old. "Our orders are changed. -You're to go to ground by boat. This way, sir." - -Hardwick shrugged. He was a Senior Officer of the Colonial Survey, and -this was a Survey ship, and it had been sent especially to get him -from his last and still unfinished job. It was a top-urgency matter. -This ship had had no other business for some months except to go after -and bring him to Sector Headquarters, down on Canna III which must be -somewhere near. But this young officer was patronizing him! - -Hardwick rather regretfully recognized that he didn't know how to be -impressive. He was not a good salesman of his own importance. He didn't -even get the urgent respect due his rank--and when one thought about -it, it was amazing that he'd ever reached a high level in the Survey. - -Now the young officer waited, brisk and kindly and blandly alert in -manner. Hardwick reflected wryly that he could pin young Barnes' ears -back easily enough. But he remembered when he'd been a junior Survey -ship's officer. Then he'd felt a serene condescension toward all people -of whatever rank who did not spend their lives in the cramped, skimped -quarters of a Survey patrol-ship. If this young Lieutenant Barnes were -fortunate, he'd always feel that way. Hardwick could not begrudge him -the cockiness which made the tedium and hardships of the Service seem -to him a privilege. - -So he quite obediently followed Barnes through the wardroom door. He -ducked his head under a ventilation slot and sidled past a standpipe -with bristling air-valve handles. It almost closed the way. There was -the smell of oil and paint and ozone which all proper Survey ships -maintain in their working sections. - -"Here, sir," said Barnes paternally. "This way." - -He offered his arm for Hardwick to steady himself by. Hardwick ignored -it. He stepped over a complex of white-painted pipes. He arrived at an -almost clear way to a boat-blister. - -"And your luggage, sir," added the young man reassuringly, "will follow -you down immediately, sir. With the mail." - -Hardwick nodded. He moved toward the blister door. He practically -edged past constrictions due to new equipment. The Survey ship had been -designed a long time ago, and there were no funds for rebuilding when -improved devices came along. So any Survey ship was apt to be cluttered -up with afterthoughts in metal. - - * * * * * - -A speaker from the wall said sharply: - -"_Hear this! Hold fast! Gravity going off!_" - -Hardwick caught at a nearby pipe, and snatched his hand away again--it -was hot--and caught on to another and then put his other hand below. He -applied a trifle of pressure. The young officer said kindly: - -"Hold fast, sir. The ship's gravity is going off. If I may suggest--" - -The gravity did go off. Hardwick grimaced. There'd been a time when he -was used to such matters. This time the sudden outward surge of his -breath caught him unprepared. His diaphragm contracted as the weight -of organs above it ceased to be. He choked for an instant. He was -irritated. He said evenly: - -"I am not likely to go head-over-heels, lieutenant. I served four years -as a junior swot on a ship exactly like this!" - -He did not float about. He held onto a pipe in two places, and he -applied expert pressure in a strictly professional manner, and his -feet remained firmly on the floor. He startled young Barnes by the -achievement, which only junior swots think only junior swots know -about. - -Barnes said, abashed: - -"Yes, sir." He held himself firm in the same fashion. - -"I even know," said Hardwick crisply, "that the gravity had to be -cut off because we're approaching another ship on Lawlor-drive. Our -gravity-coils would blow if we got into her field with our drive off, -or if her field pressed ours inboard." - -Young Barnes looked extremely uncomfortable. Hardwick felt sorry for -him. To be chewed--however delicately--for patronizing a senior officer -could not be pleasant. So Hardwick added: - -"And I also remember that, when I was a junior swot I once tried to -tell a Sector Chief how to top off his suit-tanks. So don't let it -bother you!" - -The young officer was embarrassed. But a Sector Chief was so high in -the table of Survey organization that one of his idle thoughts was -popularly supposed to be able to crack a junior officer's skull. If -Hardwick, as a young officer, had really tried to tell a Sector Chief -how to top his suit-tanks.... Why.... - -"Thank you, sir," said Barnes awkwardly. "I'll try not to be an ass -again, sir." - -"I suspect," said Hardwick, "that you'll slip occasionally. I did! What -the devil's another ship doing out here and why aren't we landing?" - -"I wouldn't know, sir," said the young officer respectfully. His manner -toward Hardwick was quite changed. "I do know the Skipper came in -expecting to land, sir, by the landing-grid, sir. He was told to stand -off. He's as much surprised as you are, sir." - -The wall-speaker said crisply: - -"_Hear this! Gravity returning! Gravity returning!_" - -And weight came back. Hardwick was ready for it this time and took it -casually. He looked at the speaker and it said nothing more. He nodded -to the young man. - -"I suppose I'd better get in the boat. No change in that arrangement, -anyhow!" - -He crawled through the blister door and wormed his way into the -landing-boat--designed for a more modern ship, and excessively -inconvenient in such an outmoded launching-device. Barnes crawled in -after him. - -"Excuse me, sir. I'm to take you down." - -He dogged the blister door from the inside, closed the boatport and -dogged it, and flipped a switch. - -"Ready for departure," he said into a microphone. - -A dial on the instrument board flicked halfway to zero. It stopped -there. Seconds passed. A green light glowed. The young officer said: - -"All tight!" - -The needle darted a quarter-way farther over, and then began to descend -slowly. The blister was being pumped empty of air. Presently another -light glowed. - -"Ready for launching," said the young officer briskly. - -There were clankings. The blister-seal broke, and the two halves of -the boat cover drew back. There were stars. To Hardwick they were -unfamiliarly arranged, but he could have picked out Seton and the Donis -cluster in any case, and half a hundred more markers by taking thought -of the position of the planet Canna III, on which Colonial Survey -Sector Headquarters for this part of the galaxy were established. - -The boat moved gently out of its place and the ship's gravity field -ended as abruptly as such fields do. - -The Survey ship floated away, as seen from the vision ports of the -boat. It apparently increased its drive, because the boat swirled and -swayed as changing eddy-currents moved it. The ship grew small and -vanished. The boat hung in emptiness, turning slowly. The sun Canna -came into view. It was very large for a Sol-type sun, and its rim was -almost devoid of the prominences and jet streams of flaming gas that -older suns of the type display. But even out at the third orbit it -provided 0-1 climate--optimum: equivalent to Earth--for the planet -below. - -That planet now came swinging into view as the ship's boat continued to -turn. It was blue. More than ninety per cent of its surface was water, -and much of the solid land was under the northern ice cap. It had been -chosen as Sector Headquarters because of its unsuitability for a large -population, which might resent the considerable land-area needed for -Survey storage and reserve facilities. - -Hardwick regarded it thoughtfully. The boat was, of course, roughly -five planetary diameters out--the conventional distance to which a ship -approached any planet on its own drive. Hardwick could see the ice cap -very clearly, and blue sea beyond it and the twilight-line. There was -one cyclonic storm just dissipating toward the night-side, and the edge -of a similar cloud-system down toward the equator. Hardwick searched -for Headquarters. It was on an island at about forty-five degrees -latitude, which ought to be near the center of the planet's surface as -seen from where the ship's boat floated. But he could not make it out. -There was only the one island of any importance and it was not large. - -Nothing happened. The boat's rockets remained silent. The young officer -sat quietly, looking at the instruments before him. He seemed to be -waiting for something to happen. - -A needle kicked and stayed just off the pin. It was an external-field -indicator. Some field, somewhere, now included the space in which the -ship's boat floated. - -"Hm-m-m," said Hardwick. "You are waiting for orders?" - -"Yes, sir," said the young man. "I'm ordered not to land except under -ground instructions, sir. I don't know why." - -Hardwick observed detachedly: - -"One of the worst wiggings I ever got was in a boat like this. I was -waiting for orders and they didn't come. I acted very Service about -it: stiff upper lip and all that. But I was getting in serious trouble -when it occurred to me that it might be my fault I wasn't getting the -orders." - -The young officer glanced quickly at an instrument he had previously -ignored. Then he said relievedly: - -"Not this time, sir. The communicator's turned on, all right." - -Hardwick said: - -"Do you think they might be calling you without shifting from -ship-frequency? They were talking to the ship, you know." - -"I'll try, sir." - -The young man leaned forward and switched to ship-band adjustment of -the communicator. Different wave bands, naturally, were used between a -ship and shore, and a ship and its own boats. A booming carrier wave -came in instantly. The young officer hastily turned down the volume and -words became distinguishable. - -"... _What the devil's the matter with you? Acknowledge!_" - -The young officer gulped. Hardwick said mildly: - -"Since he ranks you, just say 'Sorry, sir.'" - -"S-sorry, sir," said Barnes into the microphone. - -"_Sorry?_" snapped the voice from the ground. "_I've been calling for -five minutes! Your skipper will hear about this! I shall_--" - -Hardwick pulled the microphone before him. - -"My name is Hardwick," he observed, "I am waiting for instructions to -land. My pilot has been listening on boat-frequency, as was proper. -You appear to be calling us on an improper channel. Really--" - -There was stricken silence. Then babbled apologies from the speaker. -Hardwick smiled faintly at young Barnes. - -"It's quite all right. Let's forget it now. But will you give my pilot -his instructions?" - -The voice said strainedly: - -"_You're to be brought down by landing-grid, sir. Rocket landings have -been ruled non-permitted by the Sector Chief himself, sir. But we are -already landing one boat, sir. Senior Officer Werner is being brought -in now, sir. His boat is still two diameters out, sir, and it will take -us nearly an hour to get him down without extreme discomfort, sir._" - -"Then we'll wait," said Hardwick. "Hm-m-m. Call us again before you -start hunting us with the landing-beam. My pilot has a rather promising -idea. And will you call us on the proper frequency then, please?" - -The voice aground said unhappily: - -"_Yes, sir. Certainly, sir._" - -The carrier-wave hum stopped. Young Barnes said gratefully: - -"Thank you, sir! Hell hath no fury like a ranking officer caught in a -blunder! He'd have twisted my tail for his mistake, sir, and it could -have been bad!" Then he paused. He said uneasily, "But ... beg pardon, -sir! I haven't any promising ideas. Not that I know of!" - -"You have an hour to develop one," Hardwick told him. - - * * * * * - -Internally, Hardwick was disturbed. There were few occasions on -which even one Senior Officer was called in to Sector Headquarters. -Interstellar distances being what they were, and thirty light-speeds -being practically the best available, Senior Officers necessarily -acted pretty much as independent authorities. To call one man in meant -all his other work had to go by the board for a matter of months. But -two--And Werner? - -Werner was getting to ground first. If there were something serious -ashore, Werner would make a great point of arriving first, even if only -by hours. A keen sort of person in giving the right impression, he'd -risen in the Service faster than Hardwick. That other Lawlor field -would have been his ship getting out of the way. - -The young officer at his elbow fidgeted. - -"Beg pardon, sir. What sort of idea should I develop, sir? I'm not sure -I understand--" - -"It's rather annoying to have to stay parked in free fall," said -Hardwick patiently. "And it's always a good practice to review annoying -situations and see if they can be bettered." - -Barnes' forehead wrinkled. - -"We could land much quicker on rockets, sir. And ... even when the -landing-grid reaches out for us, since we've no gravity-coils, they'll -have to handle us very cautiously or they'd break our necks!" - -Hardwick nodded. Barnes was thinking straight enough, but it takes -young officers a long time to think of thinking straight. They have -to obey so many orders unquestioningly that they tend to stop doing -anything else. Yet at each rise in grade some slight trace of increased -capacity to think is required. In order to reach really high rank, -an officer has to be capable of thinking which simply isn't possible -unless he's kept in practice on the way up. - -Young Barnes looked up, startled. - -"Look here, sir!" he said, surprised. "If it takes them an hour to let -down Senior Officer Werner from two planetary diameters, it'll take -much longer to let us down from out here!" - -"True," said Hardwick. - -"And you don't want to spend three hours descending, sir, after waiting -an hour for him!" - -"I don't," admitted Hardwick. He could have given orders, of course. -But if a junior officer were spurred to the practice of thinking, it -might mean that some day he'd be a better senior officer. And Hardwick -knew how desperately few men were really adequate for high authority. -Anything that could be done to increase the number-- - -Young Barnes blinked. - -"But it doesn't matter to the landing-grid how far out we are!" he said -in an astonished voice. "They could lock on to us at ten diameters, or -at one! Once they lock the field-focus on us, when they move it they -move us!" - -Hardwick nodded again. - -"So ... so by the time they've got that other boat landed ... why ... I -can use rockets and get down to one diameter myself, sir! And they can -lock onto us there and let us down a few thousand miles only! So we can -get to ground half an hour after the other boat's down instead of four -hours from now." - -"Just so," agreed Hardwick. "At a cost of a little thought and a little -fuel. You do have a promising idea after all, lieutenant. Suppose you -carry it out?" - - * * * * * - -Young Barnes glanced at Hardwick's safety-strap. He threw over the -fuel-ready lever and conscientiously waited the conventional few -seconds for the first molecules of fuel to be catalyzed cold. Once -firing started, they'd be warmed to detonation-readiness in the last -few millimeters of the injection-gap. - -"Firing, sir," he said respectfully. - -There was the curious sound of a rocket blasting in emptiness, when -the sound is conveyed only by the rocket-tube's metal. There was the -smooth, pushing sensation of acceleration. The tiny ship's boat swung -and aimed down at the planet. Lieutenant Barnes leaned forward and -punched the ship's computer. - -"I hope you'll excuse me, sir," he said awkwardly. "I should have -thought that out myself, sir, without prompting. But problems like -this don't turn up very often, sir. As a rule it's wisest to follow -precedents as if they were orders." - -Hardwick said dryly: - -"To be sure! But one reason for the existence of junior officers is the -fact that some day there will have to be new senior ones." - -Barnes considered. Then he said surprisedly: - -"I never thought of it that way, sir. Thank you." - -He continued to punch the computer keys, frowning. Hardwick relaxed -in his seat, held there by the gentle acceleration and the belt. -He'd had nothing by which to judge the reason for his summoning to -Headquarters. He had very little now. But there was trouble of some -sort below. Two senior officers dragged from their own work. Werner, -now--Hardwick preferred not to estimate Werner. He disliked the man, -and would be biased. But he was able, though definitely on the make. -And there was himself. They'd been called to Headquarters where no ship -was to be landed by landing-grid, nor any rocket to come to ground. A -landing-grid could pluck a ship out of space ten planet-diameters out, -and draw it with gentle violence shoreward, and land it lightly as a -feather. A landing-grid could take the heaviest, loaded freighter and -stop it in orbit and bring it down at eight gravities. But the one -below wouldn't land even a tiny Survey ship! And a landing-boat was -forbidden to come down on its rockets! - -Hardwick arranged those items in his mind. He knew the planet below, -of course. When he got his Senior rating he'd spent six months at -Headquarters learning procedures and practices proper to his increased -authority. There was one inhabitable island, two hundred miles long -and possibly forty wide. There was no other usable ground outside the -Arctic. - -The one occupied island had gigantic sheer cliffs on its windward side, -where a great slab of bedrock had split along some submarine fault -and tilted upward above the surface. Those cliffs were four thousand -feet high, but from them the island sloped very, very gently and very -gradually until its leeward shore slipped under the restless sea. - -Sector Headquarters had been placed here because it seemed that -civilians would not want to colonize so limited a world. But there were -civilians, because there was Headquarters. And now every inch of ground -was cultivated and there was irrigation and intensive farming and some -hydroponic establishments. But Sector Headquarters included a vast -reserve area on which a space-fleet might be marshaled in case of need. -The overcrowded civilians were bitter because of the great uncultivated -area the Survey needed for storage and possible emergency use. Even -when Hardwick was here, years back, there was bitterness because the -Survey crowded the civilian economy which had been based on it. - -Hardwick considered all these items. He came to an uncomfortable -conclusion. Presently he looked up. The planet loomed larger. Much -larger. - - * * * * * - -"I think you'd better lose all planetward velocity before we hook on," -he observed. "The landing-grid crew might have trouble focusing on us -so close if we're moving." - -"Yes, sir," said the young officer. "I will, sir." - -"There's some sort of merry hell below," said Hardwick wryly. "It -looks bad that they won't let a ship come down by grid. It looks worse -that they won't let this one land on its rockets." He paused. "I doubt -they'll risk lifting us off again." - -Young Barnes finished his computations. He looked satisfied. He glanced -at the now-gigantic planet below. He deftly adjusted the course of the -tiny boat. Then he jerked his head around. - -"Excuse me, sir. Did you say we mightn't be able to lift off again?" - -"I could almost predict that we won't," said Hardwick. - -"Would you ... could you say why, sir?" - -"They don't want landings. The trouble is here. If they don't want -landings, they won't want launchings. Werner and I were sent for, so -presumably we're needed. But apparently there's uneasiness about even -our landing. Surely they won't send us off again. I suspect--" - -The loud-speaker said tinnily: - -"_Calling boat from landing-grid! Calling boat from landing-grid!_" - -"Come in," said Barnes. But he looked uneasily at Hardwick. - -"_Correct your course!_" commanded the voice sharply. "_You are not -to land on rockets under any circumstances! This is an order from the -Sector Chief himself! Stand off! We will be ready to lock on and land -you gently in about fifteen minutes. But meanwhile stand off!_" - -"Yes, sir," said young Barnes. - -Hardwick reached over and took the microphone. - -"Hardwick speaking," he said. "I'd like information. What's the trouble -down there that we can't use our rockets?" - -"_Rockets are noisy, sir. Even boat-rockets. We have orders to prevent -all physical vibration possible, sir. But I am ordered not to give -details on a transmitter, sir._" - -"I'll sign off," said Hardwick, dryly. - -He pushed the microphone away. He deplored his own lack of -aggressiveness. Werner, now, would have pulled his rank and insisted on -being informed. But Hardwick couldn't help believing that there was a -reason for orders that over-ruled his own. - -The young officer swung the rocket end-for-end. The sensation of -pressure against the back of Hardwick's seat increased. - -Minutes later the speaker said: - -"_Grid to boat. Prepare for lock-on._" - -"Ready, sir," said Barnes. - -The small boat shuddered and leaped crazily. It spun. It oscillated -violently through seconds-long arcs in emptiness. Very, very gradually, -the oscillations died. There was a momentary sensation of the faint -tugging of planetary weight, which is somehow subtly different from the -feel of artificial gravity. Then the cosmos turned upside down as the -boat was drawn very swiftly toward the watery planet below it. - -Some minutes later, young Barnes spoke apologetically: - -"Beg pardon, sir," he said diffidently. "I must be stupid, sir, but -I can't imagine any reason why vibrations or noise should make any -difference on a planet. How could it do harm?" - -"This is an ocean-planet," said Hardwick. "It might make people drown." - -The young officer flushed. He turned his head away. And Hardwick -reflected ruefully that the young were always sensitive. But he did not -speak again. When they landed in the vast, spidery landing-grid--a vast -metal grid-work a full half-mile high--Barnes would find out whether he -was right or not. - -He did. And Hardwick was right. The people on Canna III were anxious to -avoid vibrations because they were afraid of drowning. - -Their fears seemed to be rather well-founded. - - - - - II - - -Three hours after landing, Hardwick moved gingerly over grayish muddy -rock, with a four-thousand-foot sheer drop some twenty yards away. The -ragged edge of a cliff fell straight down for the better part of a -mile. Far below, the sea rippled gently. Hardwick saw a long, long line -of boats moving slowly out to sea. They towed something between them -which reached from boat to boat in exaggerated catenary curves. The -boats moved in line abreast straight out from the cliffs, towing this -floating, curved thing between them. - -Hardwick regarded them for a moment and then inspected the grayish -mud underfoot. He lifted his eyes to the inland side of this peculiar -stretch of mountainside muddiness. There was a mast on the rock not far -away. It held up what looked like a vision-camera. - -Young Barnes said: - -"Excuse me, sir. What are those boats doing?" - -"They're towing an oil-slick out to sea," said Hardwick absently, "by -towing a floating line of some sort between them. There isn't enough -oil to maintain the slick, and it's blown landward. So they tow it out -to sea again. It holds down the seas. Every time, of course, they lose -some of it." - -"But--" - -"There are trade winds," said Hardwick, not looking to seaward at -all. "They always blow in the same direction, nearly. They blow -three-quarters of the way around the planet, and they build up seas as -they blow. Normally, the swells that pound against this cliff, here, -will be a hundred feet and more from crest to crest. They'll throw -spray ten times that high, of course, and once when I was here before, -spray came over the cliff-top. The impacts of the waves are--heavy. In -a storm, if you put your ear to the ground on the leeward shore, you -can hear the waves smash against these cliffs. It's vibration." - -Barnes looked uneasily at the cliff's edge and the line of boats -pushing sturdily over an ocean whose waves seemed less than ripples -from nearly a mile above them. But the line of boats was incredibly -long. It was twenty miles in length at the least, and between each two -boats there was the long curved line of something being towed on the -surface. - -"The ... slick holds down the waves," Barnes guessed. "It ... works -best in deep water, I believe. The ancients knew it. Oil on the -waters." He considered. "Working hard to prevent vibrations! Are they -really so dangerous, sir?" - -Hardwick nodded inland. And, at a quarter-mile from the edge of the -cliff there was a peculiar, broken, riven rampart of soil. It might -have been forty feet high, once. Now it was shattered and cracked. It -had the quite incredible look of having been pulled away from where -Hardwick stood, and of having partly disintegrated as it was withdrawn. -There were vertical breaks in its edges. There were broken-off masses -left behind. At one place a clump of perhaps a quarter-acre had not -followed the rest, and trees leaned drunkenly from its top, and at the -edge had fallen outward. And all along the top of the stone cliff for -as far as the eye could see there was this singular retreat of soil and -vegetation from the cliff's edge. - -Hardwick stooped and picked up a bit of the mud underfoot. He rubbed it -between his fingers. It yielded like modeling clay. He dipped a finger -into a gray, greasy-seeming puddle. He looked at the thick liquid on -his finger and then rubbed it against his other palm. Young Barnes -duplicated this last action. - -"It ... feels soapy, sir!" he said blankly. "Like ... wet soap!" - -"Yes," said Hardwick. "That's the first problem here." - -He turned to a ground-service Survey private. He jerked his head along -the coast line. - -"How much have other places slipped?" - -"Anywhere from this much, sir," said the private, "to two miles and -upward. There's one place where it's moving at a regular rate. Four -inches an hour, sir. It was three-and-a-half yesterday." - -Hardwick nodded. - -"Hm-m-m. We'll go back to Headquarters. Nasty business!" - - * * * * * - -He plodded over the extraordinarily messy footing toward the vehicle -which had brought him here. It was not an ordinary ground-car. Instead -of tires or caterwheels, it rolled upon flaccid, partly-inflated -five-foot rollers. They would be completely unaffected by roughness or -slipperiness of terrain, and if the vehicle fell overboard it would -float. But it was thickly coated with the gray mud of this cliff-top. - -As he moved along, Hardwick was able to see the pattern of the rock -underneath the mud. It was curiously contorted, like something that had -curdled rather than cooled. And, as a matter of fact, it was believed -to have solidified slowly under water at such monstrous pressure -that even molten rock could not make it burst into steam. But it was -above-water now. - -Hardwick climbed into the vehicle, and Barnes followed him. The -bolster-truck turned. It moved toward the broken barrier of earth. -Its five-foot flabby rollers seemed rather to flow over than to -surmount obstacles. Great lumps of drier dirt dented them and did not -disintegrate. There were no stones. - -Hardwick frowned to himself. The bolster-truck more or less flowed up -the crumbling, inexplicably drawing-back mass of soil. Atop it, things -looked almost normal. Almost. There was a highway leading away from the -cliff. At first glance it seemed perfect. But it was cracked down the -middle for a hundred yards, and then the crack meandered off to the -side and was gone. There was a great tree, which leaned drunkenly. A -mile along the roadway its surface buckled as if something had pressed -irresistibly upward from below. The truck rolled over the break. - -It was notable that the motion of the truck was utterly smooth. It -made no vibration at all. But even so it slowed before it moved through -a place where houses--dwellings and a shop or two--clustered closely -together on each side of the road. - -There were people in and about the houses, but they were doing nothing -at all. Some of them stared hostilely at the Survey truck. Some -others deliberately turned their backs to it. There were vehicles -out of shelter and ready to be used, but none was moving. All--very -oddly--were pointed in the direction from which the bolster-truck had -come. - -The truck went on. Presently the extraordinary flatness of the -landscape became apparent. It was possible to see a seemingly -illimitable distance. The ocean forty miles away showed as a thread -of blue beneath the horizon. The island was an almost perfectly plane -surface. But the windward side was tilted up to a height of four -thousand feet above the sea, and the downwind side slipped gently -beneath the waves. There was no hill visible anywhere. No mountains. No -valleys save the extremely minor gullies worn by rain. Even they had -been filled in, or dammed, and tied in to irrigation systems. - -There was a place where there was a row of trees along such a -water-course. Half the row was fallen, and a part of the rest was -tilted. The remainder stood upright and firm. All the vegetation was -perfectly familiar. Most colonies have some vegetation, at least, -directly descended from the mother planet Earth. But this island on -Canna III had been above-water perhaps no more than three or four -thousand years. There had been no time for local vegetation to develop. -When the Survey took it over, there was only tidal seaweed, only one -variety of which had been able to extend itself in web-like fashion -over the soil above water. Terrestrial plants had wiped it out, and -everything was green, and everything was human-introduced. - -But there was something wrong with the ground. At this place the top of -the soil bulged, and tall corn-plants grew extravagantly in different -directions. There, there was a narrow, lipless gap in the ground's -surface. An irrigation-ditch poured water into it. It was not filled. - - * * * * * - -Barnes said distressedly: - -"Excuse me, sir, but how the devil did this happen?" - -"There's been irrigation," said Hardwick patiently. "The soil here was -all ocean-bottom, once--it used to be what is called globigerinous -ooze. There's no sand. There are no stones. There's only bedrock and -formerly abyssal mud. And--some of it underneath is no longer former. -It's globigerinous ooze again." - -He waved his hand at the landscape. It had been remarkably tidy, once. -Every square foot of ground had been cultivated. The highways were of -limited width, and the houses were neat and trim. It was, perhaps, the -most completely civilized landscape in the galaxy. But Hardwick added: - -"You said the stuff felt like soap. In a way it's acting like soap. It -lies on slightly slanting, effectively smooth rock, like a soap-cake on -a slightly slanting sheet of metal. And that's the trouble. So long as -a cake of soap is dry on the bottom it doesn't move. Even if you pour -water on top, like rain, the top will wet, and the water will flow off, -but the bottom won't wet until all the soap is dissolved away. While -that was the process here, everything was all right. But they've been -irrigating." - -They passed a row of neat cottages facing the road. One had collapsed -completely. The others looked absolutely normal. The bolster-truck went -on. - -Hardwick said, frowning: - -"They wanted the water to go into the soil. So they arranged it. A -little of that did no harm. Plants growing dried it out again. One tree -evaporates thousands of gallons a day in a good trade wind. There were -some landslides in the early days, especially when storm-swells pounded -the cliffs, but on the whole the ground was more firmly anchored when -first cultivated than it had been before the colonists came." - -"But--irrigation? The sea's not fresh, is it?" - -"Water-freshening plants," said Hardwick dryly. "Ion-exchange systems. -They installed them and had all the fresh water they could wish for. -And they wished for a lot. They deep-plowed, so the water would sink -in. They dammed the water-courses--and it sank in. What they did -amounted to something like boring holes in the cake of soap I used for -an illustration just now. Water went right down to the bottom. What -would happen then?" - -Barnes said: - -"Why ... the bottom would wet ... and slide! As if it were greased!" - -"Not greased," corrected Hardwick. "Soaped. Soap is viscous. That -is different--and a lucky difference! But the least vibration would -encourage movement. And it does. It has. So the population is now -walking on eggs. Worse, it's walking on the equivalent of a cake of -soap which is getting wetter and wetter on the bottom. It's already -sliding as a viscous substance does--reluctantly. But in spite of the -oil-slick they're trying to keep in place upwind there's still some -battering from the sea. There are still some vibrations in the bedrock. -And so there's a slow, and gentle, and gradual sliding." - -"And they figure," said Barnes abruptly, "that locking onto a ship -with the landing-grid might be like an earthquake." He stopped. "An -earthquake, now--" - -"Not much vulcanism on this planet," Hardwick told him. "But of course -there are tectonic quakes occasionally. They made this island." - -Barnes said uneasily: - -"I don't think, sir, that I'd sleep well if I lived here." - -"You are living here for the moment. But at your age I think you'll -sleep." - -The bolster-truck turned, following the highway. The road was very -even, and the motion of the truck along it was infinitely smooth. Its -lack of vibration explained why it was permitted to move when all -other vehicles were stopped. But Hardwick reflected uneasily that -this did not account for the orders of the Sector Chief forbidding -the rocket-landing of a ship's boat. It was true enough that the -living-surface of the island rested upon slanting stone, and that if -the bottom were wet enough it could slide off into the sea. It already -had moved. At least one place was moving at four inches per hour. But -that was viscous flow. It would be enhanced by vibration, and assuredly -the hammering of seas upon the windward cliff should be lessened by any -possible means. - -But it did not mean that the sound of a rocket-landing would be -disastrous, nor that the straining of a landing-grid as it stopped a -space-ship in orbit and drew it to ground should produce a landslide. -There was something else--though the situation for the island's -civilian population was assuredly serious enough. If any really -massive movement of the ground did begin, viscous or any other; if any -considerable part of the island's surface did begin to move--all of it -would go. And the population would go with it. If there were survivors, -they could be numbered in dozens. - -The tall tamped-earth wall of the Headquarters reserve area loomed -ahead. Sector Headquarters had been established here when there were -no other inhabitants. Seeds had been broadcast and trees planted while -the survey buildings were under construction. Headquarters, in fact, -had been built upon an uninhabited planet. But colonists followed in -the wake of Survey personnel. Wives and children, and then storekeepers -and agriculturists, and presently civilian technicians and ultimately -even politicians arrived as the non-Service population grew. Now Sector -Headquarters was resented because it occupied one fourth of the island. -It kept too much of the planet's useful surface out of civilian use. -And the island was now desperately overcrowded. - -But it seemed also to be doomed. - -As the bolster-truck moved silently toward Headquarters, a hundred-yard -section of the wall collapsed. There was an upsurging of dust. There -was a rumbling of falling, hardened wall. The truck's driver turned -white. A civilian beside the road faced the wall and wrung his -hands, and stood waiting to feel the ground under his feet begin to -sweep smoothly toward the here-distant sea. A post held up a traffic -signal some twenty yards from the gate. It leaned slowly. At a -forty-five-degree tilt it checked and hung stationary. Fifty yards from -the gate, a new crack appeared across the road. - -But nothing more happened. Nothing. Yet one could not be sure that some -critical point had not been passed, so that from now on there would be -a gradual rise in the creeping of the soil toward the ocean. - -Barnes caught his breath. - -"That--makes one feel queer," he said unsteadily. "A ... shock like -that wall falling could start everything off!" - -Hardwick said nothing at all. It had occurred to him that there was -no irrigation of the Survey area. He frowned very thoughtfully--even -worriedly, as the truck went inside the Headquarters gate and -rolled smoothly on over a winding road through definitely parklike -surroundings. - - * * * * * - -It stopped before the building which was the Sector Chief's own -headquarters in Headquarters. A large brown dog dozed peacefully on the -plastic-tiled landing at the top of half a dozen steps. When Hardwick -got out of the truck the dog got up with a leisurely air. When Hardwick -ascended the steps, with Barnes following him, the dog came forward -with a sort of stately courtesy to do the honors. Hardwick said: - -"Nice dog, that." - -He went inside. The dog sedately followed. The interior of the building -was singularly empty. There was a sort of resonant silence until -somewhere a telewriter began to click. - -"Come along," said Hardwick. "The Sector Chief's office is over this -way." - -Young Barnes followed uncomfortably. - -"It seems odd there's no one around. No secretaries, no sentries, -nobody at all." - -"Why should there be?" asked Hardwick in surprise. "The guards at the -gate keep civilians out. And nobody in the Service will bother the -Chief without reason. At least, not more than once!" - -But across a glistening, empty floor there ran an ominous crack. - -They went down a corridor. Voices sounded, and Hardwick tracked -them, with the paws of the dog clicking on the floor behind him. He -led the way into a spacious, comfortably nondescript room with high -windows--doors, really--that opened on green lawn outside. The Sector -Chief, Sandringham, leaned placidly back in a chair, smoking. Werner, -the other summoned Senior Officer, sat bolt upright in a chair facing -him. Sandringham waved a hand cordially to Hardwick. - -"Back so soon? You're ahead of schedule on all counts! Here's Werner, -back from looking at the fuel-store situation." - -Hardwick suddenly looked as if he'd been jolted. But he nodded, and -Werner tried to smile and failed. He was completely white. - -"My pilot from the ship, who's kept aground," said Hardwick. -"Lieutenant Barnes. Very promising young officer. Cut my landing-time -by hours. Lieutenant, this is Sector Chief Sandringham and Mr. Werner." - -"Have a seat, Hardwick," grunted the Chief. "You, too, lieutenant. How -does it look up on the cliff, Hardwick?" - -"I suspect you know as well as I do," said Hardwick. "I think I saw a -vision-camera planted up there." - -"True enough. But there's nothing like on-the-spot inspection. Now -you're back, how does it look to you?" - -"Inadequate," said Hardwick with some dryness. "Inadequate to explain -some things I've noticed. But it's a very bad situation. Its degree of -badness depends on the viscosity of the mud at bedrock all over the -island. The left-behind mud's like pea soup. It looks really bad! But -what's the viscosity at bedrock with soil pressing down--and I hope -drier soil than at the bottom?" - -Sandringham grunted. - -"Good question. I sent for you, Hardwick, when it began to look bad, -before the ground really started sliding. When I thought it might begin -any time. The viscosity averages pretty closely at three times ten to -the sixth. Which still gives us some leeway. But not enough." - -"Not nearly enough!" said Hardwick impatiently. "Irrigation should have -been stopped a long while back!" - -The Sector Chief grimaced. - -"I've no authority over civilians. They've their own planetary -government. And do you remember?" He quoted: "'Civilian establishments -and governments may be advised by Colonial Survey officials, and may -make requests of them, but in each case such advice or request is to be -considered on its own merits only, and in no case can it be the subject -of a _quid-pro-quo_ agreement.'" He added grimly: "That means you -can't threaten. It's been thrown at my head every time I've asked them -to cut down their irrigation in the past fifteen years! I advised them -not to irrigate at all, and they couldn't see it. It would increase the -food-supply, and they needed more food. So they went ahead. They built -two new sea-water freshening plants only last year!" - -Werner licked his lips. He said in a voice that was higher-pitched than -Hardwick remembered: - -"What's happening serves them right! It serves them right!" - -Hardwick waited. - - * * * * * - -"Now," said Sandringham, "they are demanding to be let into Sector -Headquarters for safety. They say we haven't irrigated, so the ground -we occupy isn't going to slide. They demand that we take them all in -here to sit on their rumps until the rest of the island slides into the -sea or doesn't. If it doesn't, they want to wait here until the soil -becomes stable again because they've quit irrigating." - -"It'd serve them right if we let them in!" cried Werner in shrill -anger. "It's their fault that they're in this fix!" - -Sandringham waved his hand. - -"Administering abstract justice isn't my job. I imagine it's handled in -more competent quarters. I have only to meet the objective situation. -Which"--he paused--"is plenty! Hardwick, you've handled swamp-planet -situations. What can be done to stop the sliding of the island's soil -before it all goes overboard?" - -"Not much, offhand," said Hardwick. "Give me time and I'll manage -something. But a really bad storm, with high seas and plenty of rain, -might wipe out the whole civilian colony. That viscosity figure is -close to hopeless--if not quite." - -The Sector Chief looked impassive. - -"How much time does he have, Werner?" - -"None!" said Werner shrilly. "The only possible thing is to try to move -as many people as possible to the solid ground in the Arctic! The boats -can be crowded--the situation demands it! And if the two space-craft in -orbit are sent to collect a fleet, and as many people as possible are -moved at once--there may be some survivors!" - -Hardwick spread out his hands. - -"I'm wondering," he observed, "what the really serious problem is. -There's more than sliding soil the matter! Else you would ... I'm sure -Lieutenant Barnes has thought of this ... let the civilian population -into Headquarters to sit on its rump and wait for better times." - -Sandringham glanced at young Barnes, who flushed hotly at being noticed. - -"I'm sure you have good reasons, sir," he said embarrassedly. - -"I have several," said the Sector Chief dryly. "For one thing, so long -as we refuse to let them in, they're reassured. They can't imagine we'd -let them down. But if we invited them in they'd panic and fight to get -in first. There'd be a full-scale slaughter right there! They'd be sure -disaster was only minutes off. Which it would be!" - -He paused and glanced from one to the other of the senior officers. - -"When I sent for you," he said wryly, "I meant for you, Hardwick, to -take care of the possible sliding. I meant for Werner, here, to do the -public-relations job of scaring the civilians just enough to make them -let it be done. It's not so simple, now!" - -He drew a deep breath. - -"It's pure chance that there is a Sector Headquarters. Or else it's -Providence. We'll find that out later! But ten days ago it was -discovered that an instrument had gone wrong over in the ship-fuel -storage area. It didn't register when a tank leaked. And--a tank did -leak. You know ship-fuel's harmless when it's refrigerated. You know -what it's like when it's not. Dissolved in soil-moisture, it's not only -catalyzed to explosive condition, but it's a hell of a corrosive, and -it's eaten holes in some other tanks--and can you imagine trying to do -anything about that?" - -Hardwick felt a sensation of incredulous shock. Werner wrung his hands. - -"If I could only find the man who made that faulty tank!" he said -thickly. "He's killed all of us! All! Unless we get to solid ground in -the Arctic!" - -The Sector Chief said calmly: - -"That's why I won't let them in, Hardwick. Our storage tanks go down -to bedrock. The leaked fuel--warmed up, now--is seeping along bedrock -and eating at other tanks, besides being absorbed generally by the soil -and dissolving in the ground-water. We've pulled all personnel out of -all the area it could have seeped down to." - -Hardwick felt slightly cold at the back of his neck. - -"I suspect," he said wryly, "that they came out on tiptoe, holding -their breaths, and that they were careful not to drop anything or -scrape their chairs when they got up to leave. I would have! Anything, -of course, could set it off. But it is bound to go anyhow! Of course! -Now I see why we couldn't make a rocket-landing!" - - * * * * * - -The chilly feeling seemed to spread as he realized more fully. When -ship-fuel is refrigerated during its manufacture, it is about as safe -a substance as can be imagined--so long as it is kept refrigerated. -It is an energy-chemical compound, of atoms bound together with -forced-valence linkages. But enormous amounts of energy are required to -force valences upon reluctant atoms. - -When ship-fuel warms up, or is catalyzed, it goes on one step beyond -the process of its manufacture. It goes on to the modification the -refrigeration prevented. It changes its molecular configuration. What -was stable because it was cold becomes something which is hysterically -unstable because of its structure. The touch of a feather can -detonate it. A shout can set it off. - -It is, indeed, burned only molecule by molecule in a ship's engines, -being catalyzed to the unstable state while cold at the very spot where -it is to detonate. And since the energy yielded by detonation is that -of the forced bonds ... why ... the energy-content of ship-fuel is much -greater than a merely chemical compound can contain. Ship-fuel contains -a measurable fraction of the power of atomic explosive. But it is much -more practical for use on board ship. - -The point now was, of course, that leaked into the ground and -warmed ... why ... practically any vibratory motion will detonate it. -Even dissolved, it can detonate because it is not a chemical but an -energy-release action. - -"A good, drumming, heavy rain," said Sandringham very calmly indeed, -"which falls on this end of the island, will undoubtedly set off some -scores of tons of leaked ship-fuel. And that ought to scatter and -catalyze and detonate the rest. The explosion should be equivalent -to at least a megaton fusion bomb." He paused, and added with irony, -"Pretty situation, isn't it? If the civilians hadn't irrigated, we -could evacuate Headquarters and let it blow--as it will anyhow. If the -fuel hadn't leaked, we could let in the civilians until the island's -soil decides what it's going to do. Either would be a nasty situation, -but the combination--" - -Werner said shrilly: - -"Evacuation to the Arctic is the only possible answer! Some people can -be saved! Some! I'll take a boat and equipment and go on ahead and get -some sort of refuge ready." - -There was dead silence. The brown dog, who had followed Hardwick -from the outer terrace, now yawned loudly. Hardwick reached over and -absent-mindedly scratched his ears. Young Barnes swallowed. - -"Beg pardon, sir," he said awkwardly. "But what's the weather forecast?" - -"Continued fair," said Sandringham pleasantly. "That's why I had -Hardwick and Werner come down. Three heads are better than one. I've -gambled their lives on their brains." - -Hardwick continued thoughtfully to scratch the brown dog's ears. Werner -licked his lips. Young Barnes looked from one to another of them. Then -he looked back at the Sector Chief. - -"Sir," he said awkwardly. "I ... I think the odds are pretty good. Mr. -Hardwick, sir--He'll manage!" - -Then he flushed hotly at his own presumption in saying something -consoling to a Sector Chief. It was comparable to telling him how to -top off his vacuum-suit tanks. - -But the Sector Chief nodded in grave approval and turned to Hardwick to -hear what he had to say. - - - - - III - - -The leeward side of the island went very gently into the water. From -a boat offshore--say, a couple of miles out--the shoreline looked low -and flat and peaceful. There were houses in view, and there were boats -afloat. But they were much smaller than those that had been towing a -twenty-mile-long oil-slick out to sea. These boats did not ply back -and forth. Most of them seemed anchored. On some of them there was -activity. Men went overboard, without splashing, and things came up -from the ocean bottom and were dumped inside their hulls, and then -baskets went back down into the water. At long intervals--quite long -intervals--men emerged from underwater and sat on the sides of the -boats and smoked with an effect of leisure. - -There was sunshine, and the land was green, and a seeming of -vast tranquillity hung over the whole seascape. But the small -Survey-personnel recreation-boat moved in toward the shore, and the -look of things changed. At a mile, a mass of green that had seemed to -be trees growing down to the water's edge became a thicket of tumbled -trunks and overset branches where a tree-thicket had collapsed. At half -a mile the water was opaque. There were things floating in it--the -roof of a house; the leaves of an ornamental shrub, with nearby its -roots showing at the surface, washed clean. A child's toy bobbed past -the boat. It looked horribly pathetic. There were the exotic planes -and angles of three wooden steps, floating in the ripples of the great -ocean. - -"Ignoring the imminent explosion of the fuel store," said Hardwick -dryly, "we need to find out something about what has to be done to the -soil to stop its creeping. I hope you remembered, lieutenant, to ask a -great many useless questions." - -"Yes, sir," said Barnes. "I tried to, sir. I asked everything I could -think of." - -"Those boats yonder?" - -Hardwick indicated a boat from which something like a wire basket -splashed into the water as he gestured. - -"A garden boat, sir," said Barnes. "On this side of the island the sea -bottom slopes so gradually, sir, that there are sea gardens on the -bottom. Shellfish from Earth do not thrive, sir, but there are edible -sea plants. The gardeners cultivate them as on land, sir." - -Hardwick reached overside and carefully took his twentieth sample of -the sea water. He squinted, and estimated the distance to shore. - -"I shall try to imagine someone wearing a diving mask and using a hoe," -he said dryly. "What's the depth here?" - -"We're half a mile out, sir," said Barnes promptly. "It should be about -sixty feet, sir. The bottom seems to have about a three per cent grade, -sir. That's the angle of repose of the mud. There's no sand to make a -steeper slope possible." - -"Three per cent's not bad!" - -Hardwick looked pleased. He picked up one of his earlier samples and -tilted it, checking the angle at which the sediment came to rest. The -bottom mud, here, was essentially the same as the soil of the land. But -the soil of the island was infinitely finely-divided. In fresh water it -floated practically like a colloid. In sea water, obviously, it sank -because of the salinity which made suspension difficult. - -"You see the point, eh?" he asked. When Barnes shook his head, Hardwick -explained, "Probably for my sins I've had a good deal to do with swamp -planets. The mud of a salt swamp is quite different from a fresh-water -swamp. The essential trouble with the people ashore is that by their -irrigation they've contrived an island-wide swamp which happens to be -upside down--the mud at the bottom. So the question is, can it acquire -the properties of a salt swamp instead of a fresh-water swamp without -killing all the vegetation on the surface? That's why I'm after these -samples. As we go inshore the water should be fresher--on a shallowing -shore like this with drainage in this direction." - -He gestured to the Survey private at the stern of the boat. - -"Closer in, please." - -Barnes said: - -"Sir, motorboats are forbidden inshore. The vibrations." - -Hardwick shrugged. - -"We will obey the rule. I've probably samples enough. How far out do -the mudflats run--at the surface?" - -"About two hundred yards at the surface, sir. The mud's about the -consistency of thick cream. You can see where the ripples stop, sir." - -Hardwick stared. He turned his eyes away. - -"Er ... sir," said Barnes unhappily. "May I ask, sir--" - -Hardwick said dryly: - -"You may. But the answer's pure theory. This information will do no -good at all unless all the rest of the problem we face is solved. But -solving the rest of the problem will do no good if this part remains -unsolved. You see?" - -"Yes, sir. But ... the others seem more ... urgent, sir." - -Hardwick shrugged. - - * * * * * - -There was a shout from a nearby boat. Men were pointing ashore. -Hardwick jerked his eyes to the shoreline. - -A section of seemingly solid ground moved slowly toward the water. Its -forefront seemed to disintegrate, and a singularly slow-moving swell -moved out over the rippleless border of the sea, where mudbanks like -thick cream reached the surface. - -The moving mass was a good half-mile in width. Its outer edge dissolved -in the sea, and the top tilted, and green vegetation leaned downwind -and very deliberately subsided into the water. It was remarkably like -the way an ingot of non-ferrous metal slides into the pool made by its -own melting. - -But the aftermath was somehow horrifying. When the tumbled soil was -all dissolved--and the grass undulated like a floating meadow on the -water--there remained a jagged shallow gap in the land-bank. There were -irregularities: vertical striations and unevennesses in the exposed, -broken soil. - -Hardwick snatched up glasses and put them to his eyes. The shore seemed -to leap toward him. He saw the harsh outlines of the temporary cliff -go soft. The bottom ceased to look like soil. It glistened. It moved -outward in masses which grew rounder as they swelled. They flowed after -the now-vanished fallen stuff, into the water. The topsoil was suddenly -undercut. The wetter material under it flowed away, leaving a ledge -which bore carefully tended flowering shrubs--Hardwick could see specks -of color which were their blossoms--and a brightly-colored, small trim -house in which some family had lived. - -The flow-away of the deeper soil made a greater, more cavernous hollow -beneath the surface. It began to collapse. The house teetered. It fell. -It smashed. More soil dropped down, and more, and more. - -Presently there was a depression, a sort of valley leading inland away -from the sea, in what had been a rampart of green at the water's edge. -It was still green, but through the glasses Hardwick could see that -trees had fallen, and a white-painted fence was splintered. And there -was still movement. - -The movement slowed and slowed, but it was not possible to say when -it stopped. In reality, it did not stop. The island's soil was still -flowing into the ocean. - -Barnes drew a deep breath. - -"I ... thought that was it, sir," he said shakily. "I mean ... that the -whole island would start sliding." - -"The ground's a bit more water-soaked down here," Hardwick said -briefly. "Inland the bottom-soil's not nearly as fluid as here. But I'd -hate to have a really heavy rainfall right now!" - -Barnes' mind jerked back to the Sector Chief's office. - -"The drumming would set off the ship-fuel?" - -"Among other things," said Hardwick. "Yes." Then he said abruptly: "How -good are you at precision measurements? I've messed around on swamp -planets. I know a bit too much about what I ought to find, which is not -good for accuracy. Can you take these bottles and measure the rate of -sedimentation and plot it against salinity?" - -"Y-yes, sir. I'll try, sir." - -"If we had soil-coagulants enough," said Hardwick vexedly, "we could -handle that upside-down swamp the civilians have so carefully made, -here. But we haven't got it! But the freshened sea water they've been -irrigating with is practically mineral-free! I want to know how much -mineral content in the water would keep the swamp-mud from acting like -wet soap. It's entirely possible that we'd have to make the soil too -salty to grow anything, in order to anchor it. But I want to know!" - -Barnes said uncomfortably: - -"Wouldn't you, sir ... wouldn't you have to put the minerals in -irrigation-water to get them down to the ... the swamp?" - -Hardwick grinned, very surprisingly. - -"You've got promise, Barnes! Yes. I would. And it would increase the -rate of slide before it stopped it. Which could be another problem. But -it was good work to think of it! When we get back to Headquarters, you -commandeer a laboratory and make those measurements for me." - -"Yes, sir," said Barnes. - -"We'll start back now," said Hardwick. - - * * * * * - -The recreation-boat obediently turned. It went out to sea until the -water flowing past its hull was crystal-clear. And Hardwick seemed -to relax. On the way they passed more small boats. Many of them were -gardeners' boats, from which men dived with diving masks to tend or -harvest the cultivated garden-patches not too far down. But many were -pleasure boats, from double-hulled sailing craft intended purely for -sport, to sturdy though small cabin cruisers which could venture -far out to sea, or even around to the windward of the island for -sport-fishing. All the pleasure craft were crowded--there were usually -some children--and it was noticeable that on each one there were always -some faces turned toward the shore. - -"That," said Hardwick, "makes for emotional thinking. These people -know their danger. So they've packed their children and their wives -into these little cockleshells to try to save them. They're waiting -offshore here to find out if they're doomed regardless. I wouldn't -say"--he nodded toward a delicately designed twin-hull sailer with more -children than adults aboard--"I wouldn't call that a good substitute -for an Ark!" - -Young Barnes fidgeted. The boat turned again and went parallel to the -shore toward where Headquarters land came down to the sea. The ground -was firmer, there. There had been no irrigation. Lateral seepage had -done some damage at the edge of the reserve, but the major part of -the shoreline was unbroken, unchanged solid ground, looming above the -beach. There was, of course, no sand at the edge of the water. There -had been no weathering of rock to produce it. When this island was -upraised, its coating of hardened ooze protected the stone. The small -lee-side waves merely lapped upon bare, curdled rock. The wharf for -pleasure boats went out on metal pilings into deep water. - -"Excuse me, sir," said young Barnes embarrassedly, "but ... if the fuel -blows, it'll be pretty bad, sir." - -"That's the understatement of the century," Hardwick commented. "Yes. -It will. Why?" - -"You've something in mind, sir, to try to save the rest of the island. -Nobody else seems to know what to do. If ... if I may say so, sir, your -... safety is pretty important. And you could do your work on the -cliffs, sir, and ... if I could stay at Headquarters and--" - -He stopped, appalled at his own presumption in suggesting that he could -substitute for a Senior Officer even as a message-boy, and even for his -convenience or safety. He began to stammer: - -"I m-mean, sir, n-not that I'm capable of it, sir--" - -"Stop stammering," grunted Hardwick. "There aren't two separate -problems. There's one which is the compound of the two. I'm staying -at Headquarters to try something on the ship-fuel side, and Werner -will specialize on the rest of the island since he hasn't come up with -anything but shifting people to the ice pack. And the situation isn't -hopeless! If there's an earthquake or a storm, of course we'll be wiped -out. But short of one of those calamities, we can save part of the -island. I don't know how much, but some. You make those measurements. -If you're doubtful, get a Headquarters man to duplicate them. Then give -me both sets." - -"Y-yes, sir," said Young Barnes, miserably. - -"And," said Hardwick formidably. "Never try to push your ranking -officer into a safe place, even if you're willing to take his risk! -Would you like it if a man under you tried to put you in a safe place -while he took the chance that was yours?" - -"N-no, sir!" admitted the very junior lieutenant. "But--" - -"Make those measurements!" snapped Hardwick. - - * * * * * - -The boat came into the dock. Hardwick got out of the boat. He went to -Sandringham's office. - -Sandringham was in the act of listening to somebody in the -phone-screen, who apparently was on the thin edge of hysteria. The -brown dog was sprawled asleep on the rug. - -When the man in the vision-screen panted to a stop, Sandringham said -calmly: - -"I am assured that before the soil of the island is too far gone, -measures now in preparation will be applied to good effect. A Senior -Survey Officer is now preparing remedial measures. He is a ... ah ... -specialist in problems of exactly this nature." - -"_But we can't wait!_" panted the civilian fiercely. "_I'll proclaim a -planetary emergency! We'll take over the reserve area by force! We have -to_--" - -"If you try," Sandringham told him grimly, "I'll mount paralysis-guns -to stop you!" He said with icy precision: "I urged the planetary -government to go easy on this irrigation! You yourself denounced me in -the Planetary Council for trying to interfere in civilian affairs! Now -you want to interfere in Survey affairs! I resent it as much as you -did, and with much better reason!" - -"_Murderer!_" panted the civilian. "_Murderer!_" - -Sandringham snapped off the phone-screen. He swung his chair and -nodded to Hardwick. - -"That was the planetary president," he said dryly. - -Hardwick sat down. The brown dog blinked his eyes open and then got up -and shook himself. - -"I'm holding off those idiots!" said the Sector Chief in suppressed -fury. "I daren't tell him it's more dangerous here than outside! If -or when that fuel blows--Do you realize that the falling of a single -tree limb might set off an explosion in the Reserve-area here that -would--But you know." - -"Yes," admitted Hardwick. - -He did know. Even forty tons of ship-fuel going off would destroy -this entire end of the island. It would be at least the equivalent of -a megaton fusion bomb explosion. And almost certainly the concussion -would produce violent movement of the rest of the island's surface. But -he was uncomfortable about putting forward his own ideas. He was not a -good salesman. He suspected his own opinions until he had proved them -with extremely painstaking care--for fear of having them adopted on his -past record rather than because they were sound. And then, too, his -plan involved junior ranks being informed about the proposal. If they -accepted a dubious plan on high authority, and the plan miscarried, -it made them share in the mistake. Which hurt their self-confidence. -Young Barnes, now, would undoubtedly obey any order and accept any hint -blindly, and Hardwick honestly did not know why. But as a matter of the -training of junior ranks-- - -"About the work to be done," said Hardwick. "I imagine the sea-water -freshening plants have closed down?" - -"They have!" said Sandringham curtly. "They insisted on piling them up -over my protests. Now if anybody proposed operating one, they'd scream -to high heaven!" - -Hardwick felt uncomfortable. - -"What was done with the minerals taken out of the sea water?" - -"You know how the fresheners work!" said Sandringham. "They pump sea -water in at one end, and at the other, one pipe yields fresh water, and -another heavy brine. They dump the heavy brine back overboard and the -fresh water's pumped up and distributed through the irrigation systems." - -"It's too bad some of the salts weren't stored," said Hardwick. "Could -a freshener be started up again?" - -Sandringham said with irony: - -"Oh, the civilians would love that! No! If any man started up a -water-freshener, the civilians would kill him and smash it!" - -"But I think we'll need one. We'll want to irrigate some ground up -here." - -"My God! What for?" demanded Sandringham. Then he said shortly: "No! -Don't tell me! Let me try to work it out." - - * * * * * - -There was silence. The brown dog blinked at Hardwick. He held out his -hand. The dog came sedately to him and bent his head to be scratched. -Hardwick scratched. - -After a considerable time, the Sector Chief growled: - -"I give up. Do you want to tell me?" - -Hardwick said painstakingly: - -"In a sense, the trouble here is that there's a swamp underground, -made by irrigation. It slides. It's really a swamp upside down. On -Soris II we had a very odd problem, only the swamp was right-side-up -there. We'd several hundred square miles of swamp that could be used -if we could drain it. We built a soil-dam around it. You know -the trick. You bore two rows of holes twenty feet apart, and put -soil-coagulant in them. It's an old, old device. They used it a couple -of hundred years ago back on Earth. The coagulant seeps out in all -directions and ... well ... coagulates the dirt. Makes it water-tight. -It swells with water and fills the space between the soil-particles. In -a week or two there's a water-tight barrier, made of soil, going down -to bedrock. You might call it a coffer-dam. No water can seep through. -On Soris II we knew that if we could get the water out of the mud -inside this coffer-dam, we'd have cultivable ground." - -Sandringham said skeptically: - -"But it called for ten years' pumping, eh? When mud doesn't move, -pumping isn't easy!" - -"We wanted the soil," said Hardwick. "And we didn't have ten years. The -Soris II colony was supposed to relieve population-pressure on another -planet. The pressure was terrific. We had to be ready to receive some -colonists in eight months. We had to get the water out quicker than it -could be pumped. And there was another problem mixed up with it. The -swamp vegetation was pretty deadly. It had to be gotten rid of, too. -So we made the dam and ... well ... took certain measures and then we -irrigated it. With water from a nearby river. It was very ticklish. But -we had dry ground in four months, with the swamp-vegetation killed and -turning back to humus." - -"I ought to read your reports," said Sandringham dourly. "I'm too busy, -ordinarily. But I should read them. How'd you get rid of the water?" - -Hardwick told him. He felt uncomfortable about it. The telling required -eighteen words. - -"Of course," he added, "we did pick a day when there was a strong wind -from the right quarter." - -Sandringham stared at him. Then he said vexedly: - -"But how does that apply here? It was sound enough, though I'd never -have thought of it. But what's it got to do with the situation here?" - -"This ... swamp, you might say," said Hardwick, "is underground. But -there's forty feet, on an average, of soil on top." - -He explained painstakingly what difference that made. It took him three -sentences to make the difference clear. - -Sandringham leaned back in his chair. Hardwick scratched the dog, -somewhat embarrassed. Sandringham thought concentratedly. - -"I do not see any possible chance," said Sandringham distastefully, -"of doing it any other way. I would never have thought of that! But at -least ninety per cent of the people on this island, Civilian and Survey -together, will die if we don't do something. So we will do this. But -I'm taking it out of your hands, Hardwick." - -Hardwick said nothing. He waited. - -"Because," said Sandringham, "you're not the man to put over to the -civilians what they must believe. You're not impressive. I know you, -and I know you're a good man in a pinch. But this pinch needs a -salesman. So I'm going to have Werner make the ... er ... pitch to the -planetary government. Results are more important than justice, so -Werner will front this affair." - -Hardwick winced a little. But Sandringham was right. He didn't know how -to be impressive. He could not speak with pompous conviction, which -is so much more convincing than reason, to most people. He wasn't the -man to get the co-operation of the non-Service population, because he -could only explain what he knew and believed, and was not practiced in -persuasion. But Werner was. He had the knack of making people believe -anything, not because it was reasonable but because it was oratory. - -"I suppose you're right," acknowledged Hardwick. "We need civilian help -and a lot of it. I'm not the man to get it. He is." He did not say -anything about Werner being the man to get credit, whether he deserved -it or not. He patted the dog's head and stood up. "I wish I had a good -supply of soil-coagulant. I need to make a coffer-dam in the reserve -area here. But I think I'll manage." - -Sandringham regarded him soberly as he moved to the door. As he was -about to pass out of it, Sandringham said: - -"Hardwick--" - -"What?" - -"Take good care of yourself. Will you?" - - - - - IV - - -Therefore Senior Officer Werner, of the Colonial Survey, received his -instructions from Sandringham. Hardwick never knew the details of the -instructions Werner got. They were possibly persuasive, or they may -have been menacing. But Werner ceased to argue for the movement of any -fraction of the island's population to the arctic ice cap, and instead -made frequent eloquent addresses to the planetary population on the -scientific means by which their lives were to be saved. Between the -addresses, perhaps, he sweated cold sweat when a tree sedately tilted -in what had seemed solid soil, or a building settled perceptibly while -he looked at it, or when ... say ... a section of the island's soil -bulged upward. - -Publicly, he headed citizens' committees, and grandly gave -instructions, and spoke in unintelligible and, therefore, extremely -scientific terms when desperately earnest men asked for explanations. -But he was perfectly clear in what he wanted them to do. - -He wanted drill-holes in the arable soil down to the depth at which the -holes began to close up of themselves. He wanted those holes not more -than a hundred feet apart, in lines which slanted at forty-five degrees -to the gradient of the bedrock. - -Sandringham checked his speeches, at the rate of four a day. Once he -had Hardwick called away from where he supervised extremely improbable -operations. Hardwick was smeared with the island's grayish mud when he -looked into the phone-plate to take the call. - -"Hardwick," said Sandringham curtly, "Werner's saying those holes you -want are to be lines at forty-five degrees to the gradient." - -"That ... I'd like a little more," said Hardwick. "A little less, -rather. If they slanted three miles across the grade for every two -downhill, it would be better. I'd like to put a lot more lines of -holes. But there's the element of time." - -"I'll have him explain that he was misquoted," said Sandringham, -grimly. "Three across to two down. How close do you really want those -lines?" - -"It's not how close," said Hardwick. "I've got to have them quickly. -How does the barometer look?" - -"Down a tenth," said Sandringham. - -Hardwick said: - -"Damn! Has he got plenty of labor?" - -"All the labor there is," said Sandringham. "And I'm having a road laid -along the cliffs for speed with the trucks. If I dared ... and if I had -the pipe ... I'd lay a pipe line." - -"Later," said Hardwick tiredly. "If he's got labor to spare, set them -to work turning the irrigation systems hind part before. Make them -drainage systems. Use pumps. So if rain does come it won't be spread -out on the land by all the pretty ditches. So it will be gathered -instead and either flung back over the cliffs or else drained downhill -without getting a chance to sink into the ground. For the time being, -anyhow." - -Sandringham said evenly: - -"Has it occurred to you what a good, pounding rain would do to -Headquarters, and consequently to public confidence on this island, and -therefore to the attempt of anybody to do anything but wring his hands -because he was doomed?" - -Hardwick grimaced. - -"I'm irrigating, here. I've got a small-sized lake made, and an ice -coffer-dam, and the water-freshener is working around the clock. If -there is labor, tell 'em to fix the irrigation systems into drainage -layouts. That will cheer them, anyhow." - - * * * * * - -He was very weary, then. There is a certain exhausting quality in the -need to tell other men to do work which may cause them to be killed -spectacularly. The fact that one will certainly be killed with them -does not lessen the tension. - -He went back to his work. And it definitely seemed to be as purposeless -as any man's work could possibly be. Down-grade from the now thoroughly -deserted area in which ship-fuel tanks had leaked--quite far -down-grade--he had commandeered all the refrigeration equipment in the -warehouses. Since refrigeration was necessary for fuel-storage, there -was a great deal. He had planted iron pipe in the soil, and circulated -refrigerant in it, and presently there was a wall of solidly frozen -earth which was shaped like a shallow U. It was a coffer-dam. In the -curved part of that U he'd siphoned out a lake. A peristaltic pump ran -sea water from the island's lee out upon the ground--where it instantly -turned to mud--and another peristaltic pump sucked the mud up again and -delivered it down-grade beyond the line of freezing-pipes. It was in -fact a system of hydraulic dredging such as is normally performed in -rivers and harbors. But when topsoil is merely former abyssal mud it -is an excellent way to move dirt. Also, it does not require anybody to -strike blows into soil which may be explosive when one has gotten down -near bedrock, and in particular there are no clanking machines. - -But it was hair-raising. - -In one day, though, he had a sizable lake pumped out. And he pumped it -out to emptiness, painstakingly smelling the water as it went down to a -greater depth below the previous ground surface. At the end of the day -he shivered and ordered pumping ended for the time. - -But then he had the brine-pipe laid around a great circuit, to the -Headquarters ground which was upgrade from the now-deserted square -mile or so in which the fuel tanks lay deep in the soil. And here, -also, he performed excavation without the sound of hammer, shovel, or -pick. He thrust pipes into the ground, and they had nozzles at the end -which threw part of the water backward. So that when sea water poured -into them it thrust them deeper into the ground by the backward jet -action. Again the fact that the soil was abyssal mud made it possible. -The nozzles floated up much grayish mud, but they bored ahead down -to bedrock, and there they lay flat and tunneled to one side and the -other--the tunnels they made being full of water at all times. - -From those tunnels, as they extended, an astonishing amount of sea -water seeped out into the soil near bedrock. But it was sea water. It -was heavily mineralized. And it is a peculiarity of sea water that -it is an electrolyte, and it is a property of electrolytes that they -coagulate colloids, and rather definitely discourage the suspension of -small solid particles which are on the borderline of being colloids. In -fact, the water of the ocean of Canna III turned the ground-soil into -good, honest mud which did not feel at all soapy, and through which it -percolated with a surprising readiness. - -Young Barnes eagerly supervised this part of the operation, once it -was begun. He shamed the Survey personnel assigned to him into perhaps -excessive self-confidence. - -"He knows what he's doing," he said firmly. "Look here! I'll take that -canteen. It's fresh water. Here's some soap. Wet it in fresh water and -it lathers. See? It dissolves. Now try to dissolve it in sea water! -Try it! See? They put salt in the boiled stuff to separate soap out, -when they make it!" He'd picked up that item from Hardwick. "Sea water -won't soften the ground. It can't! Come on, now, let's get another pipe -putting more salt water underground!" - -His workmen did not understand what he was doing, but they labored -zestfully because it was mysterious and for a purpose. But downhill, -in the hydraulic-dredged-out lake, water came seeping in, in the form -of mud. And then another pipe came up from the seashore and the mud -settled solidly on the bottom, not dispersing. It was a rather small -pipe, and the personnel who laid it were bewildered. Because there was -a water-freshening plant down there on the shore, and all the fresh -water was poured back overboard, while the brine--saturated with salts -from the ocean: unable to dissolve a single grain of anything else--was -being used to fill the small artificial lake. - -The second day Sandringham called Hardwick again, and again Hardwick -peered wearily into the phone-screen. - -"Yes," said Hardwick, "the leaked fuel is turning up. In solution, I'm -trying to measure the concentration by matching specific gravities of -lake water and brine, and then sticking electrodes in each. The fuel's -corrosive as the devil. It gives a different EMF. Higher than brine of -the same density. I think I've got it in hand." - -"Do you want to start shipping it?" demanded Sandringham. - -"You can begin pouring it down holes," said Hardwick. "How's the -barometer?" - -"Down three-tenths this morning. Steady now." - -"Damn!" said Hardwick. "I'll set up molds. Freeze it in plastic bags -the size of the bore-holes so it will go down. While it's frozen they -can even push it down deep." - -Sandringham said very grimly: - -"There's been more damned technical work done with ship-fuel than any -other substance since time began. But remember that the stuff can still -be set off, even dissolved in water! Its sensitivity goes down, but -it's not gone!" - -"If it were," said Hardwick drearily, "you could invite in the civilian -population to sit on its rump. I've got something like forty tons of -ship-fuel in brine solution in this lake I pumped out! But it's in -five thousand tons of brine. We don't speak above a whisper when we're -around it. We walk in carpet slippers and you never saw people so -polite! We will start freezing it." - -"How can you handle it?" demanded Sandringham apprehensively. - -"The brine freezes at minus thirty," said Hardwick. "In one per cent -solution it's only five per cent sensitive at minus nineteen. We're -handling it at minus nineteen. I think I'll step up the brine and chill -it a little more." - -He waved a mud-smeared hand and went away. - - * * * * * - -That day, bolster-trucks began to roll out of Survey Headquarters. -They rolled very, very smoothly, and they trailed a fog of chilled air -behind them. And presently there were men with heavy gloves on their -hands taking long things like sausages out of the bolster-trucks and -untying the ends and lowering them down into holes bored in the topsoil -until they reached places where wetness made the holes close up again. -Then the men from Survey pushed those frozen sausages underground still -further by long poles with carefully padded--and refrigerated--ends. -And then they went on to other holes. - -The first day there were five hundred such sausages thrust down into -holes in the ground, which holes to all intents and purposes closed up -behind them. The second day there were four thousand. The third day -there were eight. On the fourth the solution of ship-fuel in brine in -the lake did not give adequate EMF in the little battery-cell designed -to show how much corrosive substance there was in the brine. Hardwick -took samples from the fluid draining into the lake. It was not mud any -longer. Brine flowed at the top of bedrock, and it left the mud behind -it, because salt water remarkably hindered the suspension of former -globigerinous ooze particles. It was practically colloid. Salt water -practically coagulated it. - -The brine flowing from the salt-water tunnels upwind showed no more -ship-fuel in it. Hardwick called Sandringham and told him. - -"I can call in the civilians!" said Sandringham. "You've mopped up the -leaked stuff! It couldn't have been done--" - -"Not anywhere but here, with bedrock handy just underneath, and -slanting," said Hardwick. "But I wouldn't advise it. Tell them they can -come if they want to. They'll sort of drift in. I want to tap some more -ship-fuel for the rest of those bore-holes. From the tanks that haven't -leaked." - -Sandringham hesitated. - -"Twenty thousand holes," said Hardwick tiredly. "Each one had a -six-hundred block of frozen saturated brine dumped in it, with roughly -one pound of ship-fuel in solution. You have gone that far. Might as -well go the rest of the way. How's the barometer?" - -"Up a tenth," said Sandringham. "Still rising." - -Hardwick blinked at him, because he had trouble keeping his eyes open -now. - -"Let's ride it, Sandringham!" - -Sandringham hesitated. Then he said: - -"Go ahead." - -Hardwick waved his arms at his associates, whom he admired with great -fervor in his then-foggy mind, because they were always ready to work -when it was needed, and it had not stopped being needed for five days -running. He explained very lucidly that there were only three more -miles of holes to be filled up, and therefore they would just draw so -much of ship-fuel and blend it carefully with an appropriate amount of -suitable chilled brine and then freeze it in appropriate sausages-- - -Young Lieutenant Barnes said gravely: - -"Yes, sir. I'll take care of it. You remember me, sir! I'll take care -of it." - -Hardwick said: - -"Barometer's up a tenth." His eyes did not quite focus. "All right, -lieutenant. Go ahead. Promising young officer. Excellent. I'll sit down -here for just a moment." - -When Barnes came back, Hardwick was asleep. And a last one hundred and -fifty frozen sausages of brine and ship-fuel went out of Headquarters -within a matter of hours, and then a vast quietude settled down -everywhere. - -Young Barnes sat beside Hardwick, menacing anybody who even thought of -disturbing him. When Sandringham called for him. Barnes went to the -phone-plate. - -"Sir," he said with vast formality. "Mr. Hardwick went five days -without sleep. His job's done. I won't wake him, sir!" - -Sandringham raised his eyebrows. - -"You won't?" - -"I won't, sir!" said young Barnes. - -Sandringham nodded. - -"Fortunately," he observed, "nobody's listening. You are quite right." - -He snapped the connection. And then young Barnes realized that he had -defied a Sector Chief, which is something distinctly more improper in -a junior officer than merely trying to instruct him in topping off his -vacuum-suit tanks. - - * * * * * - -Twelve hours later, however, Sandringham called for him. - -"Barometer's dropping, lieutenant. I'm concerned. I'm issuing a notice -of the impending storm. Not everybody will crowd in on us, but a great -many will. I'm explaining that the chemicals put into the bottom soil -may not quite have finished their work. If Hardwick wakens, tell him." - -"Yes, sir," said Barnes. - -But he did not intend to wake Hardwick. Hardwick, however, woke of -himself at the end of twenty hours of sleep. He was stiff and sore -and his mouth tasted as if something had kittened in it. Fatigue can -produce a hangover, too. - -"How's the barometer?" he asked when his eyes came open. - -"Dropping, sir. Heavy winds, sir. The Sector Chief has opened the -Reserve Area, sir, to the civilians if they wish to come." - -Hardwick computed dizzily on his fingers. A more complex instrument was -actually needed, of course. One does not calculate on one's fingers -just how long a one per cent solution of ship-fuel in frozen brine -has taken to melt, and how completely it has diffused through an -upside-down swamp with the pressure of forty feet of soil on top of it, -and therefore its effective concentration and dispersal underground. - -"I think," said Hardwick, "it's all right. By the way, did they turn -the irrigation systems hind end to?" - -Young Barnes did not know what this was all about. He had to send for -information. Meanwhile he solicitously plied Hardwick with coffee and -food. Hardwick grew reflective. - -"Queer," he said. "You think of the damage forty tons of ship-fuel can -do. Setting off the rest of the store and all. But even by itself it -rates some thousands of tons of TNT. I wonder what TNT was, before it -became a ton-measure of energy? You think of it exploding in one place, -and it's appalling! But think of all that same amount of energy applied -to square miles of upside-down swamp. Hundreds or thousands of miles -of upside-down swamp. D'you know, lieutenant, on Soris II we pumped a -ship-fuel solution onto a swamp we wanted to drain? Flooded it, and let -it soak until a day came with a nice, strong, steady wind." - -"Yes, sir," said Barnes respectfully. - -"Then we detonated it. We didn't have a one per cent solution. It was -more like a thousandth of one per cent solution. Nobody's ever measured -the speed of propagation of an explosion in ship-fuel, dry. But it's -been measured in dilute solution. It isn't the speed of sound. It's -lower. It's purely a temperature-phenomenon. In water, at any dilution, -ship-fuel goes off just barely below the boiling-point of water. -It doesn't detonate from shock when it's diluted enough to be all -ionized--but that takes a hell of a lot of dilution. Have you got some -more coffee?" - -"Yes, sir," said Barnes. "Coming up, sir." - -"We floated ship-fuel solution over that swamp, Barnes, and let it -stand. It has a high diffusion-rate. It went down into the mud--And -there came a day when the wind was right. I dumped a red-hot iron -bar into the swamp water that had ship-fuel in solution. It was the -weirdest sight you ever saw!" - -Barnes served him more coffee. And Hardwick sipped it, and it burned -his tongue. - -"It went up in steam," he said. "The swamp water that had the ship-fuel -dissolved in it. It didn't explode, as a mass. They told me later that -it propagated at hundreds of feet per second only. They could see the -wall of steam go marching across the swamp. Not even high-pressure -steam. There was a _whoosh!_ and a cloud of steam half a mile high -that the wind carried away. And all the surface water in the swamp was -gone, and all the swamp-vegetation parboiled and dead. So"--he yawned -suddenly--"we had a ten-mile by fifty-mile stretch of arable ground -ready for the coming colonists." - -He tried the coffee again. He added reflectively: - -"That trick--it didn't explode the ship-fuel, in a way. It burned it. -In water. It applied the energy of the fuel to the boiling-away of -water. Powerful stuff! We got rid of two feet of water on an average, -counting what came out of the mud. It cost ... hm-m-m ... a fraction of -a gram per square yard." - -He gulped the coffee down. There were men looking at him solicitously. -They seemed very glad to see him awake again. There was a monstrous -bank of cloud-stuff piling up in the sky. He suddenly blinked at that. - -"Hello! How long did I sleep, Barnes?" - -Barnes told him. Hardwick shook his head to clear it. - -"We'll go see Sandringham," said Hardwick, heavily. "I'd like to -postpone firing as long as I can, short of having the stuff start -draining into the sea to leeward." - -There were mud-stained men around the place where Hardwick had slept. -When he went--still groggy--out to the bolster-truck young Barnes had -waiting, they regarded Hardwick in a very satisfying manner. Somebody -grunted, "Good to've worked with you, sir,"--which is about as much of -admiration as anybody would want to hear expressed. These associates of -Hardwick in the mopping-up of leaked ship's fuel would be able to brag -of the job at all times and in all places hereafter. - -Then the truck went trundling away in search of Sandringham. - - * * * * * - -It found him on the cliffs to the windward side of the island. The -sea was no longer a cerulean blue. It was slaty-color. There were -occasional flecks of white foam on the water four thousand feet below. -There were dark clouds, by then covering practically all the sky. Far -out to sea, there were small craft heading grimly for the ends of the -island, to go around it and ride out the coming storm in its lee. - -Sandringham greeted Hardwick with relief. Werner stood close by, -opening and closing his hands jerkily. - -"Hardwick!" said the Sector Chief cordially. "We're having a -disagreement, Werner and I. He's confident that the turning of the -irrigation systems hind end to--making them surface-drainage systems, -in effect--will take care of the whole situation. Adding the brine -underground, he thinks, will have done a good deal more. He says it'll -be bad, psychologically, for anything more to be done. He didn't speak -of it, and it would injure public confidence in the Survey." - -Hardwick said curtly: - -"The only thing that will make a permanent difference on this island -is for the water-fresheners to be a little less efficient. Barnes has -the figures. He computed them from some measurements I had him make. If -the water-freshener plants don't take all the sea-minerals out: if they -don't make the irrigation-water so infernally soft and suitable for -hair-washing and the like: if they turn out hard water for irrigation, -this won't happen again! But there's too much water underground now. We -have got to get it out, because a little more's going underground from -this storm, surface-drainage systems or no surface-drainage systems." - -Sandringham pointed to leeward, where a black, thick procession of -human beings trooped toward the Survey area on foot and by every -possible type of vehicle. - -"I've ordered them turned into the ship-sheds and warehouses," said -the Sector Chief. "But of course we haven't shelter for all of them. -At a guess, when they feel safe they'll go back to their homes even -through the storm." - -The sky to windward grew blacker and blacker. There was no longer a -steady flow of wind coming over the cliff's edge. It came in gusts, -now, of extreme violence. They could make a man stagger on his feet. -There were more flecks of white on the ocean's surface. - -"The boats," added Sandringham, "were licked. There simply wasn't -enough oil to maintain the slick. The radio reports were getting -hysterical before I ordered them told that we had it beaten on shore. -They're running for shelter now. I think they'd have stayed out there -trying to hold the slick in place with their towline, if I hadn't said -we had matters in hand." - -Werner said, tight-lipped: "I hope we have!" - -Hardwick shrugged. - -"The wind's good and strong, now," he observed. "Let's find out. You've -got the starting system all set?" - -Sandringham waved his hand. There was a high-voltage battery set. -It was of a type designed for blasting on airless planets, but that -did not matter. Its cables led snakily for a couple of hundred feet -to a very small pile of grayish soil which had been taken out of a -bore-hole. They went over that untidy heap and down into the ground. -Hardwick took hold of the firing-handle. He paused. - -"How about highways?" he asked. "There might be some steam out of this -hole." - -"All allowed for," said Sandringham. "Go ahead." - -There was a gust of wind strong enough to knock a man down. There -was a humming sound in the air, as storm-wind beat upon the -four-thousand-foot cliff and poured over its top. There were gradually -rising waves, below. The sky was gray. The sea was slate-colored. Far, -far to windward, the white line of pouring rain upon the water came -marching toward the island. - -Hardwick pumped the firing-handle. - -There was a pause, while wind-gusts tore at his garments and staggered -him where he stood. It was quite a long pause. - -Then a white vapor came seeping out of the bore-hole. It was perfectly -white. Then it came out with a sudden burst which was not in any sense -explosive, but was merely a vast rushing of vaporized water. Then, a -hundred yards away, there was a mistiness on the grassy surface. Still -farther, a crack in the surface-soil let out a curtain of white vapor. - -Here and there, everywhere, little gouts of steam poured into the air -and tumbled in the storm-wind. It was notable that the steam did not -come out as an invisible vapor, and condense in midair. It poured out -of the ground in clouds, already condensed but thrust out by more -masses of vapor behind it. It was not super-heated steam that came out. -It was simply steam. Harmless steam, like the steam out of the spouts -of tea kettles. But it rose from individual places everywhere. It made -a massy coating of vapor which the storm-wind blew away. In seconds a -half-mile of soil was venting steam; in seconds more a mile. The thick, -fleecy vapor swept across the landscape. The storm-wind could only -tumble it and sweep it away. - -In minutes there was no part of the island to be seen at all, save only -the thin line of the cliffs reaching away between dark water on the one -hand and snow-white clouds of vapor on the other. - -"It can't scald anybody, can it?" asked Barnes uneasily. - -"Not," said Hardwick, "when it's had to come up through forty feet -of soil. It's been pretty well cooled off in taking up some extra -moisture. It spread pretty well, didn't it?" - - * * * * * - -The Sector Chief's office had tall windows--doors, really--that looked -out upon green lawn and many trees. Now a downpour of rain beat down -outside. Wind whipped at the trees. There was tumult and roaring and -the vibration of gusts of hurricane force. Even the building in which -the Sector Chief's office was, vibrated slightly in the wind. - -The Sector Chief beamed. The brown dog came in uneasily, looked around -the room, and walked in leisurely fashion toward Hardwick. He settled -with a sigh beside Hardwick's chair. - -"What I want to know," said Werner tensely, "is, won't this rain put -back all the water the ship-fuel boiled away?" - -Hardwick said uncomfortably: "Two inches of rain would be a heavy -fall, Sandringham tells me. It's the lack of heavy rains that made -the civilians start irrigating. When you figure the energy-content of -ship-fuel, Werner--an appreciable fraction of the energy in atomic -explosive--it's sort of deceptive. Turn it into thermal units and it -gets to be enlightening. We turned loose, underground, enough heat to -boil away two feet of soil-water under the island's whole surface." - -Werner said sharply: - -"What'll happen when that heat passes up through the soil? It'll kill -the vegetation, won't it?" - -"No," said Hardwick mildly. "Because there _was_ two feet of water to -be turned to steam. The bottom layer of the soil was raised to the -temperature of steam at a few pounds pressure. No more. The heat's -already escaped. In the steam." - -The phone-plate lighted. Sandringham snapped it on. A voice made a -report in a highly official voice. - -"Right!" said Sandringham. The highly official voice spoke again. -"Right!" said Sandringham again. "You may tell the ships in orbit that -they can come down now, if they don't mind getting wet." He turned. -"Did you hear that, Hardwick? They have bored new cores. There are a -few soggy spots, but the ground's as firm, all over the island, as it -was when the Survey first came here. A very good job, Hardwick! A very -good job!" - -Hardwick flushed. He reached down and patted the head of the brown dog. - -"Look!" said the Sector Chief. "My dog, there, has taken a liking to -you. Will you accept him as a present, Hardwick?" - -Hardwick grinned. - - * * * * * - -Young Barnes made ready to rejoin his ship. He was very strictly -Service, very stiffly at attention. Hardwick shook hands with him. - -"Nice to have had you around, lieutenant," he said warmly. "You're a -very promising young officer. Sandringham knows it and has made a note -of the fact. Which I suspect is going to put you to a lot of trouble. -There's a devilish shortage of promising young officers. He'll give you -hellish jobs to do, because he has an idea you'll do them." - -"I'll try, sir," said young Barnes formally. Then he said awkwardly, -"May I say something, sir? I'm very proud, sir, to have worked with -you. But dammit, sir, it seems to me that something more than just -saying thank you was due you! The Service, sir, ought to--" - -Hardwick regarded the young man approvingly. - -"When I was your age," he said, "I'd the very same attitude. But I had -the only reward the Service or anything else could give me. The job -got done. It's the only reward you can expect in the Service, Barnes. -You'll never get any other." - -Young Barnes looked rebellious. He shook hands again. - -"Besides," said Hardwick, "there is no better." - -Young Barnes marched back toward his ship in the great metal -crisscross of girders which was the landing-grid. - -Hardwick absently patted his dog. He headed back toward Sandringham's -office for his orders to return to his own work. - - THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SWAMP WAS UPSIDE DOWN *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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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 swamp was upside down</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Murray Leinster</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 18, 2022 [eBook #68783]</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 SWAMP WAS UPSIDE DOWN ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE SWAMP WAS UPSIDE DOWN</h1> - -<h2>BY MURRAY LEINSTER</h2> - -<p>Illustrated by Freas</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Astounding Science Fiction September 1956.<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 class="ph1">I</p> - - -<p>Hardwick knew the Survey ship had turned end-for-end, because though -there was artificial gravity, it does not affect the semicircular -canals of the human ear. He knew he was turning head-over-heels, -even though his feet stayed firmly on the floor. It was not a normal -sensation, and he felt that queasy, instinctive tightening of the -muscles with which one reacts to the abnormal, whether in things seen -or felt.</p> - -<p>But the reason for turning the ship end-for-end was obvious. It had -arrived very near its destination, and was killing its Lawlor-drive -momentum. Just as Hardwick was assured that the turning motion was -finished, young Barnes—the ship's lowest-ranking commissioned -officer—came into the wardroom and beamed at him kindly.</p> - -<p>"The ship's not landing, sir," he said gently, like one explaining -something to somebody under ten years old. "Our orders are changed. -You're to go to ground by boat. This way, sir."</p> - -<p>Hardwick shrugged. He was a Senior Officer of the Colonial Survey, and -this was a Survey ship, and it had been sent especially to get him -from his last and still unfinished job. It was a top-urgency matter. -This ship had had no other business for some months except to go after -and bring him to Sector Headquarters, down on Canna III which must be -somewhere near. But this young officer was patronizing him!</p> - -<p>Hardwick rather regretfully recognized that he didn't know how to be -impressive. He was not a good salesman of his own importance. He didn't -even get the urgent respect due his rank—and when one thought about -it, it was amazing that he'd ever reached a high level in the Survey.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Now the young officer waited, brisk and kindly and blandly alert in -manner. Hardwick reflected wryly that he could pin young Barnes' ears -back easily enough. But he remembered when he'd been a junior Survey -ship's officer. Then he'd felt a serene condescension toward all people -of whatever rank who did not spend their lives in the cramped, skimped -quarters of a Survey patrol-ship. If this young Lieutenant Barnes were -fortunate, he'd always feel that way. Hardwick could not begrudge him -the cockiness which made the tedium and hardships of the Service seem -to him a privilege.</p> - -<p>So he quite obediently followed Barnes through the wardroom door. He -ducked his head under a ventilation slot and sidled past a standpipe -with bristling air-valve handles. It almost closed the way. There was -the smell of oil and paint and ozone which all proper Survey ships -maintain in their working sections.</p> - -<p>"Here, sir," said Barnes paternally. "This way."</p> - -<p>He offered his arm for Hardwick to steady himself by. Hardwick ignored -it. He stepped over a complex of white-painted pipes. He arrived at an -almost clear way to a boat-blister.</p> - -<p>"And your luggage, sir," added the young man reassuringly, "will follow -you down immediately, sir. With the mail."</p> - -<p>Hardwick nodded. He moved toward the blister door. He practically -edged past constrictions due to new equipment. The Survey ship had been -designed a long time ago, and there were no funds for rebuilding when -improved devices came along. So any Survey ship was apt to be cluttered -up with afterthoughts in metal.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A speaker from the wall said sharply:</p> - -<p>"<i>Hear this! Hold fast! Gravity going off!</i>"</p> - -<p>Hardwick caught at a nearby pipe, and snatched his hand away again—it -was hot—and caught on to another and then put his other hand below. He -applied a trifle of pressure. The young officer said kindly:</p> - -<p>"Hold fast, sir. The ship's gravity is going off. If I may suggest—"</p> - -<p>The gravity did go off. Hardwick grimaced. There'd been a time when he -was used to such matters. This time the sudden outward surge of his -breath caught him unprepared. His diaphragm contracted as the weight -of organs above it ceased to be. He choked for an instant. He was -irritated. He said evenly:</p> - -<p>"I am not likely to go head-over-heels, lieutenant. I served four years -as a junior swot on a ship exactly like this!"</p> - -<p>He did not float about. He held onto a pipe in two places, and he -applied expert pressure in a strictly professional manner, and his -feet remained firmly on the floor. He startled young Barnes by the -achievement, which only junior swots think only junior swots know -about.</p> - -<p>Barnes said, abashed:</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." He held himself firm in the same fashion.</p> - -<p>"I even know," said Hardwick crisply, "that the gravity had to be -cut off because we're approaching another ship on Lawlor-drive. Our -gravity-coils would blow if we got into her field with our drive off, -or if her field pressed ours inboard."</p> - -<p>Young Barnes looked extremely uncomfortable. Hardwick felt sorry for -him. To be chewed—however delicately—for patronizing a senior officer -could not be pleasant. So Hardwick added:</p> - -<p>"And I also remember that, when I was a junior swot I once tried to -tell a Sector Chief how to top off his suit-tanks. So don't let it -bother you!"</p> - -<p>The young officer was embarrassed. But a Sector Chief was so high in -the table of Survey organization that one of his idle thoughts was -popularly supposed to be able to crack a junior officer's skull. If -Hardwick, as a young officer, had really tried to tell a Sector Chief -how to top his suit-tanks.... Why....</p> - -<p>"Thank you, sir," said Barnes awkwardly. "I'll try not to be an ass -again, sir."</p> - -<p>"I suspect," said Hardwick, "that you'll slip occasionally. I did! What -the devil's another ship doing out here and why aren't we landing?"</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't know, sir," said the young officer respectfully. His manner -toward Hardwick was quite changed. "I do know the Skipper came in -expecting to land, sir, by the landing-grid, sir. He was told to stand -off. He's as much surprised as you are, sir."</p> - -<p>The wall-speaker said crisply:</p> - -<p>"<i>Hear this! Gravity returning! Gravity returning!</i>"</p> - -<p>And weight came back. Hardwick was ready for it this time and took it -casually. He looked at the speaker and it said nothing more. He nodded -to the young man.</p> - -<p>"I suppose I'd better get in the boat. No change in that arrangement, -anyhow!"</p> - -<p>He crawled through the blister door and wormed his way into the -landing-boat—designed for a more modern ship, and excessively -inconvenient in such an outmoded launching-device. Barnes crawled in -after him.</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, sir. I'm to take you down."</p> - -<p>He dogged the blister door from the inside, closed the boatport and -dogged it, and flipped a switch.</p> - -<p>"Ready for departure," he said into a microphone.</p> - -<p>A dial on the instrument board flicked halfway to zero. It stopped -there. Seconds passed. A green light glowed. The young officer said:</p> - -<p>"All tight!"</p> - -<p>The needle darted a quarter-way farther over, and then began to descend -slowly. The blister was being pumped empty of air. Presently another -light glowed.</p> - -<p>"Ready for launching," said the young officer briskly.</p> - -<p>There were clankings. The blister-seal broke, and the two halves of -the boat cover drew back. There were stars. To Hardwick they were -unfamiliarly arranged, but he could have picked out Seton and the Donis -cluster in any case, and half a hundred more markers by taking thought -of the position of the planet Canna III, on which Colonial Survey -Sector Headquarters for this part of the galaxy were established.</p> - -<p>The boat moved gently out of its place and the ship's gravity field -ended as abruptly as such fields do.</p> - -<p>The Survey ship floated away, as seen from the vision ports of the -boat. It apparently increased its drive, because the boat swirled and -swayed as changing eddy-currents moved it. The ship grew small and -vanished. The boat hung in emptiness, turning slowly. The sun Canna -came into view. It was very large for a Sol-type sun, and its rim was -almost devoid of the prominences and jet streams of flaming gas that -older suns of the type display. But even out at the third orbit it -provided 0-1 climate—optimum: equivalent to Earth—for the planet -below.</p> - -<p>That planet now came swinging into view as the ship's boat continued to -turn. It was blue. More than ninety per cent of its surface was water, -and much of the solid land was under the northern ice cap. It had been -chosen as Sector Headquarters because of its unsuitability for a large -population, which might resent the considerable land-area needed for -Survey storage and reserve facilities.</p> - -<p>Hardwick regarded it thoughtfully. The boat was, of course, roughly -five planetary diameters out—the conventional distance to which a ship -approached any planet on its own drive. Hardwick could see the ice cap -very clearly, and blue sea beyond it and the twilight-line. There was -one cyclonic storm just dissipating toward the night-side, and the edge -of a similar cloud-system down toward the equator. Hardwick searched -for Headquarters. It was on an island at about forty-five degrees -latitude, which ought to be near the center of the planet's surface as -seen from where the ship's boat floated. But he could not make it out. -There was only the one island of any importance and it was not large.</p> - -<p>Nothing happened. The boat's rockets remained silent. The young officer -sat quietly, looking at the instruments before him. He seemed to be -waiting for something to happen.</p> - -<p>A needle kicked and stayed just off the pin. It was an external-field -indicator. Some field, somewhere, now included the space in which the -ship's boat floated.</p> - -<p>"Hm-m-m," said Hardwick. "You are waiting for orders?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said the young man. "I'm ordered not to land except under -ground instructions, sir. I don't know why."</p> - -<p>Hardwick observed detachedly:</p> - -<p>"One of the worst wiggings I ever got was in a boat like this. I was -waiting for orders and they didn't come. I acted very Service about -it: stiff upper lip and all that. But I was getting in serious trouble -when it occurred to me that it might be my fault I wasn't getting the -orders."</p> - -<p>The young officer glanced quickly at an instrument he had previously -ignored. Then he said relievedly:</p> - -<p>"Not this time, sir. The communicator's turned on, all right."</p> - -<p>Hardwick said:</p> - -<p>"Do you think they might be calling you without shifting from -ship-frequency? They were talking to the ship, you know."</p> - -<p>"I'll try, sir."</p> - -<p>The young man leaned forward and switched to ship-band adjustment of -the communicator. Different wave bands, naturally, were used between a -ship and shore, and a ship and its own boats. A booming carrier wave -came in instantly. The young officer hastily turned down the volume and -words became distinguishable.</p> - -<p>"... <i>What the devil's the matter with you? Acknowledge!</i>"</p> - -<p>The young officer gulped. Hardwick said mildly:</p> - -<p>"Since he ranks you, just say 'Sorry, sir.'"</p> - -<p>"S-sorry, sir," said Barnes into the microphone.</p> - -<p>"<i>Sorry?</i>" snapped the voice from the ground. "<i>I've been calling for -five minutes! Your skipper will hear about this! I shall</i>—"</p> - -<p>Hardwick pulled the microphone before him.</p> - -<p>"My name is Hardwick," he observed, "I am waiting for instructions to -land. My pilot has been listening on boat-frequency, as was proper. -You appear to be calling us on an improper channel. Really—"</p> - -<p>There was stricken silence. Then babbled apologies from the speaker. -Hardwick smiled faintly at young Barnes.</p> - -<p>"It's quite all right. Let's forget it now. But will you give my pilot -his instructions?"</p> - -<p>The voice said strainedly:</p> - -<p>"<i>You're to be brought down by landing-grid, sir. Rocket landings have -been ruled non-permitted by the Sector Chief himself, sir. But we are -already landing one boat, sir. Senior Officer Werner is being brought -in now, sir. His boat is still two diameters out, sir, and it will take -us nearly an hour to get him down without extreme discomfort, sir.</i>"</p> - -<p>"Then we'll wait," said Hardwick. "Hm-m-m. Call us again before you -start hunting us with the landing-beam. My pilot has a rather promising -idea. And will you call us on the proper frequency then, please?"</p> - -<p>The voice aground said unhappily:</p> - -<p>"<i>Yes, sir. Certainly, sir.</i>"</p> - -<p>The carrier-wave hum stopped. Young Barnes said gratefully:</p> - -<p>"Thank you, sir! Hell hath no fury like a ranking officer caught in a -blunder! He'd have twisted my tail for his mistake, sir, and it could -have been bad!" Then he paused. He said uneasily, "But ... beg pardon, -sir! I haven't any promising ideas. Not that I know of!"</p> - -<p>"You have an hour to develop one," Hardwick told him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Internally, Hardwick was disturbed. There were few occasions on -which even one Senior Officer was called in to Sector Headquarters. -Interstellar distances being what they were, and thirty light-speeds -being practically the best available, Senior Officers necessarily -acted pretty much as independent authorities. To call one man in meant -all his other work had to go by the board for a matter of months. But -two—And Werner?</p> - -<p>Werner was getting to ground first. If there were something serious -ashore, Werner would make a great point of arriving first, even if only -by hours. A keen sort of person in giving the right impression, he'd -risen in the Service faster than Hardwick. That other Lawlor field -would have been his ship getting out of the way.</p> - -<p>The young officer at his elbow fidgeted.</p> - -<p>"Beg pardon, sir. What sort of idea should I develop, sir? I'm not sure -I understand—"</p> - -<p>"It's rather annoying to have to stay parked in free fall," said -Hardwick patiently. "And it's always a good practice to review annoying -situations and see if they can be bettered."</p> - -<p>Barnes' forehead wrinkled.</p> - -<p>"We could land much quicker on rockets, sir. And ... even when the -landing-grid reaches out for us, since we've no gravity-coils, they'll -have to handle us very cautiously or they'd break our necks!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick nodded. Barnes was thinking straight enough, but it takes -young officers a long time to think of thinking straight. They have -to obey so many orders unquestioningly that they tend to stop doing -anything else. Yet at each rise in grade some slight trace of increased -capacity to think is required. In order to reach really high rank, -an officer has to be capable of thinking which simply isn't possible -unless he's kept in practice on the way up.</p> - -<p>Young Barnes looked up, startled.</p> - -<p>"Look here, sir!" he said, surprised. "If it takes them an hour to let -down Senior Officer Werner from two planetary diameters, it'll take -much longer to let us down from out here!"</p> - -<p>"True," said Hardwick.</p> - -<p>"And you don't want to spend three hours descending, sir, after waiting -an hour for him!"</p> - -<p>"I don't," admitted Hardwick. He could have given orders, of course. -But if a junior officer were spurred to the practice of thinking, it -might mean that some day he'd be a better senior officer. And Hardwick -knew how desperately few men were really adequate for high authority. -Anything that could be done to increase the number—</p> - -<p>Young Barnes blinked.</p> - -<p>"But it doesn't matter to the landing-grid how far out we are!" he said -in an astonished voice. "They could lock on to us at ten diameters, or -at one! Once they lock the field-focus on us, when they move it they -move us!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick nodded again.</p> - -<p>"So ... so by the time they've got that other boat landed ... why ... I -can use rockets and get down to one diameter myself, sir! And they can -lock onto us there and let us down a few thousand miles only! So we can -get to ground half an hour after the other boat's down instead of four -hours from now."</p> - -<p>"Just so," agreed Hardwick. "At a cost of a little thought and a little -fuel. You do have a promising idea after all, lieutenant. Suppose you -carry it out?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Young Barnes glanced at Hardwick's safety-strap. He threw over the -fuel-ready lever and conscientiously waited the conventional few -seconds for the first molecules of fuel to be catalyzed cold. Once -firing started, they'd be warmed to detonation-readiness in the last -few millimeters of the injection-gap.</p> - -<p>"Firing, sir," he said respectfully.</p> - -<p>There was the curious sound of a rocket blasting in emptiness, when -the sound is conveyed only by the rocket-tube's metal. There was the -smooth, pushing sensation of acceleration. The tiny ship's boat swung -and aimed down at the planet. Lieutenant Barnes leaned forward and -punched the ship's computer.</p> - -<p>"I hope you'll excuse me, sir," he said awkwardly. "I should have -thought that out myself, sir, without prompting. But problems like -this don't turn up very often, sir. As a rule it's wisest to follow -precedents as if they were orders."</p> - -<p>Hardwick said dryly:</p> - -<p>"To be sure! But one reason for the existence of junior officers is the -fact that some day there will have to be new senior ones."</p> - -<p>Barnes considered. Then he said surprisedly:</p> - -<p>"I never thought of it that way, sir. Thank you."</p> - -<p>He continued to punch the computer keys, frowning. Hardwick relaxed -in his seat, held there by the gentle acceleration and the belt. -He'd had nothing by which to judge the reason for his summoning to -Headquarters. He had very little now. But there was trouble of some -sort below. Two senior officers dragged from their own work. Werner, -now—Hardwick preferred not to estimate Werner. He disliked the man, -and would be biased. But he was able, though definitely on the make. -And there was himself. They'd been called to Headquarters where no ship -was to be landed by landing-grid, nor any rocket to come to ground. A -landing-grid could pluck a ship out of space ten planet-diameters out, -and draw it with gentle violence shoreward, and land it lightly as a -feather. A landing-grid could take the heaviest, loaded freighter and -stop it in orbit and bring it down at eight gravities. But the one -below wouldn't land even a tiny Survey ship! And a landing-boat was -forbidden to come down on its rockets!</p> - -<p>Hardwick arranged those items in his mind. He knew the planet below, -of course. When he got his Senior rating he'd spent six months at -Headquarters learning procedures and practices proper to his increased -authority. There was one inhabitable island, two hundred miles long -and possibly forty wide. There was no other usable ground outside the -Arctic.</p> - -<p>The one occupied island had gigantic sheer cliffs on its windward side, -where a great slab of bedrock had split along some submarine fault -and tilted upward above the surface. Those cliffs were four thousand -feet high, but from them the island sloped very, very gently and very -gradually until its leeward shore slipped under the restless sea.</p> - -<p>Sector Headquarters had been placed here because it seemed that -civilians would not want to colonize so limited a world. But there were -civilians, because there was Headquarters. And now every inch of ground -was cultivated and there was irrigation and intensive farming and some -hydroponic establishments. But Sector Headquarters included a vast -reserve area on which a space-fleet might be marshaled in case of need. -The overcrowded civilians were bitter because of the great uncultivated -area the Survey needed for storage and possible emergency use. Even -when Hardwick was here, years back, there was bitterness because the -Survey crowded the civilian economy which had been based on it.</p> - -<p>Hardwick considered all these items. He came to an uncomfortable -conclusion. Presently he looked up. The planet loomed larger. Much -larger.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"I think you'd better lose all planetward velocity before we hook on," -he observed. "The landing-grid crew might have trouble focusing on us -so close if we're moving."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said the young officer. "I will, sir."</p> - -<p>"There's some sort of merry hell below," said Hardwick wryly. "It -looks bad that they won't let a ship come down by grid. It looks worse -that they won't let this one land on its rockets." He paused. "I doubt -they'll risk lifting us off again."</p> - -<p>Young Barnes finished his computations. He looked satisfied. He glanced -at the now-gigantic planet below. He deftly adjusted the course of the -tiny boat. Then he jerked his head around.</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, sir. Did you say we mightn't be able to lift off again?"</p> - -<p>"I could almost predict that we won't," said Hardwick.</p> - -<p>"Would you ... could you say why, sir?"</p> - -<p>"They don't want landings. The trouble is here. If they don't want -landings, they won't want launchings. Werner and I were sent for, so -presumably we're needed. But apparently there's uneasiness about even -our landing. Surely they won't send us off again. I suspect—"</p> - -<p>The loud-speaker said tinnily:</p> - -<p>"<i>Calling boat from landing-grid! Calling boat from landing-grid!</i>"</p> - -<p>"Come in," said Barnes. But he looked uneasily at Hardwick.</p> - -<p>"<i>Correct your course!</i>" commanded the voice sharply. "<i>You are not -to land on rockets under any circumstances! This is an order from the -Sector Chief himself! Stand off! We will be ready to lock on and land -you gently in about fifteen minutes. But meanwhile stand off!</i>"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said young Barnes.</p> - -<p>Hardwick reached over and took the microphone.</p> - -<p>"Hardwick speaking," he said. "I'd like information. What's the trouble -down there that we can't use our rockets?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Rockets are noisy, sir. Even boat-rockets. We have orders to prevent -all physical vibration possible, sir. But I am ordered not to give -details on a transmitter, sir.</i>"</p> - -<p>"I'll sign off," said Hardwick, dryly.</p> - -<p>He pushed the microphone away. He deplored his own lack of -aggressiveness. Werner, now, would have pulled his rank and insisted on -being informed. But Hardwick couldn't help believing that there was a -reason for orders that over-ruled his own.</p> - -<p>The young officer swung the rocket end-for-end. The sensation of -pressure against the back of Hardwick's seat increased.</p> - -<p>Minutes later the speaker said:</p> - -<p>"<i>Grid to boat. Prepare for lock-on.</i>"</p> - -<p>"Ready, sir," said Barnes.</p> - -<p>The small boat shuddered and leaped crazily. It spun. It oscillated -violently through seconds-long arcs in emptiness. Very, very gradually, -the oscillations died. There was a momentary sensation of the faint -tugging of planetary weight, which is somehow subtly different from the -feel of artificial gravity. Then the cosmos turned upside down as the -boat was drawn very swiftly toward the watery planet below it.</p> - -<p>Some minutes later, young Barnes spoke apologetically:</p> - -<p>"Beg pardon, sir," he said diffidently. "I must be stupid, sir, but -I can't imagine any reason why vibrations or noise should make any -difference on a planet. How could it do harm?"</p> - -<p>"This is an ocean-planet," said Hardwick. "It might make people drown."</p> - -<p>The young officer flushed. He turned his head away. And Hardwick -reflected ruefully that the young were always sensitive. But he did not -speak again. When they landed in the vast, spidery landing-grid—a vast -metal grid-work a full half-mile high—Barnes would find out whether he -was right or not.</p> - -<p>He did. And Hardwick was right. The people on Canna III were anxious to -avoid vibrations because they were afraid of drowning.</p> - -<p>Their fears seemed to be rather well-founded.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - - -<p>Three hours after landing, Hardwick moved gingerly over grayish muddy -rock, with a four-thousand-foot sheer drop some twenty yards away. The -ragged edge of a cliff fell straight down for the better part of a -mile. Far below, the sea rippled gently. Hardwick saw a long, long line -of boats moving slowly out to sea. They towed something between them -which reached from boat to boat in exaggerated catenary curves. The -boats moved in line abreast straight out from the cliffs, towing this -floating, curved thing between them.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Hardwick regarded them for a moment and then inspected the grayish -mud underfoot. He lifted his eyes to the inland side of this peculiar -stretch of mountainside muddiness. There was a mast on the rock not far -away. It held up what looked like a vision-camera.</p> - -<p>Young Barnes said:</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, sir. What are those boats doing?"</p> - -<p>"They're towing an oil-slick out to sea," said Hardwick absently, "by -towing a floating line of some sort between them. There isn't enough -oil to maintain the slick, and it's blown landward. So they tow it out -to sea again. It holds down the seas. Every time, of course, they lose -some of it."</p> - -<p>"But—"</p> - -<p>"There are trade winds," said Hardwick, not looking to seaward at -all. "They always blow in the same direction, nearly. They blow -three-quarters of the way around the planet, and they build up seas as -they blow. Normally, the swells that pound against this cliff, here, -will be a hundred feet and more from crest to crest. They'll throw -spray ten times that high, of course, and once when I was here before, -spray came over the cliff-top. The impacts of the waves are—heavy. In -a storm, if you put your ear to the ground on the leeward shore, you -can hear the waves smash against these cliffs. It's vibration."</p> - -<p>Barnes looked uneasily at the cliff's edge and the line of boats -pushing sturdily over an ocean whose waves seemed less than ripples -from nearly a mile above them. But the line of boats was incredibly -long. It was twenty miles in length at the least, and between each two -boats there was the long curved line of something being towed on the -surface.</p> - -<p>"The ... slick holds down the waves," Barnes guessed. "It ... works -best in deep water, I believe. The ancients knew it. Oil on the -waters." He considered. "Working hard to prevent vibrations! Are they -really so dangerous, sir?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick nodded inland. And, at a quarter-mile from the edge of the -cliff there was a peculiar, broken, riven rampart of soil. It might -have been forty feet high, once. Now it was shattered and cracked. It -had the quite incredible look of having been pulled away from where -Hardwick stood, and of having partly disintegrated as it was withdrawn. -There were vertical breaks in its edges. There were broken-off masses -left behind. At one place a clump of perhaps a quarter-acre had not -followed the rest, and trees leaned drunkenly from its top, and at the -edge had fallen outward. And all along the top of the stone cliff for -as far as the eye could see there was this singular retreat of soil and -vegetation from the cliff's edge.</p> - -<p>Hardwick stooped and picked up a bit of the mud underfoot. He rubbed it -between his fingers. It yielded like modeling clay. He dipped a finger -into a gray, greasy-seeming puddle. He looked at the thick liquid on -his finger and then rubbed it against his other palm. Young Barnes -duplicated this last action.</p> - -<p>"It ... feels soapy, sir!" he said blankly. "Like ... wet soap!"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hardwick. "That's the first problem here."</p> - -<p>He turned to a ground-service Survey private. He jerked his head along -the coast line.</p> - -<p>"How much have other places slipped?"</p> - -<p>"Anywhere from this much, sir," said the private, "to two miles and -upward. There's one place where it's moving at a regular rate. Four -inches an hour, sir. It was three-and-a-half yesterday."</p> - -<p>Hardwick nodded.</p> - -<p>"Hm-m-m. We'll go back to Headquarters. Nasty business!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He plodded over the extraordinarily messy footing toward the vehicle -which had brought him here. It was not an ordinary ground-car. Instead -of tires or caterwheels, it rolled upon flaccid, partly-inflated -five-foot rollers. They would be completely unaffected by roughness or -slipperiness of terrain, and if the vehicle fell overboard it would -float. But it was thickly coated with the gray mud of this cliff-top.</p> - -<p>As he moved along, Hardwick was able to see the pattern of the rock -underneath the mud. It was curiously contorted, like something that had -curdled rather than cooled. And, as a matter of fact, it was believed -to have solidified slowly under water at such monstrous pressure -that even molten rock could not make it burst into steam. But it was -above-water now.</p> - -<p>Hardwick climbed into the vehicle, and Barnes followed him. The -bolster-truck turned. It moved toward the broken barrier of earth. -Its five-foot flabby rollers seemed rather to flow over than to -surmount obstacles. Great lumps of drier dirt dented them and did not -disintegrate. There were no stones.</p> - -<p>Hardwick frowned to himself. The bolster-truck more or less flowed up -the crumbling, inexplicably drawing-back mass of soil. Atop it, things -looked almost normal. Almost. There was a highway leading away from the -cliff. At first glance it seemed perfect. But it was cracked down the -middle for a hundred yards, and then the crack meandered off to the -side and was gone. There was a great tree, which leaned drunkenly. A -mile along the roadway its surface buckled as if something had pressed -irresistibly upward from below. The truck rolled over the break.</p> - -<p>It was notable that the motion of the truck was utterly smooth. It -made no vibration at all. But even so it slowed before it moved through -a place where houses—dwellings and a shop or two—clustered closely -together on each side of the road.</p> - -<p>There were people in and about the houses, but they were doing nothing -at all. Some of them stared hostilely at the Survey truck. Some -others deliberately turned their backs to it. There were vehicles -out of shelter and ready to be used, but none was moving. All—very -oddly—were pointed in the direction from which the bolster-truck had -come.</p> - -<p>The truck went on. Presently the extraordinary flatness of the -landscape became apparent. It was possible to see a seemingly -illimitable distance. The ocean forty miles away showed as a thread -of blue beneath the horizon. The island was an almost perfectly plane -surface. But the windward side was tilted up to a height of four -thousand feet above the sea, and the downwind side slipped gently -beneath the waves. There was no hill visible anywhere. No mountains. No -valleys save the extremely minor gullies worn by rain. Even they had -been filled in, or dammed, and tied in to irrigation systems.</p> - -<p>There was a place where there was a row of trees along such a -water-course. Half the row was fallen, and a part of the rest was -tilted. The remainder stood upright and firm. All the vegetation was -perfectly familiar. Most colonies have some vegetation, at least, -directly descended from the mother planet Earth. But this island on -Canna III had been above-water perhaps no more than three or four -thousand years. There had been no time for local vegetation to develop. -When the Survey took it over, there was only tidal seaweed, only one -variety of which had been able to extend itself in web-like fashion -over the soil above water. Terrestrial plants had wiped it out, and -everything was green, and everything was human-introduced.</p> - -<p>But there was something wrong with the ground. At this place the top of -the soil bulged, and tall corn-plants grew extravagantly in different -directions. There, there was a narrow, lipless gap in the ground's -surface. An irrigation-ditch poured water into it. It was not filled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Barnes said distressedly:</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, sir, but how the devil did this happen?"</p> - -<p>"There's been irrigation," said Hardwick patiently. "The soil here was -all ocean-bottom, once—it used to be what is called globigerinous -ooze. There's no sand. There are no stones. There's only bedrock and -formerly abyssal mud. And—some of it underneath is no longer former. -It's globigerinous ooze again."</p> - -<p>He waved his hand at the landscape. It had been remarkably tidy, once. -Every square foot of ground had been cultivated. The highways were of -limited width, and the houses were neat and trim. It was, perhaps, the -most completely civilized landscape in the galaxy. But Hardwick added:</p> - -<p>"You said the stuff felt like soap. In a way it's acting like soap. It -lies on slightly slanting, effectively smooth rock, like a soap-cake on -a slightly slanting sheet of metal. And that's the trouble. So long as -a cake of soap is dry on the bottom it doesn't move. Even if you pour -water on top, like rain, the top will wet, and the water will flow off, -but the bottom won't wet until all the soap is dissolved away. While -that was the process here, everything was all right. But they've been -irrigating."</p> - -<p>They passed a row of neat cottages facing the road. One had collapsed -completely. The others looked absolutely normal. The bolster-truck went -on.</p> - -<p>Hardwick said, frowning:</p> - -<p>"They wanted the water to go into the soil. So they arranged it. A -little of that did no harm. Plants growing dried it out again. One tree -evaporates thousands of gallons a day in a good trade wind. There were -some landslides in the early days, especially when storm-swells pounded -the cliffs, but on the whole the ground was more firmly anchored when -first cultivated than it had been before the colonists came."</p> - -<p>"But—irrigation? The sea's not fresh, is it?"</p> - -<p>"Water-freshening plants," said Hardwick dryly. "Ion-exchange systems. -They installed them and had all the fresh water they could wish for. -And they wished for a lot. They deep-plowed, so the water would sink -in. They dammed the water-courses—and it sank in. What they did -amounted to something like boring holes in the cake of soap I used for -an illustration just now. Water went right down to the bottom. What -would happen then?"</p> - -<p>Barnes said:</p> - -<p>"Why ... the bottom would wet ... and slide! As if it were greased!"</p> - -<p>"Not greased," corrected Hardwick. "Soaped. Soap is viscous. That -is different—and a lucky difference! But the least vibration would -encourage movement. And it does. It has. So the population is now -walking on eggs. Worse, it's walking on the equivalent of a cake of -soap which is getting wetter and wetter on the bottom. It's already -sliding as a viscous substance does—reluctantly. But in spite of the -oil-slick they're trying to keep in place upwind there's still some -battering from the sea. There are still some vibrations in the bedrock. -And so there's a slow, and gentle, and gradual sliding."</p> - -<p>"And they figure," said Barnes abruptly, "that locking onto a ship -with the landing-grid might be like an earthquake." He stopped. "An -earthquake, now—"</p> - -<p>"Not much vulcanism on this planet," Hardwick told him. "But of course -there are tectonic quakes occasionally. They made this island."</p> - -<p>Barnes said uneasily:</p> - -<p>"I don't think, sir, that I'd sleep well if I lived here."</p> - -<p>"You are living here for the moment. But at your age I think you'll -sleep."</p> - -<p>The bolster-truck turned, following the highway. The road was very -even, and the motion of the truck along it was infinitely smooth. Its -lack of vibration explained why it was permitted to move when all -other vehicles were stopped. But Hardwick reflected uneasily that -this did not account for the orders of the Sector Chief forbidding -the rocket-landing of a ship's boat. It was true enough that the -living-surface of the island rested upon slanting stone, and that if -the bottom were wet enough it could slide off into the sea. It already -had moved. At least one place was moving at four inches per hour. But -that was viscous flow. It would be enhanced by vibration, and assuredly -the hammering of seas upon the windward cliff should be lessened by any -possible means.</p> - -<p>But it did not mean that the sound of a rocket-landing would be -disastrous, nor that the straining of a landing-grid as it stopped a -space-ship in orbit and drew it to ground should produce a landslide. -There was something else—though the situation for the island's -civilian population was assuredly serious enough. If any really -massive movement of the ground did begin, viscous or any other; if any -considerable part of the island's surface did begin to move—all of it -would go. And the population would go with it. If there were survivors, -they could be numbered in dozens.</p> - -<p>The tall tamped-earth wall of the Headquarters reserve area loomed -ahead. Sector Headquarters had been established here when there were -no other inhabitants. Seeds had been broadcast and trees planted while -the survey buildings were under construction. Headquarters, in fact, -had been built upon an uninhabited planet. But colonists followed in -the wake of Survey personnel. Wives and children, and then storekeepers -and agriculturists, and presently civilian technicians and ultimately -even politicians arrived as the non-Service population grew. Now Sector -Headquarters was resented because it occupied one fourth of the island. -It kept too much of the planet's useful surface out of civilian use. -And the island was now desperately overcrowded.</p> - -<p>But it seemed also to be doomed.</p> - -<p>As the bolster-truck moved silently toward Headquarters, a hundred-yard -section of the wall collapsed. There was an upsurging of dust. There -was a rumbling of falling, hardened wall. The truck's driver turned -white. A civilian beside the road faced the wall and wrung his -hands, and stood waiting to feel the ground under his feet begin to -sweep smoothly toward the here-distant sea. A post held up a traffic -signal some twenty yards from the gate. It leaned slowly. At a -forty-five-degree tilt it checked and hung stationary. Fifty yards from -the gate, a new crack appeared across the road.</p> - -<p>But nothing more happened. Nothing. Yet one could not be sure that some -critical point had not been passed, so that from now on there would be -a gradual rise in the creeping of the soil toward the ocean.</p> - -<p>Barnes caught his breath.</p> - -<p>"That—makes one feel queer," he said unsteadily. "A ... shock like -that wall falling could start everything off!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick said nothing at all. It had occurred to him that there was -no irrigation of the Survey area. He frowned very thoughtfully—even -worriedly, as the truck went inside the Headquarters gate and -rolled smoothly on over a winding road through definitely parklike -surroundings.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It stopped before the building which was the Sector Chief's own -headquarters in Headquarters. A large brown dog dozed peacefully on the -plastic-tiled landing at the top of half a dozen steps. When Hardwick -got out of the truck the dog got up with a leisurely air. When Hardwick -ascended the steps, with Barnes following him, the dog came forward -with a sort of stately courtesy to do the honors. Hardwick said:</p> - -<p>"Nice dog, that."</p> - -<p>He went inside. The dog sedately followed. The interior of the building -was singularly empty. There was a sort of resonant silence until -somewhere a telewriter began to click.</p> - -<p>"Come along," said Hardwick. "The Sector Chief's office is over this -way."</p> - -<p>Young Barnes followed uncomfortably.</p> - -<p>"It seems odd there's no one around. No secretaries, no sentries, -nobody at all."</p> - -<p>"Why should there be?" asked Hardwick in surprise. "The guards at the -gate keep civilians out. And nobody in the Service will bother the -Chief without reason. At least, not more than once!"</p> - -<p>But across a glistening, empty floor there ran an ominous crack.</p> - -<p>They went down a corridor. Voices sounded, and Hardwick tracked -them, with the paws of the dog clicking on the floor behind him. He -led the way into a spacious, comfortably nondescript room with high -windows—doors, really—that opened on green lawn outside. The Sector -Chief, Sandringham, leaned placidly back in a chair, smoking. Werner, -the other summoned Senior Officer, sat bolt upright in a chair facing -him. Sandringham waved a hand cordially to Hardwick.</p> - -<p>"Back so soon? You're ahead of schedule on all counts! Here's Werner, -back from looking at the fuel-store situation."</p> - -<p>Hardwick suddenly looked as if he'd been jolted. But he nodded, and -Werner tried to smile and failed. He was completely white.</p> - -<p>"My pilot from the ship, who's kept aground," said Hardwick. -"Lieutenant Barnes. Very promising young officer. Cut my landing-time -by hours. Lieutenant, this is Sector Chief Sandringham and Mr. Werner."</p> - -<p>"Have a seat, Hardwick," grunted the Chief. "You, too, lieutenant. How -does it look up on the cliff, Hardwick?"</p> - -<p>"I suspect you know as well as I do," said Hardwick. "I think I saw a -vision-camera planted up there."</p> - -<p>"True enough. But there's nothing like on-the-spot inspection. Now -you're back, how does it look to you?"</p> - -<p>"Inadequate," said Hardwick with some dryness. "Inadequate to explain -some things I've noticed. But it's a very bad situation. Its degree of -badness depends on the viscosity of the mud at bedrock all over the -island. The left-behind mud's like pea soup. It looks really bad! But -what's the viscosity at bedrock with soil pressing down—and I hope -drier soil than at the bottom?"</p> - -<p>Sandringham grunted.</p> - -<p>"Good question. I sent for you, Hardwick, when it began to look bad, -before the ground really started sliding. When I thought it might begin -any time. The viscosity averages pretty closely at three times ten to -the sixth. Which still gives us some leeway. But not enough."</p> - -<p>"Not nearly enough!" said Hardwick impatiently. "Irrigation should have -been stopped a long while back!"</p> - -<p>The Sector Chief grimaced.</p> - -<p>"I've no authority over civilians. They've their own planetary -government. And do you remember?" He quoted: "'Civilian establishments -and governments may be advised by Colonial Survey officials, and may -make requests of them, but in each case such advice or request is to be -considered on its own merits only, and in no case can it be the subject -of a <i>quid-pro-quo</i> agreement.'" He added grimly: "That means you -can't threaten. It's been thrown at my head every time I've asked them -to cut down their irrigation in the past fifteen years! I advised them -not to irrigate at all, and they couldn't see it. It would increase the -food-supply, and they needed more food. So they went ahead. They built -two new sea-water freshening plants only last year!"</p> - -<p>Werner licked his lips. He said in a voice that was higher-pitched than -Hardwick remembered:</p> - -<p>"What's happening serves them right! It serves them right!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick waited.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Now," said Sandringham, "they are demanding to be let into Sector -Headquarters for safety. They say we haven't irrigated, so the ground -we occupy isn't going to slide. They demand that we take them all in -here to sit on their rumps until the rest of the island slides into the -sea or doesn't. If it doesn't, they want to wait here until the soil -becomes stable again because they've quit irrigating."</p> - -<p>"It'd serve them right if we let them in!" cried Werner in shrill -anger. "It's their fault that they're in this fix!"</p> - -<p>Sandringham waved his hand.</p> - -<p>"Administering abstract justice isn't my job. I imagine it's handled in -more competent quarters. I have only to meet the objective situation. -Which"—he paused—"is plenty! Hardwick, you've handled swamp-planet -situations. What can be done to stop the sliding of the island's soil -before it all goes overboard?"</p> - -<p>"Not much, offhand," said Hardwick. "Give me time and I'll manage -something. But a really bad storm, with high seas and plenty of rain, -might wipe out the whole civilian colony. That viscosity figure is -close to hopeless—if not quite."</p> - -<p>The Sector Chief looked impassive.</p> - -<p>"How much time does he have, Werner?"</p> - -<p>"None!" said Werner shrilly. "The only possible thing is to try to move -as many people as possible to the solid ground in the Arctic! The boats -can be crowded—the situation demands it! And if the two space-craft in -orbit are sent to collect a fleet, and as many people as possible are -moved at once—there may be some survivors!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick spread out his hands.</p> - -<p>"I'm wondering," he observed, "what the really serious problem is. -There's more than sliding soil the matter! Else you would ... I'm sure -Lieutenant Barnes has thought of this ... let the civilian population -into Headquarters to sit on its rump and wait for better times."</p> - -<p>Sandringham glanced at young Barnes, who flushed hotly at being noticed.</p> - -<p>"I'm sure you have good reasons, sir," he said embarrassedly.</p> - -<p>"I have several," said the Sector Chief dryly. "For one thing, so long -as we refuse to let them in, they're reassured. They can't imagine we'd -let them down. But if we invited them in they'd panic and fight to get -in first. There'd be a full-scale slaughter right there! They'd be sure -disaster was only minutes off. Which it would be!"</p> - -<p>He paused and glanced from one to the other of the senior officers.</p> - -<p>"When I sent for you," he said wryly, "I meant for you, Hardwick, to -take care of the possible sliding. I meant for Werner, here, to do the -public-relations job of scaring the civilians just enough to make them -let it be done. It's not so simple, now!"</p> - -<p>He drew a deep breath.</p> - -<p>"It's pure chance that there is a Sector Headquarters. Or else it's -Providence. We'll find that out later! But ten days ago it was -discovered that an instrument had gone wrong over in the ship-fuel -storage area. It didn't register when a tank leaked. And—a tank did -leak. You know ship-fuel's harmless when it's refrigerated. You know -what it's like when it's not. Dissolved in soil-moisture, it's not only -catalyzed to explosive condition, but it's a hell of a corrosive, and -it's eaten holes in some other tanks—and can you imagine trying to do -anything about that?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick felt a sensation of incredulous shock. Werner wrung his hands.</p> - -<p>"If I could only find the man who made that faulty tank!" he said -thickly. "He's killed all of us! All! Unless we get to solid ground in -the Arctic!"</p> - -<p>The Sector Chief said calmly:</p> - -<p>"That's why I won't let them in, Hardwick. Our storage tanks go down -to bedrock. The leaked fuel—warmed up, now—is seeping along bedrock -and eating at other tanks, besides being absorbed generally by the soil -and dissolving in the ground-water. We've pulled all personnel out of -all the area it could have seeped down to."</p> - -<p>Hardwick felt slightly cold at the back of his neck.</p> - -<p>"I suspect," he said wryly, "that they came out on tiptoe, holding -their breaths, and that they were careful not to drop anything or -scrape their chairs when they got up to leave. I would have! Anything, -of course, could set it off. But it is bound to go anyhow! Of course! -Now I see why we couldn't make a rocket-landing!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The chilly feeling seemed to spread as he realized more fully. When -ship-fuel is refrigerated during its manufacture, it is about as safe -a substance as can be imagined—so long as it is kept refrigerated. -It is an energy-chemical compound, of atoms bound together with -forced-valence linkages. But enormous amounts of energy are required to -force valences upon reluctant atoms.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>When ship-fuel warms up, or is catalyzed, it goes on one step beyond -the process of its manufacture. It goes on to the modification the -refrigeration prevented. It changes its molecular configuration. What -was stable because it was cold becomes something which is hysterically -unstable because of its structure. The touch of a feather can -detonate it. A shout can set it off.</p> - -<p>It is, indeed, burned only molecule by molecule in a ship's engines, -being catalyzed to the unstable state while cold at the very spot where -it is to detonate. And since the energy yielded by detonation is that -of the forced bonds ... why ... the energy-content of ship-fuel is much -greater than a merely chemical compound can contain. Ship-fuel contains -a measurable fraction of the power of atomic explosive. But it is much -more practical for use on board ship.</p> - -<p>The point now was, of course, that leaked into the ground and -warmed ... why ... practically any vibratory motion will detonate it. -Even dissolved, it can detonate because it is not a chemical but an -energy-release action.</p> - -<p>"A good, drumming, heavy rain," said Sandringham very calmly indeed, -"which falls on this end of the island, will undoubtedly set off some -scores of tons of leaked ship-fuel. And that ought to scatter and -catalyze and detonate the rest. The explosion should be equivalent -to at least a megaton fusion bomb." He paused, and added with irony, -"Pretty situation, isn't it? If the civilians hadn't irrigated, we -could evacuate Headquarters and let it blow—as it will anyhow. If the -fuel hadn't leaked, we could let in the civilians until the island's -soil decides what it's going to do. Either would be a nasty situation, -but the combination—"</p> - -<p>Werner said shrilly:</p> - -<p>"Evacuation to the Arctic is the only possible answer! Some people can -be saved! Some! I'll take a boat and equipment and go on ahead and get -some sort of refuge ready."</p> - -<p>There was dead silence. The brown dog, who had followed Hardwick -from the outer terrace, now yawned loudly. Hardwick reached over and -absent-mindedly scratched his ears. Young Barnes swallowed.</p> - -<p>"Beg pardon, sir," he said awkwardly. "But what's the weather forecast?"</p> - -<p>"Continued fair," said Sandringham pleasantly. "That's why I had -Hardwick and Werner come down. Three heads are better than one. I've -gambled their lives on their brains."</p> - -<p>Hardwick continued thoughtfully to scratch the brown dog's ears. Werner -licked his lips. Young Barnes looked from one to another of them. Then -he looked back at the Sector Chief.</p> - -<p>"Sir," he said awkwardly. "I ... I think the odds are pretty good. Mr. -Hardwick, sir—He'll manage!"</p> - -<p>Then he flushed hotly at his own presumption in saying something -consoling to a Sector Chief. It was comparable to telling him how to -top off his vacuum-suit tanks.</p> - -<p>But the Sector Chief nodded in grave approval and turned to Hardwick to -hear what he had to say.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - - -<p>The leeward side of the island went very gently into the water. From -a boat offshore—say, a couple of miles out—the shoreline looked low -and flat and peaceful. There were houses in view, and there were boats -afloat. But they were much smaller than those that had been towing a -twenty-mile-long oil-slick out to sea. These boats did not ply back -and forth. Most of them seemed anchored. On some of them there was -activity. Men went overboard, without splashing, and things came up -from the ocean bottom and were dumped inside their hulls, and then -baskets went back down into the water. At long intervals—quite long -intervals—men emerged from underwater and sat on the sides of the -boats and smoked with an effect of leisure.</p> - -<p>There was sunshine, and the land was green, and a seeming of -vast tranquillity hung over the whole seascape. But the small -Survey-personnel recreation-boat moved in toward the shore, and the -look of things changed. At a mile, a mass of green that had seemed to -be trees growing down to the water's edge became a thicket of tumbled -trunks and overset branches where a tree-thicket had collapsed. At half -a mile the water was opaque. There were things floating in it—the -roof of a house; the leaves of an ornamental shrub, with nearby its -roots showing at the surface, washed clean. A child's toy bobbed past -the boat. It looked horribly pathetic. There were the exotic planes -and angles of three wooden steps, floating in the ripples of the great -ocean.</p> - -<p>"Ignoring the imminent explosion of the fuel store," said Hardwick -dryly, "we need to find out something about what has to be done to the -soil to stop its creeping. I hope you remembered, lieutenant, to ask a -great many useless questions."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said Barnes. "I tried to, sir. I asked everything I could -think of."</p> - -<p>"Those boats yonder?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick indicated a boat from which something like a wire basket -splashed into the water as he gestured.</p> - -<p>"A garden boat, sir," said Barnes. "On this side of the island the sea -bottom slopes so gradually, sir, that there are sea gardens on the -bottom. Shellfish from Earth do not thrive, sir, but there are edible -sea plants. The gardeners cultivate them as on land, sir."</p> - -<p>Hardwick reached overside and carefully took his twentieth sample of -the sea water. He squinted, and estimated the distance to shore.</p> - -<p>"I shall try to imagine someone wearing a diving mask and using a hoe," -he said dryly. "What's the depth here?"</p> - -<p>"We're half a mile out, sir," said Barnes promptly. "It should be about -sixty feet, sir. The bottom seems to have about a three per cent grade, -sir. That's the angle of repose of the mud. There's no sand to make a -steeper slope possible."</p> - -<p>"Three per cent's not bad!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick looked pleased. He picked up one of his earlier samples and -tilted it, checking the angle at which the sediment came to rest. The -bottom mud, here, was essentially the same as the soil of the land. But -the soil of the island was infinitely finely-divided. In fresh water it -floated practically like a colloid. In sea water, obviously, it sank -because of the salinity which made suspension difficult.</p> - -<p>"You see the point, eh?" he asked. When Barnes shook his head, Hardwick -explained, "Probably for my sins I've had a good deal to do with swamp -planets. The mud of a salt swamp is quite different from a fresh-water -swamp. The essential trouble with the people ashore is that by their -irrigation they've contrived an island-wide swamp which happens to be -upside down—the mud at the bottom. So the question is, can it acquire -the properties of a salt swamp instead of a fresh-water swamp without -killing all the vegetation on the surface? That's why I'm after these -samples. As we go inshore the water should be fresher—on a shallowing -shore like this with drainage in this direction."</p> - -<p>He gestured to the Survey private at the stern of the boat.</p> - -<p>"Closer in, please."</p> - -<p>Barnes said:</p> - -<p>"Sir, motorboats are forbidden inshore. The vibrations."</p> - -<p>Hardwick shrugged.</p> - -<p>"We will obey the rule. I've probably samples enough. How far out do -the mudflats run—at the surface?"</p> - -<p>"About two hundred yards at the surface, sir. The mud's about the -consistency of thick cream. You can see where the ripples stop, sir."</p> - -<p>Hardwick stared. He turned his eyes away.</p> - -<p>"Er ... sir," said Barnes unhappily. "May I ask, sir—"</p> - -<p>Hardwick said dryly:</p> - -<p>"You may. But the answer's pure theory. This information will do no -good at all unless all the rest of the problem we face is solved. But -solving the rest of the problem will do no good if this part remains -unsolved. You see?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir. But ... the others seem more ... urgent, sir."</p> - -<p>Hardwick shrugged.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a shout from a nearby boat. Men were pointing ashore. -Hardwick jerked his eyes to the shoreline.</p> - -<p>A section of seemingly solid ground moved slowly toward the water. Its -forefront seemed to disintegrate, and a singularly slow-moving swell -moved out over the rippleless border of the sea, where mudbanks like -thick cream reached the surface.</p> - -<p>The moving mass was a good half-mile in width. Its outer edge dissolved -in the sea, and the top tilted, and green vegetation leaned downwind -and very deliberately subsided into the water. It was remarkably like -the way an ingot of non-ferrous metal slides into the pool made by its -own melting.</p> - -<p>But the aftermath was somehow horrifying. When the tumbled soil was -all dissolved—and the grass undulated like a floating meadow on the -water—there remained a jagged shallow gap in the land-bank. There were -irregularities: vertical striations and unevennesses in the exposed, -broken soil.</p> - -<p>Hardwick snatched up glasses and put them to his eyes. The shore seemed -to leap toward him. He saw the harsh outlines of the temporary cliff -go soft. The bottom ceased to look like soil. It glistened. It moved -outward in masses which grew rounder as they swelled. They flowed after -the now-vanished fallen stuff, into the water. The topsoil was suddenly -undercut. The wetter material under it flowed away, leaving a ledge -which bore carefully tended flowering shrubs—Hardwick could see specks -of color which were their blossoms—and a brightly-colored, small trim -house in which some family had lived.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The flow-away of the deeper soil made a greater, more cavernous hollow -beneath the surface. It began to collapse. The house teetered. It fell. -It smashed. More soil dropped down, and more, and more.</p> - -<p>Presently there was a depression, a sort of valley leading inland away -from the sea, in what had been a rampart of green at the water's edge. -It was still green, but through the glasses Hardwick could see that -trees had fallen, and a white-painted fence was splintered. And there -was still movement.</p> - -<p>The movement slowed and slowed, but it was not possible to say when -it stopped. In reality, it did not stop. The island's soil was still -flowing into the ocean.</p> - -<p>Barnes drew a deep breath.</p> - -<p>"I ... thought that was it, sir," he said shakily. "I mean ... that the -whole island would start sliding."</p> - -<p>"The ground's a bit more water-soaked down here," Hardwick said -briefly. "Inland the bottom-soil's not nearly as fluid as here. But I'd -hate to have a really heavy rainfall right now!"</p> - -<p>Barnes' mind jerked back to the Sector Chief's office.</p> - -<p>"The drumming would set off the ship-fuel?"</p> - -<p>"Among other things," said Hardwick. "Yes." Then he said abruptly: "How -good are you at precision measurements? I've messed around on swamp -planets. I know a bit too much about what I ought to find, which is not -good for accuracy. Can you take these bottles and measure the rate of -sedimentation and plot it against salinity?"</p> - -<p>"Y-yes, sir. I'll try, sir."</p> - -<p>"If we had soil-coagulants enough," said Hardwick vexedly, "we could -handle that upside-down swamp the civilians have so carefully made, -here. But we haven't got it! But the freshened sea water they've been -irrigating with is practically mineral-free! I want to know how much -mineral content in the water would keep the swamp-mud from acting like -wet soap. It's entirely possible that we'd have to make the soil too -salty to grow anything, in order to anchor it. But I want to know!"</p> - -<p>Barnes said uncomfortably:</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't you, sir ... wouldn't you have to put the minerals in -irrigation-water to get them down to the ... the swamp?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick grinned, very surprisingly.</p> - -<p>"You've got promise, Barnes! Yes. I would. And it would increase the -rate of slide before it stopped it. Which could be another problem. But -it was good work to think of it! When we get back to Headquarters, you -commandeer a laboratory and make those measurements for me."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said Barnes.</p> - -<p>"We'll start back now," said Hardwick.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The recreation-boat obediently turned. It went out to sea until the -water flowing past its hull was crystal-clear. And Hardwick seemed -to relax. On the way they passed more small boats. Many of them were -gardeners' boats, from which men dived with diving masks to tend or -harvest the cultivated garden-patches not too far down. But many were -pleasure boats, from double-hulled sailing craft intended purely for -sport, to sturdy though small cabin cruisers which could venture -far out to sea, or even around to the windward of the island for -sport-fishing. All the pleasure craft were crowded—there were usually -some children—and it was noticeable that on each one there were always -some faces turned toward the shore.</p> - -<p>"That," said Hardwick, "makes for emotional thinking. These people -know their danger. So they've packed their children and their wives -into these little cockleshells to try to save them. They're waiting -offshore here to find out if they're doomed regardless. I wouldn't -say"—he nodded toward a delicately designed twin-hull sailer with more -children than adults aboard—"I wouldn't call that a good substitute -for an Ark!"</p> - -<p>Young Barnes fidgeted. The boat turned again and went parallel to the -shore toward where Headquarters land came down to the sea. The ground -was firmer, there. There had been no irrigation. Lateral seepage had -done some damage at the edge of the reserve, but the major part of -the shoreline was unbroken, unchanged solid ground, looming above the -beach. There was, of course, no sand at the edge of the water. There -had been no weathering of rock to produce it. When this island was -upraised, its coating of hardened ooze protected the stone. The small -lee-side waves merely lapped upon bare, curdled rock. The wharf for -pleasure boats went out on metal pilings into deep water.</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, sir," said young Barnes embarrassedly, "but ... if the fuel -blows, it'll be pretty bad, sir."</p> - -<p>"That's the understatement of the century," Hardwick commented. "Yes. -It will. Why?"</p> - -<p>"You've something in mind, sir, to try to save the rest of the island. -Nobody else seems to know what to do. If ... if I may say so, sir, your -... safety is pretty important. And you could do your work on the -cliffs, sir, and ... if I could stay at Headquarters and—"</p> - -<p>He stopped, appalled at his own presumption in suggesting that he could -substitute for a Senior Officer even as a message-boy, and even for his -convenience or safety. He began to stammer:</p> - -<p>"I m-mean, sir, n-not that I'm capable of it, sir—"</p> - -<p>"Stop stammering," grunted Hardwick. "There aren't two separate -problems. There's one which is the compound of the two. I'm staying -at Headquarters to try something on the ship-fuel side, and Werner -will specialize on the rest of the island since he hasn't come up with -anything but shifting people to the ice pack. And the situation isn't -hopeless! If there's an earthquake or a storm, of course we'll be wiped -out. But short of one of those calamities, we can save part of the -island. I don't know how much, but some. You make those measurements. -If you're doubtful, get a Headquarters man to duplicate them. Then give -me both sets."</p> - -<p>"Y-yes, sir," said Young Barnes, miserably.</p> - -<p>"And," said Hardwick formidably. "Never try to push your ranking -officer into a safe place, even if you're willing to take his risk! -Would you like it if a man under you tried to put you in a safe place -while he took the chance that was yours?"</p> - -<p>"N-no, sir!" admitted the very junior lieutenant. "But—"</p> - -<p>"Make those measurements!" snapped Hardwick.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The boat came into the dock. Hardwick got out of the boat. He went to -Sandringham's office.</p> - -<p>Sandringham was in the act of listening to somebody in the -phone-screen, who apparently was on the thin edge of hysteria. The -brown dog was sprawled asleep on the rug.</p> - -<p>When the man in the vision-screen panted to a stop, Sandringham said -calmly:</p> - -<p>"I am assured that before the soil of the island is too far gone, -measures now in preparation will be applied to good effect. A Senior -Survey Officer is now preparing remedial measures. He is a ... ah ... -specialist in problems of exactly this nature."</p> - -<p>"<i>But we can't wait!</i>" panted the civilian fiercely. "<i>I'll proclaim a -planetary emergency! We'll take over the reserve area by force! We have -to</i>—"</p> - -<p>"If you try," Sandringham told him grimly, "I'll mount paralysis-guns -to stop you!" He said with icy precision: "I urged the planetary -government to go easy on this irrigation! You yourself denounced me in -the Planetary Council for trying to interfere in civilian affairs! Now -you want to interfere in Survey affairs! I resent it as much as you -did, and with much better reason!"</p> - -<p>"<i>Murderer!</i>" panted the civilian. "<i>Murderer!</i>"</p> - -<p>Sandringham snapped off the phone-screen. He swung his chair and -nodded to Hardwick.</p> - -<p>"That was the planetary president," he said dryly.</p> - -<p>Hardwick sat down. The brown dog blinked his eyes open and then got up -and shook himself.</p> - -<p>"I'm holding off those idiots!" said the Sector Chief in suppressed -fury. "I daren't tell him it's more dangerous here than outside! If -or when that fuel blows—Do you realize that the falling of a single -tree limb might set off an explosion in the Reserve-area here that -would—But you know."</p> - -<p>"Yes," admitted Hardwick.</p> - -<p>He did know. Even forty tons of ship-fuel going off would destroy -this entire end of the island. It would be at least the equivalent of -a megaton fusion bomb explosion. And almost certainly the concussion -would produce violent movement of the rest of the island's surface. But -he was uncomfortable about putting forward his own ideas. He was not a -good salesman. He suspected his own opinions until he had proved them -with extremely painstaking care—for fear of having them adopted on his -past record rather than because they were sound. And then, too, his -plan involved junior ranks being informed about the proposal. If they -accepted a dubious plan on high authority, and the plan miscarried, -it made them share in the mistake. Which hurt their self-confidence. -Young Barnes, now, would undoubtedly obey any order and accept any hint -blindly, and Hardwick honestly did not know why. But as a matter of the -training of junior ranks—</p> - -<p>"About the work to be done," said Hardwick. "I imagine the sea-water -freshening plants have closed down?"</p> - -<p>"They have!" said Sandringham curtly. "They insisted on piling them up -over my protests. Now if anybody proposed operating one, they'd scream -to high heaven!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick felt uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>"What was done with the minerals taken out of the sea water?"</p> - -<p>"You know how the fresheners work!" said Sandringham. "They pump sea -water in at one end, and at the other, one pipe yields fresh water, and -another heavy brine. They dump the heavy brine back overboard and the -fresh water's pumped up and distributed through the irrigation systems."</p> - -<p>"It's too bad some of the salts weren't stored," said Hardwick. "Could -a freshener be started up again?"</p> - -<p>Sandringham said with irony:</p> - -<p>"Oh, the civilians would love that! No! If any man started up a -water-freshener, the civilians would kill him and smash it!"</p> - -<p>"But I think we'll need one. We'll want to irrigate some ground up -here."</p> - -<p>"My God! What for?" demanded Sandringham. Then he said shortly: "No! -Don't tell me! Let me try to work it out."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was silence. The brown dog blinked at Hardwick. He held out his -hand. The dog came sedately to him and bent his head to be scratched. -Hardwick scratched.</p> - -<p>After a considerable time, the Sector Chief growled:</p> - -<p>"I give up. Do you want to tell me?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick said painstakingly:</p> - -<p>"In a sense, the trouble here is that there's a swamp underground, -made by irrigation. It slides. It's really a swamp upside down. On -Soris II we had a very odd problem, only the swamp was right-side-up -there. We'd several hundred square miles of swamp that could be used -if we could drain it. We built a soil-dam around it. You know -the trick. You bore two rows of holes twenty feet apart, and put -soil-coagulant in them. It's an old, old device. They used it a couple -of hundred years ago back on Earth. The coagulant seeps out in all -directions and ... well ... coagulates the dirt. Makes it water-tight. -It swells with water and fills the space between the soil-particles. In -a week or two there's a water-tight barrier, made of soil, going down -to bedrock. You might call it a coffer-dam. No water can seep through. -On Soris II we knew that if we could get the water out of the mud -inside this coffer-dam, we'd have cultivable ground."</p> - -<p>Sandringham said skeptically:</p> - -<p>"But it called for ten years' pumping, eh? When mud doesn't move, -pumping isn't easy!"</p> - -<p>"We wanted the soil," said Hardwick. "And we didn't have ten years. The -Soris II colony was supposed to relieve population-pressure on another -planet. The pressure was terrific. We had to be ready to receive some -colonists in eight months. We had to get the water out quicker than it -could be pumped. And there was another problem mixed up with it. The -swamp vegetation was pretty deadly. It had to be gotten rid of, too. -So we made the dam and ... well ... took certain measures and then we -irrigated it. With water from a nearby river. It was very ticklish. But -we had dry ground in four months, with the swamp-vegetation killed and -turning back to humus."</p> - -<p>"I ought to read your reports," said Sandringham dourly. "I'm too busy, -ordinarily. But I should read them. How'd you get rid of the water?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick told him. He felt uncomfortable about it. The telling required -eighteen words.</p> - -<p>"Of course," he added, "we did pick a day when there was a strong wind -from the right quarter."</p> - -<p>Sandringham stared at him. Then he said vexedly:</p> - -<p>"But how does that apply here? It was sound enough, though I'd never -have thought of it. But what's it got to do with the situation here?"</p> - -<p>"This ... swamp, you might say," said Hardwick, "is underground. But -there's forty feet, on an average, of soil on top."</p> - -<p>He explained painstakingly what difference that made. It took him three -sentences to make the difference clear.</p> - -<p>Sandringham leaned back in his chair. Hardwick scratched the dog, -somewhat embarrassed. Sandringham thought concentratedly.</p> - -<p>"I do not see any possible chance," said Sandringham distastefully, -"of doing it any other way. I would never have thought of that! But at -least ninety per cent of the people on this island, Civilian and Survey -together, will die if we don't do something. So we will do this. But -I'm taking it out of your hands, Hardwick."</p> - -<p>Hardwick said nothing. He waited.</p> - -<p>"Because," said Sandringham, "you're not the man to put over to the -civilians what they must believe. You're not impressive. I know you, -and I know you're a good man in a pinch. But this pinch needs a -salesman. So I'm going to have Werner make the ... er ... pitch to the -planetary government. Results are more important than justice, so -Werner will front this affair."</p> - -<p>Hardwick winced a little. But Sandringham was right. He didn't know how -to be impressive. He could not speak with pompous conviction, which -is so much more convincing than reason, to most people. He wasn't the -man to get the co-operation of the non-Service population, because he -could only explain what he knew and believed, and was not practiced in -persuasion. But Werner was. He had the knack of making people believe -anything, not because it was reasonable but because it was oratory.</p> - -<p>"I suppose you're right," acknowledged Hardwick. "We need civilian help -and a lot of it. I'm not the man to get it. He is." He did not say -anything about Werner being the man to get credit, whether he deserved -it or not. He patted the dog's head and stood up. "I wish I had a good -supply of soil-coagulant. I need to make a coffer-dam in the reserve -area here. But I think I'll manage."</p> - -<p>Sandringham regarded him soberly as he moved to the door. As he was -about to pass out of it, Sandringham said:</p> - -<p>"Hardwick—"</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"Take good care of yourself. Will you?"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - - -<p>Therefore Senior Officer Werner, of the Colonial Survey, received his -instructions from Sandringham. Hardwick never knew the details of the -instructions Werner got. They were possibly persuasive, or they may -have been menacing. But Werner ceased to argue for the movement of any -fraction of the island's population to the arctic ice cap, and instead -made frequent eloquent addresses to the planetary population on the -scientific means by which their lives were to be saved. Between the -addresses, perhaps, he sweated cold sweat when a tree sedately tilted -in what had seemed solid soil, or a building settled perceptibly while -he looked at it, or when ... say ... a section of the island's soil -bulged upward.</p> - -<p>Publicly, he headed citizens' committees, and grandly gave -instructions, and spoke in unintelligible and, therefore, extremely -scientific terms when desperately earnest men asked for explanations. -But he was perfectly clear in what he wanted them to do.</p> - -<p>He wanted drill-holes in the arable soil down to the depth at which the -holes began to close up of themselves. He wanted those holes not more -than a hundred feet apart, in lines which slanted at forty-five degrees -to the gradient of the bedrock.</p> - -<p>Sandringham checked his speeches, at the rate of four a day. Once he -had Hardwick called away from where he supervised extremely improbable -operations. Hardwick was smeared with the island's grayish mud when he -looked into the phone-plate to take the call.</p> - -<p>"Hardwick," said Sandringham curtly, "Werner's saying those holes you -want are to be lines at forty-five degrees to the gradient."</p> - -<p>"That ... I'd like a little more," said Hardwick. "A little less, -rather. If they slanted three miles across the grade for every two -downhill, it would be better. I'd like to put a lot more lines of -holes. But there's the element of time."</p> - -<p>"I'll have him explain that he was misquoted," said Sandringham, -grimly. "Three across to two down. How close do you really want those -lines?"</p> - -<p>"It's not how close," said Hardwick. "I've got to have them quickly. -How does the barometer look?"</p> - -<p>"Down a tenth," said Sandringham.</p> - -<p>Hardwick said:</p> - -<p>"Damn! Has he got plenty of labor?"</p> - -<p>"All the labor there is," said Sandringham. "And I'm having a road laid -along the cliffs for speed with the trucks. If I dared ... and if I had -the pipe ... I'd lay a pipe line."</p> - -<p>"Later," said Hardwick tiredly. "If he's got labor to spare, set them -to work turning the irrigation systems hind part before. Make them -drainage systems. Use pumps. So if rain does come it won't be spread -out on the land by all the pretty ditches. So it will be gathered -instead and either flung back over the cliffs or else drained downhill -without getting a chance to sink into the ground. For the time being, -anyhow."</p> - -<p>Sandringham said evenly:</p> - -<p>"Has it occurred to you what a good, pounding rain would do to -Headquarters, and consequently to public confidence on this island, and -therefore to the attempt of anybody to do anything but wring his hands -because he was doomed?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick grimaced.</p> - -<p>"I'm irrigating, here. I've got a small-sized lake made, and an ice -coffer-dam, and the water-freshener is working around the clock. If -there is labor, tell 'em to fix the irrigation systems into drainage -layouts. That will cheer them, anyhow."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He was very weary, then. There is a certain exhausting quality in the -need to tell other men to do work which may cause them to be killed -spectacularly. The fact that one will certainly be killed with them -does not lessen the tension.</p> - -<p>He went back to his work. And it definitely seemed to be as purposeless -as any man's work could possibly be. Down-grade from the now thoroughly -deserted area in which ship-fuel tanks had leaked—quite far -down-grade—he had commandeered all the refrigeration equipment in the -warehouses. Since refrigeration was necessary for fuel-storage, there -was a great deal. He had planted iron pipe in the soil, and circulated -refrigerant in it, and presently there was a wall of solidly frozen -earth which was shaped like a shallow U. It was a coffer-dam. In the -curved part of that U he'd siphoned out a lake. A peristaltic pump ran -sea water from the island's lee out upon the ground—where it instantly -turned to mud—and another peristaltic pump sucked the mud up again and -delivered it down-grade beyond the line of freezing-pipes. It was in -fact a system of hydraulic dredging such as is normally performed in -rivers and harbors. But when topsoil is merely former abyssal mud it -is an excellent way to move dirt. Also, it does not require anybody to -strike blows into soil which may be explosive when one has gotten down -near bedrock, and in particular there are no clanking machines.</p> - -<p>But it was hair-raising.</p> - -<p>In one day, though, he had a sizable lake pumped out. And he pumped it -out to emptiness, painstakingly smelling the water as it went down to a -greater depth below the previous ground surface. At the end of the day -he shivered and ordered pumping ended for the time.</p> - -<p>But then he had the brine-pipe laid around a great circuit, to the -Headquarters ground which was upgrade from the now-deserted square -mile or so in which the fuel tanks lay deep in the soil. And here, -also, he performed excavation without the sound of hammer, shovel, or -pick. He thrust pipes into the ground, and they had nozzles at the end -which threw part of the water backward. So that when sea water poured -into them it thrust them deeper into the ground by the backward jet -action. Again the fact that the soil was abyssal mud made it possible. -The nozzles floated up much grayish mud, but they bored ahead down -to bedrock, and there they lay flat and tunneled to one side and the -other—the tunnels they made being full of water at all times.</p> - -<p>From those tunnels, as they extended, an astonishing amount of sea -water seeped out into the soil near bedrock. But it was sea water. It -was heavily mineralized. And it is a peculiarity of sea water that -it is an electrolyte, and it is a property of electrolytes that they -coagulate colloids, and rather definitely discourage the suspension of -small solid particles which are on the borderline of being colloids. In -fact, the water of the ocean of Canna III turned the ground-soil into -good, honest mud which did not feel at all soapy, and through which it -percolated with a surprising readiness.</p> - -<p>Young Barnes eagerly supervised this part of the operation, once it -was begun. He shamed the Survey personnel assigned to him into perhaps -excessive self-confidence.</p> - -<p>"He knows what he's doing," he said firmly. "Look here! I'll take that -canteen. It's fresh water. Here's some soap. Wet it in fresh water and -it lathers. See? It dissolves. Now try to dissolve it in sea water! -Try it! See? They put salt in the boiled stuff to separate soap out, -when they make it!" He'd picked up that item from Hardwick. "Sea water -won't soften the ground. It can't! Come on, now, let's get another pipe -putting more salt water underground!"</p> - -<p>His workmen did not understand what he was doing, but they labored -zestfully because it was mysterious and for a purpose. But downhill, -in the hydraulic-dredged-out lake, water came seeping in, in the form -of mud. And then another pipe came up from the seashore and the mud -settled solidly on the bottom, not dispersing. It was a rather small -pipe, and the personnel who laid it were bewildered. Because there was -a water-freshening plant down there on the shore, and all the fresh -water was poured back overboard, while the brine—saturated with salts -from the ocean: unable to dissolve a single grain of anything else—was -being used to fill the small artificial lake.</p> - -<p>The second day Sandringham called Hardwick again, and again Hardwick -peered wearily into the phone-screen.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hardwick, "the leaked fuel is turning up. In solution, I'm -trying to measure the concentration by matching specific gravities of -lake water and brine, and then sticking electrodes in each. The fuel's -corrosive as the devil. It gives a different EMF. Higher than brine of -the same density. I think I've got it in hand."</p> - -<p>"Do you want to start shipping it?" demanded Sandringham.</p> - -<p>"You can begin pouring it down holes," said Hardwick. "How's the -barometer?"</p> - -<p>"Down three-tenths this morning. Steady now."</p> - -<p>"Damn!" said Hardwick. "I'll set up molds. Freeze it in plastic bags -the size of the bore-holes so it will go down. While it's frozen they -can even push it down deep."</p> - -<p>Sandringham said very grimly:</p> - -<p>"There's been more damned technical work done with ship-fuel than any -other substance since time began. But remember that the stuff can still -be set off, even dissolved in water! Its sensitivity goes down, but -it's not gone!"</p> - -<p>"If it were," said Hardwick drearily, "you could invite in the civilian -population to sit on its rump. I've got something like forty tons of -ship-fuel in brine solution in this lake I pumped out! But it's in -five thousand tons of brine. We don't speak above a whisper when we're -around it. We walk in carpet slippers and you never saw people so -polite! We will start freezing it."</p> - -<p>"How can you handle it?" demanded Sandringham apprehensively.</p> - -<p>"The brine freezes at minus thirty," said Hardwick. "In one per cent -solution it's only five per cent sensitive at minus nineteen. We're -handling it at minus nineteen. I think I'll step up the brine and chill -it a little more."</p> - -<p>He waved a mud-smeared hand and went away.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That day, bolster-trucks began to roll out of Survey Headquarters. -They rolled very, very smoothly, and they trailed a fog of chilled air -behind them. And presently there were men with heavy gloves on their -hands taking long things like sausages out of the bolster-trucks and -untying the ends and lowering them down into holes bored in the topsoil -until they reached places where wetness made the holes close up again. -Then the men from Survey pushed those frozen sausages underground still -further by long poles with carefully padded—and refrigerated—ends. -And then they went on to other holes.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The first day there were five hundred such sausages thrust down into -holes in the ground, which holes to all intents and purposes closed up -behind them. The second day there were four thousand. The third day -there were eight. On the fourth the solution of ship-fuel in brine in -the lake did not give adequate EMF in the little battery-cell designed -to show how much corrosive substance there was in the brine. Hardwick -took samples from the fluid draining into the lake. It was not mud any -longer. Brine flowed at the top of bedrock, and it left the mud behind -it, because salt water remarkably hindered the suspension of former -globigerinous ooze particles. It was practically colloid. Salt water -practically coagulated it.</p> - -<p>The brine flowing from the salt-water tunnels upwind showed no more -ship-fuel in it. Hardwick called Sandringham and told him.</p> - -<p>"I can call in the civilians!" said Sandringham. "You've mopped up the -leaked stuff! It couldn't have been done—"</p> - -<p>"Not anywhere but here, with bedrock handy just underneath, and -slanting," said Hardwick. "But I wouldn't advise it. Tell them they can -come if they want to. They'll sort of drift in. I want to tap some more -ship-fuel for the rest of those bore-holes. From the tanks that haven't -leaked."</p> - -<p>Sandringham hesitated.</p> - -<p>"Twenty thousand holes," said Hardwick tiredly. "Each one had a -six-hundred block of frozen saturated brine dumped in it, with roughly -one pound of ship-fuel in solution. You have gone that far. Might as -well go the rest of the way. How's the barometer?"</p> - -<p>"Up a tenth," said Sandringham. "Still rising."</p> - -<p>Hardwick blinked at him, because he had trouble keeping his eyes open -now.</p> - -<p>"Let's ride it, Sandringham!"</p> - -<p>Sandringham hesitated. Then he said:</p> - -<p>"Go ahead."</p> - -<p>Hardwick waved his arms at his associates, whom he admired with great -fervor in his then-foggy mind, because they were always ready to work -when it was needed, and it had not stopped being needed for five days -running. He explained very lucidly that there were only three more -miles of holes to be filled up, and therefore they would just draw so -much of ship-fuel and blend it carefully with an appropriate amount of -suitable chilled brine and then freeze it in appropriate sausages—</p> - -<p>Young Lieutenant Barnes said gravely:</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir. I'll take care of it. You remember me, sir! I'll take care -of it."</p> - -<p>Hardwick said:</p> - -<p>"Barometer's up a tenth." His eyes did not quite focus. "All right, -lieutenant. Go ahead. Promising young officer. Excellent. I'll sit down -here for just a moment."</p> - -<p>When Barnes came back, Hardwick was asleep. And a last one hundred and -fifty frozen sausages of brine and ship-fuel went out of Headquarters -within a matter of hours, and then a vast quietude settled down -everywhere.</p> - -<p>Young Barnes sat beside Hardwick, menacing anybody who even thought of -disturbing him. When Sandringham called for him. Barnes went to the -phone-plate.</p> - -<p>"Sir," he said with vast formality. "Mr. Hardwick went five days -without sleep. His job's done. I won't wake him, sir!"</p> - -<p>Sandringham raised his eyebrows.</p> - -<p>"You won't?"</p> - -<p>"I won't, sir!" said young Barnes.</p> - -<p>Sandringham nodded.</p> - -<p>"Fortunately," he observed, "nobody's listening. You are quite right."</p> - -<p>He snapped the connection. And then young Barnes realized that he had -defied a Sector Chief, which is something distinctly more improper in -a junior officer than merely trying to instruct him in topping off his -vacuum-suit tanks.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Twelve hours later, however, Sandringham called for him.</p> - -<p>"Barometer's dropping, lieutenant. I'm concerned. I'm issuing a notice -of the impending storm. Not everybody will crowd in on us, but a great -many will. I'm explaining that the chemicals put into the bottom soil -may not quite have finished their work. If Hardwick wakens, tell him."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said Barnes.</p> - -<p>But he did not intend to wake Hardwick. Hardwick, however, woke of -himself at the end of twenty hours of sleep. He was stiff and sore -and his mouth tasted as if something had kittened in it. Fatigue can -produce a hangover, too.</p> - -<p>"How's the barometer?" he asked when his eyes came open.</p> - -<p>"Dropping, sir. Heavy winds, sir. The Sector Chief has opened the -Reserve Area, sir, to the civilians if they wish to come."</p> - -<p>Hardwick computed dizzily on his fingers. A more complex instrument was -actually needed, of course. One does not calculate on one's fingers -just how long a one per cent solution of ship-fuel in frozen brine -has taken to melt, and how completely it has diffused through an -upside-down swamp with the pressure of forty feet of soil on top of it, -and therefore its effective concentration and dispersal underground.</p> - -<p>"I think," said Hardwick, "it's all right. By the way, did they turn -the irrigation systems hind end to?"</p> - -<p>Young Barnes did not know what this was all about. He had to send for -information. Meanwhile he solicitously plied Hardwick with coffee and -food. Hardwick grew reflective.</p> - -<p>"Queer," he said. "You think of the damage forty tons of ship-fuel can -do. Setting off the rest of the store and all. But even by itself it -rates some thousands of tons of TNT. I wonder what TNT was, before it -became a ton-measure of energy? You think of it exploding in one place, -and it's appalling! But think of all that same amount of energy applied -to square miles of upside-down swamp. Hundreds or thousands of miles -of upside-down swamp. D'you know, lieutenant, on Soris II we pumped a -ship-fuel solution onto a swamp we wanted to drain? Flooded it, and let -it soak until a day came with a nice, strong, steady wind."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said Barnes respectfully.</p> - -<p>"Then we detonated it. We didn't have a one per cent solution. It was -more like a thousandth of one per cent solution. Nobody's ever measured -the speed of propagation of an explosion in ship-fuel, dry. But it's -been measured in dilute solution. It isn't the speed of sound. It's -lower. It's purely a temperature-phenomenon. In water, at any dilution, -ship-fuel goes off just barely below the boiling-point of water. -It doesn't detonate from shock when it's diluted enough to be all -ionized—but that takes a hell of a lot of dilution. Have you got some -more coffee?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said Barnes. "Coming up, sir."</p> - -<p>"We floated ship-fuel solution over that swamp, Barnes, and let it -stand. It has a high diffusion-rate. It went down into the mud—And -there came a day when the wind was right. I dumped a red-hot iron -bar into the swamp water that had ship-fuel in solution. It was the -weirdest sight you ever saw!"</p> - -<p>Barnes served him more coffee. And Hardwick sipped it, and it burned -his tongue.</p> - -<p>"It went up in steam," he said. "The swamp water that had the ship-fuel -dissolved in it. It didn't explode, as a mass. They told me later that -it propagated at hundreds of feet per second only. They could see the -wall of steam go marching across the swamp. Not even high-pressure -steam. There was a <i>whoosh!</i> and a cloud of steam half a mile high -that the wind carried away. And all the surface water in the swamp was -gone, and all the swamp-vegetation parboiled and dead. So"—he yawned -suddenly—"we had a ten-mile by fifty-mile stretch of arable ground -ready for the coming colonists."</p> - -<p>He tried the coffee again. He added reflectively:</p> - -<p>"That trick—it didn't explode the ship-fuel, in a way. It burned it. -In water. It applied the energy of the fuel to the boiling-away of -water. Powerful stuff! We got rid of two feet of water on an average, -counting what came out of the mud. It cost ... hm-m-m ... a fraction of -a gram per square yard."</p> - -<p>He gulped the coffee down. There were men looking at him solicitously. -They seemed very glad to see him awake again. There was a monstrous -bank of cloud-stuff piling up in the sky. He suddenly blinked at that.</p> - -<p>"Hello! How long did I sleep, Barnes?"</p> - -<p>Barnes told him. Hardwick shook his head to clear it.</p> - -<p>"We'll go see Sandringham," said Hardwick, heavily. "I'd like to -postpone firing as long as I can, short of having the stuff start -draining into the sea to leeward."</p> - -<p>There were mud-stained men around the place where Hardwick had slept. -When he went—still groggy—out to the bolster-truck young Barnes had -waiting, they regarded Hardwick in a very satisfying manner. Somebody -grunted, "Good to've worked with you, sir,"—which is about as much of -admiration as anybody would want to hear expressed. These associates of -Hardwick in the mopping-up of leaked ship's fuel would be able to brag -of the job at all times and in all places hereafter.</p> - -<p>Then the truck went trundling away in search of Sandringham.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It found him on the cliffs to the windward side of the island. The -sea was no longer a cerulean blue. It was slaty-color. There were -occasional flecks of white foam on the water four thousand feet below. -There were dark clouds, by then covering practically all the sky. Far -out to sea, there were small craft heading grimly for the ends of the -island, to go around it and ride out the coming storm in its lee.</p> - -<p>Sandringham greeted Hardwick with relief. Werner stood close by, -opening and closing his hands jerkily.</p> - -<p>"Hardwick!" said the Sector Chief cordially. "We're having a -disagreement, Werner and I. He's confident that the turning of the -irrigation systems hind end to—making them surface-drainage systems, -in effect—will take care of the whole situation. Adding the brine -underground, he thinks, will have done a good deal more. He says it'll -be bad, psychologically, for anything more to be done. He didn't speak -of it, and it would injure public confidence in the Survey."</p> - -<p>Hardwick said curtly:</p> - -<p>"The only thing that will make a permanent difference on this island -is for the water-fresheners to be a little less efficient. Barnes has -the figures. He computed them from some measurements I had him make. If -the water-freshener plants don't take all the sea-minerals out: if they -don't make the irrigation-water so infernally soft and suitable for -hair-washing and the like: if they turn out hard water for irrigation, -this won't happen again! But there's too much water underground now. We -have got to get it out, because a little more's going underground from -this storm, surface-drainage systems or no surface-drainage systems."</p> - -<p>Sandringham pointed to leeward, where a black, thick procession of -human beings trooped toward the Survey area on foot and by every -possible type of vehicle.</p> - -<p>"I've ordered them turned into the ship-sheds and warehouses," said -the Sector Chief. "But of course we haven't shelter for all of them. -At a guess, when they feel safe they'll go back to their homes even -through the storm."</p> - -<p>The sky to windward grew blacker and blacker. There was no longer a -steady flow of wind coming over the cliff's edge. It came in gusts, -now, of extreme violence. They could make a man stagger on his feet. -There were more flecks of white on the ocean's surface.</p> - -<p>"The boats," added Sandringham, "were licked. There simply wasn't -enough oil to maintain the slick. The radio reports were getting -hysterical before I ordered them told that we had it beaten on shore. -They're running for shelter now. I think they'd have stayed out there -trying to hold the slick in place with their towline, if I hadn't said -we had matters in hand."</p> - -<p>Werner said, tight-lipped: "I hope we have!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick shrugged.</p> - -<p>"The wind's good and strong, now," he observed. "Let's find out. You've -got the starting system all set?"</p> - -<p>Sandringham waved his hand. There was a high-voltage battery set. -It was of a type designed for blasting on airless planets, but that -did not matter. Its cables led snakily for a couple of hundred feet -to a very small pile of grayish soil which had been taken out of a -bore-hole. They went over that untidy heap and down into the ground. -Hardwick took hold of the firing-handle. He paused.</p> - -<p>"How about highways?" he asked. "There might be some steam out of this -hole."</p> - -<p>"All allowed for," said Sandringham. "Go ahead."</p> - -<p>There was a gust of wind strong enough to knock a man down. There -was a humming sound in the air, as storm-wind beat upon the -four-thousand-foot cliff and poured over its top. There were gradually -rising waves, below. The sky was gray. The sea was slate-colored. Far, -far to windward, the white line of pouring rain upon the water came -marching toward the island.</p> - -<p>Hardwick pumped the firing-handle.</p> - -<p>There was a pause, while wind-gusts tore at his garments and staggered -him where he stood. It was quite a long pause.</p> - -<p>Then a white vapor came seeping out of the bore-hole. It was perfectly -white. Then it came out with a sudden burst which was not in any sense -explosive, but was merely a vast rushing of vaporized water. Then, a -hundred yards away, there was a mistiness on the grassy surface. Still -farther, a crack in the surface-soil let out a curtain of white vapor.</p> - -<p>Here and there, everywhere, little gouts of steam poured into the air -and tumbled in the storm-wind. It was notable that the steam did not -come out as an invisible vapor, and condense in midair. It poured out -of the ground in clouds, already condensed but thrust out by more -masses of vapor behind it. It was not super-heated steam that came out. -It was simply steam. Harmless steam, like the steam out of the spouts -of tea kettles. But it rose from individual places everywhere. It made -a massy coating of vapor which the storm-wind blew away. In seconds a -half-mile of soil was venting steam; in seconds more a mile. The thick, -fleecy vapor swept across the landscape. The storm-wind could only -tumble it and sweep it away.</p> - -<p>In minutes there was no part of the island to be seen at all, save only -the thin line of the cliffs reaching away between dark water on the one -hand and snow-white clouds of vapor on the other.</p> - -<p>"It can't scald anybody, can it?" asked Barnes uneasily.</p> - -<p>"Not," said Hardwick, "when it's had to come up through forty feet -of soil. It's been pretty well cooled off in taking up some extra -moisture. It spread pretty well, didn't it?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Sector Chief's office had tall windows—doors, really—that looked -out upon green lawn and many trees. Now a downpour of rain beat down -outside. Wind whipped at the trees. There was tumult and roaring and -the vibration of gusts of hurricane force. Even the building in which -the Sector Chief's office was, vibrated slightly in the wind.</p> - -<p>The Sector Chief beamed. The brown dog came in uneasily, looked around -the room, and walked in leisurely fashion toward Hardwick. He settled -with a sigh beside Hardwick's chair.</p> - -<p>"What I want to know," said Werner tensely, "is, won't this rain put -back all the water the ship-fuel boiled away?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick said uncomfortably: "Two inches of rain would be a heavy -fall, Sandringham tells me. It's the lack of heavy rains that made -the civilians start irrigating. When you figure the energy-content of -ship-fuel, Werner—an appreciable fraction of the energy in atomic -explosive—it's sort of deceptive. Turn it into thermal units and it -gets to be enlightening. We turned loose, underground, enough heat to -boil away two feet of soil-water under the island's whole surface."</p> - -<p>Werner said sharply:</p> - -<p>"What'll happen when that heat passes up through the soil? It'll kill -the vegetation, won't it?"</p> - -<p>"No," said Hardwick mildly. "Because there <i>was</i> two feet of water to -be turned to steam. The bottom layer of the soil was raised to the -temperature of steam at a few pounds pressure. No more. The heat's -already escaped. In the steam."</p> - -<p>The phone-plate lighted. Sandringham snapped it on. A voice made a -report in a highly official voice.</p> - -<p>"Right!" said Sandringham. The highly official voice spoke again. -"Right!" said Sandringham again. "You may tell the ships in orbit that -they can come down now, if they don't mind getting wet." He turned. -"Did you hear that, Hardwick? They have bored new cores. There are a -few soggy spots, but the ground's as firm, all over the island, as it -was when the Survey first came here. A very good job, Hardwick! A very -good job!"</p> - -<p>Hardwick flushed. He reached down and patted the head of the brown dog.</p> - -<p>"Look!" said the Sector Chief. "My dog, there, has taken a liking to -you. Will you accept him as a present, Hardwick?"</p> - -<p>Hardwick grinned.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Young Barnes made ready to rejoin his ship. He was very strictly -Service, very stiffly at attention. Hardwick shook hands with him.</p> - -<p>"Nice to have had you around, lieutenant," he said warmly. "You're a -very promising young officer. Sandringham knows it and has made a note -of the fact. Which I suspect is going to put you to a lot of trouble. -There's a devilish shortage of promising young officers. He'll give you -hellish jobs to do, because he has an idea you'll do them."</p> - -<p>"I'll try, sir," said young Barnes formally. Then he said awkwardly, -"May I say something, sir? I'm very proud, sir, to have worked with -you. But dammit, sir, it seems to me that something more than just -saying thank you was due you! The Service, sir, ought to—"</p> - -<p>Hardwick regarded the young man approvingly.</p> - -<p>"When I was your age," he said, "I'd the very same attitude. But I had -the only reward the Service or anything else could give me. The job -got done. It's the only reward you can expect in the Service, Barnes. -You'll never get any other."</p> - -<p>Young Barnes looked rebellious. He shook hands again.</p> - -<p>"Besides," said Hardwick, "there is no better."</p> - -<p>Young Barnes marched back toward his ship in the great metal -crisscross of girders which was the landing-grid.</p> - -<p>Hardwick absently patted his dog. He headed back toward Sandringham's -office for his orders to return to his own work.</p> - -<p class="ph1">THE END</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SWAMP WAS UPSIDE DOWN ***</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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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