"Nothing," Gavin said in a disappointed voice. He could feel the
perspiration break through his pores. Villanowski was no fool. "The
mist caught us at the foot of the ladder." He paused. "Next time we go
into the little death, I'd like to be in the control room with you."
"You saw the control room?"
"Oh, the door was open." Gavin summoned all his histrionic ability to
sound convincing. "I saw you and started in. Then--then I fainted, I
guess."
Indecision was reflected on Villanowski's face. Finally he growled,
"Get out, the pair of you. Don't come down here again except on your
watch."
* * * * *
Gavin followed the girl up the ladder, his palms slippery with sweat on
the cold bars. He wasn't sure whether he'd fooled Villanowski or not.
They entered the mess room, helped themselves to coffee. He realized
the girl hadn't uttered a word since the little death. He saw she was
regarding him with a half-frightened, half-perplexed frown.
"How did the little death affect you?" he asked her.
"I had a dream. At least, I think it was." She bit her lip.
"What was it about?"
"Something in the future." She laughed. "It's silly, isn't it, to be so
frightened at a dream. Especially one so fantastic."
"I don't know," Gavin replied dryly. "Mine didn't leave me so
comfortable ... but you haven't told me what yours was."
Nadia rubbed her temples. "I dreamed we were all captured on Jupiter
and sent to the Penal Colony." She laughed at herself. "It's so silly,
because you--you"--again she gave a low laugh--"you were a T.I.S.
agent!"
Gavin felt his mouth go dry. He stared at her in consternation. He
moistened his lips and started to ask for more particulars, when the
chief astrogator entered the messroom.
The _Nova's_ astrogator nodded perfunctorily at them and went across to
the solar chart. Very deliberately, he pulled out the pin marking the
_Nova's_ position, moved it across the map to within a week's voyage of
Jupiter.
Gavin couldn't believe his eyes. "That's impossible! We weren't
unconscious but a few seconds during the little death...."
"An hour," Nadia corrected. "The effects last an hour. So Villanowski
claims."
"An hour, then. What difference does it make? The _Nova_ couldn't have
gone that distance in an hour, nor in a thousand hours! Why man, that's
faster than the speed of light!"
The chief astrogator grunted. "Impossible or not, that's our position.
If you don't think so, go on out on the observation deck and take a
look."
Gavin leaped to his feet and plunged through the door. When he came out
on the quartzite enclosed deck, he flung his gaze aloft.
The entire aspect of the heavens had changed. The three streaks
denoting the pursuing space craft were absent. The sun had diminished
to the size of a lemon. And dead ahead loomed the huge banded disc of
Jupiter.
It was true. In the space of a few moments the _Nova_ had traversed
the void between Venus and Jupiter. Even though the planets were in a
superior conjunction, the feat was unthinkable.
No wonder the big corporations were fighting like wildcats to get hold
of the _Nova's_ spacedrive!
Gavin dropped weakly in a deck chair, overawed by the possibilities. A
new era of space travel was being inaugurated!