"Son, I wonder if you'd give me your data sheets on that process. I'd
like to work out some of the mathematical problems involved."
"Sure, Dad. But right now--" Arcot turned toward the elder Mr. Morey.
"--I'm more interested in the mathematics of finance. We have a
proposition to put to you, Mr. Morey, and that proposition, simply
stated, is--"
Perhaps it was simply stated, but it took fully an hour for Arcot, Wade,
and Morey to discuss the science of it with the two older men, and
Fuller spent another hour over the carefully drawn plans for the ship.
At last, the elder Mr. Morey settled back and looked vacantly at the
ceiling. They were seated now in the conference room of Transcontinental
Airways.
"Well, boys," said Mr. Morey, "as usual, I'm in a position where I'm
forced to yield. I might refuse financial backing, but you could sell
any one of those gadgets for close to a billion dollars and finance the
expedition independently, or you could, with your names, request the
money publicly and back it that way." He paused a moment. "I am,
however, thinking more in terms of your safety than in terms of money."
There was another long pause, then he smiled at the four younger men.
"I think, however, that we can trust you. Armed with cosmic and
molecular rays, you should be able to put up a fair scrap anywhere.
Also, I have never detected any signs of feeblemindedness in any of you;
I don't think you'll get yourselves in a jam you can't get out of. I'll
back you."
"I hate to interrupt your exuberance," said the elder Dr. Arcot, "but I
should like to know the name of this remarkable ship."
"What?" asked Wade. "Name? Oh, it hasn't any."
The elder Morey shook his head sadly. "That is indeed an important
oversight. If a crew of men can overlook so fundamental a thing, I
wonder if they _are_ to be trusted."
"Well, what are we going to call it, then?" asked Arcot.
"_Solarite II_ might do," suggested Morey. "It will still be from the
Solar System."
"I think we should be more broadminded," said Arcot. "We aren't going to
stay in this system--not even in this galaxy. We might call it the
_Galaxian_."
"Did you say broadminded?" asked Wade. "Let's really be broad and call
it the _Universite_ or something like that. Or, better yet, call it
_Fluorine!_ That's everywhere in the universe and the most active
element there is. This ship will go everywhere in the universe and be
the most active thing that ever existed!"
"A good name!" said the elder Morey. "That gets my vote!"
Young Arcot looked thoughtful. "That's mighty good--I like the
idea--but it lacks ring." He paused, then, looking up at the ceiling,
repeated slowly:
_"Alone, alone, all, all alone;
Alone on a wide, wide sea;
Nor any saint took pity on
My soul in agony."_
He rose and walked over to the window, looking out where the bright
points of light that were the stars of space rode high in the deep
violet of the moonlit sky.
"The sea of all space--the sea of vastness that lies between the
far-flung nebulae--the mighty void--alone on a sea, the vastness of
which no man can imagine--alone--alone where no other man has been;
alone, so far from all matter, from all mankind, that not even light,
racing at billions of miles each day, could reach home in less than a
million years." Arcot stopped and stood looking out of the window.
Morey broke the silence. "_The Ancient Mariner._" He paused. "'Alone'
will certainly be right. I think that name takes all the prizes."
Fuller nodded slowly. "I certainly agree. _The Ancient Mariner._ It's
kind of long, but it is _the_ name."
It was adopted unanimously.