Arcot nodded. "True. I think I know their real source, but I believe
I'll merely say they are created here. I want to do more work on this.
My idea for an energy source greater than any other in the universe has
been confirmed.
"At any rate, they are created in that space, a perfect vacuum, and the
space there is distorted terrifically by the titanic forces at work. It
is bent and twisted far out of the normal, even curvature, and it was
that bumpy spot in space that threw us about so.
"When we first entered, using the space-strain drive, the space around
the ship, distorted as it was, conflicted with the region of the cosmic
ray generation and the ship lost out. The curvature of space that the
ship caused was sometimes reinforced and sometimes cancelled out by the
twisted space around it, and the tremendous surges of current back and
forth from the main power coil to the storage coils caused the electric
discharges that kept burning through the air. I notice we all got a few
burns from that. The field was caused by the terrific surges of current,
and that magnetic field caused the walls of the ship to heat up due to
the generation of electric current in the walls."
Fuller looked around at the walls of the ship. "Well, the _Ancient
Mariner_ sure took a beating."
"As a matter of fact, I was worried about that," said Arcot. "Strong as
that hull is, it might easily have been strained in that field of
terrific force. If it happened to hit two 'space waves' at once, it
might have given it an acceleration in two different directions at once,
which would strain the walls with a force amounting to thousands of
tons. I laid out the suits up front, and I think we might reasonably get
out there and take a look at the old boat. When Wade gets up--well,
well--speak of the devil! My, doesn't he look energetic?"
Wade's huge body was floating in through the library door. He was
yawning sleepily and rubbing his eyes. It was evident he had not yet
washed, and his growing beard, which was heavy and black on his cheeks,
testified to his need for a shave. The others had shaved before coming
into the library.
"Wade," said Arcot, "we're going outside, and we have to have someone in
here to operate the airlock. Suppose you get to work on the hirsute
adornment; there's an atomic hydrogen cutting torch down in the lab you
can use, if you wish. The rest of us are going outside." Then Arcot's
voice became serious. "By the way, don't try any little jokes like
starting off with a little acceleration. I don't think you would--you've
got good sense--but I like to make certain. If you did, we'd be left
behind, and you'd never find us in the vast immensity of intergalactic
space."
It wasn't a pleasant idea to contemplate. Each of the suits had a radio
for communication with each other and with the ship, but they would only
carry a few hundred miles. A mere step in space!
Wade shook his head, grinning. "I have no desire to be left all by
myself on this ship, thank you. You don't need to worry."
A few minutes later, Arcot, Morey, and Fuller stepped out of the airlock
and set to work, using power flashlights to examine the outer hull for
any signs of possible strain.
The flashlights, equipped as they were with storage coils for power,
were actually powerful searchlights, but in the airlessness of space,
the rays were absolutely invisible. They could only be seen when they
hit the relux inner wall at such an angle that they were reflected
directly into the observer's eyes. The lux metal wall, being
transparent, was naturally invisible, and the smooth relux, reflecting
one hundred percent of the incident light, did not become illuminated,
for illumination is the result of the scattering of light.
It was necessary to look closely and pass the beams over every square
inch of the surface. However, a crack would be rough, and hence would
scatter light and be even more readily visible than otherwise.
To their great relief, after an hour and a half of careful inspection,
none of them had found any signs of a crack, and they went back into the
ship to resume the voyage.
Again they hurled through space, the twin ghost ships following them
closely. Hour after hour the ship went on. Now they had something else
to do. They were at work calculating some problems that Arcot had
suggested in connection with the velocities of motion that had been
observed in the stars at the edge of the island universe they were
approaching. Since these stars revolved about the mass of the entire
galaxy, it was possible to calculate the mass of the entire universe by
averaging the values from several stars. Their results were not exact,
but they were reliable enough. They found the universe to have a mass of
two hundred and fifty million suns, only a little less than the home
Galaxy. It was an average-sized nebula.
Still the hours dragged as they came gradually nearer their
goal--gradually, despite their speed of twenty-four light years per
second!
At the end of the second day after their trouble with the cosmic ray
field, they stopped for observation. They were now so near the Island
Universe that the stars spread out in a huge disc ahead of them.
"About three hundred thousand light years distant, I should guess," said
Morey.
"We know our velocity fairly accurately," said Wade. "Why can't we
calculate the distance between two of these stars and then go on in?"
"Good idea," agreed Arcot. "Take the angle, will you, Morey? I'll swing
the ship."
After taking their measurements, they advanced for one hour. Knowing
this distance from experience, they were able to calculate the diameter
of this galaxy. It turned out to be on the order of ninety thousand
light years.
They were now much closer; they seemed, indeed, on the very edge of the
giant universe. The thousands of stars flamed bright below them,
stretching across their horizon more and more--a galaxy the eyes of men
had never before seen at such close range! This galaxy had not yet
condensed entirely to stars, and in its heart there still remained the
vast gas cloud that would eventually be stars and planets. The vast
misty cloud was plainly visible, glowing with a milky light like some
vast frosted light bulb.
It was impossible to conceive the size of the thing; it looked only like
some model, for they were still over a quarter of a million light years
from it.
Morey looked up from his calculations. "I think we should be there in
about three hours. Suppose we go at full speed for about two hours and
then change to low speed?"
"You're the astronomical boss, Morey," said Arcot. "Let's go!"
They swung the ship about once more and started again. As they drew
nearer to this new universe, they began to feel more interest in the
trip. Things were beginning to happen!
The ship plunged ahead at full speed for two hours. They could see
nothing at that velocity except the two ghost ships that were their
ever-present companions. Then they stopped once more.
About them, they saw great suns shining. One was so close they could see
it as a disc with the naked eye. But they could not see clearly; the
entire sky was misty and the stars that were not close were blotted out.
The room seemed to grow warm.
"Hey! Your calculations were off!" called Arcot. "We're getting out of
here!"
Suddenly the air snapped and they were traveling at low speed under the
drive of the space-strain apparatus. The entire space about them was lit
with a dim violet glow. In ten minutes, the glow was gone and Arcot cut
the drive.
They were out in ordinary dark space, with its star-studded blackness.
"What was the matter with my calculations?" Morey wanted to know.
"Oh, nothing much," Arcot said casually. "You were only about thirty
thousand light years off. We landed right in the middle of the central
gas cloud, and we were plowing through it at a relative velocity of
around sixteen thousand miles per second! No wonder we got hot!
"We're lucky we didn't come near any stars in the process; if we had, we
could have had to recharge the coil."
"It's a wonder we didn't burn up at that velocity," said Fuller.
"The gas wasn't dense enough," Arcot explained. "That gas is a better
vacuum than the best pump could give you on Earth; there are fewer
molecules per cubic inch than there are in a radio tube.
"But now that we're out of that, let's see if we can find a planet. No
need to take photographs going in; if we want to find the star again, we
can take photos as we leave. If we don't want to find it, we would just
waste film.
"I'll leave it to Morey to find the star we want."
Morey set to work at once with the telescope; trying to find the nearest
star of spectral type G-0, as had been agreed upon. He also wanted to
find one of the same magnitude, or brilliance. At last, after
investigating several such suns, he discovered one which seemed to
fulfill all his wishes. The ship was turned, and they started toward the
adventure they had really hoped to find.
As they rushed through space, the distorted stars shining vividly before
them, they saw the one which was their goal. A bright, slowly changing
violet point on the cross-hairs of the aiming telescope.
"How far is it?" asked Arcot.
"About thirty light centuries," replied Morey, watching the star
eagerly.
They drove on in silence. Then, suddenly, Morey cried out: "Look! It's
gone!"
"What happened?" asked Arcot in surprise.
Morey rubbed his chin in thought. "The star suddenly flared brightly for
an instant, then disappeared. Evidently, it was a G-0 giant which had
burned up most of the hydrogen that stars normally use for fuel. When
that happens, a star begins to collapse, increasing in brilliance due to
the heat generated by the gas falling toward the center of the star.
"Then other nuclear reactions begin to take place, and, due to the
increased transparency of the star, a supernova is produced. The star
blows away most of its gaseous envelope, leaving only the superdense
core. In other words, it leaves a white dwarf." He paused and looked at
Arcot. "I wonder if that star did have any planets?"
They all knew what he meant. What was the probable fate of beings whose
sun had suddenly collapsed to a tiny, relatively cold point in the sky?
Suddenly, there loomed before them the dim bulk of the star, a disc
already, and Arcot snapped the ship over to the molecular motion drive
at once. He knew they must be close. Before them was the angry disc of
the flaming white star.
Arcot swung the ship a bit to one side, running in close to the flaming
star. It was not exceedingly hot, despite the high temperature and
intense radiation, for the radiating surface was too small.
They swung about the star in a parabolic orbit, for, at their velocity,
the sun could not hold them in a planetary orbit.
"Our velocity, relative to this star, is pretty high," Arcot announced.
"I'm swinging in close so that I can use the star's attraction as a
brake. At this distance, it will be about six gravities, and we can add
to that a molecular drive braking of four gravities.
"Suppose you look around and see if there are any planets. We can break
free and head for another star if there aren't."
Even at ten gravities of deceleration, it took several hours to reduce
their speed to a point which would make it possible to head for any
planet of the tiny sun.
Morey went to the observatory and swept the sky with the telectroscope.
It was difficult to find planets because the reflected light from the
weak star was so dim, but he finally found one. He took angular readings
on it and on the central sun. A little later, he took more readings.
Because of the changing velocity of the ship, the readings were not too
accurate, but his calculations showed it to be several hundred million
miles out.
They were decelerating rapidly, and soon their momentum had been reduced
to less than four miles a second. When they reached the planet, Arcot
threw the ship into an orbit around it and began to spiral down.
Through the clear lux windows of the control room, the men looked down
upon a bleak, frozen world.