Queazy looked from one to another of them. He waved his hand scornfully
at Bob. "You're plain nuts," he complained. "How do you propose to go
about convincing the Saylor brothers they ought to let us have the
asteroid back? Remember, commercial ships aren't allowed to carry
long-range weapons. And we couldn't ram the Saylor brothers' ship--not
without damaging our own ship just as much. Go ahead and answer that."
Bob looked at Queazy dismally. "The old balance-wheel," he groaned at
Starre. "He's always pulling me up short when I go off half-cocked. All
I know is, that maybe we'll get a good idea as we go along. In the
meantime, Starre--ahem--none of us has eaten in three weeks...?"
Starre got the idea. She smiled dazzlingly and vanished toward the
galley.
* * * * *
Bob Parker was in love with Starre Lowenthal. He knew that after five
days out, as the ship hurled itself at breakneck speed toward Earth;
probably that distracting emotion was the real reason he couldn't
attach any significance to Starre's dumbbell-shaped ship, which trailed
astern, attached by a long cable.
Starre apparently knew he was in love with her, too, for on the fifth
day Bob was teaching her the mechanics of operating the hauler, and she
gently lifted his hand from a finger-switch.
"Even _I_ know that isn't the control to the Holloway vacuum-feeder,
Bob. That switch is for the--ah--the anathern tube, you told me. Right?"
"Right," he said unsteadily. "Anyway, Starre, as I was saying, this
ship operates according to the reverse Fitzgerald Contraction Formula.
All moving bodies contract in the line of motion. What Holloway
and Hammond did was to reverse that universal law. They caused the
contraction first--motion had to follow! The gravitonic field affects
every atom in the ship with the same speed at the same time. We could
go from zero speed to our top speed of two thousand miles a second just
like that!"
He snapped his fingers. "No acceleration effects. This type of ship,
necessary in our business, can stop flat, back up, ease up, move in
any direction, and the passengers wouldn't have any feeling of motion
at--Oh, hell!" Bob groaned, the serious glory of her eyes making him
shake. He took her hand. "Starre," he said desperately, "I've got to
tell you something--"
She jerked her hand away. "No," she exclaimed in an almost frightened
voice. "You can't tell me. There's--there's Mac," she finished,
faltering. "The asteroid--"
"You _have_ to marry him?"