"That Worlds May Live"
Silence, like the brooding hush of impending doom, fell over the
chamber as the significance of his words drove home. For a breathless
moment all speech seemed to falter in abeyance, then every voice raised
as one.
"Cosmic rays!" gasped Dr. Bryant.
"A weapon which shoots gamma radiation?" echoed the cherubic Eurasian,
Dr. Anjers. "Fantastic!"
Muldoon and the girl said as a single person, "Gary, you can't really
believe--"
[Illustration: Earth receded into an ominous distance.]
"I _must_ believe," corrected Gary, "what my eyes tell me. There is
only one conceivable explanation. As our chief here pointed out, the
periodicity of gamma ray bombardment is one of the few invariables
known to Man. Its constancy matches the monotonous regularity with
which uranium transmutes to lead.
"Scientists have traveled all over the world ... east, west, north,
south ... but in every latitude and clime their Geiger counters
measure the same tempo of cosmic ray bombardment. They have delved into
the deepest mine-pits miles below ground, descended in bathyspheres
to the ocean's floor, and detected no change. They have climbed the
highest mountains, traversed space to our neighboring planets ... yet
everywhere the rate of bombardment remains the same.
"But here, here in this tiny room where, for an instant, a Geiger
counter was bathed in the backwash of a strange, new, all-devouring
flame, that instrument has registered the impact of a thousand direct
hits! The conclusion is obvious. That radiation was--must have been--a
concentrated discharge of cosmic rays."
Dr. Bryant passed a hand through his white hair.
"What you say is true, Gary. And it is certainly logical. Still--"
"It is not so much the logic of our young friend's deductions I
question," interrupted the other older scientist, "as the fantastic
corollaries which necessarily follow his premise. To admit his
rightness is to concede that somewhere, someone, for some unfathomable
reason, designs the deliberate destruction--"
"Of Earth!" said Nora Powell. "Not only of Earth, but of all the
planets which circle our Sun. For as Gary has said, all these are
bombarded, too, by cosmic rays.
"Gary, there must be some mistake. There must be some freak
coincidence--"
* * * * *
Lane's eyes narrowed. "That's just what it cannot be. The coincidence
is too striking. Consider. For thousands of years men lived in
blissful ignorance of the fact that they and their world were daily
being bombarded by rays which science now has reason to believe are
lethal.[2] During the past few hundred years men have been _aware_ of
this radiation, but unable to do anything about it. They can neither
analyze it, duplicate it in their laboratories, nor--indeed--determine
its exact nature.
[Footnote 2: Sir James Jeans' view of the cosmic rays is that they are
causing the material universe to dissolve into radiation. "The whole of
the available evidence," he writes, "seems to me to indicate that the
change is, with possible insignificant exceptions, forever in the same
direction--forever solid matter melts into insubstantial radiation,
forever the tangible changes into the intangible ... there can be but
one end to the universe ... the end of the journey cannot be other than
universal death!"--Sir James Jeans: _The Mysterious Universe_.]
"But--" And his voice tightened--"but two days ago, for the first time,
a clue was found as to the possible nature of these rays; pictures were
taken which may pave the way toward an understanding of this ancient
mystery. And then what happened? Was it sheer coincidence that almost
immediately Flick Muldoon, who hasn't an enemy in the world, should be
murderously assaulted here in the heart of his own bailiwick? And that
an attempt should be made to destroy this incriminating evidence?
"No! That coincidence is too great for me to swallow. It only
strengthens my belief that it is not simply blind nature which is
responsible for the doom to which our galaxy is being driven."
Muldoon was an easy-going man. In the tightest spots his carefree
nature was wont to assert itself in gibe and cheerful banter. But now
his laughter-crinkled eyes were wide with awe and wonderment. He made a
vague, sweeping gesture.
"You mean, Gary, that out ... there ... _something_ or _someone_--?"
Gary nodded. "Yes. That is what I am forced to believe. That
_They_--whoever _They_ are, and wherever They may exist--are making a
deliberate effort to destroy us."
"But," interpolated the ever-cautious Dr. Anjers, "you cannot be sure
of these things, my young friend. You cannot prove them."
"Not now, no. But by the gods, I'm going to try!"
"Going to--!" Dr. Bryant looked at his young assistant, startled.
"Going to try, Gary? What do you mean?"
Lane spoke slowly, putting into words for the first time the idea which
had been growing within him ever since he and Muldoon had, upon Luna,
chanced upon their amazing discovery.
"I mean I'm going _out there_, as Flick put it, in search of _Them_
and of that weapon which is slowly but surely bringing death to our
civilization. I am going to leave Earth and this galaxy and hunt in the
dark depths of the Beyond for the reason conspiring against us."
"Oh, but now wait a minute, Gary," said his friend and constant
companion, "I'm your buddy. I'll string along with you on almost
anything. But this is going a little _too_ far. Talking of leaving
the galaxy. Good Lord, man, you must be out of your mind! Oh have you
forgotten how to count? The fastest spaceship ever built travels at
a rate of only about 7,000 miles per minute. And the nearest star,
Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away. At that rate, all
that would be left of you by the time you got there would be a little
heap of dried-up dust."
Lane smiled thinly. "Don't worry about that. We'll be alive when we get
there."
"What! _We!_ Where do you get the community spirit?"
"We," said Gary, "because you're going, too, Flick. I'll need you. And
any of the others who want to come along. I think I can promise you the
greatest adventure ever undertaken by human beings."
* * * * *
Dr. Bryant said, "Gary, what are you talking about? Muldoon is
absolutely right. It would take centuries to reach the nearest star.
How, then, do you expect--?"
"Centuries," acknowledged Gary, "if the ship in which we traveled had
only the speed Flick mentioned. But you know as well as I that on
another planet of this system dwells a race which knows the secret of
achieving speed beyond that of the limiting velocity of light."
"You mean," asked Nora Powell, "the Jovians?"
"That's right."
"But they won't tell. It's their most cherished military secret. And
with the entire solar system in the state of nervous unrest it has been
in for years--"
"They _must_ tell. It is to their benefit as well as ours. We will go
to them and explain the enormity of the disaster which threatens our
solar system. They are not creatures quite like ourselves, true; but
they are intelligent beings. And they desire extinction no more than
we. When they have learned the awful truth, I think they will lend us
their secret."
Professor Anjers laughed mirthlessly. "You have much to learn about
the races that people the planets, my young friend, if you think the
Jovians will contribute their great secret to save the races with whom
even now war threatens--"
"They will not be the only contributors. Each of the major planets will
contribute its share to this adventure. _Must_ contribute, for the
ultimate good of all.
"From Earth--" Gary ticked the requisites off on his fingers as he
spoke--"from Earth's government we must borrow the knowledge of
the hypatomic drive which makes spaceflight possible. Venus must
supply us with _neurotrope_, their super-efficient fuel, the only
type sufficiently condensed to enable us to leave our galaxy. The
Martian people must lend us their formula for building impenetrable
force-fields about space vehicles, lest a stray comet or a hail of
meteoric debris met in the outer darkness bring our flight to sudden
ending. And from Jupiter must come the secret of transcendent speed,
through which--and _only_ through which--can we hope to reach our goal."
Muldoon whistled softly. "That's a big order, Gary. _Four_ big orders,
in fact."
And Dr. Bryant said, "I'm afraid I can only repeat Dr. Anjers' words,
Gary. You expect too much of our neighbors in asking them to give you--"
* * * * *
Of all his companions, only the girl, Nora Powell, offered any word of
encouragement. Her eyes were shining with a great purpose, and with a
great determination, too. With an almost indiscernible movement she
seemed to leave the fellowship of his doubters and arraign herself at
Gary's side. Her words were like the warmth of a friendly handclasp as
she said:
"But they _will_ give! Because they must! Dr. Lane--Gary--it's a great
dream. One which we must see to fulfillment."
Gary glanced at her, pleased and gratified.
"We?" he repeated.
The girl nodded determinedly. "Yes, we. Because if you'll have me,
Gary, I want to join your expedition."
"Well, now," drawled Flick Muldoon, "as far as that goes, I've been
beefing a little, yeah. But on purely technical grounds. I didn't say I
was going to pull a sneak on the shindig. Hell I'll try anything once.
You can count me in, Gary, lock, stock, and barrel."
Gary said gravely, "Thanks both of you. And you Dr. Bryant?"
The older man smiled thinly.
"I won't deceive you, Gary. I confess I still have my doubts as to the
practicality of your ambitions. Nevertheless, I'd be a poor scientist
if I were to refuse to lend my small efforts to such a magnificent
undertaking. Of course, you may count on me. Boris--" He turned to
his Eurasian colleague--"I'm sorry our conversations are to be thus
abruptly terminated by what may seem to you a somewhat impulsive
decision. But there may be something in Dr. Lane's warning."
To the surprise of everyone, the rather easily-annoyed Dr. Anjers this
time showed no annoyance whatsoever. Instead, his bland, cherubic face
was puckered with thought, and when he spoke it was with firm decision.
"No, you are completely right, my friend. Dr. Lane has not convinced
me--yet. But if he _is_ right, this is no matter for slow ponderings.
We must act at once. And I, too, if you will permit, would like to
become a member of your party."
Gary Lane smiled, ashamed now of his earlier treatment of this staunch
little scientist, of the near-accusations he had twice cast upon the
little man. He said simply, "I would be proud and glad to have you
with us, Dr. Anjers. Of course, we five will not be all. We must have
a pilot, an experienced astrogator, and crewmen to handle the ship
itself--"
"Which brings up," interpolated Flick Muldoon with devastating
casualness, "the first important question. Where you going to get this
ship, Gary? And how are you going to talk the kingpins of our planet
into giving you what you want?"
Gary smiled. "Obviously, we must go to Geneva and there present our
argument to the members of the World Council. But--" And his eyes took
on a shining akin to that in the eyes of his feminine and first-spoken
comrade--"but we cannot fail. What we do is not for ourselves alone; it
is a completely unselfish thing without personal benefit or profit. A
quest we must successfully fulfill--that worlds may live."
And the girl's voice echoed softly, "That worlds may live...."