Speed Limit--186,000 MPS!
Thus it was arranged. Dr. Kang Tsao and his daughter, beautiful Kang
Pen-N'hi, moved kit and equipment aboard the _Liberty_ that very day.
The events of the following week were days not so filled with adventure
as with plain hard and dogged work.
At Dr. Kang's own suggestion the _Liberty_ did not linger on Deimos
until the installation of the new power shield should be complete.
"This discovery," said the Martian scientist, "is remarkably simple.
With what little equipment my daughter and I have brought aboard, and
with such standard stores as may be found aboard your ship, we can make
the craft impregnable. So let us waste no time, but get under way. We
shall make the installation as we fly to Jupiter."
And this they did, in plain sight of all the _Liberty's_ staff and
crew. Despite which, few were able afterward to say what had been done,
or why such minor alterations should make such a tremendous difference.
Old Douglas Sebold, Chief Engineer of the _Liberty_, openly
acknowledged his inability to grasp the force field's method of
operation.
"Come down here to the engine room, they did; the Martian man and his
daughter. Fidgeted and fiddled around for a couple of hours without
speaking nary a word to any of us except maybe a polite, 'Howjyedo?
G'bye!' And when they left, what had they did? Hooked up a little hunk
of wire here and a condenser there and a thingamajigger somewhere else,
none of which looks like it ought to do nothing!"
Lieutenant MacDonald made much the same plaint.
"They opened the control banks and threw a few shunts across the
relays. Then they ran one cable to the hypos. But so far as _I_ can
see, what they did shouldn't make any great difference in the operation
of the ship." He stared at Gary dubiously, "You don't think the old
man's giving us the runaround, do you? Pretending to put out, when
really all he's doing is stealing the secret of Earth's hypatomic?"
Lark O'Day, from the neighboring plot desk, looked up, glowering
darkly. "Mac," he advised, "if I thought you really meant that, I'd
come over there and push your face so far down your throat you'd have
a tapeworm's view of your own stomach. Anybody who cracks about Dr.
Kang--"
"Also cracks," grinned Gary, "about Kang's charming daughter, Pen-N'hi.
Which Lark doesn't allow. But, no, Mac; I'm sure you're mistaken. As
soon as we reach the asteroid belt Dr. Kang has promised us proof that
the force-shield has been installed and is in operation."
With this assurance everyone had to be content, until ten days out
from Mars the _Liberty_ hove within range of that tremendous swarm of
shuttling bodies which comprises the Bog, spaceman's term for the belt
of myriad asteroids ranging in size from tiny granules of rock to
life-sustaining mountains of matter larger than many satellites.
* * * * *
It was when they reached this point that Dr. Kang offered his promised
proof. As the leaders of the party gathered within the _Liberty's_
control turret he said, "And now, for those of you who have not had
the opportunity of seeing the Martian force-shield operate, a little
demonstration may be heartening. Who's at the controls? O'Day? Good!
Larkspur, my friend ... you see that asteroid moving within our vision
range to loft and starboard?"
O'Day, fingers flickering incessantly over the keyboard as the ship
wove its way through the treacherous belt, nodded tightly.
"I see it," he grunted, "and I'm getting out of its way now. If that
thing ever plowed into us, the _Liberty_ would be one small blob of
crumpled metal floating through space."
"On the contrary," said Dr. Kang smoothly, "you will make no attempt to
avoid the planetoid. You will set a course directly for it."
"Directly--!" gulped Lark.
"Yes. If you will be so kind."
Then Dr. Kang stepped to the board and depressed the single black stud
he had installed on the instrument panel. "Steer directly for that rock
at the greatest speed you can achieve."
O'Day essayed a grin that didn't quite jell. But with the eyes of
Pen-N'hi upon him, he had no intention of showing the white feather. He
merely shrugged.
"You're calling signals," he muttered ... and did as the old Martian
directed.
With the die irrevocably cast, young Dr. Lane could sympathize
completely with the _Liberty's_ pilot. He, too, felt qualms of
misgiving as the cruiser bore down at flashing speed upon a chunk of
rock large enough to shatter the ship into billions of tortured rivets.
Nor was it pleasant to stare into the viewpane, watching that lethal
asteroid loom ever larger and more deadly, now like a gray, grim,
gaunt and fearsome stony beast, its gaping canyons yawned like fangs
bared to destroy them. Nearer and nearer flashed the _Liberty_. Lane's
heart missed a beat ... then another ... then started pounding with an
excitement which moistened the palms of his hands and dried his lips.
He cast a nervous glance at Dr. Kang. But the aged Martian's features
were expressionless.
Flick Muldoon was frankly apprehensive, and Nora Powell, standing next
to Warren across the room, moved closer to the sturdy space captain as
though to eke from his presence some breath of reassurance.
Nearer and yet nearer. And now they were almost upon the cosmic
juggernaut. At the rate at which they were traveling, if something were
not done _now_--immediately!--it would be but a matter of instants
before--
Gary was not surprised to hear a cry rip from the group of awed
watchers. Only a certain pride had prevented _him_ from being the one
to cry aloud. But it was little Dr. Anjers, cherubic face gray, who
broke forth.
"O'Day, turn away! It's a failure! We're going to crash! Look out--!"
But in that moment came a sudden, shuddering twist. Not hard, not
damaging, not shocking, but a sensation as though the _Liberty_ had
plowed headlong into a mass of sponge rubber. The nose of the ship
flew up, the dreadful vision in the viewpane swung suddenly out of
sight--and a moment later the rock which had threatened certain death
to all aboard lay far behind!
Dr. Kang smiled. "You see, my friends?"
O'Day said wonderingly, "It--it shunted us! Bounced us up and around
it, away from it, as if we were a rubber ball!"
"Exactly," said the Martian. "Our ship is encased in a sphere of
electrical force through which no matter can penetrate. A yielding
barrier which absorbs the shock of collision. The Bog holds no more
perils for us, my friends. You may if you wish, lock your controls and
pursue a set course to our destination."
"Well," said Flick Muldoon. "Well, I'll be damned!"
* * * * *
The Bog lay a trifle more than 120,000,000 miles from Mars. Great
Jupiter swung in its gigantic orbit a full 225,000,000 farther beyond.
Thus a journey of more than three Earth weeks' duration lay before the
space questers. Merchantmen were wont to speak of this as a dreary,
tedious journey, but those aboard the _Liberty_ did not find it so.
They had much with which to occupy their every waking hour.
For one thing, as the final stage of their adventure beckoned closer,
it seemed to definitely decide a problem up to now left dangling. That
of determining into exactly which quadrant of space should they direct
their flight when--and if--they were successful in gaining from the
Jovian council the fourth of their needful loans.
"Proxima Centauri," said Dr. Boris Anjers. "That is, of course, the
goal toward which we must set our course."
Gary said dubiously, "I'm not so sure. The studies of Millikin, and the
later research of Marquart and Thompson Blaine would seem to indicate
that cosmic rays emanate not from _that_ sector of space, but rather
from the neighborhood of Sirius."[5]
[Footnote 5: Early investigators were unable to discern any one
particular sector of space from which the mysterious cosmic rays seemed
to emanate. The painstaking research of Larson T. Marquart (2034-92
A.D.) and Thompson Blaine (2041-99) subsequently determined, however,
the point of heaviest emanation as being from that sector of space in
which is found the Dog Star, Sirius (Canis Major).--_Ed._]
"But," persisted the small Eurasian, "our main desire is to escape this
galaxy. And certainly Proxima Centauri is our closest neighbor."
"Closest, yes. But by going toward _it_ we travel in the opposite
direction to that which I think we should go. No, Sirius is the star we
must seek. There, if anywhere, lies the answer to our problem."
Flick Muldoon stared from one to the other of the two wrangling
scientists, his honest face wreathed in bewilderment.
"Am I nuts?" he demanded, "or have you two gone completely off base?
You're talking about Proxima Centauri and Sirius like they were weekend
excursions. If I haven't forgotten everything my astronomy prof told
me, Proxima Centauri is about four light-years away. Sirius is twice
that far. At the rate we're traveling it'll take us about 6,500 years
to reach Proxy, and damn near 14,000 to get to the Dog! What do we do
to live that long ... eat vitamins?"
Lane smiled. "You'd better stick to photography, Flick. Don't you
realize by now that our whole purpose in going to Jupiter is to learn
the secret of faster-than-light travel? If they'll tell us this secret,
we can reach our destination in--well, I don't know exactly how long.
That will depend greatly upon how far we can exceed the so-called
'limiting velocity'."
Here Dr. Kang interpolated, "That my boy is the term I suggest you use
with the greatest respect. It is not merely the 'so-called' limiting
velocity. The speed of light _is_ actually the greatest velocity at
which matter can travel and still retain its integral form. Beyond that
speed, mass becomes infinite. What happens then, no man knows. I am
afraid we must reconcile ourselves to a long and wearisome voyage of
nine Earth years."
Gary said tightly, "We can't _afford_ nine years. I'm not thinking of
our own discomfort, I'm remembering our computations. According to
those figures, Sol's dwindling point will be reached not in years, but
in months ... maybe _weeks_! Before we can reach our goal, the universe
from which we are fleeing will exist no more!"
"All the more reason," insisted Dr. Boris Anjers, "for heading toward
Proxima Centauri, my young friend. I am older than you, and have
studied cosmic radiation for a great many years. I _assure_ you, there
is no reason to believe one extra-galactic destination is more likely
than another."
* * * * *
Gary glanced at the man oddly. It was unlike Anjers to flaunt his age
and wisdom; equally unlike the small scientist to rouse to such heights
of nervous excitement. Gary said slowly, "Well, Dr. Anjers, this is a
communal enterprise. I don't wish to dictate our course. I'm willing to
place the decision to a vote of all our party."
Dr. Bryant said quietly, "That will not be necessary, Gary. You have
led us most successfully up till now. I think we are all willing to
accept your judgment."
"You're darn tootin'!" said Muldoon.
And Dr. Kang said blandly, "I, too, have perfect confidence in your
decisions, Dr. Lane."
Anjers' round face puffed with petulance. His bushy eyebrows drew
together. "Oh, very well!" he snapped in a tone almost a snarl. "But I
warn you, you're making a great mistake!" And angrily he stomped from
the room.
* * * * *
But to the man's credit, his pique did not last long. Before the day
ended he had returned, as urbane as ever, with a contrite smile and an
apology on his lips. So equanimity was restored aboard the _Liberty_,
and that was good, for on a voyage such as this it was better to avoid
all clash of personalities.
"We are fortunate," said Dr. Kang one night after Lark O'Day had
reported an argument in the crew's quarters which had almost resulted
in a free-for-all between the blasters and the mariners, "we number no
Venusians or Jovians among our corps. It has been my observation that
the members of these two races mingle poorly with the children of your
world and mine. Of the four races, our two are the more easy-going,
theirs the more emotional. Perhaps the early history of your Earth
might have been less bloody had not your continent embraced such a
diversity of planetary colonists."
Hugh Warren stared.
"Colonists? Are you trying to tell us, Dr. Kang, that the races of
Earth's mankind aren't indigenous to Earth?"
The ivory-tinted one's eyebrows lifted slightly. "But of course they
are not, Captain. Surely you didn't believe--or did you? But how
unreasonable to think that one small planet would breed more than a
single species! You of the white-skinned race are the only true race of
Earth."
"We _are_?"
"Why, surely! Just as all the true children of Venus are dark-skinned,
and we of Mars amber-fleshed. Oh, there is a certain fundamental
root-stock common to us all, I suppose. But any medical man can assure
you our differences lie not only in the color of our skins. Our races
show many physiological variations. Blood plasma, hair structure,
distribution of sinews, skeletal articulation--"
Nora Powell asked, "Then the yellow races of Earth--the Chinese,
Eskimos, Amerindians--were originally natives of _your_ planet?"
Dr. Kang nodded.
"Just as the ebony hued natives of your Africa came originally from
Venus; yes. On my planet are small colonies of white and black skinned
humans, and on Venus are aboriginal tribes of yellow and white skinned
men. It seems an inexorable law of nature that on every globe the
native tribe should rise to supremacy, while the secondary groups
should achieve to a lesser culture."
Gary said, "That is only partly true, Dr. Kang. Your Martian colonists
on our Earth--or at least those who colonized the country known as
China--have ever been a great and cultured people. Our forefathers
called them 'backward,' but that was because they placed social culture
above mechanistic advancement."
* * * * *
"But, Dr. Kang," broke in Muldoon, "you're implying that spaceflight
existed God-knows-how-long-ago! Centuries ... eons ... before the
launching of the Wentworth-Kroll experimental rocket in 1973!"[6]
[Footnote 6: Muldoon here ignores the two much earlier experimental
rockets which left Earth in 1942 ... that of Dr. Frazier Wrenn from
Arizona and that of Doktor Erich von Adlund from Berlin. (See Amazing
Stories, Dec. 1939.) Since both these rocket flights came to disastrous
end, the history of rocket travel really begins with the launching of
the Wentworth-Kroll ship, _Primus_, in September, 1973.--_Ed._]
Dr. Kang nodded. "And that is true. Spaceflight _did_ exist countless
centuries ago. It was achieved and perfected by a race now vanished. A
race which persists today only in vestigial form. You will meet some of
its members a few weeks hence."
"The Jovians?" demanded Gary. "You mean the Jovians once had a great
civilization and visited all the worlds? From way out there in their
far orbit?"
"Not exactly. But from their _former_ planet."
"Former--?"
"Yes. The one through whose shattered remnants we have but recently
passed."
O'Day said dazedly, "The asteroid belt! That's right! Science _does_
believe it once comprised a planet. It was destroyed mysteriously, some
say by a gigantic tug of war waged between Jupiter and the sun; others
say by internal explosion, millennia before civilization came to Earth.
But--" His brows drew together thoughtfully--"but the Jovians are a
_blue_-skinned race, Dr. Kang."
"Quite so," agreed Kang. "And as such they are bespoken in the
legends of my people. And--if I am not mistaken--also in your ancient
records.[7] We should pity them, my friends. They were once a great
and valiant empire; now they are decadent. Those of them who escaped
the holocaust which destroyed their former worlds have taken refuge on
Jupiter, and there live quietly, concerning themselves no longer with
matters of solar government.
[Footnote 7: Such records do exist in Earthly legends. In many parts of
the world may be found folk-tales concerning "blue-skinned" gods who
brought to this planet the benefits of civilization.--_Ed._]
"It is piteous," mourned the old man, "to see a once noble people
brought so low. But that is, and ever has been, the history of man's
strivings."
"Centuries," mused Gary Lane. "Thousands of years ago. I wonder--"
"Wonder what, my friend?"
"I wonder if their downfall has anything to do with the problem we're
tackling now. But--" Gary shook himself, ridding his mind of the
sudden, uneasy thought--"but of course that's nonsense! It couldn't
possibly be...."