"I'd like to see that one worked out on a blackboard," said Jimmy. "At
the present, I'll take your word for it. What I'm interested in right
now is: does this factor 'R' increase with the power setting?"
"Drake just lifted it to thirty feet per," said Hammond, "and I've been
timing it. So far, it does."
"Steve," said McBride, "if we can figure out some way of keeping
ourselves from getting killed as the acceleration hits the upper
brackets, we'll have a drive that will get us places like fury. Think
fast, brother."
Hammond looked up, just as the acceleration reached a peak, and it
snapped his head sharply. "_Whew_," he said. "This is fine stuff,
but we couldn't run anywhere very long this way. We'd shake the whole
crate loose." He was thoughtful for a minute. "Don't suppose that
blackboard mind of yours could figure out our course constants from
this saw-toothed curve we're running?"
"Sure," grinned McBride. "Since the thing is not increasing constantly,
but is returning to zero accel each time and then building up linearly
to peak, our over-all, long-time acceleration is equivalent to the
average acceleration. Besides, what difference does it make? We'll get
there somehow, and we can probably plot well enough to keep from doing
a lot of return-chasing to hit the lens."
"O.K., but we're going to have to figure a way out of this. I couldn't
stand knowing anything like this drive without trying to make it
practical."
"Wait until we can talk without getting our tongues bitten off by this
drive of yours, and we'll go to work on it."