"I know. I took a run on it!"
* * * * *
Channing was taking a chance, running the little _Anopheles_ to Terra,
but he knew his ship, and he was no man to be overcautious. He drove
it for Terra at three G, and by dead reckoning, started down into
Terra's blanket of air, heading for the Terran Electric plant which was
situated on the lake shore.
Then down out of the cloudless sky came the _Anopheles_ in a free
fall. It screamed with the whistle of tortured air as it fell, and it
caught the attention of every man that was working at Terran Electric.
Only those on the roof saw the egg-shaped hull fall out of the sky
unchecked; landing fifteen hundred yards off shore in Lake Michigan.
The splash was terrific.
"Channing--!" said the project engineer, aghast.
"No, look, there--a lifeship!"
Cautiously sliding down, a minute lifeship less than the size of a
freight car came to a landing in the Terran Electric construction yard.
Channing emerged, his face white. He bent down and kissed the steel
grille of the construction yard fervently.
Someone ran out and gave Channing a brown bottle. Don nodded, and took
a draw of monstrous proportions. He gagged, made a face, and smiled in
a very wan manner.
"Thanks," he said shakily. He took another drink, of more gentlemanly
size.
"What happened?"
"Dunno. Was coming in at three G. About four hundred miles up, the
deceleration just quit. Like that! I made it to the skeeter, here, in
just enough time to get her away about two miles ago. _Whoosh!_"
Don dug into his pocket and found cigarettes. He lit up and drew
deeply. "Something cock-eyed, here. That stoppage might make me think
that my tube failed; but--"
"You suspect that our tube isn't working for the same reason?" finished
the project engineer.
"Yes. I'm thinking of the trick, ultra-high powered, concentric beams
we have to use to ram a hole through the Heaviside Layer. We start out
with three million watts of sheer radio frequency and end up with just
enough to make our receivers worth listening to. Suppose this had some
sort of Heaviside Layer?"
"In which case, Terran Electric hasn't got solar power," said the
project engineer. "Tim, load this bottle into the _Electric Lady_, and
we'll see if we can find this barrier." To Channing, he said: "You look
as though you could stand a rest. Check into a hotel in Chicago and
we'll call you when we're ready to try it out."
Channing agreed. A shave, a bath, and a good night's sleep did wonders
for his nerves, as did a large amount of Scotch. He was at Terran
Electric in the morning, once more in command of himself.
Up into the sky went the ship that carried the solar tube. It remained
inert until the ship passed above three hundred and forty miles. Then
the ammeter needle swung over, and the huge shunt grew warm. The
tenuous atmosphere outside of the ship was unchanged, yet the beam drew
power of gigantic proportions.
They dropped again. The power ceased.
They spent hours rising and falling, charting this unknown barrier
that stopped the unknown radiation from bringing solar power right down
to earth. It was there, all right, and impervious. Above, megawatts
raced through the giant shunt. Below, not even a micro-ammeter could
detect a trace of current.
"O.K., Don," said the project engineer. "We'll have to do some more
work on it. It's nothing of your doing."
Mark Kingman's face was green again, but he nodded in agreement. "We
seem to have a useless job here, but we'll think of something."
Channing left for Venus Equilateral in two more days. They studied the
barrier and established its height as a constant three hundred and
thirty-nine, point seven six miles above Terra's mythical sea level. It
was almost a perfect sphere, that did not change with the night and day
as did the Heaviside Layer. There was no way to find out how thick it
was, but thickness was of no importance, since it effectively stopped
the beam.
And as Don Channing stepped aboard the _Princess of the Sky_ to get
home again, the project engineer said: "If you don't mind, I think
we'll call that one the Channing Layer!"
"Yeah," grinned Don, pleased at the thought, "and forever afterward it
will stand as a cinder in the eye of Terran Electric."
"Oh," said the project engineer, "We'll beat the Channing Layer."