The elder Arcot was watching the scene in the screen curiously. “I wonder—” he said slowly. “As a physicist, I should say it was impossible, but if it did happen, I should imagine these would be the results.” He turned to look at Arcot junior. “Well, go on with your exhibition, son."
"I want to know your ideas when we're through, though, Dad,” said the younger man. “The next on the program is a little more interesting, perhaps. At least it demonstrates a more commercial aspect of the thing."
The younger Morey was operating the controls of the handling robots. On the screen, a machine rolled in on caterpillar treads, picked up the lux case and its contents, and carried them off.
A minute later, it reappeared with a large electromagnet and a relux plate, to which were attached a huge pair of silver busbars. The relux plate was set in a stand directly in front of the projector, and the big electromagnet was set up directly behind the relux plate. The magnet leads were connected, and a coil, in the form of two toruses intersecting at right angles enclosed| in a form-fitting relux case, had been connected to the heavy terminals of the relux plate. An ammeter and a heavy coil of coronium wire were connected in series with the coil, and a kilo-voltmeter was connected across the terminals of the relux plate.
As soon as the connections were completed, the robot backed swiftly out of the room, and Arcot turned on the magnet and the ray projector. Instantly, there was a sharp deflection of the kilo-voltmeter.
"I haven't yet closed the switch leading into the coil,” he explained, “so there's no current.” The ammeter needle hadn't moved.
Despite the fact that the voltmeter seemed to be shorted out by the relux plate, the needle pointed steadily at twenty-two. Arcot changed the current through the magnet, and the reading dropped to twenty.
The rays had been on at very low power, the air only slightly ionized, but as Arcot turned a rheostat, the intensity increased, and the air in the path of the beam shone with an intense blue. The relux plate, subject now to eddy currents, since there was no other path for the energy to take, began to heat up rapidly.
"I'm going to close the switch into the coil now,” said Arcot. “Watch the meters."
A relay snapped, and instantly the ammeter jumped to read 4500 amperes. The voltmeter gave a slight kick, then remained steady. The heavy coronium spring grew warm and began to glow dully, while the ammeter dropped slightly because of the increased resistance. The relux plate cooled slightly, and the voltmeter remained steady.
"The coil you see is storing the energy that is flowing into it,” Arcot explained. “Notice that the coronium resistor is increasing its resistance, but otherwise there is little increase in the back E.M.F. The energy is coming from the rays which strike the polarized relux plate to give the current."
He paused a moment to make slight adjustments in the controls, then turned his attention back to the screen.
The kilo-voltmeter still read twenty.
"Forty-five hundred amperes at twenty thousand volts,” the elder Arcot said softly. “Where is it going?"
"Take a look at the space within the right angle of the torus coils,” said Arcot junior. “It's getting dark in there despite the powerful light shed by the ionized air."
Indeed, the space within the twin coils was rapidly growing dark; it was darkening the image of the things behind it, oddly blurring their outlines. In a moment, the images were completely wiped out, and the region within the coils was filled with a strangely solid blackness.
"According to the instruments,” young Arcot said, “we have stored fifteen thousand kilowatt hours of energy in that coil and there seems to be no limit to how much power we can get into it. Just from the power it contains, that coil is worth about forty dollars right now, figured at a quarter of a cent per kilowatt hour.
"I haven't been using anywhere near the power I can get out of this apparatus, either. Watch.” He threw another switch which shorted around the coronium resistor and the ammeter, allowing the current to run into the coil directly from the plate.
"I don't have a direct reading on this,” he explained, “but an indirect reading from the magnetic field in that room shows a current of nearly a hundred million amperes!"
The younger Morey had been watching a panel of meters on the other side of the screen. Suddenly, he shouted: “Cut ft, Arcot I The conductors are setting up a secondary field in the plate and causing trouble."
Instantly, Arcot's hand went to a switch. A relay slammed open, and the ray projector died.
The power coil still held its field of enigmatic blackness.
"Watch this,” Arcot instructed. Under his expert manipulation, a small robot handler rolled into the room. It had a pair of pliers clutched in one claw. The spectators watched the screen in fascination as the robot drew back its arm and hurled the pliers at the black field with all its might. The pliers struck the blackness and rebounded as if they had hit a rubber wall. Arcot caused the little machine to pick up the pliers and repeat the process.
Arcot grinned. “I've cut off the power to the coil. Unlike the ordinary induction coil, it isn't necessary to keep supplying power to the thing; it's a static condition.
"You can see for yourself how much energy it holds. It's a handy little gadget, isn't it?” He shut off the rest of the instruments and the television screen, then turned to his father.
"The demonstration is over. Got any theories, Dad?"
The elder Dr. Arcot frowned in thought. “The only thing I can think of that would produce an effect like that is a stream of positrons-or contraterrene nuclei. That would explain not only the heating, but the electrical display.
"As far as the coil goes, that's easy to understand. Any energy storage device stores energy the strain in space; here you can actually see the strain in space.” Then he smiled at his son. “I see my ex-laboratory assistant has come a long way. You've achieved controlled, usable atomic energy through total annihilation of mass. Right?"
Arcot smiled back and nodded. “Right, Dad."
"Son, I wonder if you'd give me your data sheets on that process. I'd like to work out some of the mathematical problems involved."
"Sure, Dad. But right now—” Arcot turned toward the elder Mr. Morey. “-I'm more interested in the mathematics of finance. We have a proposition to put to you, Mr. Morey, and that proposition, simply stated, is—"
Perhaps it was simply stated, but it took fully an hour for Arcot, Wade, and Morey to discuss the science of it with the two older men, and Fuller spent another hour over the carefully drawn plans for the ship.
At last, the elder Mr. Morey settled back and looked vacantly at the ceiling. They were seated now in the conference room of Transcontinental Airways.
"Well, boys,” said Mr. Morey, “as usual, I'm in a position where I'm forced to yield. I might refuse financial backing, but you could sell any one of those gadgets for close to a billion dollars and finance the expedition independently, or you could, with your names, request the money publicly and back it that way.” He paused a moment. “I am, however, thinking more in terms of your safety than in terms of money.” There was another long pause, then he smiled at the four younger men.
"I think, however, that we can trust you. Armed with cosmic and molecular rays, you should be able to put up a fair scrap anywhere. Also, I have never detected any signs of feeblemindedness in any of you; I don't think you'll get yourselves in a jam you can't get out of. I'll back you."
"I hate to interrupt your exuberance,” said the elder Dr. Arcot, “but I should like to know the name of this remarkable ship."
"What?” asked Wade. “Name? Oh, it hasn't any."
The elder Morey shook his head sadly. “That is indeed an important oversight. If a crew of men can overlook so fundamental a thing, I wonder if they are to be trusted."
"Well, what are we going to call it, then?” asked Arcot.
"Solarite II might do,” suggested Morey. “It will still be from the Solar System."
; "I think we should be more broadminded,” said Arcot. “We aren't going to stay in this system-not even in this galaxy. We might call it the Galaxian."
"Did you say broadminded?” asked Wade. “Let's really be broad and call it the Universite or something like that. Or, better yet, call it Flourine! That's everywhere in the universe and the most active element there is. This ship will go everywhere in the universe and be the most active thing that ever existed!"
"A good name!” said the elder Morey. “That gets my vote!"
Young Arcot looked thoughtful. “That's mighty good-I like the idea-but it, lacks ring.” He paused, then, looking up at the ceiling, repeated slowly:
"Alone, alone, all, all alone; Alone on a wide, wide sea; Nor any saint took pity on My soul in agony."
He rose and walked over to the window, looking out where the bright points of light that were the stars of space rode high in the deep violet of the moonlit sky.
"The sea of all space-the sea of vastness that lies between the far-flung nebulae-the mighty void-alone on a sea, the vastness of which no man can imagine-alone-alone where no other man has been; alone, so far from all matter, from all mankind, that not even light, racing at billions of miles each day, could reach home in less than a million years.” Arcot stopped and stood looking out of the window.
Morey broke the silence. “The Ancient Mariner.” He paused. “'Alone’ will certainly be right. I think that name takes all the prizes."
Fuller nodded slowly. “I certainly agree. The Ancient Mariner. It's kind of long, but it is the name."
It was adopted unanimously.
CHAPTER IV
The Ancient Mariner was built in the big Transcontinental shops in Newark; the power they needed was not available in the smaller shops.
Working twenty-four hours a day, in three shifts, skilled men took two months to finish the hull according to Fuller's specifications. The huge walls of lux metal required great care in construction, for they could not be welded; they had to be formed in position. And they could only be polished under powerful magnets, where the dense magnetic field softened the lux metal enough to allow a diamond polisher to do the job.
When the hull was finished, there came the laborious work of installing the power plant and the tremendous power leads, the connectors, the circuits to the relays-a thousand complex circuits.
Much of it was standard: the molecular power tubes, the molecular ray projectors, the power tubes for the invisibility apparatus, and many other parts. All the relays were standard, the gyroscopic stabilizers were standard, and the electromagnetic braking equipment for the gyros was standard.
But there would be long days of work ahead for Arcot, Wade, and Morey, for only they could install the special equipment; only they could put in the complicated wiring, for no one else on Earth understood the circuits they had to establish.
During the weeks of waiting, Arcot and his friends worked on auxiliary devices to be used with the ship. They wanted to make some improvements on the old molecular ray pistols, and to develop atomic powered heat projectors for hand use. The primary power they stored in small space-strain coils in the hand-grip of the pistol. Despite their small size, the coils were capable of storing power for thirty hours of continuous operation of the rays. The finished weapon was scarcely larger than a standard molecular ray pistol.
Arcot pointed out that many of the planets they might visit would be larger than Earth, and they lacked any way of getting about readily under high gravity. Since something had to be done about that, Arcot did it. He demonstrated it to his friends one day in the shop yard.
Morey and Wade had just been in to see Fuller about some details of the ship, and as they came out, Arcot called them over to his work bench. He was wearing a space suit without the helmet.
The modern spacesuit is made of woven lux metal wires of extremely small diameter and air-proofed with a rubberoid flurocarbon plastic, and furnished with air and heating units. Made as it was, it offered protection nothing else could offer; it was almost a perfect insulator and was resistant to the attack of any chemical reagent. Not even elemental flourine could corrode it. And the extreme strength of the lux metal fiber made it stronger, pound for pound, than steel or coronium.
On Arcot's back was a pack of relux plated metal. It was connected by relux web belts to a broad belt that circled Arcot's waist. One thin cable ran down the right arm to a small relux tube about eight inches long by two inches in diameter.
"Watch!” Arcot said, grinning.
He reached to his belt and flipped a little switch.
"So long! See you later!” He pointed his right arm toward the ceiling and sailed lightly into the air. He lowered the angle of his arm and moved smoothly across the huge hangar, floating toward the shining bulk of the rapidly forming Ancient Mariner. He circled the room, rising and sinking at will, then headed for the open door.
"Come out and watch me where there's more room,” he called.
Out in the open, he darted high up into the air until he was a mere speck in the sky. Then he suddenly came dropping down and landed lightly before them, swaying on his feet and poised lightly on his toes.
"Some jump,” said Morey, in mock surprise.
"Yeah,” agreed Fuller. “Try again."
"Or,” Wade put in, “give me that weight annihilator and I'll beat you at your own game. What's the secret?"
"That's a cute gadget. How much load does it carry?” asked Morey, more practically.
"I can develop about ten tons as far as it goes, but the human body can't take more than five gravities, so we can only visit planets with less than that surface gravity. The principle is easy to see; I'll show you."
He unhooked the cables and took the power pack from his back. “The main thing is the molecular power unit here, electrically heated and mounted on a small, massive gyroscope. That gyro is necessary, too. I tried leaving it out and almost took a nosedive. I had it coupled directly to the body and leaned forward a little bit when I was in the air! Without a gyro to keep the drive upright, I took a loop and started heading for the ground. I had to do some fancy gymnastics to keep from ending up six feet under-literally!"
"The power is all generated in the pack with a small power plate and several storage coils. I've also got it hooked to these holsters at my belt so we can charge the pistols while we carry them.
"The control is this secondary power cable running down my arm to my hand. That gives you your direction, and the rheostat here at the belt changes the velocity.
"I've only made this one so far, but I've ordered six others like it. I thought you guys might like one, too."
"I think you guessed right!” said Morey, looking inside the power case. “Hey! Why all the extra room in the case?"
"It's an unperfected invention as yet; we might want to put some more stuff in there for our own private use."
Each of the men tried out the apparatus and found it quite satisfactory.
Meanwhile, there was other work to be done.
Wade had been given the job of gathering the necessary food and anything else in the way of supplies that he might think of. Arcot was collecting the necessary spare parts and apparatus. Morey was gathering a small library and equipping a chemistry laboratory. Fuller was to get together the necessary standard equipment for the ship-tables, seats, bunks, and other furniture.
It took months of work, and it seemed it would never be finished, but finally, one clear, warm day in August, the ship was completely Quipped and ready to go.
On the last inspection, the elder Dr. Arcot and the elder Mr. Morey went with’ the four younger men. They stood beside the great intergalactic cruiser, looking up at its shining hull.
"We came a bit later than we expected, son,” said Dr. Arcot, “but we still expect a good show.” He paused and frowned. “I understand you don't intend to take any trial trip. What's the idea?"
Arcot had been afraid his father would be worried about that, so he framed his expla
nation carefully. “Dad, we figured this ship out to the last decimal place; it's the best we can make it. Remember, the molecular motion drive will get a trial first; we'll give it a trial trip when we leave the sun. If there's any trouble, naturally, we'll return. But the equipment is standard, so we're expecting no trouble.
"The only part that would require a trial trip is the space-control apparatus, and there's no way to give that a trial trip. Remember, we have to get far enough out from the sun so that the gravitational field will be weak enough for the drive to overcome it. If we tried it this close, we'd just be trying to neutralize the sun's gravity. We'd be pouring out energy, wasting a great deal of it; but out away from the sun, we'll get most of the energy back.
"On the other hand, when we do get out and get started we will go faster than light, and we'd be hopelessly beyond the range of the molecular motion drive in an instant. In other words, if the space-control drive doesn't work, we can't come back, and if it does work, there's no need to come back.
"And if anything goes wrong, we're the only ones who could fix it, anyway. If anything goes wrong, I'll radio Earth. You ought to be able to hear from me in about a dozen years.” He smiled suddenly. “Say! We might go out and get back here in time to hear ourselves talking!
"But you can see why we felt that there was little reason for a trial trip. If it's a failure, we'll never be back to say so; if it isn't, we'll be able to continue."
His father still looked worried, but he nodded in acquiescence. “Perfect logic, son, but I guess we may as well give up the discussion. Personally, I don't like it. Let's see this ship of yours."
The great hull was two hundred feet long and thirty feet in diameter. The outer wall, one foot of solid lux metal, was separated from the inner, one-inch relux wall by a two inch gap which would be evacuated in space.. The two walls were joined in many places by small lux metal cross-braces. The windows consisted of spaces in the relux wall, allowing the occupants to see through the transparent lux hull.
The Battle of the Infinite Trilogy Page 25
