Silently, the four men the two ships, waiting for any movement. There was a long, moment, then something for which three of them were totally unprepared.
Arcot into laughter.
"Don't—ho—hoh-ho—oh—don't shoot!" he cried, laughing so hard it was almost to him. "Ohoh—space—curved!" he managed to gasp.
For a moment more, Morey looked puzzled—then he was laughing as hard as Arcot. Helplessly, Wade and Fuller looked at them, then at each other. Then, suddenly, Wade the meaning of Arcot's and joined the other two in laughter.
"All right," said Fuller, still mystified, "when you half-witted physicists recover, let me in on the joke!" He it had something to do with the ships, so he looked closely at them in that he would the point, too. When he saw it, he in amazement. "Hey! What is this? Those ships are exact of the Ancient Mariner!"
"That—that's what I was laughing at," Arcot explained, his eyes. "Four big, explorers, of their own shadows!"
"The light from our own ship has come to us, to the of the space which us. In normal space, a light would take hundreds of millions of years to travel all the way around the Universe and return to its point of origin. Theoretically, it would be possible to photograph our own Galaxy as it was thousands of ago by the light which left it then and has all the way around the of space.
"But our space has such that it only takes a of a second for light to make the trip. It has gone all the way around our little and come again.
"If we'd at it, we would have done ourselves in! The would go around and us from behind!"
"Say, that is a proposition!" laughed Fuller. "Then we'll be by those all the way? There goes the 'nine deep' which moves the ship—the that work the sails. This will be a Ancient Mariner trip!"
It was like that in another way, too. The men little to do as they passed on at high speed through the of space. The pointed out the hours with slowness. The six hours that were to the stop as many days. They had of this as a in itself, but the was depressing. They around, aimlessly. Wade to sleep, but after in his for an hour, he gave up in despair.
Arcot saw that the of doing nothing was not going to be good for his little and to see what be done about it.
He to the laboratory and looked for inspiration. He it.
"Hey! Morey! Wade! Fuller! Come on here! I've got an idea!" he called.
They came to him looking at the power pack from one of the he had designed. He had taken the metal case off and was looking at the that within.
"These are for use with the space suits, of course," Morey pointed out, "and that us protection against gases. But I wonder if we might protection against injury—with to aforethought! In other words, why not these with a small apparatus? We have it on the ship, but we might need personal protection, too."
"Great idea," said Wade, "provided you can room in that case."
"I think we can. We won't need to add anything but a devices, really, and they don't take a of a of power."
Arcot pointed out the places where they be put; also, he replaced some of the old with one of his new and got higher from the tubes.
But principally, it was something to do.
Indeed, it was so something to do that the six hours had almost they it. In a very time, they returned again to the room and themselves in.
Arcot toward the little red that the of the and it a of the way.
"There go the ghosts!" he said. The images had disappeared, away from them at speed as the space in which the ship was opened out more and more and the decreased. They were away from themselves!
Easing a at a time, to prevent again about in the of the ship, Arcot cut the power to zero, and the ship was still once more.
They to the and looked out the window.
Far, them, in the marvelous, soft, of space, was a up of of points. And it didn't to be a thing at a great distance, but a small object a the window.
So perfectly clear was their view through the metal and the black, empty space that all of was lost. It more a model of their universe—a thing that close them, unwavering, with a light, a that in the very faintly. It was the light of three hundred at a of three million miles! And it small there was nothing with which to it.
It was an thing, that of light.
Morey over to the and to take pictures.
"I'd like to take a color of that," he said a minutes later, "but that would a direct through the and a time exposure. And I can't do that; the ship is moving."
"Not to make any difference," Arcot contradicted. "We're moving away from it in a line, and that thing is three miles away. We're not moving fast to any in a time exposure. As for having a platform, this ship a of a and is by gyroscopes. We won't shake it."
While Morey took the time exposure, Arcot looked at the image in the and to make from the stars. This he impossible. Although he spot Betelgeuse and Antares of their radiation, they were too close together for measurements; the was too small.
Finally, he to use the Antares and S Doradus in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, one of the two clouds of which as to the Galaxy itself.
To double-check, he used the of the Galaxy as to the distance. The checked. The ship was five hundred thousand light years from home!
After all the necessary were made, they the ship on its and looked ahead for a landing place.
The ahead were still to the as points, but the one as nearer than the rest. It to be a Island Universe, for there was still a cloud of and from which were yet to be in the whorl—a single cloud that out through a billion miles of space.
"Shall we for that?" asked Arcot at last, as Morey his observations.
"I think it would be as good as any—there are more there than we can to visit."
"Well, then, here we go!"
Arcot for the room, while Morey off the and put the latest in the file.
Suddenly space was about him—they were off again. Another of energy—another—the ship at speed—still greater—then they were at top speed, and them ran the ships of the Ancient Mariner.
Morey pushed himself into the room just as Arcot, Wade, and Fuller were to start for the lab.
"We're off for a while, now," he said. "Our is about five days away. I we stop at the end of four days, make more measurements, then plan a closer stop.
"I think from now on we ought to sleep in relays, so that there will be three of us at all times. I'll turn in now for ten hours, and then someone else can sleep. Okay?"
It was agreed, and in the meantime the three on to the to work.
Arcot had the of the in his at the end of ten hours, much to his disappointment. He it, then about for something to do while Wade and Morey added the touches to theirs.
Morey came down, and when Wade had his, which took another of an hour, he took the off shift.
Arcot had gone to the library, and Morey was at work below. Fuller had come up, looking for something to do, and had upon the excellent idea of a meal.
He had just his in the when the Ancient Mariner gave a leap, and the men, not any weight, in different with force!
Fuller the length of the and was out by the blow. Wade, asleep in bed, was by the shock, and Morey, who had been in his chair, was shaken.
Everyone out simultaneously—and Arcot was on his way to the room. The was but a of the storm. Suddenly the ship was about; the air was through with great sparks; the of electricity was everywhere, and every pointed metal object was of electric into the air! The ship rocked, heaved, and wildly, as though in the play of forces!
Scrambling along the hand-holds, Arcot his way the room, which was now above, now below, and now to one of him as the the ship. Doggedly, he his way up, from the sparks.
Below, in the power room, the were in and out wildly.
Then, suddenly, a new was added just as Arcot himself into the chair and himself down. The out its warning!
"COSMIC RAYS!" Arcot yelled. "HIGH CONCENTRATION!"
He at the which the screens across every window in the ship.
There was a crash and a out below—a of a two thick! In an instant, the of the up and died. The ship madly, in the titanic, that it—the that the energy in the universe!
Arcot that nothing be done with the power coil. It was drained; the was broken. He in the drive, pushing the to four gravities, as high as the men stand.
And still the powerful ship was being about, the of forces. They only the did not try to turn the ship more violently, not of the of the ship, for nothing the power around them.
As a guide, Arcot used the gyroscope, the only one not out of its original position; with it, he managed to a course.
Meanwhile, in the power room, Wade and Morey were to the space-strain drive recharged. Despite the strength-sapping of under four of acceleration, they managed to the power unit into operation. In a moments, they had it its into the coil-bank so that they up the drive coil.
Another was inserted, and Wade the to make sure they were in order.
Fuller, who had consciousness, his way to the power room three space-suits. He had stopped in the to the power belts, and the three men them to help them overcome the four-gravity pull.
Another hour by as the ship its way through the in space.
Suddenly they a again—then the ship was moving more smoothly, and it was calm. They were through!
"Have we got power for the space-strain drive yet?" Arcot called through the intercom.
"Enough," Morey cried. "Try it!"
Arcot cut off the motion drive, and in all the space-control power he had. The ship was with energy. It suddenly—then was quiet. He allowed ten minutes to pass, then he cut off the drive and allowed the ship to go into free fall.
Morey's voice came over the intercom. "Arcot, are up here! We had to the drive together."
"I'll be right down. Every on the ship to be out of kilter!"
It was a good thing they had of parts; some of the smaller had out completely, and of the power leads had under the that had been through them.
The space-strain drive had been energy at a rate; without repair, it not much longer.
In the power room, Arcot the damage. "Well, boys, we'd to work. We're here until we that drive repaired!"
