Morey he was the to when, seven hours later, he and lightly, noiselessly, out into the library. Suddenly, he noticed that the was in operation—he the low of its motors.
He and toward the observatory. Arcot was with the telectroscope.
"What's up, Arcot?" he demanded.
Arcot looked up at him and off his hands. "I've just been up the telectroscope. We're going around this once every three milliseconds, which makes it hard to see the around us. So I put in a which will the off most of the time; it only looks at the sky once every three milliseconds. As a result, we can a picture of what's going on around us very easily. It won't be a picture, but since we're a still picture three hundred times a second, it will be than any moving picture as as is concerned.
"I did it I want to take a look at that in the sky. I think it'll be the means to our salvation—if there is any."
Morey nodded. "I see what you mean; if that's another white dwarf—which it most likely is—we can use it to escape. I think I see what you're at."
"If it doesn't work," Arcot said coolly, "we can profit by the example of the people we left there. Suicide is to of cold."
Morey nodded. "The question is: How are we?"
"Depends on that star; let's see if we can a focus on it."
At the of the ship, on the star was a difficult thing to do. It took them well over an hour to the image in the screen without its off toward one edge; it took longer to the focus close to a to give them a reading on the instruments. The image had started out as a streak, but by taking smaller and smaller of the at the proper times, they managed to a good, solid image. But to it was another problem; they were only up a of the light, and it had to be to make a visible image.
When they got what they were looking for, Morey at the image. "Now the job is to the distance. And we haven't got much parallax to work with."
"If we in the in our at opposite of the orbit, I think we can do it," Arcot said.
They to work on the problem. When Fuller and Wade up, they were work to do—Morey gave them to solve without telling them to what the applied.
Finally Arcot said: "Their period about the common center of is thirty-nine hours, as I it."
Morey nodded. "Check. And that us a of two miles apart."
"Just what are you two up to?" asked Fuller. "What good is another star? The one we're in is this us."
"No," Arcot corrected, "we're in away from the one us, which is an different matter. If we were this star and that one, the of the two would be out, since we would be as hard in one direction as the other. Then we'd be free of and escape!
"If we into that area long to turn on our space drive, we away them fast. Of course, a of our energy would be up, but we'd away.
"That's our only hope," Arcot concluded.
"Yes, and what a of a it is," Wade sarcastically. "How are you going to out to a point these two when you don't have power to this ship a miles?"
"If Mahomet can not go to the mountain," Arcot, "then the must come to Mahomet."
"What are you going to do?" Wade asked in exasperation. "Beat Joshua? He the sun still, but this is a job of them around!"
"It is," Arcot quietly, "and I to that star in such a way that we can the fields! We can the and the as millions of millions of millions of of crash into each other."
"And you to that?" asked Wade in as he of the there would be when two into each other. "Well, I don't want to be around."
"You haven't any choice," Arcot grinned. Then his serious. "What I want to do is simple. We have the ray. Those are hot. They don't into each other they are about each other. Suppose that were stopped—stopped and completely? The catalytically; we won't supply the power to stop that star, the star itself will. All we have to do is the to move in a direction opposite to the rotation. We'll supply the impulse, and the star will supply the energy!
"Our job will be to away when the close enough; we are going to our to a star!
"The of the job are simple. We will have to when and how long to use the power, and when and how to escape. We'll have to use the main power to the and project it of the little units. With luck, we ought to be free of this star in three days!"
Work was started at once. They had a of life in sight, and they had every of taking of it! The calculating they had would prove their in this one use. The were difficult the ship was around the star in such a orbit. The calculations of the and and motion of the other star were therefore very difficult, but the final results looked good.
The other star and this one a binary, the two being of only different and about each other at a of two miles.
The next problem was to the time of from that point, that it would stop instantaneously, which would be true.
The would take only seven hours under the of the two masses! Since the would toward each other, the ship would be toward the mass, and since their around the star took only a of a second to complete, they had to make sure they were in the right position at the point just occurred. Also, their would be as the star approached, and it was necessary to that in, too.
Arcot calculated that in twenty-two hours, forty-six minutes, they would be in the most position to start the fall. They have started sooner, but there were some that had to be in the of the ship they start using the at full power.
"Well," said Wade as he the computations, "I we don't make a mistake and the two! And what if we we haven't stopped the star after all?"
"If we don't it the time," Morley replied, "we'll have to the until we do."
They set to work at once, the leads to the projectors, which were on the of the in recesses. Morey and Wade had to go the ship to help the cables.
Out in space, about the ship, they were still weightless, for they, too, were supported by force.
The work of the projectors for power was in an hour and a quarter, which still left over twenty hours they use them. During the next ten hours, they the great to capacity, the to them open, by the only. That would keep the charged, to start.
Finally, Wade off his hands and said: "We're all to go mechanically, and I think it would be wise if we were physically, too. I know we're not very tired, but if we around in we'll be as as cats when the time comes. I we take a of sleeping and turn in. If we use a mild to us, we won't oversleep."
The others to the plan and prepared for their wait.
Awakened two hours the moment of action, Wade prepared breakfast, and Morey took observations. He just where the star should be according to their calculations, and looked for it there. He a of relief—it was in place! Their they had been sure of, but on such a moving machine, it was difficult to make good observations.
The two hours to interminably, but at last Arcot for the full power of the rays. They waited, breathlessly, for some response. Nearly twenty later, the other sun out.
"We did it!" said Wade in a voice. It was almost a to that this ship had power to a sun!
Arcot and Morey weren't awed; they didn't have time. There were other to do and do fast.
They had the time for them to see that the white had gone out. Half of this gave them the from the star in light seconds.
The screen had already been to the into a computer, which in turn gave a time to the pilot that would turn on the drive at the right instant. There was no time for error here; the were too great and the time for error too small.
Then they waited. They had to wait for seven hours around an star with an field. A star only a of of miles across, and yet so that it a times as much as the Earth! And they had to wait while another star like it, now to zero, toward them!
"I wish we around to see the splash," Arcot said. "It's going to be something to see. All the energy of those two into each other is going to be a of light that will be something!"
Wade was looking at the plate. "I wish we see that other sun. I don't like the idea of a thing that big up on us in the dark."
"Calm down," Morey said quietly. "It's out of our hands now; we took a chance, and it was a we had to take. If you want to watch something, watch Junior there. It's going to start doing some tricks."
As the black sun approached them, Junior, as Morey had called it, did to do tricks. At they to be effects, as though the itself were playing tricks. The red, them to around its surface, an red which to be slowly.
"What's happening?" Fuller asked.
"Our around the star is more and more elliptical," Arcot replied. "As the other sun us, the star us smaller with the distance; then, as we to toward it, it larger again. Since this is taking place many hundreds of times second, the pictures all to in together."
"Watch the clock," Morey said suddenly, pointing.
The men as the hand moved slowly around.
"Ten—nine—eight—seven—six—five—four—three—two—one—ZERO!"
A home, and almost instantaneously, on the ship was into unconsciousness.
