The IPV Arcturus Sets Out for Mars
ANARROW football of steel, the Interplanetary Vessel Arcturus in her in the like an egg in its cup. A hundred across and a hundred and seventy was that bowl, its supported by the and of the and with hard-packed bumper-layers of and fibre. High into the air the upper of the ship of space—a of fifty-inch armor, to a prow. Countless hundred of every of her surface, and here and there the metal was and scored to a of inches—each and score the record of an attempt of some to argue the right-of-way with the of that man-made of the void.
A man his way through the about the entrance, to the gatekeeper, and joined the of through the doors of the air-lock and a to the center of the vessel. However, of entering one of the which were the up to their in the upper of the football, he in some way an opening to appear in an blank and through it into the room.
"Hi, Breck!" the one called, as he up to the instrument-desk of the pilot and his into a corner. "Behold your computer in the flesh! What's all this and about computation?"
"Hello, Steve!" The pilot as he hands cordially. "Glad to see you again—but don't try to kid the old man. I'm to almost anything, but some just aren't being done. We have been yelling, and hard, for since they started us about every one in acceleration, but I know that you're no more an I-P computer than I am a Digger Indian. They don't shoot with coast-defense guns!"
"Thanks for the compliment, Breck, but I'm your computer for this trip, anyway. Newton, the good old egg, what you are up against and is going to do something about it, if he has to all the of the to do it. He that I was for a of and asked me to come along this to see what I see. I'm to check the data—they don't know I'm aboard—take the and off your curve, if possible, and report to Newton just what I out and what I think should be done about it. How early am I?" While the was talking, he had the from a model of the and from a large and calculating machine and had set to work without a motion or instant—scaling off upon the model the positions of the check-stations and setting up long and and upon the calculator.
The older man the of the younger, over his computations, and a tender, almost came over his as he replied:
"Early? You? Just like you always were—plus fifteen on the deadline. The final is right now." He the and into a marked "Observatory," waited until a light above the green, and spoke.
"IPV Arcturus; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; number forty-three twenty-nine. Ready for final and data, Tellus to Mars."
"Meteoric still too for safe travel along the route," came from the speaker. "You must away from the plane of the ecliptic. The will be clear for you along E2-P6-W41-K3-R19-S7-M14. You will a of 981.27 and final check stations. Your take-off will be unobstructed, but you will have to use the in landing upon Mars, in order to avoid a and a of thirty-one minutes, you must pass very close to the Martian satellites. To do so safely you must pass the last station, M14, on time plus or five seconds, at plus or ten meters, with the negative of 981.27 centimeters, and upon the pilot M14 will have set for you."
"All x." Breckenridge his intently, then and around the room, in parts of which a dozen were at their stations.
"Control and power check-out—Hipe!" he barked. "Driving and projectors!"
The his as he a multi-point in a arc. "Converter 100, 100; on each of numbers one to forty-five inclusive. All x."
"Dirigible projectors!"
TWO more from point to point. "Converter 100, 100, 100, on each of numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of upper band; and numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of band. All x."
"Gyroscopes!"
"35,000. Drivers in at ten plus. All x."
"Upper lights and plates!"
The second was into activity, and upon a screen him there appeared a view as though he were looking directly from the of the great vessel. The air above them was full of of all and sizes, and occasionally the image of one of that into upon the screen as it was in the mighty, of one of the twelve ultra-light under test.
"Upper lights and plates—all x," the second reported, and other came to attention as the check-out on.
"Lower lights and plates!"
"All x," was the report, after each of the twelve ultra-lights of the had around in its supporting brackets, every of the dark of the well of the and the picture upon another screen in relief.
"Lateral and detectors!"
"Laterals XP2710—all x. Verticals AJ4290—all x."
"Receptors!"
"15,270 kilofranks—all x."
"Accumulators!"
"700,000 kilofrank-hours—all x."
Having thus and every of his department, Breckenridge into "Captain," and when the green light on:
"Chief pilot check-out—all x," he reported briefly.
"All x," the speaker, and the pilot unplugged. Fifteen minutes remained, which time one after another would report to the captain of the that in his was for the flight.
"All x, Steve?" Breckenridge to the computer. "How do you check and power with the observatory?"
"Not so good, old bean," the man in thought. "They like astronomers, not navigators. They've no for anything, not the reversal—and I four thousands for that and for minor detours. Then there's check station errors...."
"Check-station errors! Why, they're always right—that's what they're for!"
"Don't yourself—they've got of their own, the same as else. In fact, from a study of the of the last weeks, I'm sure that E2 is at least four thousand this of where he thinks he is, that W41 is ten or twelve thousand his station, and that they've got a that's fierce. I'm going to check up, and argue with them about it as we pass. Then there's another thing—they to only two places, and we've got to have the third place almost solid if we to a curve. A hundredth of a of means a on a long when they're us as close as they are doing now. We'll this on 981.286 centimeters—with our mass, that means thirty six points of four seven plus power. All set to go," the computer stated, as he changed, by of arc, the course-plotters of the goniometer.
"You're the doctor—but I'm it's you that'll have to to the observatory," and Breckenridge set his power upon the figure. "Well, we've got a minutes left for a chin-chin we her off."
"What's all this about? Dish out the low-down."
"Well, it's like this, Steve. We are having one sweet time—we're being at on every trip. The management if we're thirty plus or at the terminals, and the if we five total en route—claims it the and for the road. They're up on us all the time. A of years ago, you remember, it didn't make any what we did with the as long as we in near zero time—we used to 'em when we at the half-way station—but that of doesn't go any more. We've got to the and close to normal, got to our on zero, plus or ten seconds, and yet we've got to make any they tell us to, such as this seven-million thing they us just now. To make worse, we've got to take orders at every check-station, and yet we the for that as a of those orders! Of course, I know as well as you do that it's to at every check-station; but we've told 'em over and over that we can't do any until they put a computer on every ship and tell the check-stations to report and other to us and then to let us alone. So you'd us some computers!"
"You're computation, that's a sure thing, and I don't you for yelling, but I don't that you've got the right answer. I can't help but think that the are on the job. They are so sure that you are to that it hasn't to them to check up on themselves very carefully. However, we'll know quick, and then we'll take steps."
"I so—but say, Steve, I'm about using that much plus power. Remember, we've got to M14 in good shape, or will drop."
"I'll say they will. I know just how the will if we them for an hour, waiting for those two to out of the way, and I know just what the manager will do if we check in thirty-one minutes. Wow! He'll up and bust, sure. But don't worry, Breck—if we don't check in all right, can have my that wants it, and I'm taking full responsibility, you know."
"You're welcome to it." Breckenridge and the into a vein. "Speaking of weightlessness, it's how many weight-fiends there are in the world, isn't it? You'd think the would a little occasionally—especially the ones—but they don't. But say, while I think of it, how come you were here and to make this check-up? I you were out with the other two of the Big Three, all the of the Universe?"
"Had to in this last trip—been doing some work on the ether, force-field theory, and other that I had to go to Mars and Venus to get. Just got last week. As for mysteries, laugh while you can, old hyena. You and a of other think that Roeser's Rays are the last word—that there's nothing left to discover—are going to from your one of these days. When I came in nine months ago they were on the of something big, and I'll they it in...."
Out upon the an a and blast of sound, and two minutes remained. In every and in every and speakers a warning:
"For a time, while we are clear of the of the Earth, walking will be difficult, as on will in weight by about one-fifth of its present amount. Please seated, or move about with caution. In about an hour weight will return to normal. We start in one minute."
"Hipe!" the pilot as a light into being upon his board, and the came to attention at their stations. "Seconds! Four! Three! Two! One! LIFT!" He touched a and a set of home, into the forty-five the power—the fifteen-thousand-and-odd of energy that the of upon the of the cruiser. Simultaneously there was added from the potentiometer, already set to the exact by the computer, the plus-equilibrium power—which would not be the if the were to be registered upon the recorders—and the of the of the at a low and velocity. The bellowing, had the air of the of in her path, and quietly, calmly, majestically, the Arcturus upward.
BRECKENRIDGE, sixty after the lift, the of magnetic which would cut in the "starting power," which it would be necessary to for sixty-nine minutes—for, without the by this additional power, they would many hours of time in the thousands of miles which Earth's would powerfully against their progress.
Faster and the great as more and more of the starting power was released, and and the themselves become. Soon the full calculated power was on and the constant. Weight no longer increased, but at a value of plus twenty three and six-tenths percent. For a moments there had been among the passengers—perhaps a of the first-trippers had been ill—but it was not much than in a high-speed elevator, particularly since there was no from positive to negative such as is in elevators.
The computer, his calculations complete, the pilot with interest, for, as he was to the of space, there was a never-failing to his scientific mind in the and of the work which Breckenridge was doing—work which be done only by a man who had had long in the and who was of and of the of manual and control. Under his right and left hands were the double-series the variable-speed of the flight-angle in the hour and ranges; his was the marked screen upon which the its needle-point of light; powerful of and to his the director-angles, to of arc. It was the of the pilot to the screened image of the cross-hairs of the two in such position relative to the ever-moving point of light as to the upon its course, in of the of acting upon it.
For almost an hour Breckenridge sat motionless, his from screen to panel, his moving the through minute of what he saw upon the screen and in response to the flashing, multi-colored lights and of his board. Finally, from earth, the moon's and other slight, the no longer and the point of light its motion, almost stationary. The pilot cross-hairs directly upon the point, which for some time they had been more and more nearly, the photo-cells and which would them upon it, and at the calculated second of time, cut out the starting power by means of another set of relays. When only the regular power was left, and the had been and to be the value of 981.286 centimeters, he up and a of relief.
"Well, Steve, that's over with—we're on our way. I'm always when this part of it is done."
"It's a job, no fooling—even for an expert," the agreed. "No wonder the think you are the ones who are up their dope. Well, it's about time to in on E2. Here's where the start!" He closed the which transferred the of the upper screen to a small screen at Breckenridge's and it into the check-station. Instantly a point of red light, by a orange circle, appeared upon the screen, low and to the left of center, and the a wide positive deflection.
"Hashed again!" Breckenridge. "I must be my grip, I guess. I put I had on that sight, and missed it ten divisions. I think I'll turn in my badge—I've our perfect already, we got to the check-station!" His hands moved toward the controls, to their and acceleration.
"As you were—hold everything! Lay off those controls!" the computer. "There's something screwy, just as I thought—and it isn't you, either. I'm no pilot, of course, but I do know good when I see it, and if you weren't that point I saw it done. Besides, with your skill and my I know well that we aren't off more than a tenth of one division. He's cuckoo! Don't call him—let him start it, and him to me."
"All x—I'll be only too to pass the buck. But I still think, Steve, that you're playing with dynamite. Who of an being wrong?"
"You'd be surprised," the physicist, "Since this has just started, nobody has to out they were or not...."
"IPV Arcturus, attention!" came from the curtly.
"IPV Arcturus, Breckenridge," from the pilot.
"You have been on my almost a minute. Why are you not and acceleration?"
"Doctor Stevens is us and has full of and acceleration," Breckenridge. "He will answer you."
"I am neither you are not in position," Stevens, crisply, "Please give me your present location, and your latest on the sun, the moon, Mars, Venus, and your Tellurian limb, with exact time of observations, zero-planes, and factors!"
"Correct at once or I shall report you to the Observatory," E2 answered loftily, paying no attention to the for proof of position.
"Be sure you do that, guy—and while you're at it report that your station hasn't taken a in a month. Report that you've been along on radio bearings, and that you don't know where you are, seven thousand kilometers. And speaking of reporting—I know already that a of you have only the possible idea of where you are, plus, minus, or lateral; and if you don't yourselves out we to W41, I'm going to make a report on my own account that will some of you from your upper teeth!" He with a jerk, and to the pilot with a grin.
"Guess that'll him for a while, won't it?"
"He'll report us, sure," Breckenridge. The older man was at at this open of the check-stations.
"Not that baby," returned the computer confidently. "I'll you a small farm against a that right now he's his so hard that it's are hot. He'll into position as soon as he can his results, and he's always been there."
"The others will be all right, then, probably, by the time we to them?"
"Gosh, no—you're today, Breck. He won't tell anything—he doesn't want to be the only goat, he?"
"Oh, I see. How you this out, with only the charts?"
"Because I know the of you are—and those are too big to be for by anything I know about you. Another thing—the next station, P6, I think is himself all x. If so, when you for E2, which was wrong, it'd you all off on P6, which was right, and so on—a at almost every check-station. See?"
TRUE to prediction, the pilot of P6 came in almost upon the exact center of the screen, and Breckenridge in as he to the trip.
"How do we check on chronometers?" asked P6 when Stevens had been introduced. "By my time you to be about two and a plus?"
"All x—two points four plus—we're on 981.286 centimeters, to allow for the and for minor detours. Bye."
"All this may have been coincidence, Breck, but we'll out quick now," the computer when the was the third check-station. "Unless I'm all out of we'll check in almost fourteen on W41, and we may not him on the center of the screen."
When he in W41 was on the block, but was in the upper right corner. They in thirteen and eight-tenths on the station, and a when the computer questioned the of the of the station and point-blank to his course.
"Well, Breck, old onion, that it," Stevens as he unplugged. "No use going any on these points. I'm going to report to Newton—he'll the Observatory on its foundations!" He into the room. "Have you got a free high-power wave?... Please put me on Newton, in the main office."
Moving lights and for an upon the screen, settling into a white which soon itself into the of a keen-eyed, gray-haired man, seated at his in the office of the Interplanetary Corporation. Newton as he the of Stevens upon his own screen, and him cordially.
"Have you started your investigation, Doctor Stevens?"
"Started it? I've it!" and Stevens reported what he had learned, concluding: "So you see, you don't need special on these ships any more than a hen needs teeth. You've got all the you need, in the observatories—all you've got to do is make them work at their trade."
"The was all x, then?"
"Absolutely—our so is since we cut off the starting power. Of course, all the can't be as good as Breckenridge, but give them good and good check points and you shouldn't any higher than about a centimeter."
"They'll both, from now on," the him. "Thanks. If your work for the is done, you might my little girl, Nadia, around the Arcturus. She's been out before, and will be interested. Would you mind?"
"Glad to, Mr. Newton—I'll be a regular uncle to her."
"Thanks again, Operator, I'll speak to Captain King, please."
"Pipe that guff, you cub, or I'll you with a proof-bar!" the pilot growled, as soon as Stevens had unplugged.
"You and who else?" the computer, cheerfully. "Pipe yourself, guy—if you weren't so and didn't have such a complex, you'd know that you're the pilot of the and wouldn't who else it." Stevens and put away the calculating machine and other he had been using and again to the pilot.
"I didn't know Newton had any kids, little ones, or I'd have got with them long ago. Of I don't know him very well, since I was around the office much, but the old tiger goes over big with me."
"Hm—m. Think you'll playing all the of the trip?" Breckenridge asked caustically, but with an smile.
"Think so? I know so!" Stevens, positively. "I always did like kids, and they always did like me—we for each other like ten thousand a well. Why, a kid—any kid—and I team up just like and poise.... What's on you anyway, to make you turn Cheshire cat all of a sudden? By the looks of that I'd say you had a of mine some way or other; but if I know that I've any," and he at his friend suspiciously.
"To borrow your own phrase, Steve, 'You'd be surprised,'" and Breckenridge, though making no to his amusement, would say no more.
In a minutes the door opened, and through it there a four-striper. Almost his there was a girl, who ran up to Breckenridge and his hands, her sparkling.
"Hi, Breckie, you old darling! I that if we after him long Dad would let me with you sometime. Isn't this gorgeous?"
Stevens was that the girl's of the pilot was him time to from his shock, for Director Newton's "little girl, Nadia" was not what he had himself to expect. Little she might be, particularly when with the of Captain King, or with Steve's own five-feet-eleven of and the hundred and ninety of and that was his body, but child she was not. Her thick, hair, cut in the square that was the mode of the moment, that Nature had her to be a blonde, but as she to be to him, Stevens another surprise—for she was one of those rare, but beings, a natural with and black eyebrows. Sun and wind had her skin to a and of brown, and every movement of her and to the mind a rigidly-trained physique.
"Doctor Stevens, you haven't met Miss Newton, I hear," the captain them informally. "All the officers who are not actually at their are to do the of the vessel, but as I have direct orders from the owners, I am her over to you—you are to her around."
"Thanks, Captain, I won't a against such an order. I'm to know you, Miss Newton."
"I've a about you, Doctor. Dad and Breckie here are always talking about the Big Three—what you have done and what you are going to do. I want to meet Doctor Brandon and Doctor Westfall, too," and her hand met his in a and clasp. She to the captain, and Stevens, noticing that the pilot, with a expression, was about to say something, him with a aside.
"Clam it, ape, or I'll climb up you like a squirrel!" he hissed, and the Breckenridge to this for children and nursemaids.
"Since you've been out, Miss Newton, you'll want to see the whole works," Stevens the girl. "Where do you want to begin? Shall we start at the top and work down?"
"All right with me," she agreed, and into step him. She was in dove-gray from to foot—toque, blouse, breeches, stockings, and shoes were of the one of smooth, silk; and as they together the passage-way, the and perfect of her called to every hard-schooled of his own highly-trained being.
"We're a you and I—do you know it?" he asked, and unconventionally.
"Yes, I've it, too," she frankly, and him without affectation. "It has just come to me what it is. We're in condition and in hard training. You're an of some kind, and I'm sure you're a star—I ought to you, but I'm to say I don't. What do you do?"
"Swim."
"Oh, of course—Stevens, the great Olympic high and diver! I would have our own Doctor Stevens, the mathematical physicist, with the King of the Springboard. Say, since I being of the water I've had a to do that two-and-a-half of yours, but I met who it well to teach it to me, and I've almost my times trying to learn it alone!"
"I've got you, now, too—American and British Womens' champion. Shake!" and the two hands vigorously, in congratulation. "Tell you what—I'll give you some on diving, and you can me how to make a behave. Next to Norman Brandon, I've got the most in captivity—and Norm can't help himself. He's left-handed, you know, and, being a southpaw, he's naturally wild. He slices all his and all his irons. I'm consistent, anyway—I everything, my putts."
"It's a bargain! What do you shoot?"
"Pretty dubby. Usually in the middle eighties—none of us play much, being out in space most of the time, you know—sometimes, when my is going particularly well, I go up into the nineties."
"We'll that hook," she promised, as they entered an and were upward, toward the of the great cruiser.
