George O. Smith

“ After all, I'm the only pilot in the solar system that knows how to run her! I'll personally strangle both you and whomever you think you're going to get for that job, understand?"
Sandra turned and left.
"What in the name of the seven hells has got that dame?" asked McBride.
"There are a lot of ways to kill a cat besides choking it to death with cream," said Hammond thoughtfully, "but the latter way is just as effective and sometimes a lot easier. Our she-barracuda has just hit the one thing that she can't fight." ”

“ That puts the fix on the whole thing," said McBride. "Well, fellow, you've heard about Enid. I've got to get home. If we can fake up something so that the Haywire Queen will cut loose with a couple of hundred feet per for long enough to get me to Station 1, I'll see that your ruined equipment is replaced so that you can make a safe landing. Say! How come you do not carry a spare alphatron?"
"Why doesn't man come with two hearts?" asked Jimmy. "That's because they're usually dependable. No one ever tried to run two brains off of one heart—that's why one heart stands up pretty well. ”

“ Uranium had been found in plenty on Pluto, and so man had created a livable planet from the coldest, most forbidding planet in the System.
John McBride was in Hell, on Pluto, but his mind was dwelling in a little cube that rotated about a mythical spot halfway between Sol and Pluto; one of the many stations that created the space warp that focused Sol on Pluto with an angle of incidence equal to the incidence of Sol on Terra. Enid McBride was back there in that minute station, and John McBride wanted to be with her. ”

“ Steve Hammond smiled wider and wider as the minutes added into a quarter hour. "I think our cupralum hull is helping," he said.
"How?" asked Pete.
"Why, it is collecting enough leakage-warp to create a nice large warp of its own—in which we now travel, and in which the accelerometer reads only that factor 'R' of Mac's. That meter reads the rate of change of acceleration. Drake, step it up to sixty."
Sandra advanced the drive, and the meter went up to sixty even.
"We're on the ball," said Hammond.
"We sure are," said McBride, passing a forefinger over his cheek. "It's hot in here." ”

“ He was thoughtful for a minute. "Don't suppose that blackboard mind of yours could figure out our course constants from this saw-toothed curve we're running?"
"Sure," grinned McBride. "Since the thing is not increasing constantly, but is returning to zero accel each time and then building up linearly to peak, our over-all, long-time acceleration is equivalent to the average acceleration. ”

“ The alphatron won't carry another generator, nor will the little one upstairs." He grinned at Sandra. "We're not tossing cold water on your suggestion. It'll work—but not right now."
"Then it was good?" asked Drake with the first question of honest awe she had used in years.
"Perfect," said McBride, cheerfully. "But not quite complete. We won't censure you for that, however, since we know that you haven't been hanging around space-warp engineers for the last ten years. You couldn't have known that this mag-grav generator will do service on both ends. ”

“ Hammond smiled wryly. "That's a long, sad tale. We've been trying to increase the efficiency of the drive, you know. We've been hunting up and down the electrogravitic spectrum for a more efficient operating point. We found what we knew already; that we were using the most efficient part of the E-grav range. We went all the way from down low, where the stuff is just beginning to make itself detectable to up high where the equipment is slightly fragile and extremely experimental in construction. ”

“ The meters of the alphatron moved slightly, and then leaped toward the top peg, stopping before they hit as the meter-sensitivity was cut accordingly. The mag-grav generator meters followed suit, and then the mech-grav meters went through the same dance. Then, far above them in the larger part of the ship, a remotely controlled tap on a bank of high-powered resistors made two steps forward, and an oil switch that connected the drive's electronic requirements to the closed-system turbine went home. Energy charged the gravitic equipment with operating power—
And the Haywire Queen lifted upward! ”

“ We'll observe them in accordance with whatever long waves they emit; they will in no way resemble the familiar stars we know."
"How's a poor devil going to navigate at any rate?" asked Larry. "With everything out of place—or invisible—what's he going to use for signposts?"
"In normal usage, the super drive will be fine. We've been using autopilots for years and years, setting up the whole course from take-off to the last half hour of landing. We can still do it. We'll be flying blind, but so what? We fly pretty blind as it is; no one gives a rap about the sky outside. ”

“ Drake left, and the men put the finishing touches on the double-warp set-up. Hammond turned the equipment on, running them at test power while Jimmy and McBride adjusted the generators for maximum output.
Pete inspected the myriad of little glowing lights on the informer panel and said that the ship was working properly from dome to foot.
"Grab a rolling chair," said Hammond to McBride. Then he snapped the communicator and said: "Drake. Up at twenty feet per."
"Up at twenty feet per second per second acceleration," responded Sandra in that flat, personless voice. ”

“ An alarm gong sounded through the open communicator, and directly afterward, the men in the power room could hear the relays closing. In the room above them, an oil switch closed with a crashing sound, its racket hardly muffled by the steel-grating floor. A rheostat whirred as it followed the impulses sent from the control board in the pilot's room ”

“ Electrical inspection indicates that the winding is melted together in several places. You couldn't unwind the coil, let alone rewind it with fresh insulation. We've got a couple of gallons of insulation handy, if you get a good idea. ”