Lester Del Rey

“ Blane felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickling, and was conscious of a vague picture in his mind of the warheads ticking away and getting set to blast spontaneously. But he put the idea aside. Earth might be a little careless of their welfare under the pressure of emergency, but right now Earth would never risk losing the station. It was only his overactive imagination.
He finally assigned Peal and Manners back to the task of studying the matter as best they could, and tried to dismiss it from his mind. There were more than enough other worries about the station. ”

“ Edwards had somehow joined them and was already out in the little ferry, heading for the big lunar ship that was fueled and almost completed.
Devlin sat in the hub still. He was conscious now, but the blood on his head ruined what would otherwise have been a fine military posture. He made his slight bow, smiling bitterly in recognition of his helplessness.
"I'm oddly grateful to you, Blane," he said. "But I don't expect you to believe me. And I find I regret what will happen to you and the men here when this catches up with you. What are your plans for me?" ”

“ Today, in a real sense, Earth could exist only by the use of a station in space.
But the station could exist for a longer time without Earth. There was food and supplies for more than a year. They were prepared to wait, if need be.
"You cannot use force," Blane's voice stated flatly. "For the first time, the governments of Earth cannot fall back on destruction when everything else fails. To destroy us would make your economic collapse inevitable now. You cannot go back to your past or the savage rules of your past. You can only meet us honestly and concede the just demands we propose." ”

“ Every nation that ever tried controlling a major industrial set-up has found it won't work. They tried socializing railroads, airlines and factories—not to mention farming—and the experiment failed. Every Russian industry today is run independently by its own board who share in the profits, no matter how much theoretical ownership rests with the government. And China is now nothing but a system of state capitalism, whatever they call it there."
"Fine," Blane admitted. "Why didn't private industry build the stations, then?"
Peal grimaced, then grinned. ”

“ But how long would sanity hold sway in a world where every unnatural accident was a potential trigger for a rain of bombs, a storm that might destroy most of the life on Earth and would certainly end man's adventure into space. It wouldn't really matter whether the stations managed to get off without retaliatory missiles from Earth ”

“ In theory, it was entirely possible to reach the Sulky from the Goddard, and every pilot knew the general orbit. The Sulky and the Goddard each took two hours to circle Earth, with one an hour behind the other. If a ship took off outward with a reasonable use of power it could get into an ellipse around Earth that would take three hours to bring it back to its starting point—and by then, the opposite station would be at that point. The maneuver could be made both ways with the fuel a final stage could carry easily enough.
"You don't have fuel enough," he decided. ”

“ The cryogenics lab was in trouble—the group from Earth who had used the labs had badly depleted supplies and been careless about equipment that was common enough below but difficult to obtain here. The evacuation of the laboratories near the bomb bay threw severe strains on research, and Earth was demanding that some of it be speeded up. And the weather study was being crippled by the need to waste too much attention on detailed studies of every section of Russia. The whole station was on emergency orders to do twice as much as could possibly be done. ”

“ Blane nodded automatically. It was an old argument, and it made sense. But there was no chance of the government ever letting go now. They took the clanking elevator down toward the rim, while weight built up to the normal one-third Earth gravity that was produced by the spin at the outer edge of the Goddard. Then they moved along the hallway that circled the rim, through the recreation hall, past the vacuum labs that were busy with some kind of military development, and past the cryogenic section, where men were busy getting ready to resume normal work. ”

“ Blane winced at the picture. A station was dependent on power for its existence. Lights, air circulation, water for balance, heat regulation, and even the growing of plants to keep the air breathable depended upon a steady supply of power. Like the Goddard, the Tsiolkovsky used a reflecting trough on top that directed the intense solar radiation onto a pipe filled with mercury which was heated to gaseous form and operated the boiler and generator. It was far cheaper and safer than atomic power. ”

“ Peal shook his head, but somewhat doubtfully. "On Earth, they're mostly only mesons from strikes by cosmic radiation. Out here, we get only the extremely hard radiation—the shielding of the ship is too thin to affect them. Maybe they might speed up the half-life a little—but they shouldn't make it increase. I've been thinking about them, too. Meteorites show a much greater decay of uranium to lead than the ores on Earth, which might indicate some effect from cosmic radiation. But unless they somehow produce another isotope from uranium that's raising the activity, I can't figure it out. ”

“ The threat of war makes even our leaders hesitate to begin so many long-range plans," she explained.
Peal nodded. "You see, Jerry? It's the same here. Waste and inefficiency. This place could make ten times the profit of any other comparable investment, but it's wasted under government control." ”

“ Tsiolkovsky calling taxi. Oh, for Pete's sake, don't you Americans have two-way radio? Wiggle your tail or something so I'll know you're receiving, and I'll give you landing instructions!"
Peal grinned and picked up the microphone. "Ahoy, Sulky."
"Ah. So you can answer. Then if you can match our orbit, come beneath the hub. The smallest landing net will fit the nose of your taxi, if our records are correct. You did bring the mercury, didn't you?" ”

“ Like most scientists, he'd probably considered himself a fair amateur economist, but he'd overlooked one of the most basic aspects of economy—the fact that governments also had to operate on enough of a profit to pay their executives and bond-holders. ”

“ A couple of the scientists who had learned Russian interpreted the news from Radio Moscow on their next trip over.
Surprisingly, there were no claims of American sabotage. Then Blane wondered whether it was so surprising. With the level of fear in Russia as high as elsewhere, it would probably have been a grave mistake for the leaders to suggest that any American sabotage of territory so far inside Russia was possible. The people had to count on the invulnerability of their station for what little hope they had ”

“ Once it went red, it would mean putting one of the plans already prepared into operation, demanding that he send his few men down into the bomb bay to set the automatic chutes into operation. Then missiles would rain down on Russian cities and bases.
Peal and Manners came in. Manners would have to carry out the orders. Blane glanced at him, and saw doubt and worry etched across the forehead. Could any man start the holocaust going? Or, believing that the Sulky would be throwing bombs, as Manners must still believe, could any man refuse such an order? ”

“ Two of the pilots had tried to steal one of the ships fueled and supplied for the Goddard, but had been caught before they could take off. Now they were under guard, and the ships were being watched carefully. Edwards had been permitted to make the run only after a session in which it was pointed out that landing rights would be denied any ship contacting the Sulky. And the other pilots were almost in a state of revolt, with nearly all of the old-time ground force supporting them.
"The government can't stick to such a policy," Blane said doubtfully. "They can't gain anything. ”

“ Blane was curious about his reasons for choosing the first trip he could make.
Edwards lost no time in reporting. He hadn't stopped to remove his emergency space suit, though he'd left the helmet and the oxygen tank somewhere. He clumped in, accepted coffee, and began talking even as he shucked off the suit.
"It's a wonder they even let me fly up supplies to you," he grumbled. "Jerry, it's rough down there. They've got everything sewed up under controls. I'm surprised they didn't suspect me of plotting an orbit for the Sulky instead of here. ”

“ He was apparently fully aware of everything that Blane could tell him. When it was done, he nodded. "I was told to fill you in. I'll make it brief. Dr. Peal's theory that ultra hard radiation has caused the transmutation of some of the uranium to a more dangerous isotope is correct. This effects the same results as raising the mass of each segment of the uranium trigger to critical level eventually. But there is still time to save the station, and the level of radiation will not make it dangerous for the squad to handle the missiles; they will be exposed too short a time. ”

“ He grabbed a handhold and began pulling himself into the airlock to the ship without waiting for a reply.
Edwards had lingered. Now he also held out his hand. "Wish me luck, Jerry," he said. "I may need it."
Because of the contents of the boxes and the presence of Devlin, Edwards had been ordered to make his landing at Canaveral, under military security. Most space work was done from Johnston Island in the Pacific; the inadequate facilities at the Cape were supposed to be used only by smaller rockets. But lately the rules were shot in a lot of ways. ”

“ Now, in regard to your basic situation, I'm going to do the best I can for you. But I wouldn't worry about your boiler trouble yet. It will be at least three days before repairs are really necessary, and before then Devlin will be back with you. He has a full grasp of what must be done. And good luck."
The voice cut off.
Blane sat staring at the wall. Three days—it could only mean that there were three days still to go before the runaway radiation inside the casings built up too high for something to be done—whether to dump the bombs or what, he couldn't guess. ”

“ But Peal's face was drained of any emotion except surprise.
The scientist nodded. "Captain Manners' figures were quite accurate. We've got to evacuate nearby sections of the station. In a way, we're lucky—radiation travels in straight lines, and the hull curves away from it here. There is about three hundred times normal radiation in there, and it's coming from inside the warheads. It isn't lethal yet—men can work there for a few hours at a time; but at the rate it's increasing, it soon will be. Any word from Earth?"
Blane dug through his in basket, and finally located a blue slip. ”

“ That type of misfortune was something the Goddard had long since grown used to, and the sight of great scientists working with cooks and power men was always a relief from the routine. Maybe stations should be built to fail in minor ways. If ever a ship was built to cross the vast gulf to another star, it should be as imperfect as safety permitted.
On the surface, everything was routine by the time Devlin's ship came up the next day. Devlin must have more pull on Earth, Blane decided ”

“ Peal came in, looking more haggard than Blane. The scientist shook his head wearily. "The count is up in the bomb bay. I've been trying to sound some of the chemists out about ways to test, but I don't think we can do it. We don't know what to do or to look for. But I'm convinced now that something is going on inside those casings. It must be some new isotope being created from the uranium by the action of cosmic radiation. Those energies are high enough to cause transmutation. ”

“ And Earth could no longer exist without that contact. Her next weather reports were needed within the week, and without them the damage to crops grown dependent on them might result in famine for much of Earth. Certain drugs had to be made in space. There were hundreds of needs, without which the economy of Earth would collapse. ”

“ Scarfield shock his head. "Not a chance. Those are space rockets, not war missiles. This is like the massed flight they sent up about two years ago, remember? We never did figure out why they had to take the whole fleet out. ”

“ That's the weak point, of course. You can't sell shares to fund a venture until the public sees the need—and they couldn't see the need of space until military pressure put the stations up and proved they had other values. ”

“ The men who service the bomb bay aren't all fools, either. They can guess there's trouble when they're sent in for only minutes at a time. So rumors are spreading."
Blane nodded. If the rumors got out of hand, things would go to pot in ways that might make it impossible for them to meet an emergency later. ”

“ Peal suggested when they were coasting along in their orbit. "It would be cheaper to exchange supplies than to rush up a sudden emergency shipment from Earth. In fact, if a private company had built the first one, there would probably be a dozen stations by now, all connected. ”

“ The men who fired the missiles from these floating arsenals would be committing a long and horrible suicide. Yet he might have to order it—might reach a stage where he would even want to order it!
Peal was waiting for him with the report on the temperature of the casings when he came into the office the next day. There had been an increase of nearly two degrees, and it began to look as if the rise were an asymptotic one, that might get out of hand so quickly that there would be little warning.
"It's not much of a secret, either," the scientist stated. ”