Nelson S. Bond

“ I didn't want to explain, though, for if the method failed, Captain Hanson might be reprimanded for permitting the trial—"
"Method?" demanded Hanson. "What method?"
"Piggy-back!" grinned Biggs. "You'll remember that we commented on the amazing speed with which the vacuole was traveling through space. A speed greater than our own; even greater than that of the Slipstream.
"I purposely plunged the Saturn into the vacuole. The Slipstream, caught in that same sphere of hyper-space, made the mistake of back-dragging free. I let the vacuole carry us to Earth. It's as simple as that!" ”

“ Cap Hanson, Diane Hanson, and our acting Skipper, Lancelot Biggs. They all hollered at once.
"What is it, Sparks?"
"Vacuole!" I snapped. "The Slipstream broke into one. They're preparing for the back-drag now."
Diane Hanson's eyes were like twin saucers.
"Vacuole?" she repeated. "What's that? What's a vacuole, Lancelot?"
Biggs said, "A hole in space, Diane. Their exact nature has never been accurately determined. All we know is that space itself, being subject to material warp, ofttimes develops 'empty spots' of super-space within itself. ”

“ I had just taken my seat at the table and Slops was just leaning over my shoulder, ladling soup into my bowl, when there came a high, shrieking whine from the engine room, the lights flickered, something went boomety-clang—and the bottom fell out of the universe! ”

“ Real space—not that phoney hyper-stuff of the vacuole. Biggs yelled, "Normal gravs, Garrity! Alter course to point-six-one for three minutes, then land...."
Cap Hanson screamed, "What the—what's going on here? Land? What do you mean—land!"
And Lancelot Biggs said, "If you'll be kind enough to look through the perilens, Captain...."
It was Earth. Just as big as life and three times as natural. A hop-skip-and-jump beneath us. We had made the Venus-to-Earth shuttle in four days, eight hours! ”

“ There's no radio transmission through a vacuole; the only laws that seem to apply are the laws of motion and relativity.
This time, even the relativist principles seemed to go haywire. Lancelot Biggs had demanded that we be patient for ten hours—but to me those ten hours seemed like ten centuries. Millennia, maybe. Seconds crawled. Minutes dragged. Hours were fabulous periods of time. You could almost sit still and feel your hair graying on your scalp. ”

“ The Saturn's the slowest can the Corporation owns! Why don't they let us run the Spica or the Antigone on a test flight?"
"It's a little matter of politics, friend," he returned wearily. "Politics—spelled g-r-a-f-t. Somebody's got a finger in the pie and wants the Cosmos Company to get the allotment. The Slipstream is leaving Sun City tonight. All you have to do is beat her into Long Island by about ten hours." ”

“ Boy, I'll tell you that gal has what it takes. A long moment passed, during which Diane looked squarely into Lancelot Biggs' eyes. What she found there, only she could tell you. But, "Yes, Lancelot," she said. "I trust you."
His shoulders stiffened, then, just the slightest bit. And a faint smile gathered at the corners of his lips. He said, "That's all I wanted to hear. Very well, gentlemen, be patient for just ten more hours...."
By far the worst feature of being caught in a vacuole is the fact that you're completely isolated from the rest of the universe. These super-spatial areas ”

“ I told him, "is betting on the gee-gees. Only one hoss can win, but they all find backers. The point is, what are we going to do about it?"
"Do?" he piped. "What are we going to do? We're going to do plenty. Come on!"
We went to the engine room. There Chief Engineer Garrity heard Biggs' plea with granite aplomb, then slowly shook his head from side to side.
"Ye're no suggestin', Mr. Biggs," he said, "that I try to double the Saturn's speed?" ”

“ I wanted to warn you, you'd better make a good trip. There's a prize dangling on it."
"Come again?"
"Word just leaked through from the central office. The Government has decided to turn its freight express transport over to the company whose next normal Venus-Earth run is made in the shortest time. It's a blind test, and nobody is supposed to know anything about it. The Saturn was clocked when it pulled out of Sun City, and its time will be checked against that of other competing liners—"
I got little cold duck-bumps on the forehead. ”

“ Biggs," I said, "you can read those charts on the wall. Don't you see we're being carried hundreds of thousands of miles off course? This vacuole is traveling way over to the right of our course, hitting an abnormal rate of speed—and we're imbedded in it like a fly in amber. We've already lost the race; pretty soon we'll lose our—" I stopped, not wanting to say "lives" in front of Diane.
Lancelot looked at me somberly.
"I should have thought, Sparks," he told me, "that you would understand. With your education and training—" But he seemed undecided. He stared at Diane. ”

“ Then he added, "Well, Sparks, I lost a bet with Biggs on the last trip. An' he won the right to navigate the next three Venus-to-Earth shuttles. So—" He shrugged. "He's handlin' the controls."
"Maltreating," I corrected, "is the word. I like Lancelot Biggs, Skipper. But I'd as soon ride a Martian firebird bareback as hop gravs with him in the turret. What do you say we—"
Just then the door busted open again, and this time in came the skipper's daughter, Diane, followed by our gawky genius, L. Biggs. There was a sight for you. Beauty and the Bust! ”

“ The Saturn is the oldest space-lugger still doing active duty on the interplanetary runs. She was built way back there before the turn of the century. Lacking many modern improvements, she is a ten-day freighter. One of our new luggers could make the same trip in six or seven ”

“ The heart seeks out and, breathless, listens to Magnificent monotonies of space...."
Monotony your eye! There are times when I'd trade all my bug-pounding hours for a nice, quiet, padded cell out somewhere beyond Pluto. ”

“ Instead of using the aft blasts to throw us clear of Sun City spaceport, I used a single jet and reversed the ship's gravity. That gave us an automatic repulsion from the planet, and—"
"What!" roared the skipper. "Look here, Mr. Biggs, one more insane trick like that an' I'll have you cashiered, bet or no bet! I've been hoppin' gravs for nigh onto forty years, an' you can take my word for it, them nonsensical ideas don't work! They only waste fuel, an'—"
"But," interjected Biggs, "I just checked with the engine room, sir. ”