William Douglas Morrison

“ The yellow star answered with flame of its own, and Jan was forced to get into the act, and turn on his radiation shields at full capacity. A half-hour later, both coronas subsided to normal, and he cut down his shield capacity once more.
"It's damnably disturbing," said Jan. "If only natural forces are involved, why should one star reply to the other in such deliberate fashion?"
"Perhaps the green star set the other one off, like a neutron from an exploding atom setting off the next atom," Karin suggested. ”

“ Jan said bitterly. "They don't care what happens to the bird on the battlefield, apparently."
"Perhaps we should edge closer to the one that wanted the truce," Karin whispered shakily.
Jan shook his head. "Let's not give either side the idea that we have any sympathies at all. Taking sides in a fight too big for us is a sure way to commit suicide."
His lips tightened. "We'd better get as far away as we can from both of them without using up too much of our fuel fighting their force fields. That at least will spare our radiation shield from too much strain." ”

“ Karin suggested: "There might be small ones, little bigger than asteroids. Let's put the pictures under the analyzer."
They did. The analyzer showed an asteroid belt four hundred million miles out from the center of the double star system. But none of the asteroids was apparently more than five miles in diameter.
"No planets," Jan reiterated. "And if there are any living creatures on those asteroids, I doubt whether they'd be close enough to affect us. It's pretty obvious that the forces holding us together come from the stars themselves." ”

“ Directly between the stars, the fields balance pretty well, permitting us to move. But toward the rim of the region where they collide, the forces work in the same direction, and keep us from breaking free."
"Now that we know that—what can we do?"
"Nothing, I'm afraid," admitted Jan. "Neither star will relax its field for fear of falling victim to the other. That leaves us in the middle, exactly as before."
He said thoughtfully, "Karin, did I ever tell you of that ancient history book I once saw? It actually depicted our barbaric ancestors on a battlefield? ”

“ When a constriction appeared in the middle, it looked for all the world like a super-amoeba beginning to undergo mitosis, and he wondered if it was going to split, like the amoeba, into two bodies.
But the process came to a halt when the star had assumed the shape of a huge diabolical dumbell, two great spheres of flame held together by a narrow connecting link a mere two hundred thousand miles in diameter. ”

“ We mustn't subject it to excess strain. But suppose we're desperate, and decide we're finished anyway. Suppose we make up our minds to take one of our enemies with us. Suppose we try to commit suicide on a really heroic scale."
Karin stared at him, her lips whitening. "If you really want to, Jan."
"I don't want to. But I want them to get that impression. Suppose I aim the ship at the yellow star, start all the motors, and turn on the radiation shield system to the limits of its capacity. Remember the state of uncertainty they're in anyway. What do you think they'll do?" ”

“ Because there's one material weapon we have that may be dangerous to them."
"Our radiation shield system!" Karin gasped.
"Exactly. If it absorbed enough energy, it might upset plans for either attack or defense."
"They must know it's too weak to make any difference. If it were really powerful, they'd expect us to have used it before."
"No," said Jan. "They probably realize that we use it for just one purpose—to protect ourselves. ”

“ The maneuver claimed his full attention, giving him no time to look at Karin, and wonder whether or not she was frightened.
It was a stupid situation to be caught in, and from beginning to end Jan had no one to blame but himself. It was a few years before that Intergalactic Exploration had started a new practice, thought up apparently by some elderly Romeo in his second childhood. It was a special service for honeymooners.
What did honeymooners, from time immemorial, want for themselves? Privacy, isolation—freedom from intrusion by the outside world. ”

“ There were long rows of trenches on either side, apparently as a protection from the primitive missiles they were capable of launching. And sitting on the blackened limb of a tree that had been shot almost to bits, in what was called 'No Man's Land', sat a bird.
"Well, we're that bird, Karin—on a battlefield we never made. ”

“ I mean that they're as ignorant of us as we are of them. Perhaps they're even more ignorant. They know that we're small, and incapable of applying a force that could break out of the field surrounding us. ”

“ In return, each couple was given a restricted section of a galaxy to explore. The task was not difficult. Professional explorers could have carried out their assignments in three months. The honeymoon couples were allowed twice that time.
As the man who had suggested the idea observed, their scientific interests were likely to be somewhat impaired for a short period, and they might be expected to waste many hours in non-productive pursuits.
If they hadn't been so much in love with each other, Jan and Karin wouldn't have been such fools as to take on a double assignment. ”

“ In view of the fact that they had been traveling at one-half light speed, and that neither the green nor the yellow star was more than thirty-five million miles away, the result seemed to Jan outrageous. The positions of both stars should have been changing rapidly. His first thought was that the differential screen was no longer working. ”