The Ultimate Weapon

by Jr. John W. Campbell

  VII

  Faragaut looked unsympathetically at Buck Kendall, as he stood glaringperplexedly at the apparatus he had been working on.

  "What's the matter, Buck, won't she perk?"

  "No, damn it, and it should."

  "That," pointed out Faragaut, "is just what you think. Nature thinksotherwise. We generally have to abide by her opinions. What is it--orwhat is it meant to be?"

  "Perfect reflector."

  "Make a nice mirror. What else, and how come?"

  "A mirror is just what I want. I want something that will reflect _all_the radiation that falls on it. No metal will, even in its range ofmaximum reflectivity. Aluminum goes pretty high, silver, on some ranges,a bit higher. But none of them reaches 99%. I want a perfect reflectorthat I can put behind a source of wild, radiant energy so I can focusit, and put it where it will do the most good."

  "Ninety-nine percent. Sounds pretty good. That's better efficiency thanmost anything else we have, isn't it?"

  "No, it isn't. The accumulator is 100% efficient on the discharge, and agood transformer, even before that, ran as high as 99.8 sometimes. Theyhad to. If you have a transformer handling 1,000,000 horsepower, andit's even 1% inefficient, you have a heat loss of nearly 10,000horsepower to handle. I want to use this as a destructive weapon, and ifI hand the other fellow energy in distressing amounts, it's even worseat my end, because no matter how perfect a beam I work out, there willstill be some spread. I can make it mighty tight though, if I make mysurface a perfect parabola. But if I send a million horse, I have tohandle it, and a ship can't stand several hundred thousand horsepowerroaming around loose as heat, let alone the weapon itself. The thingwill be worse to me than to him.

  "I figured there was something worth investigating in those fields wedeveloped on our magnetic shield work. They had to do, you know, withlight, and radiant energy. There must be some reason why a metalreflects. Further, though we can't get down to the basic root of matter,the atom, yet, we can play around just about as we please with moleculesand molecular forces. But it is molecular force that determines whetherlight and radiant energy of that caliber shall be reflected ortransmitted. Take aluminum as an example. In the metallic moleculestate, the metal will reflect pretty well. But volatilize it, and itbecomes transparent. All gases are transparent, all metals reflective.Then the secret of perfect reflection lies at a molecular level in theorganization of matter, and is within our reach. Well--this thing wassupposed to make that piece of silver reflective. I missed it thattime." He sighed. "I suppose I'll have to try again."

  "I should think you'd use tungsten for that. If you do have a slightleak, that would handle the heat."

  "No, it would hold it. Silver is a better conductor of heat. But thedarned thing won't work."

  "Your other scheme has." Faragaut laughed. "I came out principally forsome signatures. IP wants one hundred thousand tons of mercury. I'vesold most of mine already in the open market. You want to sell?"

  "Certainly. And I told you my price."

  "I know," sighed Faragaut. "It seems a shame though. Those IP board menwould pay higher. And they're so damn tight it seems a crime not to make'em pay up when they have to."

  "The IP will need the money worse elsewhere. Where do I--oh, here?"

  "Right. I'll be out again this evening. The regular group will be here?"

  Kendall nodded as he signed in triplicate.

  * * * * *

  That evening, Buck had found the trouble in his apparatus, for as hewell knew, the theory was right, only the practical apparatus neededchanging. Before the group composed of Faragaut, McLaurin and themembers of Kendall's "bank," he demonstrated it.

  It was merely a small, model apparatus, with a mirror of space-strainedsilver that was an absolutely perfect reflector. The mirror had beenground out of a block of silver one foot deep, by four inches square,carefully annealed, and the work had all been done in a cooling bath.The result was a mirror that was so nearly a perfect paraboloid that thebeam held sharp and absolutely tight for the half-mile range they testedit on. At the projector it was three and one-half inches in diameter. Atthe target, it was three and fifty-two one hundredths inches indiameter.

  "Well, you've got the mirror, what are you going to reflect with itnow?" asked McLaurin. "The greatest problem is getting a radiant source,isn't it? You can't get a temperature above about ten thousand degrees,and maintain it very long, can you?"

  "Why not?" Kendall smiled.

  "It'll volatilize and leave the scene of action, won't it?"

  "What if it's a gaseous source already?"

  "What? Just a gas-flame? That won't give you the point source you need.You're using just a spotlight here, with a Moregan Point-light. Thatwon't give you energy, and if you use a gas-flame, the spread will be sogreat, that no matter how perfectly you figure your mirror, it won'tbeam."

  "The answer is easy. Not an ordinary gas-flame--a very extra-specialkind of gas-flame. Know anything about Renwright's ionization-work?"

  "Renwright--he's an IP man isn't he?"

  "Right. He's developed a system, which, thanks to the power we can getin that atostor, will sextuply ionize oxygen gas. Now: what does thatmean?"

  "Spirits of space! Concentrated essence of energy!"

  "Right. And in preparation, Cole here had one made up for me. That--andsomething else. We'll just hook it up--"

  With Devin's aid, Kendall attached the second apparatus, a larger deviceinto which the silver block with its mirror surface fitted. With theuttermost care, the two physicists lined it up. Two projectors pointedtoward each other at an angle, the base angles of a triangle, whose apexwas the center of the mirror. On very low power, a soft, glowing violetlight filtered out through the opening of the one, and a slight greenlight came from the other. But where the two streams met, an intense,violet glare built up. The center of action was not at the focus, andslowly this was lined up, till a sharp, violet beam of light reached outacross the open yard to the target set up.

  Buck Kendall cut off the power, and slowly got into position. "Now. Keepout from in front of that thing. Put on these glasses--and watch out."Heavy, thick-lensed orange-brown goggles were passed out, and Kendalltook his place. Before him, a thick window of the same glass had beenarranged, so that he might see uninterruptedly the controls at hand, andyet watch unblinded, the action of the beam.

  Dully the mirror-force relay clicked. A hazy glow ran over the silverblock, and died. Then--simultaneously the power was thrown from twosmall, compact atostors into the twin projectors. Instantly--a titaniceruption of light almost invisibly violet, spurted out in a solid,compact stream. With a roar and crash, it battered its way through thethick air, and crashed into the heavy target plate. A stream of flameand scintillating sparks erupted from the armor plate--and died asKendall cut the beam. A white-hot area a foot across leaked down theface of the metal.

  "That," said Faragaut gently, removing his goggles. "That's not aspotlight, and it's not exactly a gas-flame. But I still don't know whatthat blue-hot needle of destruction is. Just what do you call that tamestellar furnace of yours?"

  "Not so far off, Tom," said Kendall happily, "except that even S Doradusis cold compared to that. That sends almost pure ultra-violetlight--which, by the way, it is almost impossible to reflectsuccessfully, and represents a temperature to be expressed not inthousands of degrees, nor yet in tens of thousands. I calculated thetemperature would be about 750,000 degrees. What is happening is that astream of low-voltage electrons--cathode rays--in great quantity aremeeting great quantities of sextuply ionized oxygen. That means that anucleus used to having two electrons in the K-ring, and six in the next,has had that outer six knocked off, and then has been hurled violentlyinto free air.

  "All by themselves, those sextuply ionized oxygen atoms would have agood bit to say, but they don't really begin to talk till they startroaring for those electrons I'm feeding them. At the meeting point, theygrab up all they can get--probably
about five--before the competitionand the fierce release of energy drives them out, part-satisfied. I losea little energy there, but not a real fraction. It's the howl they putup for the first four that counts. The electron-feed is necessary,because otherwise they'd smash on and ruin that mirror. They workpractically in a perfect vacuum. That beam smashes the air out of theway. Of course, in space it would work better."

  "How could it?" asked Faragaut, faintly.

  "Kendall," asked McLaurin, "can we install that in the IP ships?"

  "You can start." Kendall shrugged. "There isn't a lot of apparatus. I'mgoing to install them in my ships, and in the--bank. I suspect--wehaven't a lot of time left."

  "How near ready are those ships?"

  "About. That's all I can say. They've been torn up a bit forinstallation of the atostor apparatus. Now they'll have to be changedagain."

  "Anything more coming?"

  Buck smiled slowly. He turned directly to McLaurin and replied:"Yes--the Strangers. As to developments--I can't tell, naturally. But ifthey do, it will be something entirely unexpected now. You see, givenone new discovery, a half-dozen will follow immediately from it. When weannounced that atostor, look what happened. Renwright must have thoughtit was God's gift to suffering physicists. He stuck some oxygen in thething, added some of his own stuff--and behold. The magnetic apparatusgave us directly the shield, and indirectly this mirror. Now, I seem tohave reached the end for the time. I'm still trying to get thatspace-release for high speed--speed greater than light, that is. Sofar," he added bitterly, "all I've gotten as an answer is a singleexpression that simply means practical zero--Heisenberg's UncertaintyExpression."

  "I'm uncertain as to your meaning"--McLaurin smiled--"but I take itthat's nothing new."

  "No. Nearly four centuries old--twentieth century physics. I'll have totry some other line of attack, I guess, but that did seem so darnedright. It just sounded right. Something ought to happen--and it justkeeps saying 'nothing more except the natural uncertainty of nature.'"

  "Try it out, your math might be wrong somewhere."

  Kendall laughed. "If it was--I'd hate to try it out. If it wasn't I'dhave no reason to. And there's plenty of other work to do. For onething, getting that apparatus in production. The IP board won't likeme." Kendall smiled.

  "They don't," replied McLaurin. "They're getting more and more and moreworried--but they've got to keep the IP fleet in such condition that itcan at least catch an up-to-date freighter."

  * * * * *

  Gresth Gkae looked back at Sthor rapidly dropping behind, and across ather sister world, Asthor, circling a bare 100,000 miles away. Behind hisgreat interstellar cruiser came a long line of similar ships. Each wasloaded now not with instruments and pure scientists, but with weapons,fuel and warriors. Colonists too, came in the last ships. One hundredand fifty giant ships. All the wealth of Sthor and Asthor had beenconcentrated in producing those great machines. Every one representednearly the equivalent of thirty million Earth-dollars. Four and a halfbillions of dollars for mere materials.

  Gresth Gkae had the honor of lead position, for he had discovered theplanets and their stable, though tiny, sun. Still, Gresth Gkae knew hisown giant Mira was a super-giant sun--and a curse and a menace to anyrational society. Our yellow-white sun (to his eyes, an almost invisiblecolor, similar to our blue) was small, but stable, and warm enough.

  In half an hour, all the ships were in space, and at a given signal, atten-second intervals, they sprang into the superspeed, faster thanlight. For an instant, giant Mira ran and seemed distorted, as thoughseen through a porthole covered with running water, then steadied,curiously distorted. Faster than light they raced across the galaxy.

  Even in their super-fast ships, nearly three and a half weeks passedbefore the sun they sought, singled itself from the star-field as anextra bright point. Two days more, and the sun was within planetarydistance. They came at an angle to the plane of the ecliptic, but theyleveled down to it now, and slanted toward giant Jupiter and Jovianworlds. Ten worlds, in one sweep, it was--four habitable worlds. Thenine satellites would be converted into forts at once, ninespace-sweeping forts guarding the approaches to the planet. Gresth Gkaehad made a fairly good search of the worlds, and knew that Earth was themain home of civilization in this system. Mars was second, and Venusthird. But Jupiter offered the greatest possibilities for quicksettlement, a base from which they could more easily operate, a base forfuels, for the heavy elements they would need--

  Fifteen million miles from Jupiter they slowed below the speed oflight--and the IP stations observed them. Instantly, according toinstructions issued by Commander McLaurin, a fleet of ten of thetiniest, fastest scouts darted out. As soon as possible, a group ofthree heavy cruisers, armed with all the inventions that had beendiscovered, the atostor power system, perfectly conducting power leads,the terrible UV ray, started out.

  The scouts got there first. Cameras were grinding steadily, with longrange telescopic lenses, delicate instruments probed and felt and caughttheir fingers in the fields of the giant fleet.

  At ten-second intervals, giant ships popped into being, and glidedsmoothly toward Jupiter.

  Then the cruisers arrived. They halted at a respectful distance, andwaited. The Miran ships plowed on undisturbed. Simultaneously, from thethree leaders, terrific neutron rays shot out. The paraffin block wallsstopped those--and the cruisers started to explain their feelings on thesubject. They were the IP-J-37, 39, and 42. The 37 turned up the fullpower of the UV ray. The terrific beam of ultra-violet energy struck thesecond Miran ship, and the spot it touched exploded into incandescence,burned white-hot--and puffed out abruptly as the air pressure withinblew the molten metal away.

  The Mirans were startled. This was not the type of thing Gresth Gkae hadwarned them of. Gresth Gkae himself frowned as the sudden roar of themachines of his ship rose in the metal walls. A stream of ten-inchatomic bombs shrieked out of their tubes, fully glowing green thingsfloated out more slowly, and immediately waxed brilliant. Gamma raybombs--but they could be guarded against--

  The three Solarian cruisers were washed in such frightful flame as theyhad never imagined. Streams of atomic bombs were exploding soundlessly,ineffectively in space, not thirty feet from them as they felt thesudden resistance of the magnetic shields. Hopefully, the 39 probed withher neutron gun. Nothing happened save that several gamma ray bombs wentoff explosively, and all the atomic bombs in its path exploded at once.

  Gresth Gkae knew what that meant. Neutron beam guns. Then this race wasmore intelligent than he had believed. They had not had them before. Hadhe perhaps given them too much warning and information?

  There was a sudden, deeper note in the thrumming roar of the greatship. Eagerly Gresth Gkae watched--and sighed in relief. The nearer ofthe three enemy ships was crumbling to dust. Now the other two werebeginning to become blurred of outline. They were fleeing--but oh, soslowly. Easily the greater ship chased them down, till only floatingdust, and a few small pieces of--

  Gresth Gkae shrieked in pain, and horror. The destroyed ships had foughtin dying. All space seemed to blossom out with a terrible light, a lightthat wrapped around them, and burned into him, and through him. His eyeswere dark and burning lumps in his head, his flesh seemed crawling,stinging--he was being flayed alive--in shrieking agony he crumpled tothe floor.

  Hospital attaches came to him, and injected drugs. Slowly torturingconsciousness left him. The doctors began working over his horriblyburned body, shuddering inwardly as the protective, feather-likecovering of his skin loosened, and dropped from his body. Tenderly theylowered him into a bath of chemicals--

  "The terrible light which caused so much damage to our men," reported aphysicist, "was analyzed, and found to have some extraordinary lines. Itwas largely mercury-vapor spectrum, but the spectrum of mercury-atoms inan impossibly strained condition. I would suggest that great care beused hereafter, and all men be equipped with protective masks whenobservations are need
ed. This sun is very rich in the infra-X-rays andultra-visible light. The explosion of light, we witnessed, was dangerousin its consisting almost wholly of very short and hard infra-X-rays."

  The physicist had a special term for what we know as ultra-violet light.To him, blue was ultra-violet, and exceedingly dangerous tored-sensitive eyes. To him, our ultra-violet was a long X-ray, and wasdesignated by a special term. And to him--the explosion of the atostorreservoirs was a terrible and mystifying calamity.

  To the men in the five tiny scout-ships, it was also a surprise, and apainful one. Even space-hardened humans were burned by the terrificallyhard ultra-violet from the explosion. But they got some hint of what ithad meant to the Mirans from the confusion that resulted in the fleet.Several of the nearer ships spun, twisted, and went erratically offtheir courses. All seemed uncontrolled momentarily.

  The five scouts, following orders, darted instantly toward the LunarBank. Why, they did not know. But those were orders. They were to landthere.

  The reason was that, faster than any Solarian ship, radio signals hadreached McLaurin, and he, and most of the staff of the IP service hadbeen moved to the Lunar Bank. Buck Kendall had extended an invitation inthis "unexpected emergency." It so happened that Buck Kendall'sinvitation got there before any description of the Strangers, or theiractions had arrived. The staff was somewhat puzzled as to how thishappened--

  And now for the satellites of great Jupiter.

  One hundred and fifty giant interstellar cruisers advanced on Callisto.They didn't pause to investigate the mines and scattered farms of thesatellite, but ten great ships settled, and a horde of warriors beganpouring out.

  One hundred and forty ships reached Ganymede. One hundred and thirtysailed on. One hundred and thirty ships reached Europa--and they sailedon hurriedly, one hundred and twenty-nine of them. Gresth Gkae did notknow it then, but the fleet had lost its first ship. The IP station onEuropa had spoken back.

  They sailed in, a mighty armada, and the first dropped through Europa'sthin, frozen atmosphere. They spotted the dome of the station, and aneutron ray lashed out at it. On the other, undefended worlds, this hadbeen effective. Here--it was answered by ten five-foot UV rays. Further,these men had learned something from the destruction of the cruisers,and ten torpedoes had been unloaded, reloaded with atostor mercury, andsent out bravely.

  Easily the Mirans wiped out the first torpedo--

  Shrieking, the Miran pilots clawed their way from the controls as thefearful flood of ultra-violet light struck their unaccustomed skins.Others too felt that burning flood.

  The second torpedo they caught and deflected on a beam ofalternating-current magnetism that repelled it. It did not come nearerthan half a mile to the ship. The third they turned their deflectingbeam on--and something went strangely wrong with the beam. It pulledthat torpedo toward the ship with a sickening acceleration--and thetorpedo exploded in that frightful violet flame.

  * * * * *

  Five-foot diameter UV beams are nothing to play with. The Mirans weredodging these now as they loosed atomic bombs, only to see them explodedharmlessly by neutron guns, or caught in the magnetic screen. Gamma raybombs were as useless. Again the beam of disintegrating force was turnedon--

  The present opponent was not a ship. It was an IP defense station,equipped with everything Solarian science knew, and the dome was aneight-foot wall of tungsten-beryllium. The eight feet of solid,ultra-resistant alloy drank up that crumbling beam, and liked it. Thewall did not fail. The men inside the fort jerked and quivered as thestrange beam, a small, small fraction of it, penetrated the eight feetof outer wall, the six feet or so of intervening walls, and the mercuryatostor reserves.

  "Concentrate all those UV beams on one spot, and see if you can blast ahole in him before he shakes it loose," ordered the ray technician."He'll wiggle if you start off with the beam. Train your sights on thenose of that first ship--when you're ready, call out."

  "Ready--ready--" Ten men replied. "Fire!" roared the technician. Tentitanic swords of pure ultra-violet energy, energy that practically nounconditioned metal will reflect to more than fifty per cent, emerged.There was a single spot of intense incandescence for a single hundredthof a second--and then the energy was burning its way through the inner,thinner skins with such rapidity that they sputtered and flickered likea broken televisor.

  One hundred and twenty-nine ships retreated hastily for conference,leaving a gutted, wrecked hull, broken by its fall, on Europa.Triumphantly, the Europa IP station hurled out its radio message of thefirst encounter between a fort and the Miran forces.

  Most important of all, it sent a great deal of badly wanted informationregarding the Miran weapons. Particularly interesting was the fact thatit had withstood the impact of that disintegrating ray.