The Ultimate Weapon

by Jr. John W. Campbell

  XII

  Buck Kendall with a slow smile, looked out of the port in the thickmetal wall. The magnetic shield of the Lunar Fort was washed constantlywith the fires of exploding magnetic bombs. The smile spread broader."My friends," he said softly, "you can pull from now till doomsday asfar as I'm concerned, and you won't even disturb us now." He looked backover his shoulder into the power room. A hunched bulk, beautifullydesigned and carefully finished, the apparatus that created 'Uncertaintyof the Fourth Degree' was destroying matter, and creating by itsdestruction terrific electric fields. These fields were feeding themagnetic shield now. Under the present drain, the machine was notnoticeably working. In fact, Kendall was a bit annoyed. He had testedout the energy generating properties of this machine, trying to find alimit. He had found there was no limit. The great copper conductors,charged with the same atostor force that was used in the mercury fuel,were perfect conductors, they had not heated. But the eleven thousandtons of discharged mercury metal had been completely charged in just abit better than eleven minutes. The pumps wouldn't force it through thecharging apparatus any faster than that.

  Two weeks more had passed, while the "S Doradus" and the "Cepheid" werefitted out with the new apparatus Buck had designed. They were almostready to start now.

  McLaurin came down the corridor, and stopped near Kendall. He too smiledat the Miran's attempts. "They've got a long way to go, Buck."

  "They're going a long way. Clear back home--and we'll be right along. Idon't think they can outdistance us."

  "I still don't see why you couldn't use one of those Uncertaintyconditions--the First Degree perhaps, and annihilate our inertia."

  "You can't control Uncertainty. By its essential character it's beyondcontrol."

  "What's that Fourth Degree machine of yours--the material energy--if itisn't controlled and utilized Uncertainty?"

  "It's utter and utterly uncontrolled Uncertainty. The matter within thatfield breaks down to absolutely nothing. Within, no law whatsoeverapplies, but fortunately, outside the old laws of physics apply--and wecan gather and use the energy which is released outside, though nothingcan be done inside. Why, think, man, if I could control thatUncertainty, I could do anything at all, absolutely anything. It wouldbe a world as unreasonable as a bad dream. Think how unreasonable thosemanifestations we first got were!"

  "But can't you get any control at all?"

  "Very little. Anyway, if I could get inertialess conditions at will, I'dbe afraid of them. They'd make chemical reactions impossible in allprobability--and life is chemical. Two atoms must come into more or lessviolent contact before a union takes place, and cannot if they haveneither momentum nor inertia.

  "Anyway--why worry. I can't do it, because I can't control this thing.And we have the extra-space drive."

  "How does that darned thing work? Can't you drop the math and tell meabout it?"

  Kendall smiled. "Not too readily. Remember first, as to the drivingsystem, that it works on the fabric of space. Space is, in the physicalsense, a fabric woven of the threads of lines of force from every bodyin the universe, made up of fields and forces. It is elastic, and cantransmit strains. But anything that can transmit strains, can bestrained against. With the tremendous field intensities available by thematerial engines, I can get such fields as will 'dig their toes' intospace and push.

  "That's the drive itself. It is accelerationless, because it enfolds us,and acts equally on every atom of us. By maintaining in addition aslight artificial gravity--thanks also to the intensity of thosematerial engine fields--we can be comfortable, while we accelerate attremendous rates.

  "That is, I think, at least allied to the Stranger's system. For thehigh-speed drive, I do in fact use the Uncertainty. I can control it ina certain sense by determining its powers, and the limits ofuncertainty, whether First, Second, Third or Fourth Degree. It advancesin jumps--but on a finer plotting of the curve, you can see that eachjump represents a vast series of smaller jumps. That is, there is ClassA, B, C, D, and so forth Uncertainty of the First Degree. Now Class AFirst Degree Uncertainty involves only the deepest, broadest principles.Only they break down. One of these is the law of the speed of light.

  "I'm sure that isn't the system the Strangers use, but I'm also surethere's no limit to the speed we can get."

  "Doesn't that wreck your drive system?"

  "No, because gravity and the fields I use in driving are First DegreeUncertainties of the higher classes.

  "But at any rate, it will work. And--I suspect you came to say you wereready to go."

  "I did." McLaurin nodded.

  "Still stick to your original plan?"

  McLaurin nodded. "I think it's best. You follow those fellows back totheir system in the 'S Doradus' and I'll stay here in the 'Cepheid' toprotect the system. They may need some time to get out of the placehere. And remember, we ought to be as decent as they were. They didn'tbother the transports leaving Jupiter when they came in, only attackedthe warships. We're bound to do the same, but we'll have to keep a watchon them, nonetheless. So you go on ahead."

  They started down the corridor, and came presently to the huge lockswhere the "S Doradus" and the "Cepheid" were berthed. The super-shipslay cold and gray now, men swarming in and out with last-minutesupplies. Air, water, spare parts, bedding and personal equipment.Douglass, Cole, and most of the laboratory staff would go with Kendallwhen he followed the Strangers home. Devin and a few of the mostadvanced physicists would stay with McLaurin in case of need.

  * * * * *

  An hour later the "S Doradus" rose gently, soundlessly from her berth,and floated out of the open lock-door. The "Cepheid" followed her infive seconds. Still under the great screen of the fort, the lashing,coruscating colors of the magnetic bombs and the magnetic screen flashedand was iridescent. The "S Doradus" poked her great nose gently throughthe screen, and an instant later her titanically powerful,material-engine effortlessly discharged a great magnetic bomb, sent withthe combined power of five atomic-powered interstellar ships. The twoships separated now, the "Cepheid" under McLaurin flashing ahead withsudden, terrific acceleration toward Mars, whispering through space at aspeed that made it undetectable, faster than light. The "S Doradus"journeyed out leisurely toward the fleet of forty-seven Miran ships.

  Gresth Gkae saw the "S Doradus" and as he watched the steady progress,felt sudden fear at his heart. The ship seemed so certain--

  At a distance of thirty thousand miles, Kendall stopped. Magnetic bombswere washing his screen continuously now, seeking to exhaust the ship asall the great ships beyond poured their energy against it. A slow smilespread over Kendall's mouth as he heard the gentle hum of the barelyworking material-engine. Carefully he aligned the nose UV beam of the "SDoradus" on the nearest of the Miran ships. Then he depressed a switch.

  There was no ion-release before the force-mirror now. Just a jet of gaswhirling into a half-inch field of "Uncertainty of the Fourth Degree."The matter vanished instantly in released energy so stupendous that thegreatest previous UV beams had been harmless things by comparison.Material energy maintained the mirror forces. Material energy gave thepower that was released. And only material energy could have stood upbefore it. Thirty thousand miles away, a Miran ship flamedinstantaneously into inconceivable incandescence, vanishing almost inblue-violet light of terrific intensity. The ship reeled away, ahalf-molten wreck.

  The beam spotted two more ships before it winked out. Then Kendall begansending bombs. He moved up to within 2000 miles that his aim might beaccurate. They were bombs of "Uncertainty of the Third Degree," theUncertainty of atomic law in bomb form. One hit the nose of the nearestship, and a sphere five feet in diameter glowed mistily blue for amoment. Then very easily, the matter that formed the wall of the cruiserbegan to run and change, and presently there was only a hole, and anexpanding cloud of gas. Three more flowed toward it--and the holeenlarged, and another hole appeared in a bulkhead behind.

  Kendall made a change. F
or the first time there came the staccato barkof the material engine under strain, as it fashioned the terrific fieldsof "Uncertainty of the Ultimate Degree." Abruptly they leapt out,invisible till they entered a magnetic screen, then run over withopalescent light as the energy of the field was sucked into them andreleased.

  It struck the nose of a ship--a field no larger than an apple--

  A titanic gout of energy burst out that was soundless in space. The shipsuddenly opened back, opened like the peel of a banana, till a littlenub remained at the further end, and the metal flaps dropped back acrossand behind it dejectedly. A second ship was struck, and it was struck onone side, so that it was shattered like a spent firecracker.

  Then the Miran fleet vanished in speed.

  Kendall followed them. "I think," he said with a grin, "they tried touse their radio beam, but it spread too much to do anything at thatdistance. And they used their rotating magnetic field, which we couldn'tfeel. And their crumbler ray too, of course. I wonder--are they headedonly for Jupiter? No--no, they've passed it!"

  Faster than light, faster than energy could follow through space, orUncertainty Bombs pursue, the Mirans were fleeing for home. They knewnow that only in speed lay safety. Already they knew that a similar shiphad appeared off Jupiter, and, after wiping out the Phobos and Marsstations with one bomb each, had cleared the Jovian Satellites withequal terrible efficiency.

  In one of the fleeing ships was a broken, tired old man, and his staff.Gresth Gkae looked back at the blank, distorted space behind them, atthe swiftly dwindling sun, and spoke. "I was at fault, my friends. Jarthhas spoken. _They_ are the stronger and the wiser race. Farth Skalt hasshown you--they use space fields of intensity 100. That means the energyof the ultimate destruction. Jarth used us as his instrument of testing,only to drive and stimulate that race. I do not--nay. There is no doubtnow, for look."

  Plainly visible, rapidly overtaking them, the "S Doradus" appearedsharp, and luminous on the jet of distorted space.

  "We cannot escape, my friends. Shall we return to Sthor or remain inspace, lost?"

  "Let us deflect our course--at least he may not know our destination."The interstellar ship turned very slightly in her course. Plainly theysaw the "S Doradus" flash on, in a straight line, headed for distant,red-glowing Mira. Gresth Gkae watched, and shrugged. Silently he put theship back on its course, at its utmost speed. Parallel with them, nearto them, the "S Doradus" flashed on. Day after day, the two hurledthrough space faster than light. Gradually Mira brightened, and at lastbecame a disc.

  * * * * *

  Gresth Gkae slowed his ships, and Kendall, watching, slowed to match hisspeed. Five billion miles from Sthor, they had reached normal spacespeeds. Viciously the Miran fleet attacked the lone ship from Earth.Their rays, their bombs, their every weapon was flaming. Greatinterstellar ships flashed suddenly into speeds greater than that oflight, seeking to ram and destroy the smaller ship. The "S Doradus"flashed into equal or greater speed, and eluded them.

  Kendall had determined now, which was the leader's ship.

  Gresth Gkae watched dully as his ships attempted to destroy the single,small ship. He sighed in resignation, and turned to walk back to thechapel aboard the ship. One last prayer to Jarth--

  Gresth Gkae stopped abruptly. The great ship was lurching strangely. Menshouted sudden, frightened cries. The clanking and thud of relayssounded, the shrill of alarms. Then the alarms stopped, and suddenly thewhole great ship vibrated to an infinitely deep voice speaking inperfect Sthorian. The voice remarked solemnly, in great, vibrant tones,that they would certainly receive news presently from the Expeditions.It went on for some seconds to discuss the conditions as reported in thenew system. Then it stopped abruptly. An electric motor just aboveGresth Gkae's head suddenly hummed into action without reason or powerconnection. Almost simultaneously he heard the shouts of startled men asthe great lock doors began to open into space of their own accord,bulkhead doors slipped shut as the roar of escaping air echoed in theship.

  Then it was all over. Gresth Gkae ran to the control room. The Miransthere looked up at him with drawn faces.

  "The instruments--Gresth Gkae--the instruments. The instruments readimpossible things, the motors worked without reason, the fieldsfluctuated--the atomic engines stopped and the magnetic shield brokedown and gripped part of the ship instead!" reported the bewilderedpilot.

  "I do not know--some strange weapon of--" began the old scientist.Something luminous and huge twisted suddenly through space toward them,a bomb of "Uncertainty of the First Degree." It wrapped the shipsilently--and again strange things happened. Abruptly the ship startedwhirling violently, yet without centrifugal force. The heavens wheeledcrazily, and turned about three axes simultaneously. There was nogyroscopic effect to hold them!

  Gradually the thing died out. Then a great field seemed to catch theship, and hurl it away from its companions. Abruptly the pilot appliedall his power to pull free. In vain.

  Gresth Gkae shook his head slowly, and raised the pilot's hands from theboard. "Let them do as they will. I think they mean us no real harm,Thart Kralt. They can, we know, destroy us in an instant. Perhaps hewants us to go somewhere with him"--Gresth Gkae smiled sadly--"andanyway, we can do nothing."

  For nearly a billion miles the great ship was hurled through space attremendous normal-space velocity. Then abruptly it was halted, without asign of strain or hurt. The great twenty-foot UV beam on the nose of the"S Doradus" broke into glowing gentle red light. It flashed twice. Therewas a pause. Then it flashed four times. A long wait. Then three times,a pause and nine times. A wait. Four times, a pause, sixteen times. Thenit stopped.

  A slow smile of ineffable joy spread over Gresth Gkae's face. "Jarth BePraised. He can destroy, but does not wish to. Ah, Thart Kralt, turnyour spotlight toward him, and flash it twenty-five times, for he istrying to start communications with us. Jarth is wise beyond allunderstanding. They were the weaker race, and they are the stronger. Butalso they are the better, for they could destroy, and they do not, butseek only to communicate."

  EPILOGUE

  The interstellar liner "Mirasol" settled gently to Sthor, having circledwide of Asthor, and from her hold a cargo of the heavy Jovian elementswas discharged, while a mixed stream of Solarians and Mirans came fromher passenger quarters.

  A delegation of Mirans met the new Ambassador from Sol, CommanderMcLaurin, and conducted him joyfully to the Central Government Group.Beside the great buildings, a battered, scarred interstellar ship lay,her rear section a mass of great patches, rudely applied, and rudelymade, mere cast metal plates.

  Gresth Gkae welcomed Commander McLaurin to the Government Hall. "Yourarrival today, Commander McLaurin, was most fortunate," he said in theinterstellar language that had been developed, "for but yesterday GresthTalak, my brother, arrived in his ship. Before we made thatfortunate-unfortunate expedition against your system, we waited for him,and he did not come, so we knew his ship had, like others, been lost.

  "He arrived only yesterday, some seventy hours ago, and explained how ithad come about. He too found a solar system. But he was less fortunatethan I, and while exploring this uninhabited system, far out still fromthe central sun, where there should have been no masses of matter, oneof those rare things, a giant stony meteor that even a magnetic shieldwill not stop careened into the rear of his ship. Damaged badly, barelyable to move, they settled to a planet. The atmosphere was breathable,the temperature mild. But while they could navigate planetarydistances, they could not return, so for nearly four and a half of youryears they remained there, working, working to repair their ship.

  "They have done it at last. And they have returned. And best of all,after a four-year stay there, they know all they need know about thatsystem of eleven planets. It is compact as yours, with an ultra-lightsun such as yours, and four of the planets are habitable. Together wecan colonize that system! It is a system of stable heat and stablelight. And it is small, yet large enough. And wit
h the devices such asyour new energy has permitted, we need never fear the stony meteorsagain." Gresth Gkae smiled happily. "Still better--it is inhabited onlyby the lowest forms of life. It is too costly to both races when Jarthsees fit to stimulate them by throwing one against the other, despitethe good things that may come later."