The Black Star Passes

by Jr. John W. Campbell

  VII

  Slowly they cruised back to Sonor, Arcot still engrossed in thought.Would it be that Venus would fall before the attack of the mightyplanes, that they would sweep out across space, to Earth--to Mars--toother worlds, a cosmic menace? Would the mighty machines soon becircling Earth? Guided missiles with atomic warheads could combat them,perhaps, as could the molecular motion machines. Perhaps these could bearmored with twenty-inch steel walls, and driven into the greatpropellers, or at miles a second, into the ship itself! But these shipswould require long hours, days, even weeks to build, and in that timethe Kaxorian fleet would be ready. It would attack Earth within six daysnow! What hope was there to avert incalculable destruction--if notoutright defeat?

  In despair Arcot turned and strode quickly down the long hallway of the_Solarite_. Above him he could hear the smooth, even hum of the sweetlyfunctioning generator, but it only reminded him of the vastly greaterenergies he had seen controlled that night. The thudding relays in thepower room, as Wade maneuvered the ship, seemed some diminutive mockeryof the giant relays he had seen in the power room of the Kaxorian plane.

  He sat down in the power room, looking at the stacked apparatus, neatlyarranged, as it must be, to get all this apparatus in this small space.Then at last he began to think more calmly. He concentrated on thegreatest forces known to man--and there were only two that even occurredto him as great! One was the vast energies he had that very nightlearned of; the other was the force of the molecules, the force thatdrove his ship.

  He had had no time to work out the mathematics of the light compression,mathematics that he now knew would give results. There remained only themolecular motion. What could he do with it that he had not done?

  He drew out a small black notebook. In it were symbols, formulas, andpage after page of the intricate calculus that had ended finally in theharnessing of this great force that was even now carrying him smoothlyalong.

  Half an hour later he was still busy--covering page after page withswiftly written formulas. Before him was a great table of multipleintegers, the only one like it known to exist in the System, for themultiple calculus was an invention of Arcot's. At last he found theexpression he wanted, and carefully he checked his work, excitedlythough now, with an expression of eager hope--it seemed logical--itseemed correct--

  "Morey--oh, Morey," he called, holding his enthusiasm in check, "if youcan come here--I want you to check some math for me. I've done it--and Iwant to see if you get the same result independently!" Morey was a morecareful mathematician than he, and it was to him Arcot turned forverification of any new discovery.

  Following the general directions Arcot gave him, Morey went through thelong series of calculations--and arrived at the same results. Slowly helooked up from the brief expression with which he had ended.

  It was not the formula that astonished him--it was its physicalsignificance.

  "Arcot--do you think we can make it?"

  There was a new expression in Arcot's eyes, a tightness about his mouth.

  "I hope so, Morey. If we don't, Lanor is lost beyond a doubt--andprobably Earth is, too. Wade--come here a minute, will you? Let Fullertake the controls, and tell him to push it. We have to get to work onthis."

  Rapidly Arcot explained their calculations--and the proof he had gotten.

  "Our beam of molecular motion-controlling energy directs all molecularmotion to go at right angles to it. The mechanism so far has been afield inside a coil really, but if these figures are right, it meansthat we can project that field to a considerable distance even in air.It'll be a beam of power that will cause all molecules in its path tomove at right angles to it, and in the direction we choose, by reversingthe power in the projector. That means that no matter how big the thingis, we can tear it to pieces; we'll use its own powers, its ownenergies, to rip it, or crush it.

  "Imagine what would happen if we directed this against the side of amountain--the entire mass of rock would at once fly off at unimaginablespeed, crashing ahead with terrific power, as all the molecules suddenlymoved in the same direction. Nothing in all the Universe could holdtogether against it! It's a disintegration ray of a sort--a ray thatwill tear, or crush, for we can either make one half move away from theother--or we can reverse the power, and make one half drive toward theother with all the terrific power of its molecules! It isomnipotent--hmmm--" Arcot paused, narrowing his eyes in thought.

  "It has one limitation. Will it reach far in the air? In vacuum itshould have an infinite range--in the atmosphere all the molecules ofthe air will be affected, and it will cause a terrific blast of icywind, a gale at temperatures far below zero! This will be even moreeffective here on Venus!

  "But we must start designing the thing at once! Take some of theImmorpho and give me some, and we can let the sleep accumulate till wehave more time! Look--we're in Sonor already! Land us, Fuller--rightwhere we were, and then come back here. We're going to need you!"

  The gorgeous display of a Venerian dawn was already coloring the east asthe great buildings seemed to rise silently about them. The sky, whichhad been a dull luminous gray, a gray that rapidly grew brighter andbrighter, was now like molten silver, through which were filtering theearly rays of the intense sun. As the sun rose above the horizon, thoughinvisible for clouds, it still was traceable by the wondrous shell pinkthat began to suffuse the ten mile layer of vapor. The tiny dropletswere, however, breaking the clear light into a million rainbows, and allabout the swiftly deepening pink were forming concentric circles ofblue, of green, orange, and all the colors of the rainbow, repeated timeafter time--a wondrous halo of glowing color, which only the doublyintense sun could create.

  "It's almost worth missing the sun all day to see their sunrises andsunsets," Fuller commented. The men were watching it, despite theirneed for haste. It was a sight the like of which no Earthman had everbefore seen.

  Immediately, then, they plunged into the extremely complex calculationof the electrical apparatus to produce the necessary fields. To get theeffect they wanted, they must have two separate fields of the directorray, and a third field of a slightly different nature, which would causethe director ray to move in one direction only. It would bedisconcerting, to say the least, if the director ray, by some mistake,should turn upon them!

  The work went on more swiftly than they had considered possible, butthere was still much to be done on the theoretical end of the job alonewhen the streets about them began to fill. They noticed that a largecrowd was assembling, and shortly after they had finished, after some ofthese people had stood there for more than an hour and a half, the crowdhad grown to great size.

  "From the looks of that collection, I should say we are about to becomethe principals in some kind of a celebration that we know nothing about.Well, we're here, and in case they want us, we're ready to come."

  The guard that always surrounded the _Solarite_ had been doubled, andwas maintaining a fairly large clear area about the ship.

  Shortly thereafter they saw one of the high officials of Lanor come downthe walk from the governmental building, walking toward the _Solarite_.

  "Time for us to appear--and it may as well be all of us this time. I'lltell you what they say afterward, Wade. They've evidently gone toconsiderable trouble to get up this meeting, so let's cooperate. I hateto slow up the work, but we'll try to make it short."

  The four Terrestrians got into their cooling suits, and stepped outsidethe ship. The Lanorian dignitary left his guard, walked up to thequartet from Earth with measured tread, and halted before them.

  "Earthmen," he began in a deep, clear voice, "we have gathered here thismorning to greet you and thank you for the tremendous service you havedone us. Across the awful void of empty space you have journeyed fortymillion miles to visit us, only to discover that Venerians were makingready to attack your world. Twice your intervention has saved our city.

  "There is, of course, no adequate reward for this service; we can in noway repay you, but in a measure we may show our
appreciation. We havelearned from the greatest psychologist of our nation, Tonlos, that inyour world aluminum is plentiful, but gold and platinum are rare, andthat morlus is unknown. I have had a small token made for you, and yourfriends. It is a little plaque, a disc of morlus, and on it there is asmall map of the Solar System. On the reverse side there is a globe ofVenus, with one of Earth beside it, as well as our men could copy thesmall globe you have given us. The northern hemisphere of each isdepicted--America, your nation, and Lanor, ours, thus being shown. Wewant you, and each of your friends, to accept these. They are symbols ofyour wonderful flight across space!" The Venerians turned to each of theTerrestrians and presented each with a small metal disc.

  Arcot spoke for the Terrestrians.

  "On behalf of myself and my friends here, two of whom have not had anopportunity to learn your language, I wish to thank you for your greathelp when we most needed it. You, perhaps, have saved more than acity--you may have made it possible to save a world--our Earth. But thebattle here has only begun.

  "There are now in the Kaxorian camp eighteen great ships. They have beenbadly defeated in the three encounters they have had with the _Solarite_so far. But no longer will they be vulnerable to our earlier methods ofattack. Your spies report that the first plane, the plane which wasfirst attacked by the _Solarite_, is still undergoing repairs. Thesewill be completed within two days, and then, when they can leave a baseguard of two ships, they will attack once more. Furthermore, they willattack with a new weapon. They have destroyed the usefulness of ourweapon, invisibility, and in turn, now have it to use against us! Wemust seek out some new weapon. I hope we are on the right track now, butevery moment is precious, and we must get back to the work. This addressmust be short. Later, when we have completed our preliminary work, wewill have to give plans to your workmen, which you will be able to turninto metal, for we lack the materials. With this help we may succeed,despite our handicap."

  The address was terminated at once. The Lanorians were probablydisappointed, but they fully realized the necessity for haste.

  "I wish Terrestrian orators spoke like that," remarked Morey as theyreturned to the ship. "He said all there was to say, but he didn't runmiles of speech doing it. He was a very forceful speaker, too!"

  "People who speak briefly and to the point generally are," Arcot said.

  It was nearly noon that day before the theoretical discussion had beenreduced to practical terms. They were ready to start work at once, butthey had reason to work cheerfully now. Even through air they had foundtheir ray would be able to reach thirty-five miles! They would be wellout of the danger zone while attacking the gigantic planes of Kaxor.

  Morey, Wade and Arcot at once set to work constructing the electricalplant that was to give them the necessary power. It was lucky indeedthat they had brought the great mass of spare apparatus! They had morethan enough to make all the electrical machinery. The tubes, the coils,the condensers, all were there. The generator would easily supply thepower, for the terrific forces that were to destroy the Kaxorian shipswere to be generated in the plane itself. It was to destroy itself; the_Solarite_ would merely be the detonator to set it off!

  * * * * *

  While the physicists were busy on this, Fuller was designing themechanical details of the projector. It must be able to turn through aspherical angle of 180 degrees, and was necessarily controlledelectrically from the inside. The details of the projector were workedout by six that evening, and the numerous castings and machined piecesthat were to be used were to be made in the Venerian machine shops.

  One difficulty after another arose and was overcome. Night came on, andstill they continued work. The Venerian workmen had promised to have theapparatus for them by ten o'clock the next morning--or what correspondedto ten o'clock.

  Shortly after three o'clock that morning they had finished theapparatus, had connected all the controls, and had placed the last ofthe projector directors. Except for the projector they were ready, andMorey, Wade and Fuller turned in to get what sleep they could. ButArcot, telling them there was something he wished to get, took anotherdose of Immorpho and stepped out into the steaming rain.

  A few minutes after ten the next morning Arcot came back, followed byhalf a dozen Venerians, each carrying a large metal cylinder in acradle. These were attached to the landing gear of the _Solarite_ insuch fashion that the fusing of one piece of wire would permit theentire thing to drop free.

  "So _that's_ what you hatched out, eh? What is it?" asked Wade as heentered the ship.

  "Just a thing I want to try out--and I'm going to keep it a deep, darksecret for a while. I think you'll get quite a surprise when you seethose bombs in action! They're arranged to be released by turningcurrent into the landing lights. We'll have to forgo lights for thepresent, but I needed the bombs more.

  "The mechanics have finished working on your projector parts, Fuller,and they'll be over here in a short time. Here comes the little gang Iasked to help us. You can direct them." Arcot paused and scowled withannoyance. "Hang it all--when they drill into the outer wall, we'll losethe vacuum between the two walls, and all that hot air will come in.This place will be roasting in a short time. We have the molecularmotion coolers, but I'm afraid they won't be much good. Can't use thegenerator--it's cut off from the main room by vacuum wall.

  "I think we'd better charge up the gas tanks and the batteries as soonas this is done. Then tonight we'll attack the Kaxorian constructioncamp. I've just learned that no spy reports have been coming in, and I'mafraid they'll spring a surprise."

  Somewhat later came the sound of drills, then the whistling roar as theair sucked into the vacuum, told the men inside that the work was underway. It soon became uncomfortably hot as, the vacuum destroyed, the heatcame in through all sides. It was more than the little molecular coolerscould handle, and the temperature soon rose to about a hundred andfifteen. It was not as bad as the Venerian atmosphere, for the airseemed exceedingly dry, and the men found it possible to get alongwithout cooling suits, if they did not work. Since there was little theycould do, they simply relaxed.

  It was nearly dark before the Lanorians had finished their work, and thegas tanks had been recharged. All that time Arcot had spent with Tonlosdetermining the position of the Kaxorian construction camp. Spy reportsand old maps had helped, but it was impossible to do very accurate workby these means.

  It was finally decided that the Kaxorian construction camp was about10,500 miles to the southwest. The _Solarite_ was to start an hour afterdark. Travelling westward at their speed, they hoped to reach the campjust after nightfall.