Operation Interstellar (1950)

by George O. Smith

  “I’m not too pleased at the basic conditions,” said Paul, “but I am pleased at any chance to do something about the Z-wave.” “Then make the best of it.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Latham’s Triplets, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, were at the corners of an equilateral triangle about a quarter of a light year on a side. Beta III was a small planet possessed of a somewhat odorous atmosphere that was unpleasant but not deadly by any means. Beta III was not capable of supporting human life—if by ‘supporting’ is meant that the planet shall be called upon to accept, foster, and maintain in growing population a colony from Terra without outside assistance. A dearth of light metals on Beta III meant that man got insufficient salt to maintain the chemical balance established over a few million of Terran years. There was an abundance of heavy metals there which eventually caused an upset of the digestive tract. There was also something—or lack of something—in the makeup of the planet and its edible flora and fauna that tended to lower the birth-expectancy rate among couples who lived there. Paul did not care to ask which side of the fence Huston was on; one cultural faction wanted this something—or lack of something—isolated because knowing what it was would permit its eradication and thus cause a rise in the birth rate. The other faction wanted this something isolated for reasons best explained by Margaret Sanger.

  But for Paul’s purpose, Latham’s Triplets was an ideal laboratory and proving ground.

  Huston’s offer was valid enough; he backed it with a half dozen young technicians to do whatever Paul wanted, and included a group of three small but very fast spacecraft for making tests in space itself.

  While the galactic survey had picked Latham Alpha IV because of its ecliptic tilt, and Latham Beta III was semipopulated by a few hundred botanical researchers, none of the other planets of the system were being used. Paul selected Gamma II as the third relay station and his group set up both radio beacons and Z-wave equipment on each planet, one of them being not far from the Survey Station on Alpha IV.

  Setting both Z-wave gear and radio beacons in operation complete with their timing gear, it was Paul’s hope to show that the arrival of the radio beacon wave was coincident with the establishment of Z-wave contact. Then because this short distance did compare to true interstellar separation, Paul would have a talking point to make the big attempt across some real distance when one of the Beacon Stations checked in.

  He considered for some time the possibility of sneaking in to one of the already-closed contacts, of which there were many, with many more being completed every week. The thing that stopped him was that the success at the Proxima I to Terra original contact had established the fact that the Galactic Network was functional, and now every station along the line that had contact already made was more than likely to be visited regularly by various technicians for one checking job or another. He would never know just how much time he would have unmolested.

  While he had few qualms about working on the stuff, Paul still felt a vague fear at the idea of getting involved with the Bureau of Astrogation, for he was undoubtedly a wanted man on Terra, even if Neoterra did not seem to care. With his crew checking each of his own stations, Paul took off in his spacecraft at a speed just below the speed of light. A microwave beam went spearheading into space, and the velocity of Paul’s ship created a Doppler shift that permitted him to receive the microwave frequency as one of the extremely long waves of low-frequency radio. Hour after hour he raced into space, checking both the radio and the Z-wave, raced ahead of the long finger of energy, then slowed until it caught up with him.

  Suddenly the idea struck Paul. If he could not safely remain in the vicinity of a radio beacon station that had been checked-in, why couldn’t he tap one end of the radio beam while one of his men coupled onto, not at, but near the other end?

  Paul flopped ends with his ship and raced back to Beta III.

  Twelve days later Paul was floating free a couple of million miles above a planet known only as The Ninth Planet of General Star Catalog Number 311’ or in bureaucratic lingo: G.S.C. 311 was the star, and the planet was IX. As nearly as he could recall the lineup of the Galactic Survey network, G.S.C. 311 IX had checked-in some weeks ago with another star with a catalog number some five and a fraction light years distant.

  The beacon signal from the planet below him roared in like thunder. It overrode the ‘zero’ position of the volume control enough to drive the loudspeaker into a blubber of noise.

  Somewhere five light years distant, Toby Morrow, one of his men, should be waiting. He might have a bit of trouble finding the beacon with his spacecraft receiver at that distance. Noise was bothersome stuff, and the nature of the signal after crossing light years of space was not often high enough to come in strong and clear on anything but the specialized Survey Stations, where the input coils were immersed in liquid air to cut the random thermal agitation of the electrons in the wire.

  Paul watched the clock and promptly at 0600 hours he snapped on the Z-wave transmitter and receiver, clutched the microphone and tried to think of something heroic to say. He gave up trying to be heroic after a few seconds, and merely said: “Toby I Toby Morrow! Can you hear me?”

  The Z-wave receiver was silent.

  Paul tried again and again, calling until his throat was dry, wishing ruefully that he had made a record to play into the transmitter. He pondered on the uncertainty angle; he could not be sure that Toby was observing the same set of conditions as he was, since they were separated in time and space; very well separated by five light years, in a universe that would not permit gross matter to exceed the speed of light, but forced such high-velocity matter into a completely-enclosed bubble of its own type of space.

  It had been demonstrated that matter increases in mass as its velocity rises, and the formula claims that the mass becomes infinite as the velocity of light is reached. But space itself is warped by mass, and as the velocity rises toward the speed of light the mass increases until space is warped completely around it, creating a special transitory space of its own. Tests had been made with timed supervelocity missiles running toward an uninhabited, useless planet. The missile in its own warp of space had passed through the planet without making any fuss or mark on either the planet or the missile. Then men had tried it. Obviously matter occupies space, but specially-warped space did no more exist for real space than otherwise.

  Only the law of equal and opposite reaction brought the ship back to real space once the drive was out. The potential energy caused by the warping of space released once the power was withdrawn, and like a spring tightly wound and then released, the whole condition returned to its original state of inert stability.

  Paul had no way of knowing whether Toby had hit a snag somewhere along the line. Again he thought of the short-term experiments that had been made and smiled unhappily. He would have liked to check Toby, whether his watch was properly set; if his receiver was turned on. But once checked, what was to prevent Toby from falling ill, his watch from running down, the blowup of some bit of vital equipment, the failure of something basic like a power supply filter condenser, or even to prevent Toby from turning off the ~-wave receiver just because the slight speaker hiss annoyed the man, running continuously for better than a week.

  All Paul could do was to keep on calling. His first attempt had been steady for a half hour. He waited for a half hour and then called again:

  “Toby! Toby Morrow. Can you hear me?” Paul went into a ramble of talk, just to keep the circuit alive. He recited poetry, discussed physics, and finally he broke into song:

  “Round and round and round go the deuterons,

  Round and round the magnet swings ’em

  Round and round and round go the neutrons.

  Look at those neutrons pouring out there!”

  Then the Z-wave chattered into life. Paul jumped with excitement and reached for the volume control to bring the roar of voice down to a recognizable level.

  “That’s a lousy program we’ve go
t.”

  “Well, turn it off.”

  “Better we should shut the station off!”

  “Hey! This is Paul Grayson—”

  “We know who it is,” came the sharp reply. At the same instant a powerful light flashed into the viewport, and Paul looked to see a spacer bearing down on him. As he watched, there was a flash of orange flame at the nose.

  He did not see the shell. But whether it was one of the standard solid rounds used to check whether a planet or meteor were contraterrene, or whether it was loaded with high explosives, a four-inch projectile is nothing to be hit with in space.

  His hand reached for the high drive, Paul could outrun any projectile that way, once his ship got started.

  But another spacecraft passed at his side close enough to count the rivets, and as it passed him it began strewing space with a myriad of baseball sized chunks of solid matter. To start the high drive now would be death in a matter of seconds. The first few would be pushed aside, the next batch would ricochet from his hull. The batch he met just before he reached the high-space velocity would come through like a shotgun blast shattering a brick of cheese.

  “Turn off the Z-wave!” came the command. “Turn it off or the next shot will drill dead center.”

  Paul hesitated.

  Another flare came from the oncoming ship and the shell drilled deep into Paul’s spacecraft, among the machinery and stores. Bulkhead doors clanged shut, the whistle of air rose and then fell as some compartment or other down in the bowels of the ship blasted its air out through a jagged hole in the hull.

  “Next one will be through tout departments Paul shrugged unhappily and snapped the toggle switch on the Z-wave transmitter. The other ship came alongside, threw out magnetic grapples, and then they came aboard in space suits through the airlock. They waved him aside and took over the controls of his ship.

  Stolidly and silently they drove him toward G.S.C. 311; IX, landed on a crude spaceport and escorted him to a new building where he faced a hard-looking man who chewed a cold cigar and eyed him with a great amount of pleasure.

  “Well look who’s here!” he gibed.

  “What of it,” snapped Paul.

  “Lucky us. To think that of all the stars m the galaxy Paul Grayson would fasten his eye on us! My friend, you have no idea what a shock that Z-wave gave us. We broke three necks getting out there before you could do some harm.”

  “So you’ve caught me. But catching me isn’t going to stop progress.”

  “How vitally correct you are.”

  “You—”

  “Pardon me. I am called Westlake. I am what is known as a henchman, hireling, or employee of people who prefer to see the Z-wave communications stalled.”

  “How long can you prevent it?”

  “Long enough,” said Westlake. “After that it can start with a big bang. It would be helpful.”

  “You aren’t going to get away with this, you know.”

  “Who—me? I’ll bet I do. Just wait and see. I do admit that Z-wave communications would be helpful. For instance, if we had Z-wave contact with Neoterra I could find out what happened between the last information I got—which came from Terra—and your subsequent arrival here. Last dope I had was your capture and transmittal to Neoterra where some plan was being cooked up for you. Now, confound it, we’ve got a few months to wait between my telling the folks back home that I’ve collected you and what do they want me to do about it.

  “Another angle, Grayson, is that if we had Z-wave networks, I could be sure that our friends on the other end of the line were as quick as we were. If we knew that—”

  Westlake paused and then laughed. “Hell, if we had Z-wave networks running, I wouldn’t have been the happiest guy in the galaxy to catch you.”

  “You’re one of Hoagland’s gang.”

  “That’s as good a guess as any.”

  “Then suppose you tell me where Stacey and Nora Phillips are?” “Oh, I don’t mind. They came with the first line of information about you. In fact, I’ll have you meet them. They’ll let you in on a lot of things about this place—which will save me a lot of time. Burroughs! Burroughs! Burroughs, see that Grayson gets to talk to John Stacey and Nora Phillips in the closed conference room.”

  “Right!”

  Stacey came first. He looked, nodded, and said: “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

  “I’m here. But about you?”

  “So very simple. The rooker rooked, the seeker sucked in. It’s a long time ago, Paul but do you remember when I called you just before you went to lecture?”

  “Yes. You’d been to the house on 7111 Bridge Street.”

  “I left the upright coffin labelled ‘Telephone Booth’ and walked right between two large determined characters who insisted that I continue walking in their direction. I gathered from their conversation that someone responsible for their movements was irked at one Paul Grayson, and anger at Grayson included anybody else who had been seen talking to him for the past eight years. I was then bundled aboard a spacecraft and brought here. When did you miss me?”

  “That’s all you know?”

  “The Oberspinnenfuehrer is not exactly loquacious. Nor am I an honored guest to be greeted with shouts and glee. These spiders close their trap doors when I am around.”

  “Oh, then you didn’t know that a couple of burly policemen arrested me for your murder.”

  “They did?” blinked Stacey. ‘“What did they use for corpus delectable?”

  “They didn’t have to. They were probably the same pair of large determined gents that corralled you. This time they were dressed in clothing that belonged to a couple of real cops.”

  “And from there where?”

  “I was hauled off to Harrigan’s Horror.”

  “Where in the name of—?”

  “Planet near to Neosol, next Survey link station from Neoterra. I was to be used as a decoy or something.” Paul went on to explain. “The one thing that did occur to me along the trip to Neosol was that if these guys would lie about their status, there was no reason to expect the truth about you. Nora now—?”

  “She was here when I arrived under lock and key. She is quite a dish of tea, old man.”

  The door opened again to let Nora Phillips come in. Paul had been right in his appraisal of the woman. Imperfections in her dress or makeup did not lessen her appeal. She had been more than a year and a half without a hairdresser, her clothing was rough-woven crude and cheap. Not a trace of cosmetic was on her face. The light in her eye was dulled, and her litheness had become apathetic. Month after month of hopeless waiting had taken the ambition out of her.

  But she was Nora Phillips nonetheless. Paul went to her and put his arms around her. She looked up at him quietly and then put her head down on his shoulder. She did not cry. She did not have to cry.

  She relaxed against him and let him hold her; letting Paul give her some of his strength. It was a futile thing, Paul felt that he had no real comfort to offer. In fact he was in just as bad a position as she was.

  His hand stroked her head, and she moved slightly, wriggling close to him.

  Stacey coughed slightly. “I hate to bust this up,” he said softly. “And maybe I shouldn’t, because you may not get another chance. But now—after a year and a half—maybe we all could learn something about what the hell is going on. At least tell me.”

  Paul tightened his grip on Nora for a moment, holding her close. Raising her face, he kissed her gently before he moved to sit across the conference table from John Stacey.

  “Don’t you know anything about it?”

  “I did mention a slight reticence; a certain lack of volubility on the part of mine host. This,” said Stacey pointedly, “is the first time I’ve seen Nora Phillips close enough to let someone else touch her.”

  “Careful,” said Paul. “This place is wired for sound, no doubt.”

  “We’re not telling anything that the Management does not know,” said Stacey. “An
d if we are, they’ll not interrupt. Go on, Nora. Give. Remember, I’m the detective. In the novels I’m the guy who knows all the answers, forms the decisions, finds the clues, and solves the case. Just furnish me with one answer, one clue, one decision, and one solution and we’ll have Professor Moriarity in gaol by morning.”

  Nora frowned at Stacey. “You take this lightly.”

  “I shall—as soon as I can get some—bedeck me out in sackcloth.”

  Paul, who knew Stacey’s manner, shook his head at Nora. He pressed her hand a moment and then said, “Nora, some people get mad at the milkman and then take out their mad at everybody else they meet for a week. The other extreme is Stacey, who has the viewpoint that he and we are still alive.”

  “I’m that way,” nodded Stacey. “No one ever got anywhere by yelling about the bum deal they got. It’s the guy who puts his head down and shoves—and the bird that gets mad at the universe because some bum stepped on his foot in the subway is the guy who loses a lot of friends.”

  “I’m—”

  “Forget it and tell us,” suggested Stacey.

  “This is a political battle,” said Nora. Then she went on to explain, as Huston had explained to Paul. When she finished, Paul smiled knowingly.

  “What?” she asked him.

  “Hoagland’s gang bumped off the guy that clipped me because he flopped. But on Proxima there was another guy made up to resemble me—and he was clipped by someone else.”

  Paul looked at Nora. “Probably the same guy that so conveniently provided a recording of your voice to convince me that I’d solved the problem of Z-wave transmission,” he said sharply.

  Nora shrugged. “That was Ed Link,” she said simply. “What happened?”

  “Someone dropped what looked like a meteor shower on the bird.” “That sounds like Link’s idea of handling it,” she said.