CHAPTER V
_Voyaging to Another World_
During each waking period, Barrow spent many hours in the room with theminiature domes. They were beautiful models, which could be opened ormoved as desired, by small levers on the foundation. Wires as fine ashairs were strung from one spot to another, while metal the size ofthread represented heavy cables.
Slowly, an understanding of the strange civilization formed in Dick'smind, and he drew sectional maps of the location of all mechanicalequipment. Other maps pictured the streets, so that it would be easy toreach any desired destination. When this was done, Morquil sent one ofhis men down to make as many copies as desired. Each engineer was tohave a complete set.
The earthmen had learned to keep track of the time according to thesystem on the ship. Each "lix" included the time spent in sleep as wellas one waking period. It was twenty-seven hours in length, but they allthought of it as a day.
Each lix was divided into thirty-six "migs." Each mig being justforty-five minutes in length. They were able to keep track of each mig,by their watches, although the time pieces were useless for any otherpurpose.
One lix, Dick returned the friendly smile of a member of the crew, andto his amazement the man spoke. "Chickiboo." For a moment Barrow wasstumped, then realized that it must be a greeting.
When he was greeted the same way, by a second and then a third man, hetried to imitate the words. The man from Jupiter was so pleased that healmost danced, then spoke again. "Gootmording."
Dick's jaw almost dropped open; the man was trying to speak _English_!
Suddenly Barrow laughed. Morquil had been instructing his crew in thestrange language, as well as telling them to greet the earthmen in theirown tongue. He must speak about holding classes to learn the language.They would have to understand it, and the sooner they started the easierit would be.
The following lix, Dick stopped on the ramp to the machinery hold tolisten. McCarthy was humming the tune of a song that had been the rageat home, but the words were "chicki-boo--chicki-boo--chicki-boo."
Barrow smiled as he approached, but the big Irishman didn't realize thereason. He was almost bursting with news.
"I've got it, Dick! I've found the key! Don't laugh, but I've discoveredthe working principle of this little machine, and it will lead to thesecret of all others. In a month I'll know how this crate runs."
"Don't worry, I'm not laughing, John. I think it's great that you've gotthis far. I only wish the others would show as much interest. Not one ofthem has been down here for more than a few minutes, and they knowlittle more than when we started."
"Aw! Don't take it that way, Dick. It isn't their fault. Didn't you eversee their _wives_? Those women won't let the men out of their sight forthree minutes. Your wife and mine are different--they _trust_ us! If wetell 'em the ship's okay, it's okay; but _them_--say, they can't telltheir wives anything. The women in their families do _all_ of thetalking."
Dick laughed, but knew that it was close to the truth. The other men inthe party _were_ tied to their wives' apron strings. Aside from Doloresand Eileen McCarthy, none of the women trusted the space ship. They wereafraid it might fly to pieces at any moment, although they had overcometheir fear enough to find means of entertainment.
Small devices in the cabin showed miniature movies, with words in thetongue of the dome cities. Discovering this created desire to understandthe language, and they eagerly attended the classes.
One lix Dick found Jerold Brown examining a piece of machinery. A fewlix later Andrew Smith had joined him. Soon every earthman was spendinghis time in the machinery hold, with McCarthy acting as instructor. Hewould accept no excuse for being late at his classes--and they allarrived on time!
* * * * *
Weeks slipped by as the ship drove on through space. The earthmenlearned to admire the men from Jupiter for their constant good-nature,although they were slightly childish.
The crew of engineers were slowly learning the rudiments of Jupiter'sscience. Barrow through his study of the domes, and McCarthy throughstudy of the machines, far surpassed the others. At times both men spenthours in the model room, at others Dick examined the machines beside theIrishman. They compared notes until each knew the other's findings.
Dick took all the men into the model room once every third lix, andspent four hours instructing them in the civilization. Each man had hisown set of maps, and marked down facts about his future location. Dickcopied their notes on a large map, that covered all the cities. Theyused numbers to signify different mechanisms, to make it easier todescribe equipment that was duplicated in more than one dome.
In a month they were able to carry on light conversation, and from thenon mastery of the language was faster. The women far surpassed the men,due to desire for entertainment.
When he was able to question the crew, Dick received a terrible shock._They knew less about the ship's operation than his own men!_ Theydidn't understand their own equipment!
The people of the domes were content to enjoy the mechanical wonders oftheir ancestors--without bothering about how they ran. They usedequipment for every purpose, without the slightest interest in why itworked. The earthmen suddenly realized what a gigantic task they faced._Seven men_--to rebuild a civilization!
The men at the controls knew what reaction would take place by movementof a lever, but _didn't understand why_! Dick became slightly worriedabout reaching their destination--it was beyond all reason. Earthmenwouldn't have attempted to operate equipment they knew nothing about, bymovement of controls to obtain the proper action.
It was no wonder these people had found it necessary to find engineersto run their machines!
Months slipped by as the ship moved steadily toward the giant planet.Every piece of equipment seemed to be the answer to perfection. Thisvoyage had taught them more about mechanics than was covered in acomplete engineering course on earth. It was of a far different kind,with gravity the basis of all operation. Even the space ship employedsome of the same power, drawn from the nearest heavy body, thenamplified until it reached enormous proportions.[1]
Peter Yarbro was a practical chemist, and spent many hours trying toanalyze the fuel. It was highly inflammable, yet could stand terrificcompression without effect. When it was allowed to expand again, itreached the flash point immediately, creating enormous amounts of heavygas. He believed it might be duplicated from crude oil, properlyrefined.
When Dick learned that there was a history of the space ship, in themetal books, his curiosity was aroused. He could read the language ofthe domes slightly, but not enough to study the intricate explanations.It was through these books that the dome men had learned to control theship, and set the course for any desired planet.
Morquil's aid was enlisted, to translate the text, and he learned someamazing facts. A description of the fuel was given, but the base formanufacture was unknown, being of natural origin on Jupiter. As Morquilread farther and explained sections that Dick couldn't understand, theearthman felt uneasy.
The crew had abandoned all hope of returning to their home planet, thefirst time they started from the earth. They didn't understand what itmeant to feel responsible for equipment. They manufactured enough fuelfor two trips, according to the rating of consumption in the books--butDick wondered?
The tanks were filled to capacity before the first trip, and hadn't beentested since. The happy dome people didn't consider that their ancestorsmight have been mistaken, or that actual operation might vary from theoriginal plan.
* * * * *
For the first time in twenty years, the gauges were examined. Barrow andMcCarthy crawled through the dust-coated passage beneath the floor ofthe machinery hold. They found a light switch, but the bulbs were sodust-coated that only a faint glow shed on the surrounding metal. Theysneezed and coughed, as the dust-laden air filled their lungs.
"Darned if you don't get the craziest ideas, Dick. What good will it
doto know how much 'ship juice' there is, anyway? We can't _make_ it! Thishole wasn't built for self-respecting men to crawl through."
"I don't know, John, but this trip may not be as easy as it appears.They've been driving at full force for months, when it seems to me thatless power might carry us when we're not within the pull of some planet.I want to make _sure_ that there's plenty of fuel. According to thebooks, the designers didn't expect the ship to be driven this hard."
John did a little cussing when they located the gauges, and found themso thick with grime that they had to be cleaned. He headed back throughthe dust for a cloth, with Dick's laugh following. "Alright, alright,but don't rub it in. Just because you happened to be in front of me, andthere isn't room to pass, don't give you the right to laugh. Some dayyou'll be eating your share of dust, and will _I_ laugh! I bet that thedomes are _all_ a mess."
Dick wrote down the reading of each gauge, as John cleaned the surfaces.He couldn't understand the strange numerals, and had to go over themwith Morquil. Both men breathed a sigh of relief as they crawled backthrough the floor of the hold, and dropped the trap door in place.
* * * * *
An hour later Dick began to worry. According to Morquil, the tanks were_less than one-eighth full_. The big-headed man had gone over thefigures twice, and was showing signs of agitation as he checked themagain at Barrow's request. When he glanced up, Dick knew there was nomistake.
"The fuel _is_ low Dick. According to the other trip, the greatest useof power is at the time we approach the planet, to fight the pull ofgravity. Our trip from earth is only half completed, with the greatestneed of fuel still ahead. You must think my race very stupid not to havethought of it?"
It took Dick a long time to answer. His mind was searching franticallyfor some solution. It was useless to ask help of the crew--theycouldn't even _think_ scientifically!
"No, Morquil. I don't think you're stupid, but I do consider your peoplevery foolish. From the appearance of things _we will never reach thedomes_!
"Unless something drastic is accomplished, the ship will smash to pieceson your planet. You don't know _anything_ about the ship's operation,and we've only studied it for a short time."
They decided to inform the men immediately but say nothing to the womenfor the present. Within an hour of the discovery, Morquil warned the menat the controls to conserve the power as much as possible.
Every operation of the ship, was dependent on fuel. The generators forheat, light and controls, were turned by discharge through the tubes. Atleast _one_ blast must be fired at _all times_ to keep the controlssensitized, and develop power for emergency equipment. The other tubeswere silenced.
During the rest migs Dick couldn't sleep, but spent every minute talkingto John McCarthy. There _must_ be some solution--_and they had to findit_!
Wanted—7 Fearless Engineers! Page 5