Rogue Ship Read online

  The color was creeping into his father's cheeks, an ever so faint flush. The old man sat for a long moment, smiling faintly. Then: 'Only time will tell, Johnny, whether I'm a genius or a fool. I proved more than a match for Tellier but that was because he had to nerve himself for each step, and with my greater experience I could see what was coming next. Someday, I'll tell you about that long, drawn-out struggle. With his knowledge of the equipment aboard, he could have defeated me. But he was never quite as strongly motivated as I was.'

  He must have realized the explanation was too generalized, for he continued after only a moment: 'I can explain it all in a few sentences. On takeoff, Tellier took it for granted that we would be able to attain very nearly the speed of light and so obtain the benefits predicted by the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction Theory. We couldn't do it – as you know. The drive fell far short of Tellier's theoretical expectations. As soon as he realized that we were in for a long voyage, he wanted to turn back. Naturally, I couldn't let him do that. He thereupon went into a state of mind verging on the psychotic, and he was in that condition when he had his accident.'

  'Why would Mother hold that against you?'

  The elder Lesbee shrugged. Something of that long-ago impatience he must have felt, thickened his voice as he said, 'Your mother never did understand what Tellier and I were wrangling about, in terms of its scientific meaning. But she did know that he wanted to turn back. Since she wanted that also, she maintained that his knowledge as an astrophysicist was superior to mine as a mere astronomer, and that, therefore, I was stupidly opposing the views of a man who really knew the facts.'

  'I see.' Young Lesbee was silent, then: 'I've never understood the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction Theory, nor what it was that you discovered about the sun that made you undertake this voyage.'

  The older man looked at him thoughtfully. 'It's a long, involved idea,' he said. 'For example, it's not the sun itself but a warp in space which I analyzed. This warp should by now have caused the destruction of the solar system.'

  'But the sun didn't flare up.'

  'I never said it would,' said his father in an irritated tone.' He broke off: 'My boy, you'll find my detailed report among the ship's scientific papers, and also available is Dr. Tellier's account of his experiments in attempting to reach high speed. His papers contain a description of the famous Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction Theory. Why don't you read it all when you have time.'

  The youth hesitated. He was not eager to hear a long, scientific account, particularly at this hour of the night. But he recognized that this communication with his father was taking place because he himself was in an overstimulated condition; it might be a one-time occurrence. And so, after a moment, he persisted: 'But why didn't the ship speed up as predicted? What went wrong?'

  He added quickly, 'Oh, I realize lectures were given on the subject but, knowing you, I feel that they were what you wanted people to believe in the interests of the voyage. What's the truth?'

  The old man's eyes twinkled suddenly, then he chuckled. 'I really turned out to have a natural instinct for knowing how to maintain discipline and morale, didn't I?' He grew somber. 'I wish I could inject some of that into you.' He broke off. 'But never mind. Your observation is correct. I told the people what I wanted them to think. The actual truth is substantially what I have already told you. When Tellier discovered that the ejected particles could not be speeded up to the point where they would expand, it became necessary to conserve our fuel supply. Theoretically, particles expanded to the level predicted for them at the velocity of light would have given us almost infinite power on a thimbleful of fuel. As it is, we used up hundreds of tons of fuel to get the ship up to 15 per cent of light-speed. Since by that time, we could calculate our fuel situation in terms of simple additive and subtractive arithmetic, I ordered the engines shut off. We've been coasting ever since at that speed. We'll have to use an equal amount of fuel tonnage to slow down when we get to Centaurus. If things work out when we arrive there, then, of course, no problem. But if they don't, then somewhere, sometime, we're going to pay the price for Tellier's failure.'

  'What price?' Lesbee II asked.

  'No fuel,' said his father laconically.

  'Oh!'

  'One more thing,' said the old man. 'I am perfectly aware that people believe there is still an Earth, despite my prediction, and that I am the subject of bitter criticism in this area. I thought this over years ago, and I decided it is better for me to suffer a loss of pride than to argue with them. Reason: my authority derives from Earth. If people actually came to believe that Earth had indeed been destroyed, then all of us in power – me, you, and the other officers – would no longer be able to do what I did tonight: remind dissidents what Earth does to those who disobey its mandate.'

  The youth was nodding. He felt reluctant to discuss this particular subject, and so it was time to end the conversation. There was another question in his mind, having to do with the relationship of the older Lesbee with Tellier's widow since his mother's death. But a moment's consideration convinced him that such an inquiry was not in order.

  'Thanks, Dad,' he said, and walked on to his room.

  4

  For weeks they had been slowing down. And, day by day, the bright stars in the blackness ahead grew larger and more dazzling. The four suns of Alpha Centauri no longer looked like one brilliant diamond, but were distinct units separated by noticeable gaps of black space.

  They passed Proxima Centauri at a distance of over two billion miles. The faint red star slowly retreated behind them.

  Not Proxima the red, the small, but Alpha A was their first destination. From far Earth itself, the shadow telescopes had picked out seven planets revolving around A. Surely, of seven planets, one would be habitable.

  When the ship was still four billion miles from the main system, Lesbee II's six-year-old son came to him in the hydroponic gardens – where he had been called to settle a discussion on the uses of solid state coolants in growing vegetables and fruit.

  'Grandfather wants to see you, Dad, in the captain's cabin.'

  Lesbee nodded, and noted that the boy ignored the workers in the gardens. He felt vaguely pleased. It was well for people to realize their station in life. And, ever since the boy's birth, several years after the crisis created by Ganarette, he had consciously striven to instill the proper awareness into the youngster.

  The boy would grow up with that attitude of superiority so necessary to a commander.

  Lesbee forgot that. He tugged the youngster along to the playground adjoining the residential section, then took an elevator to the officers' deck. His father, four physicists from the engineering department, and Mr. Carson, Mr. Henwick, and Mr. Browne were in conference as he entered. Lesbee sank quietly into a chair at the outer edge of the group, but he knew better than to ask questions.

  It didn't take long to realize what was going on. The sparks. For days the ship had been moving along through what seemed to be a violent electric storm. The sparks spattered the outer hull from stem to stern. On the transparent bridge it had become necessary to wear dark glasses; the incessant firefly-like flares of light upset the muscular balance of the eyes, and caused strain and headache.

  The manifestation was getting worse, not better.

  'In my opinion,' said the chief physicist, Mr. Plauck, 'we have run into a gas cloud – as you know, space is not a total vacuum, but is occupied, particularly in and near star systems, by large numbers of free atoms and electrons. In such a complicated structure as is created by the Alpha A, B, C, and Proxima suns, gravity pull would draw enormous masses of gas atoms from the outer atmospheres of all the stars, and these would permeate all the surrounding space. As for the electrical aspects, apparently a disturbance, a flow, has been set up in these gas clouds, possibly even caused by our own passage, though that is unlikely. Interstellar electrical storms are not new.'

  He paused and glanced at one of his assistants questioningly. The man, a mousy i
ndividual named Kesser, said:

  'It happens that I'm in disagreement with the electrical-storm theory, though I also agree on the presence of masses of gas. After all, that's old stuff in astronomy. But now – my explanation for the sparks. As long ago as the twentieth century, perhaps even earlier, it was theorized that the gas molecules and atoms floating in space readily interchanged velocity for heat or heat for velocity. The temperatures of these free particles, when such an interchange occurred, was found to be as high as twenty thousand degrees Fahrenheit.'

  He looked around, momentarily very unmouselike. 'What would happen if a molecule traveling at such speed struck our ship? Sparks of heat, of course.' He paused. He was a graying man with a hesitant way of speaking. 'And then, of course, we must always remember the first Centaurus expedition and be doubly careful.'

  There was a chilled silence. It was strange but Lesbee II had the impression that, although everybody had been thinking of the first expedition, nobody wanted it mentioned.

  Lesbee II glanced at his father. Captain Lesbee was frowning. The commander had grown more spare with years, but his six feet three inches still supported 175 pounds of bone and flesh. He said:

  'It is taken for granted that we shall be cautious. One of the purposes of this voyage is to discover the fate of the first expedition.' His gaze flashed toward the group of physicists. 'As you know,' he said, 'that expedition set out for Alpha Centauri nearly seventy-five years ago. We are assuming that the engines would have kept going. Therefore, some control would have existed in any fall through the atmosphere of a planet, and a trace of its presence will remain. The question is, what would be operable after three quarters of a century?'

  Lesbee was amazed at the various answers. There were so many things that the physicists expected would survive. The 'pile' engines. All electronic detectors and many other energy sources. It was also noted that printed instruments could withstand 800 gravities. The shell of the ship? Its survival would depend on the velocity of the ship as it fell through the planet's atmosphere. It was theoretically possible that the speed would be vast beyond all safety limits. At such immense speeds, the entire machine would go up in a puff of heat energy.

  But that was not what the experts anticipated. There should be something. 'We should be able to trace the ship within hours of arriving at the planet where it crashed.'

  As the men got up to leave, Lesbee caught his father's signal for him to remain behind. When the others had gone, the older man said, 'It is necessary to make plans against a second rebellion. There is a scheme afoot to evade our connection with Earth law by establishing a permanent colony on Centaurus and never returning to Earth. Since, as you know, in my view there is no Earth to go back to, this new development baffles me. It still seems to be in our favor that people do believe that Earth survives. But I must advise you that this time the rebels do not intend to make you captain. Let us, therefore, discuss tactics and strategy-'

  5

  Watch duty became a nightmare. The three chief officers and Lesbee divided it into three-hour shifts that ran consecutively. They wore semispace suits for protection when they were on the bridge, but Lesbee's eyes never stopped aching.

  During his sleep period, he dreamed of sparks dancing with an unsteady beat under his eyelids, and there was a picture of a successful mutiny led by Ganarette, surprising them in spite of their preknowledge. It was miraculous that his father knew as much as he did about the plot.

  The speed of the ship came down to interplanetary levels. And, slowly, they drew near the planet they had selected for a first landing. It was the only possible selection. Of the seven planets in the system, six had already been measured as being of Jupiter size; this seventh one had a diameter of ten thousand miles. At 120 million miles from Alpha A, a sun 15 per cent hotter than Sol, it almost approximated Earth conditions. There was the added complication of the pale but sun-sized star, Alpha B, visible in the blackness little more than a billion miles from Alpha A, and the almost invisible C, too, would have its effect. But that scarcely mattered beside the fact that here was a planet of approximately the right size, and even at a distance it glowed with a jewel-like atmosphere.

  Orbiting at four thousand miles from the surface of the planet, the giant Hope of Man maintained a velocity befitting its closeness – and the preliminary study began of a planet that was instantly observed to have cities on it.

  What should have been the thrill, literally, of a lifetime, was a fearful fight against mounting tension. The instruments on the bridge, and in the alternative control room, in their quiet way reported surface and atmospheric conditions at least partially unfavorable to human life. Yet it was understood by everyone that readings taken at a distance were only indicative.

  Once, when Lesbee II accompanied his father to the bridge, aging chemist Kesser came dragging over. 'The sooner we get down there into the atmosphere for the final testing, the better I'll like it,' he said.

  Lesbee II had the same feeling, but his father only shook his head. 'You were just out of college, Mr. Kesser, when you signed up for the voyage. You have not that awareness of the standards of precaution by which we must act. That's the trouble aboard this ship. Those who were born during the trip will never begin to understand what efficiency is. I don't intend to inspect this planet directly for at least two weeks, possibly even longer.'

  As the days passed, the initial information was confirmed by new readings. The planet's atmosphere had a strong greenish tinge that was identified as chlorine. There was a great deal of oxygen in the stratosphere, and the comparison that everybody made was to a habitable Venus, but here masks would have to be worn against the irritating chlorine. Kesser and his assistants were uncertain about the exact composition of the hydrogen and nitrogen in the air below, but this merely increased their desire to go down and examine it.

  At four thousand miles, the difference between water and land was sufficiently distinguishable for a photographic map to be made. Cameras, taking thousands of pictures a second, obtained a view entirely free of sparks.

  There were four main continents, and uncountable islands. Fifty-nine hundred cities were large enough to show clearly, despite the distance. They were not lighted at night, but that could have been because there was no night in the Earth sense. When Alpha A was not shining down on the continents below, either Alpha B or Alpha C, or both, were shedding some equivalent of daylight.

  'We mustn't assume,' said Captain Lesbee, in one of his daily talks on the intercoms, 'that the civilization here has not discovered electricity. Individual lights in houses would not necessarily be visible if they weren't used often.'

  These talks, Lesbee discovered, did not serve the function that his father intended. There was a great deal of criticism, a feeling that the commander was becoming too cautious.

  'Why don't we dive down,' said one man, 'collect some samples of the atmosphere, and end this uncertainty? If we can't breathe that stuff down there, let's find it out, and get started home.'

  In spite of his confidence in his father, Lesbee found himself sharing the sentiment. Surely, the people below would not take violent offense. And, besides, if they departed immediately -

  Privately, his father told him that the mutiny had been called off pending developments. The rebel plan, to settle for ever, was shaken by the possibility that the planet might not be suitable for human beings, and that, in any event, permission to settle would have to be secured from the present inhabitants.

  'And though they won't admit it,' said the commander, 'they're afraid.'

  Lesbee was afraid, too. The idea of an alien civilization made his mind uneasy. He went around with an empty feeling in his stomach, and wondered if he looked as cowardly as he felt. There was only one satisfaction. He was not alone. Everywhere were pale, anxious faces and voices that quivered. At least he had his father's strong, confident voice to encourage him.

  He began to build up pictures of a nonmechanical civilization that would be daz
zled and dominated by the tremendous and wonderful ship from Earth. He had visions of himself walking among the awed creatures Like a god come down from the sky.

  That vision ended forever on the ninth day after the orbit was established, when a general warning was sounded from every speaker on the ship.

  'This is Captain Lesbee. Observers have just reported sighting a superspaceship entering the atmosphere below us. The direction the ship was traveling indicates that it must have passed within a few miles of us, and that we were seen.

  'All officers and men will therefore take up action stations.

  'I will keep you informed.'

  6

  Lesbee put on his suit, and climbed up to the bridge. The sparks were dancing like mad on the outside of the plastiglass, and it was a pleasure to sit down at the bridge directive board and watch the screen that had been rigged up two days before by the physics department. The screen was fed frames by the high-speed scanners, but an electronic device eliminated every picture that had a spark on it. The speed of the pictures made the scene appear continuous and uninterrupted.

  He was sitting there when, abruptly, there was a flash of brightness at the lower end of the screen – about ten miles away.

  A ship!

  It was instantly a matter for speculation, as to how it had got within range so quickly. One second, the surrounding space was empty; the next second, a gigantic spaceship had hove to.

  Captain Lesbee's voice came quietly from the speaker: 'Apparently these beings have discovered a drive principle, and have inertia-defeating techniques, that enable them to dispense with gradual starts and stops. They must be able to attain interstellar maximum velocities within minutes of leaving their atmosphere.'

  Lesbee II scarcely heard. He was watching the alien vessel. He did remember thinking that it took the Hope of Man many months to accelerate and decelerate, but that thought quickly blanked out; the comparison was too unfavorable.