E E Doc Smith Lensman 1 Triplanetary

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and armament are ready!
Two minutes to atmosphere? Think you can do it? Cleveland asked, as Rodebush flipped off the
power and leaped to the control panel. You might, though, at that.
We could do it - in less than that if we had to. We used scarcely any power at all coming out, and I m
going to use quite a lot going back, the physicist explained rapidly, as he set the dials which would
determine their flashing course.
The master switches were thrown and the pangs of inertialessness again assailed them - but weaker far
this time than ever before - and upon their lookout plates they beheld a spectacle never before seen by
eye of man. For the ultrabeam, with its heterodyned vision, is not distorted by any velocity yet attained,
as are the ether-borne rays of light. Converted into light only at the plate, it showed their progress as truly
as though they had been traveling at a pace to be expressed in the ordinary terms of miles per hour. The
yellow star that was the sun detached itself from the firmament and leaped toward them, swelling visibly,
momently, into a blinding monster of incandescence. And toward them also flung the Earth, enlarging with
such indescribable rapidity that Cleveland protested involuntarily, in spite of his b knowledge of the
peculiar mechanics of the vessel in which they were.
Hold it, Fred, hold it! Way nuff! he exclaimed.
I m using only a few thousand kilograms of thrust, and I ll cut that as soon as we touch atmosphere,
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long before she j can even begin to heat, Rodebush explained.
Looks bad, f but we ll stop without a jar.
What would you call this kind of flight, Fritz? Cleveland asked. What s the opposite of inert ?
Damned if I know. Isn t any, I guess. Light? No . . . how would free be?
Not bad. Free and Inert maneuvering, eh? O.K.
Flying free , then, the super-ship came from her practically infinite velocity to an almost instantaneous
halt in the outermost, most tenuous layer of the Earth s atmosphere. Her _ halt was but momentary.
Inertia restored, she dropped at a sharp angle downward. More than dropped; she was forced
downward by one full battery of projectors; projectors driven by iron-powered generators. Soon they
were over the Hill, whose violet screens went down at a word.
Flaming a dazzling white from the friction of the atmosphere through which she had torn her way, the
Boise slowed abruptly as she neared the ground, plunging toward the surface of the small but deep
artificial lake below the Hill s steel apron. Into the cold waters the space-ship dove, and even before they
could close over her, furious geysers of steam and boiling water erupted as the stubborn alloy gave up its
heat to the cooling liquid. Endlessly the three necessary minutes dragged their slow way into time, but
finally the water ceased boiling and Rodebush tore the ship from the lake and hurled her into the gaping
doorway of her dock. The massive doors of the air-locks opened, and while the full crew of picked men
hurried aboard with their personal equipment, Samms talked earnestly - to the two scientists in the
control room.
. . . and about half the fleet is still in the air. They aren t attacking; they are just trying to keep her from
doing much more damage until you can get there. How about your take-off? We can t launch you again -
the tracks are gone - but you handled her easily enough coming in?
That was all my fault, Rodebush admitted. I had no idea that the fields would extend beyond the hull.
We ll take her out on the projectors this time, though, the same as we brought her in - she handles like a
bicycle. The projector blast tears things up a little, but nothing serious. Have you got that Pittsburgh beam
for me yet? We re about ready to go.
Here it is, Doctor Rodebush, came Norma s voice, and upon the screen there flashed into being the
view of the events transpiring above that doomed city. The dock is empty and sealed against your
blast.
Goodbye, and power to your tubes! came Samms ringing voice.
As the words were being spoken mighty blasts of power raved from the driving projectors, and the
immense mass of the super-ship shot out through the portals and upward into the stratosphere. Through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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