Part 3 (2/2)

The Jovian s.h.i.+p was built along very simple lines. Batteries of rocket motors at the bow and stern and on each of the sides furnished both motive and steering power. The Terrestrials were all chosen men and in three hours Damis announced himself as satisfied with their ability to operate the s.h.i.+p under any normal conditions. With Turgan and Lura watching and checking his calculations, he plotted a course which would intercept Mars on its...o...b..t.

”Luckily, Mars is approaching us now,” he said, ”and we won't have a stern chase, which is always a long one. We will be able to reach Mars, spend several days on it and return to Earth before s.h.i.+ps can reach the Earth from Jupiter, even if they are already on the way, which is highly probable. I'll turn the s.h.i.+p a little.”

Under his direction, the crew turned the s.h.i.+p in its course until it was headed for the point in s.p.a.ce where Damis planned to intercept the red planet. With the course set to his satisfaction, he gave orders for the stern motors to be operated at such a power as to give the highest acceleration consistent with comfort for the crew. There were no windows in the s.h.i.+p but two observers seated at instruments kept the entire heavens under constant observation. Damis motioned one of them to stand aside and told Lura to take his place. She sat down before a box in which were set two lenses, eye-distance apart. She looked through the lenses and gave a cry of astonishment. Before her appeared the heavens in miniature with the entire galaxy of stars displayed to her gaze. In the center of the screen was a large disk thickly marked with pocks.

”The moon,” explained Damis. ”We are headed directly toward it now but we'll s.h.i.+ft and go around it. We'll pa.s.s only a few hundred miles from its surface, but unfortunately it will be between us and the sun and you'll be able to see nothing. Look in the other observer.”

Lura turned to the second instrument. A large part of the hemisphere was blotted out by the Earth which was still only a few thousand miles away.

The sun showed to one side of the Earth, but a movable disk was arranged in the instrument by means of which it could be shut off from the gaze of the observer. Despite the presence of the sun, the stars shone brilliantly in the intense black of s.p.a.ce.

”How fast are we traveling?” asked Lura.

”It is impossible to tell exactly,” he replied. ”I can approximate our speed by a study of the power consumed in our stern motors and again I can approximate it by a series of celestial observations, provided we do not have to change our course while I am doing so.”

”Isn't there some sort of an instrument which will tell you how fast we are going?” she asked in astonishment.

”Unfortunately not. We are traveling through no medium which is dense enough to register on an instrument. Our course is not straight, but is necessarily an erratic one as we are subject to the gravimetric pull of all of the celestial bodies. Just now the Earth supplies most of the pull on us but as soon as we approach the moon, we will tend to fall on it and frequent sideblasts will be needed to keep us away from it. Once we get up some speed that is comparable with light, we can measure by direct comparison, but our speed is too low for that now.”

”I saw you lay out your course, but how are we steering?”

”The observer who works on the front instrument keeps a cross hair on a fixed star. When the curving of the s.h.i.+p deviates us more than five degrees from our course, a side motor is turned on until we straighten out again. It is quite a simple matter and I'll take the s.h.i.+p myself when we near Mars. There is no need to be frightened.”

”I'm not frightened,” said Lura quickly; ”I was just curious. Is there any danger of hitting a wandering body?”

”Not much in this zone and at this speed. When our speed picks up there will be a slight danger because the higher our rate of speed, the more crowded s.p.a.ce becomes. If we were going to Jupiter we would have to use much more caution. The asteroid belt lying between Mars and Jupiter is really crowded with small bodies but comparatively few are in the zone between Earth and Mars. That is one thing I figured on when I said that we would have plenty of time to go to Mars and back before s.h.i.+ps could come from Jupiter. s.h.i.+ps from Jupiter would be able to develop a much higher speed than we will attain were it not for the asteroid belt. They will have to travel quite slowly through it, in portions, not over a few thousand miles per minute, while we are not held down that way. Now that we are really started, it will be best to set regular watches. I will a.s.sign you as navigator for one watch if you wish.”

”I certainly do want to do my share.”

”All right, we'll let it go that way. Turgan and I will take the other two watches until we get there.”

”How soon will that be?”

”About seventeen days. Mars happens to be only about forty million miles away just now. Now I'll set the watches and divide the crew.”

A short examination showed Damis that his crew were intelligent and that his instruction had been good. Every member knew his duties. Instead of the two twelve-hour watches which were usual on s.p.a.ce flyers, the additional members of the crew who had been part of Monaill's band enabled Damis to set only eight-hour s.h.i.+fts. Each member of the crew was taught to operate the offensive ray projectors with which the flyer was equipped.

Things soon settled down to routine. No wandering celestial bodies came close enough to cause them any real alarm. Once the novelty of hurtling through s.p.a.ce had pa.s.sed away, the trip became monotonous. The Earth, which had at first filled the field of one of the observers, dwindled until it became merely a brilliant green star. The red speck which was Mars grew constantly more prominent as the hours went by and Damis gave the word to turn on the bow motors and r.e.t.a.r.d the speed of the flyer.

Several of the crew had worked in the communications net which Glavour had thrown around the Earth and under orders from Turgan, they began to call the red planet on the s.h.i.+p's communicator.

”It is well to let them know who we are,” he said to Damis when he gave the order. ”We are flying a Jovian s.h.i.+p and since we have come so far successfully, I have no desire to be blasted out of s.p.a.ce by their powerful weapons of defense.”

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