Page 120 - Astounding Pulp V2

GR.\Y I F'\::--\t \
120 ASTOUKDIKG SCI ENCE-FICTION
the new flag hip al:o \\'l' lll i,wrt .
brilliantly while belt of the ~Iilky \ Vay. una.voidahly erroneous assumptions in \\hll<· \·:1p "·'' "'''n :1, jt. ·l-:ily ' ·
'.'How can 1 get onto the Past,·,a· tht· ·" 1 ,1 ,: lk I lup, < ,c.·11 n, He. , • u,•\\
I Jour after hou1·. dav after day, the computation,' " he mimicked caustically. '!Utcke t, Haynes?'" Lacy dcma,ukd.
lJau11tless hurtled t lu-o u.gh space. swing- "What do you read on my lambda? 11 ",h nhl.t,,l11c. d with tht.· ·r•"-' ,1u -
111tn1111l·d "c.'dgc.· " h, •h i, the.· au,1~1u., ,,i
i ng almost imperceptibly this way and Fourtecn- three--oh point six-decre- .. ''Take a gig," the admiral ~rumcd .
t hat to a void the dense ether in the ment-" trapped down, y u can use as m uch .... •1.·t,\r ·hid 11ur, c.•. l lc.•1 tl,Hlllll;.! h .tia-
n eighborhood of suns throug h which The conversation became a technical acc~leration as you like. Thn·~ G':,; is ,, a._ a :-- ~•ll'~t'Olb. hc:r ~n,ik "•' ' ...... 1,\-
all. we can use withom warning :\IHI
t he des ignated co urse would have led ; jargon ; because of which, however, the Preparation." di:tlll. hc.•r lwa rini::: a-:. c.:011tldt.nth Km-
but never leav ing far or for long the courses of tltc flying spaceships changed 11i,nn Im~ :-:lid ,;, lwr n1c..'lrt' tt,a, onc.:t•
direct line, a lmost exactly in the equa- subtly. The flotilla swung around, l hat :--hl· i~ tht.· uly ('r,< n h\.· ha. l'\ \.'t·
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torial plane of the Galaxy, bet ween Tel- th rough a small arc of a circle of pr?- cin!tERE FOLi.OWED a. curious ancl fas- 1'111,wn wh,l ·an :--trut :--ittin~ <ln" n --
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l u s a nd the p lace of m eeting. Behind dig ious radius, decreasing by a tenth ,ts had g_ ix:ct~clc. for_ the hos pital ~hip a:- c..·allllly pni:-t•d. "l ·m , ery ~1-~tl tn
hei· the :rvlilky \ "'lay clotted, condensed, driving force. Up to it the Da1111tless Cnt r311 mt rtllSlC : Cloe, t y en l in: I y cliff l' l"- ~,., yl.lu. c.lo1.:tc.w. 1t·~ bct'n tlllllt' a
gathered itsel[ togethe1· ; before her and crept; through it and into the van. Thell ter rom that, of either Kinnison ·s . peed- w h ik - " l ln YOi\.· • dit.'<i :l\\ 3)-. for the
ar~>Und her the stars began rapidly to again in cone formation, but with fifty- I or La:y s powerful gio-. T he Pas- llla11 was ll1llking :tl h •r " ith an \..':--.-
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eur, gravity p d
th111 out. Finally there were no more five units instead of fifty-four, the flo· br k' a s cut to zero. w as prc:-:-i011 tll'fyillg a 11alysi~.
• f
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s tai·s in front of her. S he had reached tilla sc,·eamed forward at maxirnu 111 at a mg down by 111 cans 1 1cr under jc t Flw L:11.·,· was t hunclt.'1~u·u ·k. If he
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a consen·atn·c.
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the "arbitrarv' r im" of the Galaxy , a nd blast. ties • . one pomt to ur o-ravi- had t'\"l'r kllc.1w n it-and he 1nu:-c ha.Ye
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' Smee hospn I I ·
the s_eco~1d n avigator plugged into Com- \ V ell before the calcl:llated time of lo\ , d a s 1tps wer' not al- - he had flwgntten ·0111pkte_ly that :\ l ~c..·-
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\ e to u c the I .
munication s. meeting the speedster a Velantian Le_ns· tion Jt ma 111ert a cclera- 1 ong-all had this ·hip. T iu .· w as a w llll
s employed as a
"·P lease get me Flotilla ZDK, F lagship man who knew Worsel well put hun· ship f 111 . - lcri-iblc !
att 1 · of conrsc b •
N avjgations," h e requested: and, as a self en rapport with him and sen~ a so war. ·· h, \'c..' • • • . ves. of co u rse.'. l h)\,·
The gig wa ·
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clean-cu t young face appeared upon his thought out far ahead of the ffylllg gravities II t on 1er brake,; at fi ve cln yo11 ·do ? ::'\ \ j,Yitt · glad to sec y o u
plate : "Hi, F[arvey, old spaceho und ! squadron. It found its. goal-Lensmen - b . ' a t ,at Lacy \\'anted lo take :1gai-,1. J lt)\\··s cv~rything go ing ?'.' ~-le
Fancy rneeting you o ut here! It's a of that race, as has been brought out, h. ut ~he ~peeclster ! . VVorsel I I plm1pcd he,· halld yjl:> ,· usly. th1uk1ng
small Univer se, ain't it? Say, did that have always been extraordinarily capable is patient into a . - 1ac p ut fnrnti all\' It while what he w ou l d-
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hung h' P• e::,su,·e pack and had
crumb back there at Base tell you, too, communicators-and once more the 1n, on suspe · what he ~-ould-say 11ext. '·Oh, by the
to be sure and start checking course be- course ,,_,as altered slightly. In due time ancin I . nSion, and was " bal- wny. who is to be in charge of the p -
th· g ,e, down on her taT ' t
tng he could stand
. fore you overran the r endezvous? If he W orsel reported that he could detect ties r c , a every- e,·at ing r 0lll ?"' .
was singling m e out to make that pass the fleet, and shortly thereafter: . . -a full eleYen crravi- " \Vh , l alll of course," he n~phcd
b
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b ? ' '
at, I'm going to t ake steps, and not "W orsel says to cut your drive t~ But even at that ti • i11 urp,·i ·e. " \ /ho else w ould e - .
throug h channels, eithc-r." zero, the Velantian transnutte . the velocity of 1 ' ,e g,_g first m atched .. .4avo11c else ., he wanted to say, but
· d "Hes
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. "Yeah, he told 1ne the same. I thought coming up. He's close. H e's going to intrinsics of ti t 1e hospital ship. The did n ot-then. ' '·vVhy, that isn't at all
tt was funny, too-an oiler's boy would go inert and start drivina-. ·•we're to the same orde1~ose two ~vere at least of necessary. I would s~ggest--" _. "'
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b
know enough to do that withotit being stay free until we see what his intnnstc had co f ohf magnitude, since both "Yo u ·11 suo·o-est n otlung of th e }...ind •
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t old. We figured maybe he was jit- velocity is. Vv atch for his flare." fo me rom t c same galaxy. There- S he sta red at him _intently; t , en, as s e
re, Lacy boarded the Red C
t e '.y on account of us meeting the ad- It was a weird sensation, this of sel d ross ves- realized what his expi·ession really rneant
1nH"al O - l · th a~. was escorted to the office of
• 1 somet 1mg. '\¥hat's burned out knowing that a speedster-quite a siz- - she had never before seen such a look
all tl 1 · bl e : ief nurse _while Worsel· was still
e Jets, Paul, to cret the big brass of pitying anguish upon his u su ally
hat-- ' l:> ~ble chunk of boat, really-was almo~t m~:hng_ at eleven G's-fifty thousand
::, way out he.re and all dithered up, sternly professional face-her O\Vn
~n th~i r midst, and yet having all ~heir s distant then ancl ge"l_t• {
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an<.l to pull u s off a the cruise this ,,vay? instruments, even the electros, register aw b :L mg art 1er tur-ned white and both h ands flew to
lviust · be a h ell of an in1portant flit r st a7 y the seco_ncl-to kill the IJSpeed-
y ' . empty space. . er s Lunk111ark1an intrins1·c 1· ·t her -throat.
ou re computing the Old "11an him- Thete it ,,vas I The flare of the driv- Nor ld I t ,e tractors of tl1e ve oc1 y. ''Not Kim, Lacy!" she gasped. Go_ne
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self; you oughta know sornething. b e of cou . wars 11ps n ow was- everything of poise, of _ in-
ing blast a briiliant streamer of fierce
\ V hat's all this about a speedster that vi . an~ assistance-the speedster's own souciance, which had so cha ractenzed
whi_te ligt'1t, sprang into being at:d drifted
. \ve're going to escort? Spill it--give us rapidly away to one side of their course. t .ous •Jets · were folly capable of sup,- her a moment before . S h e who had
_the dope!'' - ~ Ytng more acceleration than ev~n .un- worked unflinching ly upo n all sorts of
When it had attained a safe distance: uman Worse! could endure !
"I do1i't know a thing, Harvey, hon- "All ships of the flotilla except the "H . dismembered frao·inentary, rnai1ned and
_est, any more than you do. They didn't Daiintlcss go inert," Haynes directed. . ~w do yo~ do, Dr. Lacy -? E very- 1nano-led 111e'o ,;as n ow a pleading,
put out a word. Well, we'd better be 1:hen, to his own pilot, "Back !t'o off a thm~ _is ready. Clarrissa MacDougall stricken , ' desperately frightened girl.
'getting onto the course- (to compensate bit, Henderson, and do the same," and met h1111, hand outstretched. Her saucy ''Not Ki1n-please ! Oh, m erciful God,
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