CHAPTER VIII
Indirect Action
The afternoon following the homecoming of the Skylark, Seaton andDorothy returned from a long horseback ride in the park. After Seatonhad mounted his motorcycle Dorothy turned toward a bench in the shade ofan old elm to watch a game of tennis on the court next door. Scarcelyhad she seated herself when a great copper-plated ball alighted upon thelawn in front of her. A heavy steel door snapped open and a powerfulfigure clad in aviator's leather, the face completely covered by thehood, leaped out. She jumped to her feet with a cry of joyful surprise,thinking it was Seaton--a cry which died suddenly as she realized thatSeaton had just left her and that this vessel was far too small to bethe Skylark. She turned in flight, but the stranger caught her in threestrides. She found herself helpless in a pair of arms equal in strengthto Seaton's own. Picking her up lightly as a baby, DuQuesne carried herover to the space-car. Shriek after shriek rang out as she found thather utmost struggles were of no avail against the giant strength of hercaptor, that her fiercely-driven nails glanced harmlessly off the heavyglass and leather of his hood, and that her teeth were equallyineffective against his suit.
With the girl in his arms DuQuesne stepped into the vessel, and as thedoor clanged shut behind them Dorothy caught a glimpse of another woman,tied hand and foot in one of the side seats of the car.
"Tie her feet, Perkins," DuQuesne ordered brusquely, holding her aroundthe body so that her feet extended straight out in front of him. "She'sa wildcat."
As Perkins threw one end of a small rope around her ankles Dorothydoubled up her knees, drawing her feet as far away from him as possible.As he incautiously approached, she kicked out viciously, with all theforce of her muscular young body behind her heavy riding-boots.
The sharp heel of one small boot struck Perkins squarely in the pit ofthe stomach--a true "solar-plexus" blow--and completely knocked out, hestaggered back against the instrument-board. His out-flung arm pushedthe speed lever clear out to its last notch, throwing the entire currentof the batteries through the bar, which was pointed straight up, as ithad been when they made their landing, and closing the switch whichthrew on the power of the repelling outer coating. There was a creak ofthe mighty steel fabric, stressed almost to its limit as the vesseldarted upward with its stupendous velocity, and only thecarefully-planned spring-and-cushion floor saved their lives as theywere thrown flat and held there by the awful force of their accelerationas the space-car tore through the thin layer of the earth's atmosphere.So terrific was their speed, that the friction of the air did not havetime to set them afire--they were through it and into the perfect vacuumof interstellar space before the thick steel hull was even warmedthrough. Dorothy lay flat upon her back, just as she had fallen, unableeven to move her arms, gaining each breath only by a terrible effort.Perkins was a huddled heap under the instrument-board. The othercaptive, Brookings' ex-secretary, was in somewhat better case, as herbonds had snapped like string and she was lying at full length in one ofthe side-seats--forced into that position and held there, as the designof the seats was adapted for the most comfortable position possibleunder such conditions. She, like Dorothy, was gasping for breath, herstraining muscles barely able to force air into her lungs because of theparalyzing weight of her chest.
DuQuesne alone was able to move, and it required all of his Herculeanstrength to creep and crawl, snake-like, toward the instrument-board.Finally attaining his goal, he summoned all his strength to grasp, notthe controlling lever, which he knew was beyond his reach, but a cut-outswitch only a couple of feet above his head. With a series of convulsivemovements he fought his way up, first until he was crouching on hiselbows and knees, and then into a squatting position. Placing his lefthand under his right, he made a last supreme effort. Perspirationstreamed from him, his mighty muscles stood out in ridges visible evenunder the heavy leather of his coat, his lips parted in a snarl over hislocked teeth as he threw every ounce of his wonderful body into aneffort to force his right hand up to the switch. His hand approached itslowly--closed over it and pulled it out.
The result was startling. With the mighty power instantly cut off, andwith not even the ordinary force of gravitation to counteract the forceDuQuesne was exerting, his own muscular effort hurled him up toward thecenter of the car and against the instrument-board. The switch, still inhis grasp, was again closed. His shoulder crashed against the leverswhich controlled the direction of the bar, swinging it through a widearc. As the ship darted off in the new direction with all its oldacceleration, he was hurled against the instrument board, tearing oneend loose from its supports and falling unconscious to the floor on theother side. After a time, which seemed like an eternity, Dorothy and theother girl felt their senses slowly leave them.
With four unconscious passengers, the space-car hurtled through emptyspace, its already inconceivable velocity being augmented every secondby a quantity bringing its velocity near to that of light, driven onwardby the incredible power of the disintegrating copper bar.
* * * * *
Seaton had gone only a short distance from his sweetheart's home whenover the purring of his engine he thought he heard Dorothy's voiceraised in a scream. He did not wait to make sure, but whirled hismachine about and the purring changed instantly to a staccato roar as hethrew open the throttle and advanced the spark. Gravel flew from beneathhis skidding wheels as he negotiated the turn into the Vaneman groundsat suicidal speed. But with all his haste he arrived upon the scene justin time to see the door of the space-car close. Before he could reach itthe vessel disappeared, with nothing to mark its departure save aviolent whirl of grass and sod, uprooted and carried far into the air bythe vacuum of its wake. To the excited tennis-players and the screamingmother of the abducted girl it seemed as though the great metal ball hadvanished utterly--only Seaton, knowing what to expect, saw the line itmade in the air and saw for an instant a minute dot in the sky before itdisappeared.
Interrupting the clamor of the young people, each of whom was trying totell him what had happened, he spoke to Mrs. Vaneman.
"Mother, Dottie's all right," he said rapidly but gently. "Steel's gother, but they won't keep her long. Don't worry, we'll get her. It maytake a week or it may take a year, but we'll bring her back," andleaping upon his motorcycle, he shattered all the speed laws on his wayto Crane's house.
"Mart!" he yelled, rushing into the shop, "they've got Dottie, in a busmade from our plans. Let's go!" as he started on a run for the testingshed.
"Wait a minute!" crisply shouted Crane. "Don't go off half-cocked. Whatis your plan?"
"Plan, hell!" barked the enraged chemist. "Chase 'em!"
"Which way did they go, and when?"
"Straight up, full power, twenty minutes ago."
"Too long ago. Straight up has changed its direction several degreessince then. They may have covered a million miles, or they may have comeback and landed next door. Sit down and think--we need all your brainsnow."
Regaining his self-possession as the wisdom of his friend's advice camehome to him, Seaton sat down and pulled out his pipe. There was a tensesilence for an instant. Then he leaped to his feet and darted into hisroom, returning with an object-compass whose needle pointed upward.
"DuQuesne did it," he cried exultantly. "This baby is still lookingright at him. Now let's go--make it snappy!"
"Not yet. We should find out how far away they are; that may give us anidea."
Suiting action to word, he took up his stopwatch and set the needleswinging. They watched it with strained faces as second after secondwent by and it still continued to swing. When it had come to rest Craneread his watch and made a rapid calculation.
"About three hundred and fifty million miles," he stated. "Clear out ofour solar system already, and from the distance covered he must have hada constant acceleration so as to approximate the velocity of light, andhe is still going with full...."
"But nothing can possibly go that fast, Mart, it's impossible
. How aboutEinstein's theory?"
"That is a theory, this measurement of distance is a fact, as you knowfrom our tests."
"That's right. Another good theory gone to pot. But how do you accountfor his distance? D'you suppose he's lost control?"
"He must have. I do not believe that he would willingly stand thatacceleration, nor that he would have gone that far of his own accord. Doyou?"
"I sure don't. We don't know how big a bar they are carrying, so wecan't estimate how long it is going to take us to catch them. But let'snot waste any more time, Mart. For Cat's sake, let's get busy!"
"We have only those four bars, Dick--two for each unit. Do you thinkthat will be enough? Think of how far we may have to go, what we maypossibly get into, and what it will mean to Dottie if we fail for lackof power."
Seaton, though furiously eager to be off, paused at this new idea, andhalf-regretfully he replied:
"We are so far behind them already that I guess a few hours more won'tmake much difference. It sure would be disastrous to get out near one ofthe fixed stars and have our power quit. I guess you're right, we'dbetter get a couple more--make it four, then we'll have enough to chasethem half our lives. We'd better load up on grub and X-plosiveammunition, too."
* * * * *
While Crane and Shiro carried additional provisions and boxes ofcartridges into the "Skylark," Seaton once more mounted his motorcycleand sped across the city to the brass foundry. The manager of the planttook his order, but blandly informed him that there was not that muchcopper in the city, that it would be a week or ten days before the ordercould be filled. Seaton suggested that they melt up some copper cableand other goods already manufactured, offering ten times their value,but the manager was obdurate, saying that he could not violate the ruleof priority of orders. Seaton then went to other places, endeavoring tobuy scrap copper, trolley wire, electric cable, anything made of theruddy metal, but found none for sale in quantities large enough to be ofany use. After several hours of fruitless search, he returned home in atowering rage and explained to Crane, in lurid language, his failure tosecure the copper. The latter was unmoved.
"After you left, it occurred to me that you might not get any. You see,Steel is still watching us."
Fire shot from Seaton's eyes.
"I'm going to clean up that bunch," he gritted through his teeth as hestarted straight for the door.
"Not yet, Dick," Crane remonstrated. "We can go down to Wilson's in afew minutes, and I know we can get it there if he has it. The "Skylark"is all ready to travel."
No more words were needed. They hurried into the space-car and soon werestanding in the office of the plant in which the vessel had been built.When they had made their wants known, the iron-master shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Crane, but I have only a few pounds of copper in the shop,and we have no suitable furnace."
Seaton broke out violently at this, but Crane interrupted him,explaining their inability to get the metal anywhere else and theurgency of their need. When he had finished, Wilson brought his fistdown upon his desk.
"I'll get it if I have to melt up our dynamos," he roared. "We'll haveto rig a crucible, but we'll have your bars out just as soon as thewhole force of this damned scrap-heap can make 'em!"
Calling in his foreman, he bellowed orders, and while automobilesscoured the nearby towns for scrap copper, the crucible and molds weremade ready.
Nearly two days passed before the gleaming copper cylinders werefinished. During this time Crane added to their already completeequipment every article he could conceive of their having any use for,while Seaton raged up and down the plant in a black fury of impatience.Just before the bars were ready, they made another reading on theobject-compass. Their faces grew tense and drawn and their hearts turnedsick as second followed second and minute followed minute and the needlestill oscillated. Finally, however, it came to rest, and Seaton's voicealmost failed him as he read his figures.
"Two hundred and thirty-five light-years, Mart. They're lost, and stillgoing. Good-bye, old scout," holding out his hand, "Tell Vaneman thatI'll bring her back or else stay out there myself."
"You must be crazy, Dick. You know I am going."
"Why? No use in both of us taking such a chance. If Dottie's gone, ofcourse I want to go too, but you don't."
"Nonsense, Dick. Of course this is somewhat farther than we had plannedon going for our maiden voyage, but where is the difference? It is justas safe to go a thousand light-years as only one, and we have power andfood for any contingency. There is no more danger in this trip thanthere is in one to Mars. At all events, I am going whether you want meto or not, so save your breath."
"You lie like a thief, Mart--you know what we are up against as well asI do. But if you insist on coming along, I'm sure glad to have you."
As their hands met in a crushing grip, the bars were brought up andloaded into the carriers. Waving good-bye to Wilson, they closed themassive door and took their positions. Seaton adjusted the bar parallelwith the needle of the object-compass, turned on the coil, and advancedthe speed-lever until Crane, reading the pyro-meters, warned him to slowdown, as the shell was heating. Free of the earth's atmosphere, heslowly advanced the lever, one notch at a time, until he could nolonger support the increasing weight of his hand, but had to draw outthe rolling support designed for that emergency. He pushed the lever afew notches farther, and felt himself forced down violently into theseat. He was now lying at full length, the seat having automaticallymoved upward so that his hand still controlled the lever. Still he keptputting on more power, until the indicator showed that more thanthree-quarters of the power was in operation and he felt that he couldstand but little more.
"How are you making it, Mart?" he asked, talking with difficulty becauseof the great weight of his tongue and jaws.
"All right so far," came the response, in a hesitating, almoststammering voice, "but I do not know how much more I can take. If youcan stand it, go ahead."
"This is enough for awhile, until we get used to it. Any time you wantto rest, tell me and I'll cut her down."
"Keep her at this for four or five hours. Then cut down until we canwalk, so that we can eat and take another reading on distance. Rememberthat it will take as long to stop as it does to get up speed, and thatwe must be careful not to ram them. There would be nothing left ofeither car."
"All right. Talking's too darn much work, I'll talk to you again when weease down. I sure am glad we're on our way at last."