your little game."
* * * * *
In the Captain's quarters, Chief Wyman was pacing the floor.
"Sir!" he burst out. "This is it! We've hit the Thakura Ripples!"
"Impossible, Wyman! It's too soon. What's happened?"
"You told me to report as soon as we ran across anything suspicious,sir. Well, look what our screen has been picking up."
He handed over a plastic record tape, perforated by minute notches whichoutlined an unsystematic, jagged line of peaks and hollows.
"We've been getting this stuff all evening."
"Doesn't seem to mean anything. It doesn't show any sort of pattern."
"No, sir, and it may not mean anything, but it's different from whatwe've been getting up till now. And then another thing. It's probablynot serious, but the number ten Pile has started to heat."
"Begun to heat? What's wrong with Pile Ten? One of your men been gettingcareless?"
"I'm positive not, sir. I have complete confidence in all of them."
Captain Evans studied the record tape, a worried frown on his forehead.
"It's just possible, I suppose, that the Ripples--Is Pile Ten heatingfast?"
"No, sir. It's still below the critical level, and of course we'reputting in dampers."
"I wish we _knew_ something definite about the Thakura Ripples," theCaptain burst out, "what they are, what they do, what they look like,and _how_ they affect our atomic Piles! If only Thakura were still asane man, and could finish up his calculations!"
"Maybe Thakura was crazy to start with," said Chief Wyman, "or maybe theRipples drove him crazy. I don't know. But I do know Pile Ten isheating."
"Well, keep watching it. Double the checks on the other Piles, and letme know of even the slightest rise."
As soon as the door had closed, Evans opened the desk panel and buzzedOperations.
"Pilot Thayer? Captain Evans here. I am about to give you an order. Assoon as you have executed it, come at once to my cabin, and bringNavigator Smith with you. Here it comes. Reduce speed immediately,repeat immediately, to one-half, repeat one-half. That's all."
* * * * *
Nobody felt the alteration in the progress of the _Star Lord_. Withinthe metal casing of the ship nothing was changed. The sunny scenes inthe walls were just as bright, and the synthetic light of the slowlymoving stars at night was just as soothing. For the passengers, theblack menace outside the ship did not exist. Because change of speedcannot be felt in hyperspace, they had no way of realizing that the_Star Lord_ had slackened her pace and was feeling her way cautiously asa blind man to avoid the ominous barriers of the Thakura Ripples.
On their way to their cabins that night, there were a few people whonoticed that the bulletin which detailed the day's run had not beenposted on the board, but they wondered only for a moment why it had beenomitted, and then forgot the matter.
Going in to breakfast next morning, Burl Jasperson stopped to read thebulletin as usual, to find how many light years distance had been putbehind him in this interminable journey, and he clenched his fist atfinding a blank board before him.
Abruptly turning his back on the dining room, he proceeded straight tothe Captain's quarters, where Stacey stopped him in the anteroom.
"Where's Captain Evans?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Jasperson. The Captain left orders he was not to bedisturbed."
"He'll see _me_. Let him know I'm here."
"I'm sorry, sir. My orders were, nobody was to be admitted. He was veryspecific."
Stacey did not budge, but the inner door swung open and the Captain'stired face peered out.
"You have a very penetrating voice, Burl. I suppose you might as wellcome in. It's all right, Stacey. Stand by."
He moved to let Jasperson enter, and closed the door.
About the desk sat Chief Engineer Wyman, Chief Pilot Thayer, and ChiefNavigator Smith, all studying a chart laid out before them, and makingcomputations. They looked up at the interruption.
"What's going on here?" said Jasperson. "If you're having a conferenceof some kind, I should be in on it."
"Just routine work, Burl. What is it you want?"
"Somebody is getting careless. The bulletin of yesterday's run has notbeen posted. It's little things like that that make all the differencein the reputation of a shipping line. Somebody ought to be reprimanded.What was the day's run, by the way? Well, speak up, Josiah! I'mwaiting."
Evans reached for a sheet of paper from the desk and silently handed itacross. Jasperson looked at the figures, frowned, and spoke angrily.
"Have your computers broken down, Captain Evans? Or is this a joke? Why,that's only about two-thirds our usual distance. At this rate it willtake us from now to eternity to arrive."
"You'd better sit down, Burl." The Captain looked steadily at him."Those figures explain why I ordered that the bulletin was not to beposted. Not one passenger out of a hundred would have noticed muchchange in the figures, but I do not want to alarm even that one in ahundred. I have ordered the ship to proceed at half-speed."
"What? Have you lost your mind?"
"We are approaching the Thakura Ripples. It just isn't safe to go anyfaster."
Expelling a long breath, Jasperson spoke more calmly.
"That means we'll be late in reaching Almazin III?"
"Three or four days, perhaps, not more. Eventually we'll get throughthis danger zone, and then we can resume speed."
"But we _can't_ be late, Captain Evans! Surely you haven't forgottenthat we're out after the Blue Ribbon? The Light Line's ships have madeit in forty-three days, and we've got to do it in forty-two or less.This trip is a matter of prime importance to the Star Line, and a delayof even three days would keep us from breaking the record. I thought youunderstood all that?"
* * * * *
Sighing, the Captain shook his head. "I know all that. But we are indangerous regions, and I can't risk my ship just for a piece of silk!Last night Pile Ten started heating. It's still hot, and we may have toexpel it. I hadn't expected to reach the Ripples so soon, and had evenhoped we could avoid them entirely, but evidently the limits of the bandhaven't been charted very accurately. The only safe thing is to goslow."
"But the Ripples are imaginary! Why do you think we've hit them?"
"There's the number Ten Pile."
"But why should only that one out of the twenty-four be affected? Andeven if it is heating, that's no good reason for slackening speed."
Captain Evans glared back at the plump little man, then his eyeswavered, and his fingers fiddled uncertainly with the papers on hisdesk. His chief officers were watching him intently. At last hestraightened his shoulders and spoke sternly.
"Mr. Jasperson. Surely it will not be necessary to remind you that I amthe Captain of this ship. I am in sole command. Is that correct?"
"Yes, but--"
"Would you seriously advise me to go contrary to my own knowledge, myown instinct? To run this ship into an area of danger, to risk the livesof the passengers, all for a piece of ribbon? Would you want to take theresponsibility of giving me such an order, even if I should agree?"
As Jasperson looked around at the watchful faces of the Engineer, thePilot, and the Navigator, some of the belligerence left his voice.
"Certainly not, Josiah! And anyway, it's not your knowledge I'mquarreling with. If you run the ship according to the facts, you'll doall right. It's when you let your judgment be influenced by yourimagination that I object. But by all means, do as you think best. Whenthe Star Line loses confidence in its Captains, they replace them. I'lllook in again, if I may, later in the day."
When the door had closed behind him, Pilot Thayer shook his headwonderingly. "You'd think he ruled the universe!"
"He's a man of very limited imagination," said the Captain. "But neverforget, he wields a great deal of power. Now, are your orders clear?Smith, you'll continue your charting."
&nbs
p; "I'm doing my best, Captain, but what am I charting? Sometimes I wonderif maybe your friend Jasperson isn't right. If the Ripples areimaginary, maybe I'm getting gray hairs trying to make a map ofsomething that isn't there!"
"Chart it anyway! We can't take chances. Wyman, I'm not a bit satisfiedwith the way Pile Ten is behaving. It should have cooled to normalbefore now. Watch it. If we have to dump it, we want to act before itgets too hot. Anything else?"
"One other thing, sir," said Engineer Wyman, pointing to