Captain Future 09 - Quest Beyond the Stars (Winter 1942) Read Free Page A

point in the galaxy where the Birthplace is located is thousands of light-years away!”
    “How would we ever get there?” Grag chimed in. “Our Comet may be the fastest ship in the System, but its rockets would never take us across all those millions of millions of miles. Even at the fastest speed it would take centuries!”
    “Not if we used the vibration-drive we experimented with last year,” Curt retorted. “You remember — Simon and I designed it to propel the Comet by the reactive push of high-frequency electromagnetic vibrations projected from a drive-ring at the stem of the ship. We calculated it would build up velocities many times the speed of light.”
    “You calculated, yes,” replied Otho significantly. “But you didn’t dare try the vibration drive once you had it built, lest living creatures couldn’t stand such acceleration.”
    “Otho is right, lad,” rasped the Brain. “We had to give up the vibration-drive because our first tests showed that the acceleration necessary to build up to velocities faster than light would first ‘black out’ brains, then crush vital organs and finally pulp bodies.”
    “I know,” Captain Future admitted impatiently, “but you must remember that I figured out a way to overcome that objection, by throwing our bodies into a stasis of force that would protect them completely from the acceleration pressure. Before I could build and try out such a stasis projector, the case of the Magician of Mars broke, and I’ve not had a chance since then. But I’m sure it will work. And with it, we’ll be able to force the ship to speeds so many times the velocity of light that we can fly across the whole starry universe.”
    The android, always most reckless and adventuresome of the quartet, kindled.
    “Devils of space, what an adventure if we could do it!” he said eagerly. “To get clear out of our Solar System, to explore the hidden heart of the universe, new suns and worlds and nebulae —”
    “It wouldn’t be any wild, hair-raising pleasure jaunt, you cockeyed son of a test-tube,” Grag growled at him. “It’s those poor Mercurians and their dying world that the chief is thinking of.”
    Simon Wright had been silent. Now the Brain’s rasping, metallic voice gave utterance to his doubt.
    “Lad, I fear this stupendous voyage you propose is beyond our powers. I don’t think that even such a stasis of force as you designed can withstand that terrible acceleration pressure. And then —”
    “And then we’d be corpses somewhere out in interstellar space,” Curt Newton admitted. His expression became earnest. “Simon, I know the danger you speak of is real. But I hope that I can guard against it. Shall we risk it? Or shall we let a world die, let its people be driven homeless to alien worlds?”
    “We go, of course,” came the Brain’s cool answer. “I only wished to point out the possibilities. For myself, the scientific value of finding the secret of the Birthplace outweighs all risks.”
    “Then we begin work at once,” Curt declared eagerly. “It’ll take plenty of it to fit up the Comet.”
     
    IN THE days that followed, the matchless scientific ability of the four Futuremen focused unceasingly upon the task of preparation. The deft skill of Otho with tools, the un-human strength and precision of Grag, the supreme technical knowledge of the Brain — these were the instruments unerringly wielded by the genius of Curt Newton.
    The underground hangar of the Comet was the chief scene of activity as the long lunar evening waned to night. The four heavy cylindrical generators of the vibration drive were installed in the cabin of the streamlined space-ship. The terbium drive-ring was fitted around the tapering stern of the craft, just forward of the tail rocket-tubes, and linked to the generators by coaxial cables.
    Captain Future himself labored upon the stasis projector. It was the very heart of their plan, for without its shield of force their