Tachyon Web Read Free Page A

trips, it was powered by simple chemical rockets and had no artificial gravity. If he were to unfasten his seat belt, he would float away. But he had recently eaten and wasn’t in the mood for acrobatics.
    “There are many variables,” Sammy said. “It’s hard to know.”
    “A ball park estimate would be fine.”
    “I’d give us a two out of three chances of being allowed to make a hyper jump.”
    “I was hoping you would have said a ninety percent chance.”
    “I may in fact be overly pessimistic. It all depends what Central Control asks our holograph of Strem’s uncle. It was impossible for me to program it to respond to every variation.”
    “Will Strem be helping you pilot Excalibur ?” he asked, trying to keep the tension out of his voice. He hadn’t slept much last night and when he had, he’d had nightmares of calling his parents and telling them he wouldn’t be home for dinner for about five years.
    “Let’s hope not,” Sammy said flatly.
    The growing Excalibur began to blot out the African continent. There was a brief nudge as the ferry braked. Perhaps when the freighter had been constructed it had been worthy of being named after the mythical sword, but six decades later, moored in orbit beside numerous modern craft, it looked like a clunker. A bulky gray cylinder, its living quarters and control deck were squeezed into a spherical compartment that was stuck like a Ping-Pong ball at one end. It would undoubtedly be retired soon. And yet, compared to the interplanetary ships of a couple of centuries ago, it was incredibly fast. The rear section was devoted to the cargo bay and the graviton drive, and the latter could propel them out of the solar system at about a third the speed of light, to a point sufficiently distant from the sun and planets to where they wouldn’t snap in two initiating a hyper jump.
    The hyper drive itself took up as much space as an ordinary desk. Out of their group, only Sammy had more than an inkling of the mechanics of the Unified Field that made it work. Once he had tried to explain the intricacies to Strem and Eric, and they had both ended up with headaches.
    “Is Cleo aboard?” Eric asked.
    Sammy half smiled, rubbing his eyes, which were red and tired. He must have been working overtime this last week to outwit Central Control’s final check. That would not come until they were outside the orbit of Neptune, where a smaller version of The Tachyon Web had been erected to momentarily halt all traffic. A hundred years ago, when pilot licenses had first been issued, one had to pass through a strict customs aboard Space Station One just to leave Earth’s orbit. Now only those making hyper jumps were closely watched and even that scrutiny was done from a distance – Central Control had complete confidence in their methodology. Eric could feel the sweat gathering between his skin and his green flight suit. It was going to be a long day.
    “She’s on Mars, visiting an aunt,” Sammy answered. “We’ll pick her up before we head out.”
    “Is she bringing her snake?”
    “Probably.”
    “I can hardly wait. Is Strem’s uncle aboard?” Eric was not sure he wanted to meet the man again. After talking to Uncle Dan he always felt as though he should check to make sure he still had his wallet.
    “He filled out the necessary paperwork, hopped over to Excalibur to make it look proper, and immediately snuck back to the station. He’s probably back on Earth by now.”
    Approximately a hundred yards from docking, Excalibur eclipsed the sun. Eric peered outside, away from the Earth, eagerly awaiting the stargazing he could do once they got out into space. He felt the jolt of the ferry’s rockets fine-tuning their rendezvous. After dropping the people off, the ferry would retrace its steps alone back to Station One.
    As the gray walls began to envelop them, he felt the artificial gravity generated by a component of the graviton drive press him into his seat. A couple of