уThis sounds like Iтm scared,ф she said angrily, уbut Iтm not! Iтm just freezing! If you want to know, Iтd a lot rather have it the way you say! 1 wonтt have to grieve over anybody, and theyтll be too busy to grieve, for me! Letтs go inside while itтs still warm!ф
He helped her back into the cold-lock, and the outer door closed. She was shivering uncontrollably when the warmth came pouring in.
They went into Herndonтs office. He came in as Riki was peeling off the top part of her cold-garments. She still shivered. He glanced at her and said to Massy:
уThereтs been a call from the grid-control shack. It looks like thereтs something wrong, but they canтt find anything. The grid is set for maximum power-collection, but itтs bringing in only fifty thousand kilowatts!ф
уWeтre on our way back to savagery,ф said Massy, with an attempt at irony.
It was true. A man can produce two hundred and fifty watts from his muscles for a reasonable length of time. When he has no more power, he is a savage. When he gains a kilowatt of energy from the muscles of a horse, he is a barbarianўbut the new power cannot be directed wholly as he wills. When he can apply it to a plow he has high barbarian culture, and when he adds still more he begins to be civilized. Steam power put as much as four kilowatts to work for every human being in the first industrialized countries, and in the midtwentieth century there was sixty kilowatts per person in the more advanced nations. Nowadays, of course, a modern culture assumed five hundred as a minimum. But there was less than half that in the colony on Lani II. And its environment made its own demands.
уThere canтt be any more,ф said Riki, trying to control her shivering. уWeтre even using the aurora and there isnтt any more power. Itтs running out. Weтll go even before the people at home, Ken.ф
Herndonтs features looked very pinched.
"We canтt! We mustnтt!ф He turned to Massy. уWe do them good, back home! There was panic. Our report about cable grids has put heart in people. Theyтre setting to workўmagnificently! So weтre some use! They know weтre worse off than they are, and as long as we hold on theyтll be encouraged! Weтve got to keep going somehow!ф
Riki breathed deeply until her shivering stopped. Then she said calmly
уHavenтt you noticed, Ken, that Mr. Massy ╬has the viewpoint of his profession? His business is finding things wrong with things. He was deposited in our midst to detect defects in what we did and do. He has the habit of looking for the worst. But I think he can turn the habit to good use. He did turn up the idea of cablegrids.ф
уWhich,ф said Massy, уturns out to be no good at all. Theyтd be some good if they werenтt needed, really. But the conditions that make them necessary make them useless!ф -
Riki shook her head.
уThey are useful!ф she said firmly. уTheyтre keeping people at home from despairing. Now, though, youтve got to think of something else. If you think of enough things, one will do good the way you wantўmore than making people feel better.ф
уWhat does it matter how people feel?ф he demanded bitterly. уWhat difference do feelings make? Facts are facts! One canтt change facts!ф
Riki said with no less firmness:
уWe humans are the only creatures in the universe who donтt do anything else! Every other creature accepts facts. It lives where it is born, and it feeds on the fcod that is there for it, and it dies when the facts of nature require it to. We humans donтt. Especially we women! We wonтt let men do it, either! When we donтt like factsўmostly about ourselvesўwe change them. But important facts we disapprove ofўwe ask men to change for us. And they do!ф
She faced Massy. Rather incredibly, she grinned at him.
уWill you please change the facts that look so annoying just now, please?Please?ф Then she elaborately pantomimed an over-feminine girlтs look of wide-eyed admiration. уYouтre so big and strong! I just know you can do itўfor me!ф
She abruptly dropped the pretense and moved toward the door. She half-turned then, and said detachedly:
уBut about half of that is true."
The door slid shut behind her. Massy thought bitterly, Her brother admires me. She probably thinks I really can do something! It suddenly occurred to him that she knew a Colonial Survey ship was due to stop by here to pick him up. She believed he expected to be rescued, even though the rest of the colony could not be, and most of it wouldnтt consent to leave their kindred when the death of mankind in this solar system took place. He said awkwardly:
уFifty thousand kilowatts isnтt enough to land a ship.ф
Herndon frowned. Then he said:
уOh. You mean the Survey ship thatтs to pick you up canтt land? But it can go in orbit and put down a rocket landing-boat for you.ф
Massy flushed.
уI wasnтt thinking of that. Iтd something more in mind. I . . . rather like your sister. Sheтs . . . pretty wonderful. And there are some other women here in the colony, too. About a dozen all told. As a matter of selfrespect I think we ought to get them away on the Survey ship. I agree that they wouldnтt consent to go.. But if they had no choice, if we could get them on board the grounded ship, and they suddenly found themselves well . . . kidnaped and outward-bound not by their own fault . . . They could be faced with the accomplished fact that they had to go on living.ф
Herndon said evenly:
уThatтs been in the back of my mind for some time. Yes. Iтm for that. But if the Survey ship canтt land. . ."
уI believe I can land it regardless,ф said Massy doggedly. уI can find out, anyhow. Iтll need to try things. Iтll need help . . . work done. But I want your promise that if I can get the ship to ground youтll conspire with her skipper and arrange for them to go on living.ф
Herndon looked at him.
уSome new stuffўin a way,ф said Massy uncomfortably. уIтll have to stay aground to work it. Itтs also part of the bargain that I shall. And, of course, your sister canтt know about it, or she canтt be fooled into living.ф
Herndonтs expression changed a little.
уWhatтll you do? Of course itтs a bargain.ф
уIтll need some metals we havenтt smolted so far,ф said Massy. уPotassium if I can get it, sodium if 1 canтt, and at worst Iтll settle for zinc. Cesium would be best, but weтve found no traces of it.ф
Herndon said thoughtfully: -
уNo-o-o. I think I can get you sodium and potassium, from rocks. I'm afraid no zinc. How much?ф
уGrams,ф said Massy. уTrivial quantities. And Iтll need a miniature landing-grid built. Very miniature.ф
Herndon shrugged his shoulders.
уItтs over my head. But just to have work to do will be good for everybody. Weтve been feeling more frustrated than any other humans in history. Iтll go round up the men whoтll do the work. You talk to them.ф
The door closed behind him. Massy very deliberately got out of his cold-clothing. He thought, Sheтll rave when she finds her brother and I have deceived her. Then he thought of the other women. if any of them are married, weтll have to see if thereтs room for their husbands. iтll have to dress up the idea. Make it look like reason for hope, or the women would find out. But not many can goўhe knew very closely how many- extra passengers could be carried on a Survey ship, even in such an emergency as this. Living quarters were not luxurious, at best. Everything was cramped and skimped. Survey ships were rugged, tiny vessels which performed their duties amid tedium and discomfort and peril for all on board. But they could carry away a very few unwilling refugees to Kent IV.
He settled down at Herndonтs desk to work out the thing to be done.
It was not unreasonable. Tapping the ionosphere for power was something like pumping water out of a pipewell in sand. If the water-table was high, there was pressure to force the water to the pipe, and one could pump fast. If the water-table were low, water couldnтt flow fast enough. The pump would suck dry. In the ionosphere, the level of ionization was at once like the pressure and the size of the sand-grains. When the level was high, the flow was vast because the sand-grains were large and the conductivity high. But as the level lessened, so- did the size of the sand-grains. There was less to draw, and more resistance to its flow.
But there had been one tiny flicker of auroral light over by the horizon. There was still power aloft. If Massy could in a fashion prime the pump, if he could increase the conductivity by increasing the ions present around the place where their charges were drawn awayўwhyўhe could increase the total flow. It would be like digging a brick-well where a pipe-well had been. A brick-well draws water from all around its circumference.
So Massy computed carefully. It was ironic that he had to go to such trouble simply because he didnтt have test-rockets like the Survey uses to get a picture of a planetтs weather-pattern. They rise vertically for fifty miles or so, trailing a thread of sodium-vapor behindthem. The trail is detectable for some time, and ground instruments record each displacement by winds blowing in different directions at different speeds, one over the other. Such a rocket with its loading slightly changed would do all Massy had in mind. But he didnтt have one, so something much more elaborate was called for.
Sheтll think Iтm clever, he reflected wryly, but all Iтm doing is what Iтve been taught. I wouldnтt have to work it out if I had a rocket.
Still, there was some satisfaction in working out this job. A landing-grid has to be not less than half a mile across and two thousand feet high because its field has to reach out five planetary diameters to handle ships that land and take off. To handle solid objects it has to be accurateўthough power can be drawn with an improvisation. To thrust a sodium-vapor bomb anywhere from twenty to sixty miles highўwhyўheтd need a grid only six feet wide and five high. It could throw much higher, of course. It could hold, at that. But doubling the size would make accuracy easier. He tripled the dimensions. There would be a grid-eighteen feet across and fifteen high. Tuned to the casing of a small bomb, it could hold it steady at seven hundred and fifty thousand feetўfar beyond necessity. He began to make the detail drawings.
Herndon came back with half a dozen chosen colonists. They were young men, technicians rather than scientists. Some of them were several years younger than Massy. There were grim and stunned expressions on some faces, but one tried to pretend nonchalance, and two seemed trying to suppress fury at the monstrous occurrence that would destroy not only their own lives, but everything they remembered on the planet which was their home. They looked almost challengingly at Massy. He explained. He was going to put a cloud of metallic vapor up in the ionosphere. Sodium if he had to, potassium if he could, zinc if he must. Those metals were readily ionized by sunlightўmuch more readily than atmospheric gases. In effect, he was going to supply a certain area of the ionosphere with material to increase the efficiency of sunshine in providing electric power. As a sideline, there would be increased conductivity from the normal ionosphere.
уSomething like this was done centuries ago, back on Earth,ф he explained carefully. уThey used rockets, and made sodium-vapor clouds as much as twenty and thirty miles long. Even nowadays the Survey uses test-rockets with trails of sodium-vapor. It will work to some dcgree. Weтll-find out how much.ф -
