He felt Herndonтs eyes upon him~ They were almost dazedly respectful. But one of the technicians said coldly:
уHow long will those clouds last?ф
уThat high, three or four days,ф Massy told him. уThey wonтt help much at night, but they should step up power-intake while the sun shines on them.ф
A man in the back said crisply:
уHup!ф The significance was, уLetтs go!ф -Then somebody said feverishly, уWhat do we do? Got working drawings? Who makes the bombs? Who does what? Letтs get at this!ф
Then there was confusion, and Herndon had vanished., Massy suspected heтd gone to have Riki put this theory into dot-and-dash code for beam-transmission back, to Lani II. But there was no time to stop him. These men wanted precise information, and it was half an hour before the last of them had gone out with free-hand sketches, and had come back for further explanalion of a doubtful point, and other men had come in hungrily to demand a share in the job.
When he was alone again, Massy thought, Maybe itтs worth doing because itтll get Niki on the Survey ship. But they think it means saving the people back home!
Which it didnтt. Taking energy out of sunlight is taking energy out of sunlight, no matter how you do it. Take it out as electric power, and thereтs less heat left. Warm one place with electric power, and everywhere else is a little colder. Thereтs an equation. On this colony-world it wouldnтt matter, but on the home world it would. The more there was trickery to gather heat, the more heat was needed. Again it might postpone the death of twenty million people, but it would never, never, never prevent it.
The door slid aside and Riki came in. She stammered alittle.
уI . . . just coded what Kenт told me to send back home. It will . . . it will do everything! Itтs wonderful! I . . . -wanted to tell you!ф
Massy writhed internally. It wasnтt wonderful.
уConsider,ф he said in a desperate attempt to take it lightly, уconsider that Iтve taken a vow.ф
He tried to smile. It was not a success. And Riki suddenly drew a deep breath and looked at him in a new fashion.
уKenтs right,ф she said softly. уHe says you canтt get conceited. Youтre not satisfied with yourself even now, are you?ф - She smiled, rather gravely. Then she said, уBut what I like is that you arenтt really smart. A woman can make you do things. I have!ф
He looked at her uneasily. She grinned.
уI, even I, can at least pretend to myself that I help bring this about! If I hadnтt said please change the facts that are so annoying, and if I hadnтt said you were big and strong and cleverў Iтm going to tell myself for the rest of my life that I helped make you do it!ф
Massy swallowed.
уIтm - afraid,ф he said miserably, уthat it wonтt work -again.ф
She cocked her head on one side.
уNo?ф
He stared at her apprehensively. And then with a bewildering change of emotional reaction, he saw that her eyes were filled with tears. She stamped her foot
уYouтre . . . horrible!ф she cried. уHere I come in, and . . . and if you think you can get me kidnaped to safety . . . without even telling me that you ╬rather likeт me, like you told my brother, or that Iтm ╬pretty wonderfulтў If youт think.ф
He was stunned, that she knew. She stamped her foot again.
уFor Heavenтs sake!ф she wailed. Do I have to ask you to kiss me?ф
IV
During the last night of preparation, Massy sat by a thermometer registering the outside temperature. He hovered over it as one might over a sick child. He watched it and sweated, though the inside temperature of thИ drone-hull was lowered to save power. There was nothing he could actually do. At midnight the thermometer said it was seventy degrees below zero Fahrenheit. At halfway to dawn it was eighty degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The hour before dawn it was eighty-five degrees below zero. Then he sweated profusely. The meaning of the slowed descent was that carbon dioxide was being frozen out of the upper layers of the atmosphere. The frozen particles were drifting slowly downward, and as they reached lower and faintly warmer levels they returned to the state of gas. But there was a level, above the CO2. where the temperature was plummeting.
The height to which carbon dioxide existed was droppingўslowly, but inexorably. And above the carbondioxide level there was no bottom limit to the temperature. The greenhouse effect was due to CO2. Where it wasnтt, the cold of space moved down. If at ground level the thermometer read ever so slightly lower than one hundred and nine below zeroўwhy, everything was finished. Without the greenhouse effect, the nightside of the planet would lose its remaining heat with a rush. Eyen the day-side, once cold enough, would lose heat to emptiness as fast as it came from the sun. Minus one hundred and nine point three was the critical reading. If it went down to that, it would plunge to a hundred and fiftyўtwo hundred degrees below zero! And it would never come up again.
There would be rain at nightfallўa rain of oxygen frozen to a liquid and splashing on the ground. Human life would be quite simply impossible, in any shelter and under any conditions. Even spacesuits would not protect against an atmosphere sucking heat from it at that rate. A spacesuit can be heated against the loss of temperature due to radiation in a vacuum. It could not be heated against nitrogen, which would chill it irresistibly by contact.
But, as Massy sweated over it, the thermometer steadied at minus eighty-five degrees. When the dawnт came, it rose to seventy. By mid-morning, the temperature in bright sunshine was no lower than sixty-five degrees below zero.
But there was no bounce left in ╬Massy when Hemdon ╬came for him.
уYour phone-plateтs been flashing,ф said Herndon, уand you didnтt answer. Must have bad your back to it. Rikiтs over in the mine, watching them get things, ready. She was worried that she couldnтt call you. Asked me to find out what was the trouble.ф
Massy said heavily:
уHas she got something to heat the air she breathes?ф
уNaturally,ф said Herndon. - He added curiously,уWhatтs the matter?"
уWe almost took our licking,ф Massy told him. уI'm afraid for tonight, and tomorrow night, too. If the CO2 freezesўф
уWeтll have, power!ф Herndon insisted. уWeтll build ice tunnels and ice domes. Weтll build a city under ice, if we have to. But weтll have power. Weтll be all right!ф
уI doubt it very much,ф said Massy. уI wish - you hadnтt told Riki of the ╬bargain to get her away from here when the Survey ship comes!ф
Herndon grinned.
уIs the little grid ready?ф, asked Massy.
уEverythingтs set,ф said Herndon exuberantly. уItтs in the mine-tunnel with radiant heaters playing on it. The bombs are ready. We made enough to last for months, while we were at it. No use taking chances!ф
Massy looked at him queerly. Then be said:
уWe might as well go out, and try the thing, then.ф
But he was very tired. He was not elated. Riki canтt be gotten away, he thought wearily, and Iтm not going to go because it isnтt quite fitting to go and leave her. Theyтll all be rejoicing presently, but nothingтs settled. Then he thought with exquisite irony: She thinks I was inspired to genius by her, when I havenтt done a thing I wasnтt taught or didnтt get out of books!
He put on the cold-garments as they were now modifled for the increased frigidity. Nobody could breathe air at minus sixty-five degrees without getting his lungs frost-bitten. So there was now a plastic mask to cover oneтs face, and the air one breathed outdoors was, heated as it came through a wire-gauze snout. But still it was not wise to stay out of shelter for too long a time.
Massy went out-of-doors. He stepped out of the cold-lock and gazed about him. The sun seemed markedly paler, and now it had lost its sun-dogs again. Ice crystals no longer floated in the almost congealed air. The sky was dark. It was almost purple, and it seemed to Massy that he could detect faint flecks of light in it. They would be stars, shining in the daytime.
There seemed to be no one about at all, only the white coldness of the mountains. But there was a movemeat at the mine-drift, and something came out of it. Four men appeared, muffled up like Massy himself. They rolled the eighteen-foot grid out of the minemouth, moving it on those inflated bags which are so much better than rollers for rough terrain. They looked absurdly like bears with steaming noses, in their masks and clothing. They had some sort of powered pusher with them, and they got the metal cage to the very top of a singularly rounded stone upcrop which rose in the center of the valley. ╬
