"Leinster, Murray - The Ethical Equations" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

The Ethical Equalions


IT is VERY, very queer. The Ethical Equations, of course, link conduct with probability, and give mathematical proof that certain patterns of conduct increase the probability of certain kinds of coincidences. But nobody ever expected them to have any really practical effect. Elucidation of the laws of chance did not stop gambling, though it did make life insurance practical. The Ethical Equations werenТt expected to be even as useful as that. They were just theories, which seemed unlikely to affect anybody particularly. They were complicated, for one thing. They admitted that the ideal pattern of conduct for one man wasnТt the best for another. A politician, for example, has an entirely different codeЧand properlyЧthan a Space Patrol man. But still, on at least one occasionЧ
The thing from outer space was fifteen hundred feet long, and upward of a hundred and fifty feet through at its middle section, and well over two hundred in a curious bulge like a fishТs head at its bow. There were odd, gill-like flaps just back of that bulge, too, and the whole thing looked extraordinarily like a monster, eyeless fish, floating in empty space out beyond Jupiter. But it had drifted in from somewhere beyond the sunТs gravitational fieldЧits speed was too great for it to have a closed orbitЧand it swung with a slow, inane, purposeless motion about some axis it had established within itself.
The little spacecruiser edged closer and closer. Freddy Holmes had been a pariah on the Arnina all the way out from Mars, but he clenched his hands and forgot, his misery and the ruin of his career in the excitement of looking at the thing.
УNo response to signals on any frequency, sir,Ф said the communications officer, formally. УIt is not radiating. It has a minute magnetic field. Its surface temperature is just about four degrees absolute.Ф
The commander of the Arnina said, УHrrrmph!Ф Then he said, УWeТll lay alongside.Ф Then he looked at Freddy Holmes and stiffened. УNo,Ф he said, УI believe you take over now, Mr. Holmes.Ф
Freddy started. He was in a very bad spot, but his excitement had made him oblivious of it for a moment. The undisguised hostility with which he was regarded by the skipper and the others on the bridge.brought it back, however.
УYou take over, Mr. Holmes,Ф repeated the skipper bitterly. УI have orders to that effect. You originally detected this object and your uncle asked Headquarters that you be given full authority to investigate it. You have that authority. Now, what are you going to do with it?Ф
There was fury in his voice surpassing even the rasping dislike of the voyage out. He was a lieutenant commander and he had been instructed to take orders from a junior officer. That was bad enough. But this was humanityТs first contact with an extrasolar civilization, and Freddy Holmes, lieutenant junior grade, bad been given charge of the matter by pure political pull.
Freddy swallowed.
УI . . . IЧФ He swallowed again and said miserably, УSir, IТve tried to explain that I dislike the present set-up as much as you possibly can. I . . wish that you would let me put myself under your orders, sir, instead ofЧФ
УNo!Ф rasped the commander vengefully. УYou are in command, Mr. Holmes. Your uncle put on political pressure to arrange it. My orders are to carry out your instructions, not to wet-nurse you if the job is too big for you to handle. This is in your lap! Will you issue orders?Ф
Freddy stiffened.
УVery well, sir. itТsТ plainly a ship and apparently a derelict. No crew would come in without using a drive, or allow their ship to swing about aimlessly. You will maintain your present position with relation to it. IТll take a spaceboat and a volunteer, if you will find me one, and look Сit over.Ф
He turned and left the bridge. Two minutes later he was struggling into a spacesuit when Lieutenant BridgesЧalso junior gradeЧcame briskly into the spacesuit locker and observed:
УIТve permission to go with you, Mr. Holmes.Ф He began to get into another spacesuit. As he pulled it up over his chest he added blithely: УIТd say this was worth the price of admission!Ф
Freddy did not answer. Three minutes later the little spaceboat pulled out from the side of the cruiser. Designed for expeditionary work and tool-carrying rather than as an escapecraft, it was not enclosed. It would carry men in spacesuits, with their tools and weapons, and they could breathe from its tanks instead of from their suits, and use its power and so conserve their own. But it was a strange feeling to sit within its spidery outline and see the great blank sides of the strange object draw near. When the spaceboat actually touched the vast metal wall it seemed impossible, like the approach to some sorcererТs castle across a monstrous moat of stars.
It was real enough, though. The felted rollers touched, and Bridges grunted in satisfaction.
УMagnetic. We can anchor to it. Now what?Ф
УWe hunt for an entrance port,Ф said Freddy curtly. He added: УThose openings that look like gills are the drive tubes. Their driveТs in front instead of the rear. Apparently they donТt use gyros for steering.Ф
The tiny craft clung to the giantТs skin, like a fly on a stranded whale. It moved slowly to the top of the rounded body, and over it, and down on the other side. Presently the cruiser came in sight again as it came up the near side once more.
УNary a port, sir,Ф said Bridges blithely. УDo we cut our way in?Ф
УHm-m-m,Ф said Freddy slowly. УWe have our drive in the rear, and our control room in front. So we take on supplies amidships, and thatТs where we looked. But this ship is driven from the front. Its control room might be amidships. If so, it might load at the stem. LetТs see.Ф
The little ctaft crawled to the stern of the monster.
УThere!Ф said Freddy.
It was not like an entrance port on any vessel in the solar system. It slid aside, without hinges. There was an inner door, but it opened just as readily. There was no rush of air, and it was hard to tell if it was intended as an air lock or not.
УAirТs gone,Ф said Freddy. УItТs a derelict, all right. You might bring a blaster, but what weТll mostly need is light, I think.Ф
The magnetic anchors took hold. The metal grip shoes of the spacesuits made loud noises inside the suits as the two of them pushed their way into the interior of the ship. The spacecruiser had been able to watch them, until now. Now they were gone.
The giant, enigmatic object which was so much like a blind fish in empty space floated on. It swung aimlessly about some inner axis. The thin sunlight out here beyond Jupiter, smote upon it harshly. It seemed to hang motionless in mid-space against an all-surrounding background of distant and unwinking stars. The trim Space Patrol ship hung alertly a mile and a half away. Nothing seemed to happen at all.

Freddy was rather pale when he went back to the bridge. The pressure mark on his forehead from the spacesuit helmet was still visible, and he rubbed at it abstractedly. The skipper regarded him with a sort of envious bitterness. After all, any human would envy any other who had set foot in an alien spaceship. Lieutenant Bridges followed him. For an instant there were no words. Then Bridges saluted briskly:
УReporting back on board, sir, and returning to watch duty after permitted volunteer activity.Ф
The skipper touched his hat sourly. Bridges departed with crisp precision. The skipper regarded Freddy with the helpless fury of a senior officer who has been ordered to prove a junior officer a fool, and who has seen the assighment blow up in his face and that of the superior officers who ordered it. It was an enraging situation. Freddy Holmes, newly commissioned and assigned to the detector station on Luna which keeps track of asteroids and meteor streams, had discovered a small object coming in over Neptune. Its speed was too high for it to be a regular member of the solar system, so heТd reported it as a visitor and suggested immediate examination. But junior officers are not supposed to make discoveries. It violates tradition, which is a sort of Ethical Equation in the Space Patrol. So Freddy was slapped down for his presumption. And he slapped back, on account of the Ethical Equations bearing upon scientific discoveries. The first known object to come from beyond the stars ought to be examined. Definitely. So, most unprofessionally for a Space Patrol junior, Freddy raised a stink. The present state of affairs was the result. He had an uncle who was a prominent politician. That uncle went before the Space Patrol Board and pointed out smoothly that his nephewТs discovery was important. He demonstrated with mathematical precision that the Patrol was being ridiculous in ignoring a significant discovery simply because a junior officer had made it. And the Board, seething at outside interference, ordered Freddy to be taken to the object he had detected, given absolute command of the spacecruiser which had taken him there, and directed to make the examination he had suggested. By all the laws of probability, he would, have to report that the hunk of matter from beyond the solar system was just like hunks of matter in it. And then the Board would pin back both his and his uncleТs ears with a vengeance.
But now the hunk of matter turned out to be a fish shaped artifact from an alien civilization. It turned out to be important. So the situation was one to make anybody steeped in Patrol tradition grind his teeth.
УThe thing, sir,Ф said Freddy evenly, Уis a spaceship.It is driven by atomic engines shooting blasts sternward from somewhere near the bow. Apparently they steer only by hand. Apparently, too, there was a blow-up in the engine room and they lost most of their fuel out the tube vents. After that, the ship was helpless though they patched up the engines after a fashion. It is possible to calculate that in its practically free fall to the sun itТs been in its present state for a couple of thousand years.Ф
УI take it, then,Ф said the skipper with fine irony, Уthat there are no survivors of the crew.Ф
УIt presents several problems, sir,Ф said Freddy evenly, Уand thatТs one of them.Ф He was rather pale. УThe ship is empty of air, but her tanks are full. Storage spaces containing what look like supplies are only partly emptied. The crew did not starve or suffocate. The ship simply lost most of her fuel. So it looks like they prepared the ship to endure an indefinite amount of floating about in free space andФЧhe hesitatedЧФthen it looks like they went into suspended animation. TheyТre all on board, in transparent cases that haveЧmachinery attached. Maybe they thought theyТd be picked up by sister ships sooner or later.Ф
The skipper blinked.
УSuspended animation? TheyТre alive?Ф Then he said sharply: УWhat sort of ship is it? Cargo?Ф
УNo, sir,Ф said Freddy. УThatТs another problem. Bridges and I agree that itТs a fighting ship, sir. There are rows of generators serving things that could only be weapons. By the way theyТre braced, there are tractor beams and pressor beams andЧthere are vacuum tubes that have grids but apparently work with cold cathodes. By the size of the cables that lead to them, those tubes handle amperages up in the thousands. You can figure that one out, sir.Ф
The skipper paced two steps this way, and two steps that. The thing was stupendous. But his instructions were precise.
УIТm under your orders,Ф he said doggedly. УWhat are you going to do?Ф
УIТm going to work myself to death, I suppose,Ф said Freddy unhappily, Уand some other men with me. I want to go over that ship backwards, forwards and sideways with scanners, and everything the scanners see photographed back oil board, here. I want men to work the scanners and technicians on board to direct them for their specialties. I want to get every rivet and coil in that whole ship on film before touching anything.Ф
The skipper said grudgingly:
УThatТs not too foolish. Very well, Mr. Holmes, it will be done.Ф
УThank you,Ф said Freddy. He started to leave the bridge, and stopped. УThe men to handle the scanners,Фhe added, Уought to be rather carefully picked. Imaginative men wouldnТt do. The crew of that shipЧthey look horribly alive, and they arenТt pretty. And er . . . the plastic cases theyТre in are arranged to open from inside. ThatТs another problem still,.sir.Ф
He went on down. The skcpper clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace the bridge furiously. The first object from beyond the stars was a spaceship. It had weapons the Patrol had only vainly imagined. And he, a two-and-a-half-striper, had to stand by and take orders for its investigation from a lieutenant junior grade just out of the Academy. Because of politics! The skipper ground his teethЧ Then FreddyТs last comment suddenly had meaning. The plastic cases in which the alienТs crew lay in suspended animation opened from the inside. From the inside!
Cold sweat came out on the skipperТs forehead as he realized the implication. Tractor and pressor beams, and the shipТs fuel not quite gone, and the suspended animation cases opening from the insideЧ There was a slender, coaxial cable connecting the two spacecraft, now. They drifted in sunward together. The little cruiser was dwarfed by the alien giant.