"Smith, E E 'Doc' - Spacehounds Of Ipc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

pilots for yelling, but I don't believe that you've got the right answer. I can't help but think
that the astronomers are laying down on the job. They're so sure that you pilots are to
blame that it hasn't occurred to them to check up on themselves very carefully.
However, we'll know pretty quick, and then we'll take steps."
"I hope soЧbut say, Steve, I'm worried about using that much plus equilibrium
power. Remember we've got to hit Mi4 absolutely all x, or plenty heads will drop."
"I'll say they will: I know just how the passengers will howl if we hold them
weightless for half an hour, waiting for those two moons to get out of the way, and I
know just what the manager will do if we check in thirty-one minutes plus. Wow! He'll
swell up and bust, sure. But don't worry, BreckЧif we don't check in all x, anybody can
have my head that wants it, and I'm taking full responsibility, you know."
"You're welcome to it." Breckenridge shrugged and turned the conversation into a
lighter vein. "Speaking of weightlessness, it's funny how many weight-fiends there are in
the world, isn't it? You'd think the passengers would enjoy a little weightlessness
occasionallyЧespecially the fat onesЧbut they don't. But say, while I think of it, how
come you were here and loose to make this check-up? I thought you were out with the
other two of the Big Three, solving all the mysteries of the Universe ?"
"Had to stay in this last tripЧbeen doing some work on the ether, force-field
theory, and other stuff that I had to go to Mars and Venus to get. Just got back last
week. As for solving mysteries, laugh while you can, old hyena. You and a lot of other
dim bulbs who think that Roeser's Rays are the last wordЧthat there's nothing left to
discoverЧare going to get jarred loose from your hinges one of these days. When I
came in nine months ago they were hot on the trail of something big, and I'll bet they
bring it in . . ."
Out upon the dock an insistent siren blared a crescendo and diminuendo blast of
sound, and two minutes remained. In every stateroom and in every lounge and saloon
speakers sounded a warning:
"For a short time, while we are pulling clear of the gravitational field of the Earth,
walking will be somewhat difficult, as everything on board will apparently increase in
weight by about one-fifth of its present amount. Please remain seated, or move about
with caution. In about an hour weight will gradually return to normal. We start in one
minute."
"Hipe!" barked the chief pilot as a flaring purple light sprang into being upon his
board, and the assistants came to attention at their stations. "Seconds! Four! Three!
Two! One! LIFT!" He touched a button and a set of plunger switches drove home,
releasing into the forty-five enormous driving projectors the equilibrium powerЧthe
fifteen-thousand-and-odd kilofranks of energy that exactly counterbalanced the pull of
gravity upon the mass of the cruiser. Simultaneously there was added from the
potentiometer, already set to the exact figure given by the computer, the plus-
equilibrium power Ч which would not be changed throughout the journey if the ideal
acceleration curve were to be registered upon the recordersЧand the immense mass of
the cruiser of the void wafted vertically upward at a low and constant velocity. The
bellowing, shrieking siren had cleared the air magically of the swarm of aircraft in her
path, and quietly, calmly, majestically, the Arcturus floated upward.
Sixty seconds after the initial lift Breckenridge actuated the system of magnetic
relays which would gradually cut in the precisely-measured "starting power," which it
would be necessary to employ for sixty-nine minutesЧfor, without the acceleration
given by this additional power, they would lose many precious hours of time in covering
merely the few thousands of miles during which Earth's attraction would operate
powerfully against their progress.