Дэймон Найт: Orbit 5

“Oh, oh, oh ... great God I really wanna know. . . ”

Strange amorphous shapes clouding the blue-yellow-blue flickering universe, hiding the words I had to read . . . Dammit, why wouldn’t they get out of the way so I could find out what I had to know!

“Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me . . . Gotta know gotta know gotta know gotta know . . ”

T minus 7 minutes . . . and counting . . .

Couldn’t read the words! Why wouldn’t the Captain let me read the words?

And that voice inside me: “Gotta know . . . gotta know . . . gotta know why it hurts me so. . . .” Why wouldn’t it shut up and let me read the words? Why wouldn’t the words hold still? Or just slow down a little? If they’d slow down a little, I could read them and then I’d know what I had to do. . . .

T minus 6 minutes . . . and counting . . .

I felt the sweaty key in the palm of my hand ... Isaw Duke stroking his own key. Had to know! Now— through the pulsing blue-yellow-blue light and the unreadable words that were building up an awful pressure in the back of my brain—I could see the Four Horsemen. They were on their knees, crying, looking up at something and begging: “Tell me tell me tell me tell me . . .”

Then soft billows of rich red-and-orange fire filled the world and a huge voice was trying to speak. But it couldn’t form the words. It stuttered and moaned—

The yellow-blue-yellow flashing around the words Icouldn’t read—the same words, I suddenly sensed, that the voice of the fire was trying so hard to form—and the Four Horsemen on their knees begging: “Tell me tell me tell me . . .”

The friendly warm fire trying so hard to speak—

“Tell me tell me tell me tell me. . . ”

T minus 4 minutes . . . and counting . . .

What were the words? What was the order? I could sense my men silently imploring me to tell them. After all, I was their Captain, it was my duty to tell them. It was my duty to find out!

“Tell me tell me tell me . . the robed figures on their knees implored through the flickering pulse in my brain and I could almost make out the words . . . almost . . .

“Tell me tell me tell me ...” I whispered to the warm orange fire that was trying so hard but couldn’t quite form the words. The men were whispering it too: “Tell me tell me...”

T minus 3 minutes . . . and counting . . .

The question burning blue and yellow in my brain: WHAT WAS THE FIRE TRYING TO TELL ME? WHAT WERE THE WORDS I COULDN’T READ?

Had to unlock the words! Had to find the key!

A key . . . The key? THE KEY! And there was the lock that imprisoned the words, right in front of me! Put the key in the lock ... I looked at Jeremy. Wasn’t there some reason, long ago and far away, why Jeremy might try to stop me from putting the key in the lock?

But Jeremy didn’t move as I fitted the key into the lock. . . .

T minus 2 minutes . . . and counting . . .

Why wouldn’t the Captain tell me what the order was? The fire knew, but it couldn’t tell. My head ached from the pulsing, but I couldn’t read the words.

“Tell me tell me tell me ...” I begged.

Then I realized that the Captain was asking too.

T minus 90 seconds . . . and counting . . .

“Tell me tell me tell me . . .” the Horsemen begged. And the words I couldn’t read were a fire in my brain.

Duke’s key was in the lock in front of us. From very far away, he said: “We have to do it together.”

Of course . . . our keys . . . our keys would unlock the words!

I put my key into the lock. One, two, three, we turned our keys together. A lid on the console popped open. Under the lid were three red buttons. Three signs on the console lit up in red letters: “ARMED.”

T minus 60 seconds . . . and counting . . .

The men were waiting for me to give some order. I didn’t know what the order was. A magnificent orange fire was trying to tell me but it couldn’t get the words out. . . . Robed figures were praying to the fire. . . .

Then, through the yellow-blue flicker that hid the words I had to read. I saw a vast crowd encircling a tower. The crowd was on its feet begging silently—

The tower in the center of the crowd became the orange fire that was trying to tell me what the words were—

Became a great mushroom of billowing smoke and blinding orange-red glare. . . .

T minus 30 seconds . . . and counting . . .

The huge pillar of fire was trying to tell Jeremy and me what the words were, what we had to do. The crowd was screaming at the cloud of flame. The yellow-blue flicker was getting faster and faster behind the mushroom cloud. I could almost read the words! I could see that there were two of them!

T minus 20 seconds , . . and counting . . .

Why didn’t the Captain tell us? I could almost see the words!

Then I heard the crowd around the beautiful mushroom cloud shouting: “DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

T minus 10 seconds . . . and counting . . .

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

What did they want me to do? Did Duke know?

9

The men were waiting! What was the order? They hunched over the firing controls, waiting. . . . The firing controls . . . ?

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

8

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”: the crowd screaming.

“Jeremy!” I shouted. “I can read the words!”

7

My hands hovered over my bank of firing buttons. ...

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” the words said.

Didn’t the Captain understand?

6

“What do they want us to do, Jeremy?”

5

Why didn’t the mushroom cloud give the order? My men were waiting! A good sailor craves action.

Then a great voice spoke from the pillar of fire: “DO IT . . . DO IT . . . DO IT. . . .”

4

“There’s only one thing we can do down here, Duke.”

3

“The order, men! Action! Fire!”

2

Yes, yes, yes! Jeremy—

1

I reached for my bank of firing buttons. All along the console, the men reached for their buttons. But I was too fast for them! I would be first!

0

THE BIG FLASH

In his classic experiment Galileo made no attempt to measure the time. He relates that he was unable to determine with certainty whether the appearance of the opposite light was instantaneous or not, but states that “if not instantaneous it was extraordinarily rapid.” (Dialogues Concerning the Two New Sciences by Galileo Galelei, I, 1638.)

Zinner was justified in referring to Pluto as a “little” planet. His work on the perturbations arising from the close approach of Uranus to Pluto late in 1967, yielded for the mass of Pluto the value 0.089 x Earth. This gives 3.54 gm/cm 3for the density of the planet, replacing the former ridiculous value of 50 gm/cm 3.