19 - Empire by Clifford D. Simak

“Manning thinks he can keep us out here, but he's wrong. We'll be in the solar system less than a week after he gets there. Chambers stifled a gasp, tried to speak calmly. You mean this? Of course I mean it. I don't waste my time with foolish jokes. You have the secret of material energy. Not that, the scientist growled. But I have something else as valuable. I have the secret of Manning's drive. I know what it is that enables him to exceed the speed of light, to go ten thousand times as fast as light.”

“Spectroscopic examination. That collector-field of ours gathers energy just like a burning-glass. You've seen a burning-glass, haven't you? He stared at Stutzman, directing the question at him. Stutzman shuffled awkwardly, unhappily. Well, Craven went on, I use that for a telescope. Gathered the light from the suns, and analysed it.”

“The light varied with a periodic irregularity. The chronometers aren't working exactly right out here, so I can't give you any explanation in terms of hours, but I find a number irregularly recurring changes in light intensity and character, and that proves the presence of a number of planetary bodies circling the star. That's the only way one could explain the fluctuations for the G-type star is a steady type.”

“Just a little matter of variation in the alloy, Graven explained, crystallization of the alloy, forming those little prisms and pyramids. As a result, you get a surface thousands of times greater than in the old type. Helps you absorb every bit of the energy.”

“His brain hummed with dreams. Old dreams revived again. Old dreams of conquest and of empire. Dreams of a power that held a solar system in its grip.”

“Stutzman's face twisted into an even more exaggerated grin. This, he said, is mutiny. I'm taking over. He laughed at them. No, you're calling the crew. They're with me. Damn you! shouted Chambers, taking a step forward. He halted as Stutzman jerked the pistol up. Forget it, Chambers, you're just second man from now on.”

“That, said Craven, isn't our sun. It has planets, but it isn't our sun. Chambers stepped quickly to Craven, reached out a hand, and hoisted him from the chair, shook him. You must be joking. That has to be the sun. Craven struggled free from Chambers' clutch, spoke in an even voice. I never joke. We made a mistake, that's all, I hadn't meant to tell you yet.”