STRAND ENEMY

“There had been a day when men had maintained one couldn't go faster than light. Also men had claimed that it would be impossible to force nature to give up the secret of material energy. But here they were, speeding along faster than light, their engines roaring with the power of material energy. They were ploughing a new space road, staking out a new path across the deserts of space, pioneering far beyond the last frontier.”

“Why not let Jupiter help us? he asked. He could be a lot of help. Russ stared for a moment, uncomprehending. Then, with a sob of gladness, he reached out a hand, shoved over a lever. Mirrors of anti-entropy shifted, assumed different angles, and the Invincible sheered off. They were no longer retreating directly from the sun, but at an angle, quartering off across the solar system. Greg grinned. We're falling behind Jupiter now. Letting Jupiter run away from us, as he circles his orbit, following the sun, adds miles per second to our velocity of retreat, even if it doesn't show on the dial.”

“The ship itself was plunging spaceward, streaking like a runaway star for the depths of space beyond the solar system, and behind it, caught tight, gripped, and held, Craven's ship trailed at the end of a tractor-field that bound it to the space-rocketing Invincible. The acceleration compensator, functioning perfectly, had taken up the slack as the ship had plunged from a standing start into a speed that neared the pace of light. But it had never been built to stand such sudden, intense acceleration, and for an instant Russ and Greg seemed to be crushed by a mighty weight that struck at them.”

“Suddenly the invincible shuddered and seemed to totter in space. As if something, some mighty force, had struck the ship a terrific blow. The needle swung swiftly backward, reached one mile a second, dipped a half a mile. Russ sat bolt upright, holding his breath, his teeth clenched with the death grip upon the pipe-stem. Craven had blasted with everything he had. He had used every trickle of power in the accumulators, all the power he had been storing up. Russ leapt from the chair and raced to the periscopic mirror. Stooping he stared into it. Far back in space, like a silver bauble, swung Craven's ship.”

“Just what was our top speed? he demanded. Russ grinned. Ten thousand times the speed of light, he said. Greg whistled soundlessly. A long way from home. Far away the stars were tiny pinpoints, like little crystals shining by the reflection of a light.”

“No joke, said Greg grimly. I thought you might have guessed. I'm going to leave you here. Leave us here, rode Stuttsman. Keep your shirt on, snapped Greg, just for a while, until we can go back to the solar system and finish a little job we're doing. Then we'll come back and get you.”