The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell (read e book .txt) 📕

“Arcot,” said Morey, senior, after the pressmen had left the room, “as president of this company I certainly want to thank you for the tremendous thing you have given us to use. You have ‘sold’ us this machine⁠—but how can we repay you? Before this, time and time again, you have sold us your inventions, the ideas that have made it possible for Transcontinental to attain its present high position in world transportation. All you have ever accepted is the laboratory you use, its upkeep, and a small annual income. What can we do to show our appreciation this time?”

“Why,” answered Arcot smiling, “you haven’t stated the terms correctly. Actually, I have a fully equipped lab to putter around in, all the time I want for my own amusement, and all the money I want. What more could I ask?”

“I suppose that’s all true⁠—but you draw only about six thousand a year for personal expenses⁠—a good clerk could get that⁠—and you, admittedly the most brilliant physicist of the Earth, are satisfied! I don’t feel we’re paying you properly!”

Arcot’s expression became suddenly serious. “You can repay me this time,” he said, “for this latest discovery has made a new thing possible. I’ve always wanted to be able to visit other planets⁠—as has many a scientist for the last three centuries. This machine has made it possible. If you are willing⁠—we could start by the spring of 2117. I’m quite serious about this. With your permission, I want to start work on the first interplanetary ship. I’ll need Fuller’s help, of course. The proposition will be expensive, and that’s where I must ask you to help me. I think, however, that it may be a paying proposition, at that, for there will certainly be something of commercial value on the other planets.”

They had walked out to the shed where Arcot’s private molecular motion car stood, the first machine ever built that used the heat of the sun to drive it. Thoughtfully the president of the great Transcontinental Lines looked at it. It was small compared with the great machine that had just brought them east, but of the same swift type. It was a thing of graceful beauty even on the ground, its long curving streamlines giving it wonderful symmetry. They stood in thoughtful silence for a minute⁠—the young men eager to hear the verdict of their prospective backer. Morey, always rather slow of speech, took an unusually long time to answer.

“If it were only money you asked for, Arcot, I’d gladly give you double the sum, but that isn’t the case. I know perfectly well that if you do go, my son will go with you, and Fuller and Wade will naturally go too.” He looked at each in turn. “Each of you has come to mean a lot to me. You and Fuller have known Bob since college days. I’ve known Wade only three months, but every day I grow to like him more. There’s no denying the fact that any such trip is a terrifically dangerous proposition. But if you were lost, there would be more than my personal loss. We would lose some of the most brilliant men on Earth. You, for instance, are conceded as being the world’s most brilliant physicist; Fuller is one of the greatest designing engineers; Wade is rapidly rising into prominence as a chemist and as a physicist; and my son is certainly a good mathematician.”

He paused, frowning, weighing the situation. “But you men should know how to get out of scrapes just that much better. Certainly there are few men on Earth who would not be willing to back such a group of men⁠—or any one of you, for that matter! I’ll back your trip!” His words became more facetious. “I know that Arcot and you, Bob, can handle a gun fairly well, I don’t know so much about Wade and Fuller. What experience have you two had?”

Fuller shook his head. “I think I’ll fit best in the galley on the trip, Mr. Morey. I’ve done the cooking on a number of camping trips, and food is an important factor in the success of any expedition. I can shoot a bit, too.”

Wade spoke rather hesitantly. “I come from the west, and have had a good bit of fun with a gun in the Rockies; there are still some mountain lions and some deer there, you know. I also have a sneaking acquaintance with the new gun, which Arcot developed in connection with his molecular motion. But there is so little you know about me⁠—and most of it bad⁠—I don’t see how I really get in on this opportunity⁠—but,” he added hastily, “I certainly don’t intend to keep the old boy knocking⁠—I’m with you, since I’m invited!”

Arcot smiled. “Then you’ll definitely support us?”

“Yes, I will,” replied Morey, senior, seriously, “for I think it’s worth doing.”

The four young men climbed into the ship, to start for their apartment. Arcot was piloting, and under his sure touch the ship sped out into the cold night air, then up through the atmosphere, till they hung poised at a height of fifty miles on the upper edge of the airy blanket. They looked out in silent thought at the magnificent blazing stars of space. Here, where the dust-laden air could no longer mask their true colors, the stars shone unwinkingly, steadily, and in a glory that earthbound men had never seen before. They shone in a wonderous riot of color, as varied and as beautiful as the display of colored floodlights in some great city. They were tiny pinpoints of radiance, red, green, orange, and yellow, shining with intense brilliance.

Slowly Arcot let the machine settle to the blazing city miles below.

“I love to come out here and look at those cold, pinpoint lights; they seem to draw me⁠—the lure of other worlds. I’ve always had a sense of unfulfilled longing⁠—the desire to go out there⁠—and it’s always been so hopeless.