Islands of Space

scontinental shops in Newark; the power they

ge walls of lux metal required great care in construction, for they could not be welded; they had to be formed in position. And they could on

stalling the power plant and the tremendous power leads, the co

for the invisibility apparatus, and many other parts. All the relays were standard, the gyroscop

they could install the special equipment; only they could put in the complicated

s, and to develop atomic powered heat projectors for hand use. The primary power they stored in small space-strain coils in the handgrip of the pistol. Despite their small si

they lacked any way of getting about readily under high gravity. Since something had to be

s of the ship, and as they came out, Arcot called them over to

d heating units. Made as it was, it offered protection nothing else could offer; it was almost a perfect insulator and was resistant to the attack of any chemical

belts to a broad belt that circled Arcot's waist. One thin cable ran down the ri

rcot said,

belt and flipped

red the angle of his arm and moved smoothly across the huge hangar, floating toward the shining bulk of the ra

me where there's m

speck in the sky. Then he suddenly came dropping down and landed lig

aid Morey, in

eed Fuller.

ight annihilator and I'll beat you

much load does it carry?" a

t take more than five gravities, so we can only visit planets with less

That gyro is necessary, too. I tried leaving it out and almost took a nosedive. I had it coupled directly to the body and leaned forward a little bit when I was in the air.

and several storage coils. I've also got it hooked to these hol

wn my arm to my hand. That gives you your direction,

I've ordered six others like it. I

y, looking inside the power case. "Hey

t; we might want to put some more st

t the apparatus and foun

re was other w

Arcot was collecting the necessary spare parts and apparatus. Morey was gathering a small library and equipping a chemistry l

be finished, but finally, one clear, warm day in Augu

. Morey went with the four younger men. They stood beside th

ut we still expect a good show." He paused and frowned, "I unde

he last decimal place; it's the best we can make it. Remember, the molecular motion drive will get a trial first; we'll give it a trial t

r enough out from the sun so that the gravitational field will be weak enough for the drive to overcome it. If we tried it this close, we'd just be tryi

pelessly beyond the range of the molecular motion drive in an instant. In other words, if the space

wrong, I'll radio Earth. You ought to be able to hear from me in about a dozen years." He

on for a trial trip. If it's a failure, we'll never be

Perfect logic, son, but I guess we may as well give up the discus

he inner, one-inch relux wall by a two inch gap which would be evacuated in space. The two walls were joined in many places by small lu

oot of it that surrounded the more visible part of the ship gave a curious optical illusion. The perfect reflecting ability of the relu

he windows was equipped with a relux shield that slid into position at the touch of a switch, and these were

men stood looking at the g

the inside," s

chinery from the inside, but the combination depended on the use of a molecular ray and the knowledge of the

e soft purring of a large oscillator tube and the indistinguishable murmur

in surprise at the heavy-dut

Lord! Where is all that powe

lf an hour and has half an hour to run. It takes two tons of matter to charge the coil to capacity, and we're carrying tw

cylinder up there?"

ing out through the wall in the rear. It was made integral with two giant lux metal beams that reached to the bow of

n gravities either forward or backward. In the curve of the ship, on top, si

this section is old hat to you, th

ed by a heavy pedestal of lux metal upon which was a huge, relux-encased, double torus storage coil. There was a large switchboard at the opposite en

y of power coils, considering the amount of ene

this one, which, you will notice, is constructed slightly differently. Instead of holding the field within it, completely enclosed

perspace and move at any speed you please

perspace. The only thing we have to avoid is stars; their gravitational fields would drain the energy out of the apparatus and we'd end up in the center of a white-hot

u can't see your way back you'll get l

ignal of any kind after we get more than three hundred

un's light. We'll take photographs every so ofte

ation," agreed Morey senior. "Let's see the rest of th

cked and well-equipped chemistry lab. They could perform many experiments here that no man had been able to perform

ases, six or seven duplicates-of every piece of apparatus on board, and plenty of material to make more. Actually, we

of the ship, where it will be easy to get at if necessary. A

the stairway to

e observatory. The observatory was equipped with a small but exceedingly powerful telectroscope, developed from those the Nigrans had left on one of the deserted planets Sol had captured in retur

h all the books the four men could think of as being useful. The books and all other equip

metal which enabled them to see in every direction except directly behind, an

m in the nose. To complete the armament, there were more projectors in the stern, controlle

t stops. With the possibility of stopping on other plan

vessel, the elder Arcot turned to his old friend. "Morey, it looks

you all know there's a lot more I could say." Morey

ime within two years. We can have no warning, I suppose; your ship will outrace

behind them, and the thick plastic cush

leared the area and stood well back from the great hu

trembled, and ro