Islands of Space

toward interplanetary space. Soon, the deep blue of the sky had given way to an intense violet, a

ing to look mighty little when

ance that our imaginations can't conceive of. And we'll be darned happy to see that pa

lecular motion power units, accelerating at a steady rate,

he use of the space strain drive. Indeed, it would be a good many hours bef

the readings on the control panel. Everything was working to perfection. Their ever

y decided they would be safe in using the space s

ntrol room, watching the instr

green switch that controlled the molecular motion machines. The big power tubes cut off, and their acceleratio

d for an instant as the titanic current that flowed through the gigantic conductors set up a terrific magnetic field,

had shone brilliantly around them in a myriad of colors were gone. The space around them glowed strangely, and there was a vast cloud of strange, violet or pale green stars before them. Directly ahead w

harged with a vast surplus of energy that rushed in from all around, coursing through their bodies, producing a t

ord, I made some errors in calculation, though! I hope I didn't

ly. By the way, it's a good thing we had all the relays magnetically shielded; the magneti

eres. The small coils worked perfectly. They're charged again; the power went back into the

thought you said we wouldn

ows-in this space because of their intense gravitational fields. There are probably slight fluctuations in the field, perhaps one every minut

behind us, and the green light was tremendously reduced in frequency. It certain

to the side? We weren't approaching th

ich was which?" aske

y have been the sun, since the sun was the only star close enough to show up as a disc. Since it was green and I k

usual," adm

asked Wade. "I think t

t. I've got the robot pilot on, so we can leave the ship to itself. Let's

amily on the telectroscope screen. He increased the magnification to maximum, and the four

ermine the distance we have come. However, I notice that Pluto is still in place, so that means we are se

Mars is placed in relation to Venus and Earth? The planets were in th

years of Sirius, since we were headed in that direction. Let's

weightless. Arcot didn't try to walk toward the control room; he simply pushed

and relative proximity to Sol, Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens, as seen from Earth. At this much lesser distance, it shone as a brilliant point of lig

ield from this distance. Our only way of getting back is going to be this series of pictures, so I think we had best make it complete. For the first light century, we ought to take a picture every ten ligh

uth, I'd have to search a while to find Old Sol again. I can't see just where he is. Of course, I coul

that! Imagine! He plans a trip of a thousand million light years, and then gets us out seven light years and says he doesn't

plates of the sun, using

have gone only a little way into space, up from the plane of the ecliptic and taken plates through a wi

not in perfect color balance, were more desirable f

shioned seats. Since the space strain mechanism had proved itself in the first test, they

ir immediate goal and said slowly: "How

as heavy, has four times the volume, and radiates twenty-five times as much light.

d-twenty-five-thousandths the volume of Sirius A, but it weighs one third as much. It radiates more per square inch than our su

ler, laughing. "But I must say they're interesting.

ound 103, while this star has a density so high that on

I'd hate to drop a baseba

d thing, you ought to be tough enough to stand dropping it on your toe. R

. When we get there, you

m; the bright spot of Sirius was a brilliant violet point that swelled

ntrol room was filled with a dazzling splendor of brillian

iolet. We could end up with third-degree sunburns if we're not careful." Suddenly he stopped and looked around in sur

about a double star! But-" He paused, bewildered. "But it is a planet! But-but

act remains that it is. Looks as if that shoots a whole flock of hole

more closely first," said

them more. It was most certainly a planet, and they

left and right hemispheres of the brain get out of step at times, causing a sensat

ume entitled: "The Astronomy of the Nigran Invasion," by D. K. Harkness. He opened the volume to a full-page photograph of the third planet of the B

se. "It's impossible! We came here faster t

the records we found, the ancient Nigrans had a force ray that could move planets from their orbits. I wonder if it couldn't be used to break up a double star? Also, we know their scientists were loo

rey enthusiastically. "

n star when we stopped back there

rs ago. We saw the light that left the companion bef

suddenly worried, "what is o

g normally on Earth as it is with us right now, but whenever we use the space-strain, we move instantaneously from one point to another

ce-strain, a day to look at the destination, and three more days coming back. When we returned to

take some photographs of this system? Otherwise,

ight as well look for the other

uilding giant structures of lux metal. The great cities of the Nigrans were beginning to bloom on the once bleak plains of the planet. The mighty blaze of Sirius had warme

. "We can prove we went faster than light easily, now. The astronomers can take up th

for hostility between our race and theirs. Perhaps we can start commerci

ake the trip to this system in less

ey, "let's get on wit

ore and Arcot threw in the molecular drive to take the

e pinhead of light, Arcot turned the ship until old Sol once more showed p

t cautioned, "h

hrew a flood of energy into the coils. The s

f appearing violet were almost invisible; they were radiating in the ultra-violet now. And

gly dimmer. Then, quite suddenly, a pale violet disc in fro

y relays thudded dully; the instruments flickered under a suddenly rising surg

d quietly, "is

dn't it?" asked Morey, hi

r. We're off course and we don't