The Star Lord
his glistening forehead with his handkerchief.
"Yes," he said. "I was surprised. I'll admit I didn't expect them here.But there's so much we don't know about hyperspace!"
"No, there's so much we _do_ know! Are you a child, to fancy there aregoblins outside just because it's dark? There is a perfectly rational,alternative explanation for the things that worry you. Why can't youaccept them?"
Evans got up and began to pace the floor. "I guess I'm following ahunch."
"But would you make us lose the Blue Ribbon for a mere hunch? Don't youtrust your own objective judgment?"
Sweating heavily, the Captain tried to stub out his cigar, but his handswere moist and his fingers trembled.
"I don't know!" he shouted. Then he went on, his voice low and tired."You may be right. Burl. You may be right. We may not have hit theRipples. The Ripples may not even exist, although some very competentspacemen and some very brilliant physicists are convinced they do. Buthow can I judge? How can I be sure?"
Jasperson leaned forward, intent as a cat on a bird.
"None of the other Piles have started to heat? There's nothing else tomake you suspicious?"
"Nothing except the space record tape, and that makes no sense."
"Exactly. Then why don't you look at this situation as a hardheadedspaceman should, and order full speed ahead?"
"Burl, there are fifteen hundred lives dependent on me. How can I takesuch a chance?"
"It wouldn't be a chance. And if by the one unlucky chance in tenmillion there should be trouble, you have ample lifeboat space foreveryone. Isn't it worth the gamble?"
"I don't like gambling lives against a piece of blue silk ribbon."
* * * * *
Jasperson sighed. "Come, Josiah, be reasonable. I wouldn't think ofgiving you an order, or trying to interfere with your decision in anyway, but surely I may be allowed to help you to reach the correctdecision? How will you feel when the _Star Lord_ limps into port four orfive days late, and you have to explain to the Board that she wasdelayed because you were trying to dodge some non-existent Ripples. Youare afraid! Change your frightened point of view, and that will make youchange your orders and get us on the way once more, full speed!"
Muttering to himself, wiping his brow, Captain Evans walked around thelittle room, while Jasperson sat back and watched him with cold, intenteyes. Evans glanced once at the little red book, half covered withpapers, and pain contorted his face.
Suddenly he stepped to his desk and called Engineer Wyman.
"What about that space tape, Wyman? Has Smith been able to detect anypattern in the impulses?"
"No, sir. No pattern of any sort we can recognize, anyway."
"And what report on Pile Ten?"
"Pile Ten is doing nicely, sir. Lost half a degree in the last hour. Bytomorrow she ought to be back to normal limits."
Clicking the phone, Evans resumed his pacing in the heavy silence. Atlast he faced Jasperson and spread out his palms, his face gray asparchment.
"All right, Burl. You're probably right. I won't argue any longer."
"Good man! The Star Line will know how to appreciate your decision." Hehesitated, and asked, "You'll agree, now, I didn't push you into this?It's your own free decision?"
Calmly, Evans answered. "It is my own responsibility."
He buzzed Operations.
"Wyman? Captain Evans speaking. Full speed ahead!"
* * * * *
On the dance floor late that night, a crooner in blue Venusian mask andwig hummed the melody while the orchestra wailed and zinged behind him.The lights had been dimmed to a purple midnight, and shadowy couplesflitted about the room, swaying, humming, laughing. Horned devils dancedwith angels, pirates and Roman senators guided in their arms lovelyCleopatras and sinuous mermaids. Hunched over the little tables,clinking glasses, grotesque silhouettes of Martians, Venusians, andApollonians whispered intimately.
The walls of the room displayed the evening stars of late summer, and,special event for a gala evening, a fat yellow half moon sailed lazilyin the sky.
The _Star Lord_ shuddered, briefly. Briefly the crooner's voice wavered,the notes of the violins hesitated, but no one noticed. A second quiverof the ship, and the dancers paused to look at one anotherquestioningly, then laughed and danced on.
Jasperson had been sitting beside the wall, vainly searching among thedancers for Tanya. He stood up, his forehead suddenly wet with sweat.Plowing through the dancers and out of the door, in the corridor he raninto Steward Davis, gliding along on silent, slippered feet.
"What was that, Davis?"
"Don't know, sir. Nothing serious, or the alarm lights would be on."
"Come with me."
He flung open the door of the Captain's cabin. It was empty. Stacey wasnot in the anteroom, and the inner cabin was silent. The water carafehad been turned over on the desk, and a few papers lay scattered on thefloor.
"They might be in Operations, sir."
"Show me the way!" They raced down the corridors, past the open door ofthe room where dancers still swayed and the orchestra still played.Through a hall, down an escalator, down, down, to the center of theship.
Jasperson paused. "You needn't wait, Davis. But I may want you again.I'll let you know."
Pushing aside the crewmen who stood guard at the door, he rushed intothe room.
"Josiah! What was that shock? I demand to know what's happened!"
Evans threw him a glance of pure, intense hatred, and then resumed hisquestioning of Chief Wyman.
"You say Number Ten just let go?"
"Not exactly, sir. For a couple of hours or so after we resumed speed,it stayed steady. All of a sudden, it started to climb. They called me,but by the time I got there it was already at critical level. We put inmore dampers, but it kept going up and up, and I thought it mightvaporize any minute. I hadn't any choice, sir. There wasn't time to callyou and get orders. I had to drop it."
"Certainly. I'm not criticizing you. But there's one thing we hadn'tcounted on. Chief Thayer says Pile Ten took lifeboat C along with it."
"But how could that happen?"
"Boat C was just above, you remember. The heat triggered the releasemechanism, and the boat launched itself into space."
Jasperson interrupted, trying to speak calmly. "What's happened? Tell mewhat's wrong?"
"We've hit the imaginary Thakura Ripples," Evans said savagely, "andthey're tearing us apart!"
The plump soft body of Burl Jasperson seemed to deflate. The truculencedrained from his face, leaving his skin a dirty white as he whispered,"Then the Thakura Ripples _are_ real? And we're in danger?"
The Captain's laugh was bitter. "What do _you_ think? Don't you want togive me the benefit of your advice now?"
Again the door burst open, and a crewman ran in.
"Captain Evans, sir. Piles Fourteen and Fifteen have started to heat.They're already at critical level."
"Dump them!"
The phone buzzed, and Evans listened with a face which was turning agraveyard gray.
"If you can hold them down, keep them. If they pass the critical point,shoot them away." Turning, he looked straight into the dilated eyes ofJasperson, and spoke as if every word were a knife thrusting into thepudgy body.
"Every one of the Piles is starting to heat. Every last one. One lifeboat is lost. That means fifteen hundred people to be crowded into fivelittle boats!"
"What are you going to do?" croaked the little man.
"I've already reduced speed. I've sent out and am still sending outcalls for help, over phase wave. We'll shift to normal space, and we'lllaunch the lifeboats as soon as they can be provisioned and loaded. Andthen we'll pray. And now, Burl Jasperson, how do you like the ThakuraRipples?"
Bracing himself against the desk, Burl tried to smile. "If there's anyway I can help, of course, just let me know." With a feeble attempt atjauntiness, he staggered out of the cabin.
*
* * * *
Opening the long-closed shutter of the observation port, Captain Evanscould see the suns of normal space glittering in the blackness about theship, unfamiliar and alien. Before the shift to normal space he hadsent out SOS calls throughout the galaxy, but he had not waited for anyreplies before shifting. He could not know whether the calls had beenheard, or even whether there were any ships close enough to send helpafter hearing the calls. He hoped, with all his being, that they hadcome out in a region of inhabited planet systems, in a regular shippinglane, so that his passengers could be picked up and taken to