thechronometer."
"Why, Ramsey! I do believe you're nervous."
"Anxious, Margot. A hyper-pilot is always anxious just before crossover.You've got to be, because the slightest miscalculation can send youfifty thousand light years off course."
"So? All you'd have to do is re-enter hyper-space and go back."
Ramsey shook his head. "Hyper-space can only be entered from certainpoints in space. We've never been able to figure out why."
"What certain points?"
* * * * *
Ramsey looked at her steadily. "Points which vary with the orbits of thethree thousand humanoid worlds, Margot," he said slowly. He watched herfor a reaction, knowing that strange fact about hyper-space--perfectlytrue and never understood--dovetailed with her father's letter aboutproto-man, an unknown pre-human ancestor of all the humanoid races inthe galaxy, who had discovered hyper-space, bred variations to colonizeall the inhabitable worlds, found or created the three thousandcrossover points in space, and used them.
Margot showed no response, but then, Ramsey told himself, she was atri-di actress. She could feign an emotion--or hide one. She merelyasked: "Is it true that there's no such thing as time in hyper-space?"
"That's right. That's why you can travel scores or hundreds or thousandsof light years through hyper-space in hours. Hyper-space is a continuumof only three dimensions. There is no fourth dimension, no dimension ofduration."
"Then why aren't trips through hyper-space instantaneous? They takeseveral hours, don't they?"
"Sure, but the way scientists have it figured, that's subjective time.No objective time passes at all. It can't. There isn't any--inhyper-space."
"Then you mean--"
Ramsey shook his head. "0134:02," he said. "It's almost time."
The seconds ticked away. Even Margot did not seem relaxed now. Shestared nervously at the chronometer, or watched Ramsey's lips as hesilently read away the seconds. A place where time did not exist, anunder-stratum of extension sans duration. An idea suddenly entered hermind, and she was afraid.
If proto-man had colonized the galactic worlds between one and four orfive million years ago, but if time did not exist for proto-man, thenwasn't the super-race which had engendered all mankind still waiting inits timeless home, waiting perhaps grimly amused to see which of theirprogeny first discovered their secret? Or must proto-man, like humanseverywhere, fall victim to subjective time if objective time did notmatter for him?
Ramsey was saying softly: "Fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five,fifty-six ... blastoff!"
His hand slammed down on the activating key.
An instant later, having felt no sensation of acceleration, they werefloating weightlessly in the cabin of the little _Enterprise_.
* * * * *
"The qualities of radar," Garr Symm said, "exist in their totality in auniverse of extension. Time, actually is a drawback to radar,necessitating a duration-lag between sending and receiving. Therefore,Ramar Chind, radar behaves perfectly in hyper-space, as you see."
"Yes," Ramar Chind said, floating near the radar screen aboard the _DogStar_. At its precise center was a bright little pip of light.
_The Enterprise_....
"But don't we do anything except follow them?" Ramar Chind said after along silence.
Garr Symm smiled. "Does it really matter? You see, Chind, time actuallystands still for us here. Duration is purely subjective, so what's yourhurry?"
Ramar Chind licked his lips nervously and stared fascinated at thelittle pip of bright light.
Which suddenly dipped and swung erratically.
* * * * *
"What is it?" Margot asked. "What's the matter?"
"Take it easy," Ramsey told her.
"But the ship's swooping. I can feel it. I thought you weren't supposedto feel movement in hyper-space!"
"Relax, will you? There are eddies in hyper-space, that's all. If youwant an analogy in terms of our own universe, think of shoals in anocean--unmarked by buoys or lights."
"You mean they have to be avoided?"
"Yes."
"But this particular shoal--it's midway between Irwadi and Earth?"
"There isn't any 'midway,' Margot. That's the paradox of hyper-space."
"I--I don't understand."
"Look. In the normal universe, extension is measured by time. That is,it takes a certain amount of time to get from point A to point B.Conversely, time is measured by extension in space. On Earth, a day oftime passes when Earth moves through space on an arc onethree-hundred-sixty-fifth of its orbit around the sun in length. Sincethere isn't any time to measure extension with in hyper-space, sincetime doesn't exist here, you can't speak of mid-points."
"But this--shoal. It's always encountered in hyper-space between Earthand Irwadi?"
Ramsey nodded. "Yes, that is right."
Margot smiled.
The smile suddenly froze on her face.
The _Enterprise_ lurched as if an unseen giant hand had slapped it.
At that moment Ramsey leaned forward over the controls, battling tobring the _Enterprise_ back on course.
And let down his mental guard.
_... precise place in hyper-space her father must have meant ... home ofproto-man ... thinks I'm going to stop there, she's crazy ... heck, I'mno mystic, but there are things not meant to be meddled with ..._
The ship swooped again. Ramsey went forward against the control panelhead-first and fell dazed from the pilot chair. His head whirled, hisarms and legs were suddenly weak and rubbery. He tried to stand up andmake his way back to the controls again, but collapsed and went down tohis knees. He crouched there, trying to shake the fog from his brain.
With a cry of triumph, Margot Dennison leaped at him and bore him downto the floor with her weight. He was still too dazed from the blow onhis head to offer any resistance when her strong hands tugged at hisbelt and withdrew the m.g. gun. She got up with it, backing away fromhim quickly toward the rear bulkhead as the ship seemed to go into asmooth glide which could be felt within it. Vardin stood alongsideRamsey, a hand to her mouth in horror. Ramsey got up slowly.
"Stay where you are!" Margot cried, pointing the m.g. gun at him. "I'llkill you if I have to. I'll kill you, Ramsey, I mean it."
Ramsey did not move.
* * * * *
"So you knew about my father," Margot challenged him.
"Yeah. So what?"
"And this shoal in hyper-space is a world, isn't it?"
Ramsey nodded. "I think so."
"O.K. Sit down at the controls, Ramsey. That's right. Don't tryanything."
Ramsey was seated in the pilot chair again. His head was still whirlingbut his strength had returned. He wondered if he could chance rushingher but told himself she meant what she said. She would kill him in coldblood if she had to.
"Bring the _Enterprise_ down on that world, Ramsey."
He sat there and stubbornly shook his head. "Margot, you'll be meddlingwith a power beyond human understanding."
"Rubbish! You read my father's letter, didn't you? That fear's beenimplanted in your genes. It's part of the heredity of our people. It'srubbish. Bring the ship down."
Still Ramsey did not move. Vardin looked from him to Margot Dennison andback again with horror in her eyes.
"I'll count three," Margot said. "Then I'll shoot the Vegan girl. Do youunderstand?"
Ramsey's face went white.
"One," Margot said.
Vardin stared at him beseechingly.
Ramsey said: "All right, Margot. All right."
Five minutes later, subjective time, the _Enterprise_ landed with alurch.
That they had reached a world in hyper-space there could be no doubt.But outside the portholes of the little freighter was only the murkygrayness of the timeless hyper-space continuum.
* * * * *
"They've
gone down, sir!" Ramar Chind cried.
Garr Symm nodded. For the first time he was really nervous. He wonderedabout the Dennison letter. Could his fear be attributed to ancestralmemory, as Dennison had indicated? Was it really baseless--thiscrawling, cold-fingered hand of fear on his spine?
There was no physical barrier. The _Enterprise_ had established thatfact. Then was there a barrier which Garr Symm, along with allhumanoids, had somehow inherited?
A barrier of stark terror, subjective and unfounded on fact?
And beyond it--what?
Power to chain the universe....
Think, Garr Symm told himself. You've