Hunters Out of Space

  CHAPTER 6

  In the days that followed there was no time for rest. Thanks to thesmaller prototype which had already gone into space, no elaborate testswere required of the new ship. Moreover, the scientists had takencenturies to go over the Old Ship, bolt by bolt, part by part, wire bywire. Improvements had been made, but these had been incorporated intothe little prototype which was now successfully berthed within a cavernsomewhere on the moon. Over thirty men and women had gone with it.Wolden was constantly in touch with them and daily growing more enviousof their position.

  Odin knew little of such matters, but he sat daily at the council tablewhere progress reports and squawk-sheets were examined and discussed. Thespeed with which they were developing the new ship was amazing. There wasone innovation to be noted.

  Wolden referred to it as the Fourth Drive. Odin gathered that the Old Shiphad been equipped with such a drive, but new principles and new mechanicshad been added. Odin showed him a little book, which had been privatelyprinted in the world above some fifteen years before. It was entitled:"Einstein and Einsteinian Space, with Conjectures upon a Trans-Einsteinianconcept." Wolden said it had been written by a young refugee from theNazis, and he doubted if over two or three copies of the manuscript werenow in existence. Memories of concentration camps, poverty, and theinternecine battles of the professors in a small college where the refugeewas an assistant in the Physics Department, had finally driven the poorfellow to suicide.

  "He was grasping at something new," Wolden explained. "His concept was onlynascent. But such a mind! The book has been invaluable. Still, it isnothing but a starting point--but such a starting point!"

  Time passed. It was like working in a dream, where no sooner was one taskdone than another was ready. Odin ached. His head spun with all theinformation that Wolden had given him--the basic principles behind thosemachines that had gone into the ship.

  Then, at last, it was finished. A young girl who reminded him of Maya washoisted up on a scaffold to the highest bulge of the hour-glass shapedcraft. Workers and visitors stood below by the thousands while she spokeinto a tiny microphone and swung a ruby-colored bottle against the ship.

  "You are christened The Nebula," she cried. "Go out into space--"

  They had used a bottle of red wine for the christening. A shower ofruby-glass and winedrops came sprinkling down. They fell slowly--like dropsof blood, and the onlookers, who were by nature opposed to crowds, began todisperse.

  "That girl," Odin grasped Gunnar's arm "Who is she?"

  Gunnar looked at him curiously. "Her name is Nea. A distant cousin ofMaya's. Also, a distant cousin to Grim Hagen."

  Nothing else was said. But Odin suddenly realized that since the day he hadbeen unwillingly carried back to the world above in the elevator he had notnoticed any girl at all.

  That night Jack Odin could not sleep, although he had never slept more thanfive hours at a time since returning to Opal. Getting up he found a littleradio and turned it to a frequency which occasionally caught some of thestations above. A hill-billy band was playing, and a comic was singing:"So I kissed her little sister and forgot my Clementine."

  He turned off the radio with a curse and finally got to sleep, and dreamedof star spaces and emerald worlds ruled by beautiful Brons girls who lookedlike Maya--or maybe a bit like Nea. Until the worlds streaked across thedark sky like comets. And Gunnar was shaking him by the arm and a streakof light was coming in at the window.

  "Ho, sluggard. We start to load the ship today. How long have you waitedfor this? We were going to savor each moment, remember! And you lie herelike a turtle in the sun."

  Odin yawned. "The lists are ready. Everything is packed. I, myself, havechecked the lists."

  Gunnar laughed. "How much time have your people spent checking lists?You are the world's best list-checkers. And the worst. I wish we werejust a handful of warriors going out for a fight. But whole families arecoming along. Apparently the Brons intend to sow their seed among thestars. And with families. I'll wager that your lists are not worth adarning needle. Something will be left behind. A slice of some bride'swedding cake. Little Nordo's favorite toy. Papa's best pocket-knife.Mama's button-box." The strong little man made a wry face. "Bah, this isno trip for families. They want too much. They are never satisfied. Withwarriors it is much different. They can take things as they are andgrumble a bit--or if they grumble too much, Gunnar can slap them silly.But families--on a trip like this. No!"

  "Well, they're going," Odin retorted. "From what I hear, you were the onlyone who voted against them. So you had better get ready to listen to thepatter of little feet, and squalling babies, and Mamas and Papas arguingover whose idea it was to make the trip anyway."

  "Oh, well, it does not matter. I am not of the Brons, but I go becauseof a promise." Gunnar shrugged and his face appeared sad and seamed."My Freida and the boys will be here today. I want you to meet them. Ihave spent over half my days a-wandering, Jack Odin, but now I have asick feeling inside me. And I think to myself if I could go back to thefarm with Freida and the boys, I could work there, and die an old, oldman--as my father and his father did before me. But the wanderlust isheavy upon me. Freida understands. And I swore that I would go afterGrim Hagen--and after Maya. But this way, I die up there among the starssome day, and no one unless it be you and Maya will think of Gunnar."

  Odin slapped his arm across Gunnar's shoulders. "You are chief among theNeeblings. Stay here with your family. I will go out there to the stars,and I will always remember Gunnar. Faith, man, you owe us nothing. Thedebts are ours--"

  But Gunnar shook his head. "I swore by my sword. And I go."

  * * * * *

  A few hours later, they stood at the water's edge and waited for Freida andthe boys. It was not long before a boat hove into sight. And soon Gunnarwas helping Freida and the three sons upon the landing.

  Family meetings always made Odin ill at ease. He stood there, shuffling hisfeet.

  Freida was a short, broad woman, with big breasts and broad hips. Her eyes,the palest blue, were still beautiful. Odin guessed that when she was youngher face had matched her eyes. But the face was worn and the hand that sheoffered him was calloused. She was dressed in linsey-woolsey, and theoveralls of the three sons were also home-spun.

  The three lads, miniature copies of Gunnar, stood there solemnly. Each worea new straw hat with a black and red band around it. They were barefooted.Odin guessed that the hats had been bought special for the occasion.

  * * * * *

  For the next three days Odin was kept busy by Ato. There were amillion things to go on the ship. The Brons had done a wonderful jobof warehousing. All was packaged and tagged. A place for each box ormachine was already marked and numbered on the prints of The Nebula.The tunnel had been cleared for two lanes of trucks and tractors.Steadily the line of laden cars moved down to the ship and steadilyanother line came back for more supplies.

  Odin was assigned to superintend one of the warehouses, and he was bothannoyed and pleased to find that the girl Nea was his assistant. She wasa hard worker and pleasant enough, though she said little to him. And theonly time he saw her flustered was when she ordered a young man of theBrons out of the building. Jack felt a bit sorry for the fellow. He wasscarcely out of his teens and was all shook up because Nea was going outthere into space instead of staying here in Opal with him.

  So the work went on at a furious pace, and before he realized that threedays had gone he was back at the improvised docks with Gunnar and hisfamily.

  The parting was a quiet one. Gunnar told the boys to mind their motherand not stay out late at night. "Get strong muscles on your legs andshoulders," he told them. "A man is not too good at thinking, and he neverknows what will happen next. The muscles will keep him going, and afterthe muscles are gone a fighting heart will carry him a little farther."

  No tears were shed. They talked of little things, and laughed at old jokesthat Gunnar's gra
ndfather had told them. One of those family jokes thatnever seem very funny to an outsider.

  After that, Freida worked the conversation around to the voyage that Gunnarwould soon be making.

  "They say it is cold out there," she ventured cautiously.

  "Oh, yes. Very cold." Gunnar agreed.

  "Then you wrap up good, Gunnar. We wouldn't want you to have a chill."

  Gunnar scoffed, "I never had a chill in my life."

  "Oh, such talk. Don't pretend to be so big. I have nursed you through manya chill." Then she produced her parting gift--a muffler that would haveswathed poor Gunnar from chin to belt.

  "You promise you wear this if it gets cold," she urged.

  "I tell you, mama, I don't need such things. You don't know how tough oldGunnar is."

  "Yes, I know. You promise to wear the muffler--"

  Gunnar took it as he cast a sheepish look at Odin. "All right. All right.I'll take it--"

  After Freida's boat had disappeared, Gunnar tried to joke about themuffler. But he was a bit proud of it too, and put it around his neck. Theends almost brushed the ground, but it was so warm that he soon had to rollit up and carry it with him.

  The two went for a meal. But Gunnar ate little, grumbling at the food.Once he assured Odin that he had never had a chill in his life--that Freidawas too thoughtful about him--

  "Sure. Sure." Odin agreed.

  Then, finally, Gunnar cleared his throat and spoke the things that were inhis mind.

  "Friend Odin," he began, looking down at his plate as though he expected tosee an answer there. "I fear that I have seen my family for the last time.We are in for a trip beyond the dreams of men. Beyond Ragnarok--to the edgeof the night where the mad gods make bonfires of worn-out suns--where spaceitself serves the mad squirrel."

  Gunnar paused to mutter a few words to himself and then looked up at Odinwith the old smile on his broad face. "Oh, well, a man must go as far ashis heart will take him--"

  * * * * *

  But for all his big talk, Gunnar tossed and muttered that night. And once,Odin heard him cry out--"So, Hagen, the stars swing right at last, and youare mine for the taking. Oh, my lost little boys and my lost little girl--"

  And Gunnar, the strong one, sobbed in his sleep.

  * * * * *

  The ship was loaded at last. The time for departure was near. The crew ofThe Nebula--over two hundred men, women and children--went quietly into thetunnel. Thousands of relatives and friends had come to the Tower to seethem off. There was little weeping though most of the faces were sad andlined.

  Ato and Wolden had some last words with the captains who were working uponthe rebuilding of Opal.

  "We can talk to you from the moon," Wolden was saying. "Beyond that, whenwe swing into the Fourth Drive, we cannot. May your work prosper."

  The last man had filed up the ramp to the sphere at the center of thehour-glass shaped craft. The door was finally closed and sealed.

  There were no portholes in the Nebula. But at least a dozen screens weremounted at convenient locations. These showed the outside world as clearlyas a window.

  The ship moved along its rails to the Great Door. The door opened. Thenit closed behind them. The second door--the one that opened upon thesea--slowly parted and slid back into the walls of the tunnel. The waterpoured in. For a second or two, all that Odin could see was swirlingbubbling water. Then water was all around them. Seaweed still swirled inmad little whirlpools. A fish swam close to an outside scanner, and seemedto peer closer and closer at them until there was only one great staringeye upon the screen. Then it flirted its tail at them and sped away.

  The ship moved on. Far out upon the floor of the Gulf, it paused. Therewere twenty minutes of last-minute checking.

  Then, swiftly, as a cork bobs upward, the Nebula arose through the partingwaters.

  Then the sea was below them and they were still rising. The scanner showedthe sea receding. They were looking down at a segment of a curved world.Far away was land, and Odin saw two dark specks in the distance which hethought were Galveston and Houston. The world below them became half of asphere that filled the viewer. And then it was a turning globe, growingsmaller and smaller. As it diminished, the stars winked out on the screen'sbackground.

  The sensation of rushing upward was no worse than being in a fast elevator.And yet, as Odin watched the earth recede, he realized that they must haverisen from the water at a speed much faster than a bullet.

  Soon the earth appeared no larger than a basketball. The viewers werechanged. The moon appeared upon it--a growing sphere, with its mountainsand craters all silver and black in the reflected light.

  Wolden turned to Odin. "See how it is done. We left there quietly. Not adrop of water entered Opal. We left so fast that I doubt if your world evennoticed us. Grim Hagen always loved the sensational. There was no need forthe havoc that he made--"

  In less than an hour, the onrushing moon filled the screens. And withscarcely a quiver of excitement the Nebula circled it swiftly--and landed.