Murray Leinster (Duke Classic SiFi) by Operation: Outer Space Read Free Book Online Page A

at twenty times the speed of light
means that there is a way to send matter faster than light—as soon as
we work it out. It means that the inertia-mass which increases with
speed—Einstein's stuff—is not a property of matter, but of space, just
as the air-resistance that increases when an airplane goes faster is a
property of air and not of the plane. Maybe we need to work out a theory
that all inertia is a property of space. We'll see if we need that. But
anyhow, just as a plane can go faster in thin air, so matter—any
matter—will move faster in this field as soon as we get the trick of
it. You see?"
    Holden shook his head.
    "What's that got in it to make Dabney famous?" he asked.
    "Jamison will extrapolate from there," Cochrane assured him. "Go ahead,
Jamison. You're on."
    Jamison said promptly, with the hypnotic smoothness of the practiced
professional:
    "When this development has been completed, not only will messages be
sent at multiples of the speed of light, but matter! Ships! The barrier
to the high destiny of mankind; the limitation of our race to a single
planet of a minor sun—these handicaps crash and will shatter as the
great minds of humanity bend their efforts to make the Dabney
faster-than-light principle the operative principle of our ships. There
are thousands of millions of suns in our galaxy, and not less than one
in three has planets, and among these myriads of unknown worlds there
will be thousands with seas and land and clouds and continents, fit for
men to enter upon, there to rear their cities. There will be starships
roaming distant sun-clusters, and landing on planets in the Milky Way.
We ourselves will see freight-lines to Rigel and Arcturus, and journey
on passenger-liners singing through the void to Andromeda and Aldebaran!
Dabney has made the first breach in the barrier to the illimitable
greatness of humanity!"
    Then he stopped and said professionally:
    "I can polish that up a bit, of course. All right?"
    "Fair," conceded Cochrane. He turned to Holden. "How about a
public-relations job on that order? Won't that sort of publicity meet
the requirements? Will your patient be satisfied with that grade of
appreciation?"
    Holden drew a deep breath. He said unsteadily:
    "As a neurotic personality, he won't require that it be true. All he'll
want is the seeming. But—Jed, could it be really true? Could it?"
    Cochrane laughed unpleasantly. He did not admire himself. His laughter
showed it.
    "What do you want?" he demanded. "You got me a job I didn't want. You
shoved it down my throat! Now there's the way to get it done! What more
can you ask?"
    Holden winced. Then he said heavily:
    "I'd like for it to be true."
    Jones moved suddenly. He said in an oddly surprised voice:
    "D'you know, it can be! I didn't realize! It can be true! I can make a
ship go faster than light!"
    Cochrane said with exquisite irony:
    "Thanks, but we don't need it. We aren't getting paid for that! All we
need is a modicum of appreciation for a neurotic son-in-law of a partner
of Kursten, Kasten, Hopkins and Fallowe! A public-relations job is all
that's required. You give West the theory, and Jamison will do the
prophecy, and Bell will write it out."
    Jones said calmly:
    "I will like hell! Look! I discovered this faster-than-light field in
the first place! I sold it to Dabney because he wanted to be famous! I
got my pay and he can keep it! But if he can't understand it himself,
even to lecture about it ... Do you think I'm going to throw in some
extra stuff I noticed, that I can fit into that theory but nobody else
can—Do you think I'm going to give him starships as a bonus?"
    Holden said, nodding, with his lips twisted:
    "I should have figured that! He bought his great discovery from you, eh?
And that's what he gets frustrated about!"
    Cochrane snapped:
    "I thought you psychiatrists knew the facts of life, Bill! Dabney's not
unusual in my business! He's almost a typical sponsor!"
    "When you ask me to throw away