The Amazon said: “The surprising thing is the child’s right.”
“I’m no child!”
“To us, I mean.” The Amazon gave a faint smile and then continued: “In the Ultra we could exceed the speed of light by using the automatic control to side-slip from the normal space-time continuum into the fourth dimension once the course to Alpha was set. That would have the effect of foreshortening space, and then we’d emerge back into normal space once the gulf had been traversed. As Viona remarked, there may be worlds out there in the Greater Deeps that we could benefit. Backward populations, to whom science as yet means nothing. We might, in due time, bring true that dream I once had—long before I met you, Abna. Long before Viona was—created.”
“What dream, mother?” Viona was bright-eyed with eagerness as the Amazon slipped a supple arm around her young shoulders.
“It was a dream of unifying the whole Universe—the whole mighty macrocosmic molecule which Einstein once called finite and yet unbounded. In those days I believed in power for power’s sake; I believed the populations of endless worlds would have to bow down before my scientific skill. Since then I have learned a great deal. Ruthlessness is not always the answer, and perhaps I have been mellowed by the passing years.”
“Mellowed maybe,” Viona admitted, “but you’re still the most brilliant woman this planet has ever known. Don’t go back on your fabulous reputation by behaving like an ordinary person.”
The Amazon smiled whimsically, dropping her arm from about Viona’s shoulders.
“I shall never do that, provided— always provided—that I can find something upon which to exercise my talents. Your idea of a flight to Alpha Centauri is like the old days—the freedom of space, the call of adventure, the magnificent tension of never knowing what is to happen next. Maybe we might make a beginning in trying to unify the Universe. We might even start to obliterate all those cruel, selfish elements that make everlasting peace among thinking beings impossible. Yes, Viona, I’m all for the flight to Outer Space. What about you, Abna?”
“Anything goes. Certainly there is little we can do on Earth except mope around and make experiments.”
So it was decided, and preparations immediately went forward for the greatest journey ever yet contemplated by these three super-scientists who ruled the System.
The one individual to whom most information was vouchsafed was Chris Wilson, wealthy controller of the System’s Space Lines. He seemed puzzled when, the day before departure, the Amazon outlined everything to him.
“Frankly, Vi,” he said, using as ever the Amazon’s Christian name, “it does not make sense to me. You and Abna—and maybe even Viona by now—have the mastery of mind over matter so complete that you can project yourselves anywhere at any time by using sufficient concentration. Since there are no barriers to thought, why go to all the trouble of a space journey in the Ultra when you can mentally project yourselves to your destination?”
“Good old Chris!” The Amazon gave a sigh. “Always have your two feet planted firmly on Earth, don’t you? The reason why the journey must be a normal physical one is because we don’t yet know where our destination is to be.”
“You said Alpha Centauri. What more is needed?”
“A good deal more! We have to be certain that there is a planetary system around Alpha. There’s no guarantee of one. If we used mental projection we’d reassemble in space itself without a world to tread. True, mental power could again save us from destruction, but it would be a profound waste of intellectual energy.… No, this has to be done in the normal way. And anyhow, there is the interest of the voyage! Think of it—many times faster than light and a distance of twenty thousand billion miles! What might we not see on a trip like that?”
Chris Wilson winced. “Probably fascinates you, Vi, but I’m an aging codger who prefers the fireside and daily routine. Incidentally, I assume no communication with you will be possible?”
“Not after we’ve left the solar system—which will be with extreme rapidity—and then warped into the fourth dimension. Everything else has been attended to, and the high-level executives of the government know they have to rely henceforth on their own resources.”
The Amazon rose to her feet, as erect as a golden statue. She held out her slim hand—that hand that could, under necessity, crush flash and blood to pulp.
“Goodbye, Chris,” she said simply, her profound eyes upon him.
He had risen too and, puzzled, he shook hands and then regarded her.
“Goodbye? That sounds like the end of the road. Surely it isn’t that?”
“It may be. Once we are launched way beyond the nearest star, we shall not come back to Earth without very good reason. Earth no longer has need of us. Our future lies amongst the stars, trying to build up those backward scientific races that need aid. Everything we do shall be in the name of this home world of ours, of course, but.… Well, the journeying may take many years. Even centuries. You are a natural human being, Chris, and for that reason your life span is short compared to Abna’s, Viona’s, and mine. So it is goodbye, you see.”
Chris shook his white-haired head vehemently. “I’ll never believe that, Vi. You’ll be back before I die, with some new wonder to relate.”
The Amazon only shrugged and walked to the door. Reaching it, she turned and smiled at the bemused Chris. “I haven’t time to say goodbye to your family, Chris. But I’ve left a video message in my office for Ethel and the others. Give her my regards.…” In another moment she had left the colossal administrative Space Edifice, and was on her way in her private atomic helicopter to the great hangar where reposed her space machine, the Ultra. The hangar lay outside the city itself, an enormous building housing the most powerful space machine ever known. Into its design had gone the combined genius of three scientific intellectuals, and within it was every conceivable necessity. It was a flying city in itself.
CHAPTER TWO
FAREWELL TO EARTH
Arriving at the hangar, the Amazon found both Abna and Viona hard at work on final preparations for departure. Whilst Abna was checking the atomic power plant and fourth-dimensional switchboard, Viona was attending to the hundred and one details concerning provisions, clothing, air supply, weapon ammunition, and so forth.
“Everything fixed?” Viona asked, as her mother entered the big control room.
“Yes, everything—and the goodbyes have been said. Your father busy on the power unit?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then I’d better do my part of the work and get the course mapped out.”
The Amazon went to work, walking into the navigation chamber adjacent to the control room. Here there loomed all the scientific paraphernalia and computers necessary to make dead certain of any predicted path through space. Here were mathematical machines of incredible accuracy, designed to weigh up every possible contingency in the complicated equational formula of traveling between dimensions.
For an hour the Amazon brooded over the calculations she was working out, checking the results with the computers. When at last she had come to the end of her maze of figuring she seemed satisfied. The sound of footsteps on the metal floor caused her to turn.
The gigantic figure of Abna entered, his handsome face smudged with grease from his activities.
“Everything in order,” he announced. “Near as I can estimate we’ll need twenty copper disintegrative blocks for this trip, which is as much as we can carry without them interacting with each other. After that we’ll have to look elsewhere for fresh supplies. The twenty blocks allow enough and to spare to make the trip to Alpha Centauri and wherever we go next.”
The Amazon figured quickly and then looked surprised. “But twenty blocks is a tremendous number,