WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:09.519 The Vortex Blaster by ee Doc Smith introducing Storm Cloud, who, 2 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.480 through tragedy, is destined to become the most noted figure 3 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:18.199 in the galaxy. The Vortex Blaster. Safety devices that do 4 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:21.760 not protect the unsinkable ships that, before the days of 5 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:24.600 Bergenholm and of atomic and cosmic energy sank into the 6 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.879 waters of Earth. More particularly, safety devices which, while protecting 7 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:33.119 against one agent of destruction, attract magnet like another and worse, 8 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:35.960 such as the armored cable within the walls of a 9 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 wooden house. It protects the electrical conductors within against accidental 10 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:43.840 external shorts, but inadequately grounded, as it must of necessity be, 11 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:48.119 it may attract an upon occasion has attracted the stupendous 12 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:54.560 force of lightning, then fused volatilized flaming incandescent through the length, breath, 13 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:57.719 and height of a dwelling. That dwelling's existence thereafter is 14 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:02.719 to be measured in minutes. Specifically, four lightning rods, the 15 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.079 lightning rods protecting the chromium glass and plastic home of 16 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.840 Neil Cloud. Those rods were adequately grounded, grounded with copper 17 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:14.239 silver cables. The bigness of a strong man's arm for 18 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.760 Neil Cloud atomic physicist knew his lightning, and he was 19 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:20.719 taking no chances whatever with the safety of his lovely 20 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:24.680 wife and their three wonderful kids. He did not know. 21 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.079 He did not even suspect that, under certain conditions of 22 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:32.000 atmospheric potential and of ground magnetic stress, his perfectly designed 23 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:35.120 lightning rod system would become a super powerful magnet for 24 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:40.599 flying vortices of atomic disintegration. And now Neil Cloud atomic 25 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:43.799 physicist sat at his desk in a strained, dull apathy. 26 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:47.120 His face was a yellowish gray white, His tendoned hands 27 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:50.480 gripped rigidly the arms of his chair. His eyes, hard 28 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:53.920 and lifeless, stared unseeingly past the small three dimensional block 29 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.280 portrait of all that had made life worth living. For 30 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.519 his guardian against lightning had been a vortex manet. At 31 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:03.200 the moment when a luckless White had attempted to abate 32 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:07.040 the nuisance of a loose atomic vortex, that White died, 33 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.520 of course, they almost always do, and the vortex, instead 34 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.360 of being destroyed, was simply broken up into an indefinite 35 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.080 number of widely scattered new vortices. And one of these 36 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.960 bits of furious, uncontrolled energy resembling more nearly a handful 37 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.800 of material rived from a sun than anything else with 38 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.039 which ordinary man is familiar, darted toward and crashed downward 39 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:32.199 to Earth through Neil Cloud's new house. That home did 40 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.120 not burn. It simply exploded. Nothing of it in it 41 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:39.360 or around it stood a chance. For in a fractional 42 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.680 second of time, the place where it had been was 43 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:45.400 a crater of seething, boiling lava, a crater which filled 44 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:48.599 the atmosphere to a height of miles with poisonous vapors, 45 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:54.039 which flooded all circumambient space with lethal radiations. Cosmically, the 46 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.360 whole thing was infantasmal. Ever since man learned how to 47 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.759 liberate intra atomic energy, the vortices of decease integration had 48 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:04.439 been breaking out of control. Such accidents had been happening, 49 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:08.199 were happening, and would continue indefinitely to happen. More than 50 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:11.599 one world perhaps had been or would be consumed to 51 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:15.319 the last gram by such luc atomic vortices. What of that? 52 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:18.599 Of what real importance are a few grains of sand 53 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:21.639 to an ocean beach five thousand miles long, one hundred 54 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:25.039 miles wide, and ten miles deep, And even to that 55 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.919 individual grain of sand called Earth, or in modern parlance, 56 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:33.039 Sol three or Tellus of sal Or simply tell Us. 57 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:37.039 The affair was of negligible importance. One man had died, 58 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.560 but in dying he had added one more page to 59 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:43.000 the thick bulk of negative results already on file. That 60 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.800 Missus Cloud and her children had perished was merely unfortunate. 61 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:50.120 The vortex itself was not yet a real threat to 62 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:52.680 tell Us. It was a new one, and thus it 63 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:55.000 would be a long time before it would become other 64 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:58.159 than a local menace, and well before that can happen. 65 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:01.360 Before even the oldest of ten tell Us loose vortices 66 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.960 had eaten away much of her mass or poisoned much 67 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:07.240 of her atmosphere, her scientists would have solved the problem. 68 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.240 It was unthinkable that tell Us, the point of origin 69 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.879 and the very center of galactic civilization, should cease to exist. 70 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.040 But to Neil Cloud, the accident was the ultimate catastrophe. 71 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:21.720 His personal universe had crashed in ruins. What was left 72 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.519 was not worth picking up. He and Joe had been 73 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:27.120 married for almost twenty years, and the bonds between them 74 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:31.560 had grown stronger, deeper, truer with every passing day, and 75 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.160 the kids it couldn't have happened. Fate couldn't do this 76 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:44.000 to him, but it had, it could gone, gone gone, 77 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.519 And to Neil Cloud, atomic physicists, sitting there at his 78 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:50.199 desk in torn despairing abstraction, with black maggots of thought 79 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:53.680 gnawing holes in his brain, the catastrophe was doubly galling 80 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:56.879 because of its cruel irony, For he was second from 81 00:04:56.920 --> 00:04:59.879 the top in the atomic research laboratory. His life's were 82 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:02.560 had been a search for a means of extinguishment of 83 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:07.040 exactly such loose vortices as had destroyed his all. His 84 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:11.279 eyes focused vaguely upon the portrait, clear honest, gray eyes, 85 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:15.600 lines of character and of humor, sweetly curved lips ready 86 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:19.360 to smile or to kiss. He wrenched his eyes away 87 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:22.399 and scribbled briefly upon a sheet of paper. Then, getting 88 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:25.120 up stiffly, he took the portrait and moved woodenly across 89 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.759 the room to a furnace, as though en shrining it. 90 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.560 He placed the plastic block upon a refractory between the 91 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.879 electrodes and threw a switch. After the flaming arc had 92 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.000 done its work, he turned and handed the paper to 93 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.759 a tall man dressed in plain gray Leather, who had 94 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.920 been watching him with quiet, understanding eyes. Significant enough to 95 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:45.920 the initiated of the importance of this laboratory is the 96 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:50.040 fact that it was headed by an unattached lensman. As 97 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.319 of now, Phil, if its QX with you, the gray 98 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.839 Lensman took the document, glanced at it, and slowly, meticulously 99 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:01.720 tore it into sixteen equal pieces. Storm, he denied gently, 100 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:06.480 not a resignation, leave of absence, Yes, indefinite, but not 101 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:11.920 a resignation. Why it was scarcely a question. Cloud's voice 102 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:15.120 was level, uninflected. I won't be worth the paper, I'd 103 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:20.079 waste now, No, the lensman conceded. But the future's another matter. 104 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:22.680 I haven't said anything so far because to anyone who 105 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.720 knew you and Joe, as I knew you, it was 106 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:28.680 abundantly clear that nothing could be said. Two hands gripped 107 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.319 and held for the future. Though four words were uttered 108 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.519 long ago that have never been improved upon. This too 109 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:40.120 shall pass. You think so. I don't think so, Storm, 110 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:43.040 I know so. I've been around a long time. You 111 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:45.000 are too good a man, and the world has too 112 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.560 much use for you for you to go down permanently 113 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.120 out of control. You've got a place in the world, 114 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:53.160 and you'll be back. A thought struck the lensman, and 115 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:56.199 he went on in an altered tone. You wouldn't, But 116 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.160 of course you wouldn't. You couldn't. I don't think so, 117 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.600 so no, I won't. That never was any kind of 118 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:07.480 a solution to any problem, nor was it. Until that moment. 119 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.759 Suicide had not entered Cloud's mind, and he rejected it instantly. 120 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.759 His kind of man did not take the easy way out. 121 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:16.920 After a brief farewell, Cloud made his way to an 122 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.879 elevator and was whisked down to the garage into his 123 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.839 big blue Di Kotynski sixteen special and away through traffic 124 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.279 so heavy that front, rear and side bumpers almost touched. 125 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:32.160 He drove with his wonted cool skill, even though consciously 126 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:34.199 he did not know that the other cars were there. 127 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:38.240 He slowed, turned, stopped, gave her the oof, all in 128 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.519 correct response to flashing signals in all shapes and colors, 129 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:45.560 purely automatically. Consciously, he did not know where he was going, 130 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.519 nor care if he thought at all. His numbed brain 131 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:51.519 was simply trying to run away from its own bitter imaging, 132 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.040 which if he had thought at all, he would have 133 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:56.959 known to be a hopeless task. But he did not think. 134 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:01.959 He simply acted dumbly, miserably. His eyes saw optically, his 135 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:06.560 body reacted mechanically. His thinking brain was completely in abeyance. 136 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.160 Into a one way skyway, he rocketed along it, over 137 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:14.120 the suburbs and into the Transcontinental super Highway. Edging inward, 138 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:18.319 lane after lane, he reached the unlimited way. Unlimited, that is, 139 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:20.439 except for being limited to cars of not less than 140 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.240 seven hundred horse power in perfect mechanical condition, driven by registered, 141 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.639 tested drivers, that speeds not less than one hundred and 142 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:29.839 twenty five miles an hour. Flashed his registry number at 143 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:32.519 the control station and shoved his right foot down to 144 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.840 the floor. Now, every one knows that an ordinary Di 145 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.240 Karinsky sporter will do a hundred and forty honestly measured 146 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:42.960 miles in one honestly measured hour, But very few ordinary 147 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.679 drivers have ever found out how fast one of those brutal, 148 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:49.159 big souped up sixteens can wheel. They simply haven't got 149 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.679 what it takes to open one up. Storm Cloud found 150 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:55.120 out that day he held that two and a half 151 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:58.440 ton juggernaut on the road wide open for two solid hours, 152 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.200 but it didn't help drive as he would. He could 153 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.440 not outrun that which rode with him, beside him and 154 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.639 within him and behind him. For Joe was there, Joe 155 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.759 and the kids, but mostly Joe. It was Joe's car 156 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.279 as much as it was his babe. The Big Blue 157 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.320 Ox was Joe's pet name for it, because like Paul 158 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:20.399 Bunyan's fabulous beast, it was pretty nearly six feet between 159 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.720 the eyes. Everything they had ever had was that way. 160 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.919 She was in the seat beside him, Every deer, every sweet, 161 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:32.039 every luscious, lovely memory of her was there. And behind him, 162 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.919 just out of the eye corner visibility, were the three kids, 163 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.200 and a whole lifetime of this loomed ahead a vista 164 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.240 of emptiness, more vacuous, far than the emptiest reaches of 165 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:45.960 intergalactic space. Damned nation. He couldn't stand much more of 166 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.679 high Over the roadway. Far ahead, a brilliant octagon flared 167 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:53.679 red that meant stop in any language. Cloud eased up 168 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:57.200 his accelerator, eased down his mighty brakes. He pulled up 169 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:02.000 at the control station, and a trimly uniformed officer a gesture. Sorry, sir, 170 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:04.799 the policeman said, but you'll have to detour here. There's 171 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:08.000 a loose atomic vortex beside the road up ahead. Oh 172 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:12.240 it's doctor Cloud. Recognition flashed into the guard's eyes. I 173 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.320 didn't recognize you at first. You can go ahead. Of course, 174 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:17.840 it'll be two or three miles before you have to 175 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:20.279 put on your armor. You'll know when better than many 176 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:22.559 one can tell you. They didn't tell us they were 177 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:25.600 going to send for you. It's just a little new one, 178 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.639 and the dope we got was that they were going 179 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:30.559 to shove it off into the canyon with pressure. They 180 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:33.159 didn't send for me. Cloud tried to smile. I'm just 181 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:36.519 driving around. Haven't my armor along? Even so, I guess 182 00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:39.200 I might as well go back. He turned the special 183 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.960 around a loose vortex. Knew there might be a hundred 184 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.480 of them, scattered over a radius of two hundred miles, 185 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.759 sisters of the one that had murdered his family, the 186 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.080 hellish spawn of that accursed number eleven vortex that that 187 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:56.799 damnably incompetent bungling ass had tried to blow up into 188 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.480 his mind. There leapt a picture wire's sharp of nomblen 189 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:03.279 as he had last seen it, and simultaneously an idea 190 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.519 hit him, like a blow from a fist. He thought, 191 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:13.480 really thought, now, cogently, intensely, clearly. If he could do it, 192 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:16.919 could actually blow out the atomic flame of an atomic vortex. 193 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.200 Not exactly revenge, but by Klonzo's brazen bows. It would work. 194 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.360 It'd have to work. He'd make it work. And grimly, 195 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.600 quietly but alive in every fiber. Now, he drove back 196 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:32.759 toward the city, practically as fast as he had come away. 197 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.480 If the Lensman was surprised at Cloud's sudden reappearance in 198 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:39.159 the laboratory, he did not show it, nor did he 199 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.200 offer any comment, as his erstwhile first assistant went to 200 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:46.399 various lockers and cupboards, assembling meters, coils, tubes, armor, and 201 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:50.320 other paraphernalia and apparatus. Guess that's all I'll need, Jeef 202 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.320 Cloud remarked. Finally, here's a blank check. If some of 203 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:55.440 this stuff should happen to be in usable condition when 204 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:57.320 I get done with it, fill it out to suit, 205 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:00.799 will you no, and the Lensman tore up the check 206 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.440 just as he had torn up the resignation. If you 207 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:06.559 want the stuff for legitimate purposes, you're on patrol business, 208 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:09.480 and it's the patrol's risk. If, on the other hand, 209 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:11.879 you think that you're going to try to snuff of vortex, 210 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:16.360 the stuff stays here, that's final storm. You're right and wrong. 211 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.679 Phil Cloud stated, not at all sheepishly. I'm going to 212 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.879 blow out number one vortex with duo deck. Yes, but 213 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.840 I'm really going to blow it out, not merely make 214 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:28.440 a stab at it as an excuse for suicide. As 215 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.480 you think, how the big Lensman's query was skepticism incarnate. 216 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.559 It can't be done except by an almost impossibly fortuitous accident. 217 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:40.480 You yourself have been the most bitterly opposed of us to 218 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:44.440 all these suicidal attempts. I know it. I didn't have 219 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.360 the solution myself until a few hours ago. It hit 220 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:50.720 me all at once. Funny, I never thought of it before. 221 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:54.039 It's been right in sight all the time. That's the 222 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.360 way with most problems. The chief admitted, plain enough, after 223 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:00.639 you see the key equation, Well, I'm perfect willing to 224 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:02.679 be convinced, but I warn you that I'll take a 225 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.559 lot of convincing and someone else will do the work, 226 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:09.039 not you. When I get done, you'll see why I'll 227 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.639 pretty nearly have to do it myself. But to convince 228 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:16.559 you exactly what is the not variability snapped the older man. 229 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.200 To be effective, the charge of explosive at the moment 230 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:22.320 of impact must match within very close limits the activity 231 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.720 of the vortex itself. Too small a charge scatters it 232 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:29.120 around in vortices, which, while much smaller than the original, 233 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.480 are still large enough to be self sustaining. Too large 234 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:36.360 a charge simply rekindles the original vortex, still larger in 235 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.759 its original crater. And the activity that must be matched 236 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.559 varies so tremendously in magnitude maxima and minima, and the 237 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.799 cycle is so erratic, ranging from seconds to hours without 238 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.399 discoverable rhyme or reason, that all attempts to do so 239 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.679 at any predetermined instant have failed completely. Why even Kinnison 240 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.480 and Cartinge and the Conference of Scientists couldn't solve it 241 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:59.840 any more than they could work out a tractor beam. 242 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:01.759 There it could be used as a tow line on 243 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.080 one not exactly cloud demured, they found that it could 244 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.840 be forecast for a few seconds at least length of 245 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:12.240 time directly proportional to the length of the cycle in question, 246 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:16.360 by an extension of the calculus of warped surfaces. Humph 247 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:19.559 the lensman snorted, So what what good is a ten 248 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:22.320 second forecast when it takes a calculating machine an hour 249 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:27.159 to solve the equations? Oh, he broke off, staring. Oh, 250 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.639 he repeated slowly. I forgot that you're a lightning calculator, 251 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.519 a mathematical prodigy from the day you were born, who 252 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.200 never has to use a calculating machine, even to compute 253 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:39.960 in orbit. But there are other things, I'll say, there 254 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.039 are plenty of them. I'd thought of the calculator angle before, 255 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:45.600 of course, but there was a worse thing than variability 256 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:51.120 to contend with what the lensman demanded. Fear Cloud replied crisply. 257 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.080 At the thought of a hand to hand battle with 258 00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:57.440 a vortex, my brain froze solid. Fear the sheer, stark, 259 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:00.519 natural human fear of death that rob a man of 260 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:02.919 the fine edge of control and brings on the very 261 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:05.840 death that he is trying so hard to avoid. That's 262 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:09.559 what had me stopped. Right. You may be right, the 263 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:13.159 lensman pondered, his fingers drumming quietly upon his desk. And 264 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.759 you are not afraid of death now, even subconsciously. But 265 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:21.320 tell me Storm, please, that you won't invite it. I 266 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.360 will not invite it, sir, now that I've got a 267 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.279 job to do. But that's as far as I'll go 268 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.559 promising I won't make any superhuman effort to avoid it. 269 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.559 I'll take all due precautions for the sake of the job. 270 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:34.120 But if it gets me, what the hell. The quicker 271 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:37.159 it does, the better, the sooner I'll be with Joe. 272 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:43.440 You believe that implicitly the vortices are as good as gone, 273 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.440 then they haven't got any more chance than Boscone has 274 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:51.039 of licking the patrol. I'm afraid so almost glumly. The 275 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:52.960 only way for it to get me is for me 276 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:55.320 to make a mistake, and I don't feel any coming on. 277 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:59.919 But what's your angle, the lensman asked, interest, lighting his eyes. 278 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.840 You can't use the customary attack. Your time will be 279 00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:06.360 too short. Like this and taking down a sheet of 280 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:10.159 drafting paper, clouds sketched rapidly, this is the crater here, 281 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.639 with the vortex at the bottom there. From the observer's 282 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.399 instruments or from a shielded set up of my own, 283 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.799 I get my data on mass emission maxima, minima and 284 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.559 so on. Then I have them make me three duo 285 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:25.799 deck bombs one on the mark of the activity I'm 286 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:29.320 figuring on shooting at and one each five percent over 287 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:33.519 and under that figure cased in neocarballoy of exactly the 288 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:36.000 computed thickness to last until it gets to the center 289 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.039 of the vortex. Then I take off in a flying suit, 290 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:43.080 armored and shielded. Say about here, if you take off 291 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:45.559 at all, you'll take off in a suit inside a 292 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.320 one man flitter. The lensman interrupted too many instruments for 293 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.919 a suit to say nothing of bombs, and you'll need 294 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.840 more screen than a suit can deliver. We can adapt 295 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.559 a flitter for bomb throwing easily enough q X. That 296 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:00.879 would be better, of course. In that case, I set 297 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.799 my flitter into a projectile trajectory like this, whose objective 298 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:08.319 is the center of the vortex there see ten seconds 299 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:10.720 or so away. At about this point, I take my 300 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:15.039 instantaneous readings solve the equations at that particular warped surface 301 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.960 for some certain zero time. But suppose that the cycle 302 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.240 won't give you a ten second solution. Then I'll swing 303 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.480 around and try again until a long cycle does show 304 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:31.079 up QX. It will sometime sure. Then, having everything set 305 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.839 for zero time, and assuming that the activity is somewhere 306 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.000 near my postulated value. Assume that it isn't it probably 307 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.759 won't be. The chief grunted. I accelerate or decelerate, solving 308 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:47.400 new equations all the while, sure don't interrupt, so until 309 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:51.079 at zero time the activity extrapolated to zero time matches 310 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.000 one of my bombs. I cut that bomb loose, shoot 311 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:57.799 myself off in a sharp curve, and zweet powie. She's out. 312 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:02.079 With an expressive, sweeping gesture. You hope, the lensman was 313 00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:04.799 frankly dubious. And there you are, right in the middle 314 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:07.519 of that explosion, with two duo deck bombs outside your 315 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.559 armor or just inside your flitter. Oh no, I've shot 316 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.680 them away several seconds ago, so that they explode somewhere else, 317 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.559 nowhere near me, I hope. But do you realize just 318 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:20.519 how busy a man you're going to be during those 319 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:25.119 ten or twelve seconds. Fully Cloud's face grew somber. But 320 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.480 I will be in full control. I won't be afraid 321 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:30.559 of anything that can happen anything, And he went on 322 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:34.279 under his breath. That's the hell of it. Q X, 323 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:36.920 the lensman admitted, Finally, you can go There are a 324 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.000 lot of things you haven't mentioned, but you'll probably be 325 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.319 able to work them out as you go along. I 326 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:42.960 think I'll go out and work with the boys in 327 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.000 the lookout station while you're doing your stuff. When are 328 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.920 you figuring on starting? How long will it take to 329 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:51.880 get the flitter ready? A couple of days? Say we 330 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:55.720 meet you there Saturday morning, Saturday the tenth, at eight o'clock. 331 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.400 I'll be there and again. Neil Cloud and Babe the 332 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:02.079 big Blue Ox hit the road, And as he rolled, 333 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:04.799 the physicist mulled over in his mind the assignment to 334 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:08.839 which he had set himself. Like fire, only worse. Intra 335 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.039 atomic energy was a good servant, but a terrible master 336 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.319 man had liberated it before he could really control it. 337 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:18.680 In fact, control was not yet and perhaps never would 338 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:22.319 be perfect up to a certain size and activity. Yes, they, 339 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:25.920 the millions upon millions of self limiting ones, were the servants. 340 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:29.839 They could be handled, fenced in, controlled. Indeed, if they 341 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:33.279 were not kept under an exciting bombardment and very carefully fed, 342 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:36.880 they would go out, but at long intervals. For some 343 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.480 one of a dozen reasons, science knew so little fundamentally 344 00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:44.279 of the true inwardness of the intra atomic reactions. One 345 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.119 of these small, tame, self limiting vortices flared novalich into 346 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:51.880 a large, wild, self sustaining one. It ceased being a 347 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.680 servant then, and became a master. Such flare ups occurred, 348 00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:58.440 perhaps only once or twice in a century on Earth. 349 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:02.119 The trouble was that they were so utterly damnably permanent 350 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.680 that they never went out, and no data were ever secured. 351 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:07.960 For every living thing in the vicinity of a flare 352 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.559 up died, every instrument, and every other solid thing within 353 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.599 a radius of one hundred feet melted down into the reeking, 354 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:18.720 boiling slag of its crater. Fortunately, the rate of growth 355 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:22.759 was slow, as slow almost as it was persistent. Otherwise 356 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.200 civilization would scarcely have had a planet left. And unless 357 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.440 something could be done about loose vortices before too many years, 358 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:33.519 the consequences would be really serious. That's why his laboratory 359 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:36.480 had been established in the first place. Nothing much had 360 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.519 been accomplished so far. The tractor beam that would take 361 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:42.880 hold of them had never been designed. Nothing material was 362 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.799 of any use. It melted. Pressers worked after a fashion. 363 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:49.079 It was by the use of these beams that they 364 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:52.920 shoved the vortices around off into the waste places, unless 365 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:55.319 it proved cheaper to allow the places where they had 366 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.559 come into being to remain waste places. A few, through 367 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:03.400 sheer luck, had been blown into self limiting bits by Duodeck. 368 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.759 Duodeca ply latimate the most powerful, the most frighteningly detinent 369 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:10.480 explosive ever invented, upon all the known planets of the 370 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:15.279 first galaxy. But Duodeck had taken an awful toll of life. Also, 371 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.759 since it usually scattered a vortex instead of extinguishing it, 372 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:22.480 Duodeck had actually caused far more damage than it had cured. 373 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:26.119 No end of fantastic schemes had been proposed, of course, 374 00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:30.519 of varying degrees of fantasy. Some of them sounded almost practical, 375 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.720 Some of them had been tried, some of them were 376 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:36.759 still being tried. Some, such as the perennially appearing one 377 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.799 of building a huge hemispherical hull in the ground under 378 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:43.480 and around the vortex, installing an inertialless drive, and shooting 379 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.799 the whole neighborhood out into space, were perhaps feasible from 380 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.680 an engineering standpoint. They were, however, potentially so capable of 381 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:53.319 making things worse that they would not be tried save 382 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:57.039 as last ditch measures. In short, the control of loose 383 00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:02.079 vortices was very much an unsolved problem. Number one vortex, 384 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.000 the oldest and worst upon Tellus, had been pushed out 385 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.599 into the bad lands, and there, at eight o'clock on 386 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.400 the tenth cloud started to work upon it. The lookout station, 387 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:14.799 instead of being some such ramshackle structure as might have 388 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:18.400 been deduced from the lensman's casual terminology, was in fact 389 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:22.519 a fully equipped observatory. Its staff was not large eight 390 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.200 men worked in three staggered eight hour shifts of two 391 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.039 men each, but the instruments to develop them had required 392 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.480 hundreds of man years of time and near miracles of research, 393 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:34.839 not the least of the problems having been that of 394 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:38.799 developing shielded conductors capable of carrying truly through five ply 395 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:42.400 screens of force the converted impulses of the very radiations 396 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:46.200 against which those screens were most effective for the observatory, 397 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:48.680 and the one long approach to it as well had 398 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:53.079 been screened heavily. Without such protection, no life could exist there. 399 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.559 This problem and many others, had been solved, however, and 400 00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.880 there the instruments were every phase and factor of the 401 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:04.160