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diff --git a/25628.txt b/25628.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a636b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/25628.txt @@ -0,0 +1,779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nothing Equation, by Tom Godwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Nothing Equation + +Author: Tom Godwin + +Release Date: May 27, 2008 [EBook #25628] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOTHING EQUATION *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _The space ships were miracles of power and precision; + the men who manned them, rich in endurance and courage. + Every detail had been checked and double checked; every + detail except--_ + + + THE NOTHING EQUATION + + By TOM GODWIN + + + [Illustration] + + +The cruiser vanished back into hyperspace and he was alone in the +observation bubble, ten thousand light-years beyond the galaxy's +outermost sun. He looked out the windows at the gigantic sea of +emptiness around him and wondered again what the danger had been that +had so terrified the men before him. + +Of one thing he was already certain; he would find that nothing was +waiting outside the bubble to kill him. The first bubble attendant had +committed suicide and the second was a mindless maniac on the Earthbound +cruiser but it must have been something inside the bubble that had +caused it. Or else they had imagined it all. + +He went across the small room, his magnetized soles loud on the thin +metal floor in the bubble's silence. He sat down in the single chair, +his weight very slight in the feeble artificial gravity, and reviewed +the known facts. + +The bubble was a project of Earth's Galactic Observation Bureau, +positioned there to gather data from observations that could not be made +from within the galaxy. Since metallic mass affected the hypersensitive +instruments the bubble had been made as small and light as possible. It +was for that reason that it could accommodate only one attendant. + +The Bureau had selected Horne as the bubble's first attendant and the +cruiser left him there for his six months' period of duty. When it made +its scheduled return with his replacement he was found dead from a +tremendous overdose of sleeping pills. On the table was his daily-report +log and his last entry, made three months before: + +_I haven't attended to the instruments for a long time because it hates +us and doesn't want us here. It hates me the most of all and keeps +trying to get into the bubble to kill me. I can hear it whenever I stop +and listen and I know it won't be long. I'm afraid of it and I want to +be asleep when it comes. But I'll have to make it soon because I have +only twenty sleeping pills left and if--_ + +The sentence was never finished. According to the temperature recording +instruments in the bubble his body ceased radiating heat that same +night. + + * * * * * + +The bubble was cleaned, fumigated, and inspected inside and out. No sign +of any inimical entity or force could be found. + +Silverman was Horne's replacement. When the cruiser returned six months +later bringing him, Green, to be Silverman's replacement, Silverman was +completely insane. He babbled about something that had been waiting +outside the bubble to kill him but his nearest to a rational statement +was to say once, when asked for the hundredth time what he had seen: + +"Nothing--you can't really see it. But you feel it watching you and you +hear it trying to get in to kill you. One time I bumped the wall +and--for God's sake--take me away from it--take me back to Earth ..." + +Then he had tried to hide under the captain's desk and the ship's doctor +had led him away. + +The bubble was minutely examined again and the cruiser employed every +detector device it possessed to search surrounding space for light-years +in all directions. Nothing was found. + +When it was time for the new replacement to be transferred to the bubble +he reported to Captain McDowell. + +"Everything is ready, Green," McDowell said. "You are the next one." His +shaggy gray eyebrows met in a scowl. "It would be better if they would +let me select the replacement instead of them." + +He flushed with a touch of resentment and said, "The Bureau found my +intelligence and initiative of thought satisfactory." + +"I know--the characteristics you don't need. What they ought to have is +somebody like one of my engine room roustabouts, too ignorant to get +scared and too dumb to go nuts. Then we could get a sane report six +months from now instead of the ravings of a maniac." + +"I suggest," he said stiffly, "that you reserve judgement until that +time comes, sir." + + * * * * * + +And that was all he knew about the danger, real or imaginary, that had +driven two men into insanity. He would have six months in which to find +the answer. Six months minus-- He looked at the chronometer and saw that +twenty minutes had passed since he left the cruiser. Somehow, it seemed +much longer ... + +He moved to light a cigarette and his metal soles scraped the floor with +the same startling loudness he had noticed before. The bubble was as +silent as a tomb. + +It was not much larger than a tomb; a sphere eighteen feet in diameter, +made of thin sheet steel and criss-crossed outside with narrow +reinforcing girders to keep the internal air pressure from rupturing it. +The floor under him was six feet up from the sphere's bottom and the +space beneath held the air regenerator and waste converter units, the +storage batteries and the food cabinets. The compartment in which he sat +contained chair, table, a narrow cot, banks of dials, a remote-control +panel for operating the instruments mounted outside the hull, a +microfilm projector, and a pair of exerciser springs attached to one +wall. That was all. + +There was no means of communication since a hyperspace communicator +would have affected the delicate instruments with its radiations but +there was a small microfilm library to go with the projector so that he +should be able to pass away the time pleasantly enough. + +But it was not the fear of boredom that was behind the apprehension he +could already feel touching at his mind. It had not been boredom that +had turned Horne into a suicide and Silverman into-- + +Something cracked sharply behind him, like a gunshot in the stillness, +and he leaped to his feet, whirling to face it. + +It was only a metal reel of data tape that had dropped out of the +spectrum analyzer into the storage tray. + +His heart was thumping fast and his attempt to laugh at his nervousness +sounded hollow and mirthless. _Something_ inside or outside the bubble +had driven two men insane with its threat and now that he was +irrevocably exiled in the bubble, himself, he could no longer dismiss +their fear as products of their imagination. Both of them had been +rational, intelligent men, as carefully selected by the Observation +Bureau as he had been. + +He set in to search the bubble, overlooking nothing. When he crawled +down into the lower compartment he hesitated then opened the longest +blade of his knife before searching among the dark recesses down there. +He found nothing, not even a speck of dust. + +Back in his chair again he began to doubt his first conviction. Perhaps +there really had been some kind of an invisible force or entity outside +the bubble. Both Horne and Silverman had said that "it" had tried to get +in to kill them. + +They had been very definite about that part. + + * * * * * + +There were six windows around the bubble's walls, set there to enable +the attendant to see all the outside-mounted instruments and dials. He +went to them to look out, one by one, and from all of them he saw the +same vast emptiness that surrounded him. The galaxy--his galaxy--was so +far away that its stars were like dust. In the other directions the +empty gulf was so wide that galaxies and clusters of galaxies were tiny, +feeble specks of light shining across it. + +All around him was a void so huge that galaxies were only specks in +it.... + +Who could know what forces or dangers might be waiting out there? + +A light blinked, reminding him it was time to attend to his duties. The +job required an hour and he was nervous and not yet hungry when he had +finished. He went to the exerciser springs on the wall and performed a +work-out that left him tired and sweating but which, at least, gave him +a small appetite. + +The day passed, and the next. He made another search of the bubble's +interior with the same results as before. He felt almost sure, then, +that there was nothing in the bubble with him. He established a routine +of work, pastime and sleep that made the first week pass fairly +comfortably but for the gnawing worry in his mind that something +invisible was lurking just outside the windows. + +Then one day he accidentally kicked the wall with his metal shoe tip. + +It made a sound like that from kicking a tight-stretched section of tin +and it seemed to him it gave a little from the impact, as tin would do. +He realized for the first time how thin it was--how deadly, dangerously +thin. + +According to the specifications he had read it was only one-sixteenth of +an inch thick. It was as thin as cardboard. + +He sat down with pencil and paper and began calculating. The bubble had +a surface area of 146,500 square inches and the internal air pressure +was fourteen pounds to the square inch. Which meant that the thin metal +skin contained a total pressure of 2,051,000 pounds. + +Two million pounds. + +The bubble in which he sat was a bomb, waiting to explode the instant +any section of the thin metal weakened. + +It was supposed to be an alloy so extremely strong that it had a high +safety factor but he could not believe that any metal so thin could be +so strong. It was all right for engineers sitting safely on Earth to +speak of high safety factors but his life depended upon the fragile wall +not cracking. It made a lot of difference. + + * * * * * + +The next day he thought he felt the hook to which the exerciser spring +was attached crack loose from where it was welded to the wall. He +inspected the base of the hook closely and there seemed to be a fine, +hairline fracture appearing around it. + + * * * * * + +He held his ear to it, listening for any sound of a leak. It was not +leaking yet but it could commence doing so at any time. He looked out +the windows at the illimitable void that was waiting to absorb his +pitiful little supply of air and he thought of the days he had hauled +and jerked at the springs with all his strength, not realizing the +damage he was doing. + +There was a sick feeling in his stomach for the rest of the day and he +returned again and again to examine the hairline around the hook. + +The next day he discovered an even more serious threat: the thin skin of +the bubble had been spot-welded to the outside reinforcing girders. + +Such welding often created hard, brittle spots that would soon +crystallize from continued movement--and there was a slight temperature +difference in the bubble between his working and sleeping hours that +would daily produce a contraction and expansion of the skin. Especially +when he used the little cooking burner. + +He quit using the burner for any purpose and began a daily inspection of +every square inch of the bubble's walls, marking with white chalk all +the welding spots that appeared to be definitely weakened. Each day he +found more to mark and soon the little white circles were scattered +across the walls wherever he looked. + +When he was not working at examining the walls he could feel the windows +watching him, like staring eyes. Out of self defense he would have to go +to them and stare back at the emptiness. + +Space was alien; coldly, deadly, alien. He was a tiny spark of life in a +hostile sea of Nothing and there was no one to help him. The Nothing +outside was waiting day and night for the most infinitesimal leak or +crack in the walls; the Nothing that had been waiting out there since +time without beginning and would wait for time without end. + +Sometimes he would touch his finger to the wall and think, _Death is out +there, only one-sixteenth of an inch away_. His first fears became a +black and terrible conviction: the bubble could not continue to resist +the attack for long. It had already lasted longer than it should have. +Two million pounds of pressure wanted out and all the sucking Nothing of +intergalactic space wanted in. And only a thin skin of metal, rotten +with brittle welding spots, stood between them. + +It wanted in--the Nothing wanted in. He knew, then, that Horne and +Silverman had not been insane. It wanted in and someday it would get in. +When it did it would explode him and jerk out his guts and lungs. Not +until that happened, not until the Nothing filled the bubble and +enclosed his hideous, turned-inside-out body would it ever be content ... + + * * * * * + +He had long since quit wearing the magnetized shoes, afraid the +vibration of them would weaken the bubble still more. And he began +noticing sections where the bubble did not seem to be perfectly concave, +as though the rolling mill had pressed the metal too thin in places and +it was swelling out like an over-inflated balloon. + +He could not remember when he had last attended to the instruments. +Nothing was important but the danger that surrounded him. He knew the +danger was rapidly increasing because whenever he pressed his ear to the +wall he could hear the almost inaudible tickings and vibrations as the +bubble's skin contracted or expanded and the Nothing tapped and searched +with its empty fingers for a flaw or crack that it could tear into a +leak. + +But the windows were far the worst, with the Nothing staring in at him +day and night. There was no escape from it. He could feel it watching +him, malignant and gloating, even when he hid his eyes in his hands. + +The time came when he could stand it no longer. The cot had a blanket +and he used that together with all his spare clothes to make a tent +stretching from the table to the first instrument panel. When he crawled +under it he found that the lower half of one window could still see him. +He used the clothes he was wearing to finish the job and it was much +better then, hiding there in the concealing darkness where the Nothing +could not see him. + +He did not mind going naked--the temperature regulators in the bubble +never let it get too cold. + +He had no conception of time from then on. He emerged only when +necessary to bring more food into his tent. He could still hear the +Nothing tapping and sucking in its ceaseless search for a flaw and he +made such emergences as brief as possible, wishing that he did not have +to come out at all. Maybe if he could hide in his tent for a long time +and never make a sound it would get tired and go away ... + +Sometimes he thought of the cruiser and wished they would come for him +but most of the time he thought of the thing that was outside, trying to +get in to kill him. When the strain became too great he would draw +himself up in the position he had once occupied in his mother's womb and +pretend he had never left Earth. It was easier there. + +But always, before very long, the bubble would tick or whisper and he +would freeze in terror, thinking, _This time it's coming in ..._ + + * * * * * + +Then one day, suddenly, two men were peering under his tent at him. + +One of them said, "My God--_again!_" and he wondered what he meant. But +they were very nice to him and helped him put on his clothes. Later, in +the cruiser, everything was hazy and they kept asking him what he was +afraid of. + +"What was it--what did you find?" + +He tried hard to think so he could explain it. "It was--it was Nothing." + +"What were you and Horne and Silverman afraid of--what was it?" the +voice demanded insistently. + +"I told you," he said. "Nothing." + +They stared at him and the haziness cleared a little as he saw they did +not understand. He wanted them to believe him because what he told them +was so very true. + +"It wanted to kill us. Please--can't you believe me? It was waiting +outside the bubble to kill us." + +But they kept staring and he knew they didn't believe him. They didn't +_want_ to believe him ... + +Everything turned hazy again and he started to cry. He was glad when the +doctor took his hand to lead him away ... + +The bubble was carefully inspected, inside and out, and nothing was +found. When it was time for Green's replacement to be transferred to it +Larkin reported to Captain McDowell. + +"Everything is ready, Larkin," McDowell said. "You're the next one. I +wish we knew what the danger is." He scowled. "I still think one of my +roustabouts from the engine room might give us a sane report six months +from now instead of the babblings we'll get from you." + +He felt his face flush and he said stiffly, "I suggest, sir, that you +not jump to conclusions until that time comes." + + * * * * * + +The cruiser vanished back into hyperspace and he was alone inside the +observation bubble, ten thousand light-years beyond the galaxy's +outermost sun. He looked out the windows at the gigantic sea of +emptiness around him and wondered again what the danger had been that +had so terrified the men before him. + +Of one thing he was already certain; he would find that nothing was +waiting outside the bubble to kill him ... + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ December 1957. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nothing Equation, by Tom Godwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOTHING EQUATION *** + +***** This file should be named 25628.txt or 25628.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/2/25628/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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