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diff --git a/old/63837.txt b/old/63837.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d7a7d79..0000000 --- a/old/63837.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,694 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peril Orbit, by C. J. Wedlake - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Peril Orbit - -Author: C. J. Wedlake - -Release Date: November 21, 2020 [EBook #63837] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERIL ORBIT *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - PERIL ORBIT - - By C. J. WEDLAKE - - Caught in the sun! The young pilot stared - at the mass of angry flame--wondering why - his training wouldn't let him give up. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Summer 1949. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Across the blazing face of the sun moved a round dark speck, a tiny, -one-man space ship. It was very small, very close, and utterly -helpless. The side facing the sun glowed dull red. - -Inside, Jim MacDonald stood glumly regarding the thermometer on the -pilot compartment bulkhead. Sweat made dark patches on the light blue -of his uniform and ran in beads down his forehead. He rubbed his arm -across his face. The thermometer read over two hundred. He shook his -head slowly. It couldn't be that hot, heat must be conducting along the -magnesium bulkhead to the instrument. - -Jim ran his fingers through his hair to brush back the damp strands -that clung to his forehead. The hand came away with little droplets -clinging to his fingertips. He wiped it across his pants, and tapped -the thermometer again. The pointer stayed where it was, stuck against -the peg. - -"About one forty-five," he guessed aloud, and turned to walk with a -slow, dragging step across to the pilot's seat. Weakly he slumped down -with his arms dangling loose over the chair arms, knuckles almost -touching the deck. He sat very still trying to ignore the temperature -in the compartment, but the hot stifle wrapped around him and his -chest heaved in a sigh. - -Jim MacDonald was done for and he knew it. The thermo-couple to the -outside skin showed three thousand degrees. The inside cooling system -had not been built for this and had long since ceased to cope with the -heat. There seemed to be no use continuing his grim little existence, -or facing the worse smother of heat to come. - -Yet, driven by the dull automatism of training and habit, he listlessly -swung the stand with the ship's log over before him and noted his -temperature readings. Then he critically reread what he had already -written. - -A few days ago, he had been using the gravitational field of the sun -as a booster to help fling the little ship from Earth to Venus. In the -mighty field, a space warp had funneled out, caught him, and sucked the -ship toward the blazing maw. - -The struggle to escape was a masterpiece of calculation. He had figured -with such a nicety that his fuel had run out just at the moment the -jet tubes at the rear became molten lumps on the ship's skin. He had -escaped the warp. But it was a futile thing now, for the ship swung -around the sun fuelless, inoperative, in a tight orbit that had a -little initial inward momentum. - -He had tried to radio for help, but radioing from where he was, was -like trying to signal from the heart of an atomic bomb; if a signal got -through, it would be only a part of the meaningless jabber of static -that always came from here. And if the little black speck were seen, -it would only be taken for a stray meteorite moving across the sun's -incandescent face. - -The ship was a little spherical world. It turned on its own axis once -in an hour and twenty minutes. That was its little day. The orbit -spiralled now a mere quarter million miles from the sun, one little -year to two earth days. It moved closer at a rate that accelerated a -few feet per second every second. - -Eventually, said the impassive rows of equations in the log, the inward -movement would stop, as keeping the same speed in a smaller circle, the -ship's centrifugal force increased to set up an equilibrium. But that -point would be three thousand miles below the sun's surface. The ship -would never reach it. Jim MacDonald inhabited a doomed little world. - - * * * * * - -He chuckled. He even had a moon. The natural physical function of a few -minutes before had left a jagged little chunk of ice swinging around -the ship, outside the waste lock on the side away from the sun. But -that wouldn't last long. It would pass into the hot light, and vanish -in a puff of steam. - -Now the plastic fittings of the compartment began to send up a -nostril stinging stench. Jim leafed over a few pages in the log to -the page printed at the top: ... SUGGESTIONS FOR REDESIGN OF -SPACE-SHIPS. - -Under his note, _Enlarge cooling systems_, he wrote, _Replace -urea formaldehyde plastics with metals, and insulate compartment -thermometers from bulkheads._ - -Feeling foolish at the useless act of writing that which no one would -ever read, Jim swung the log away. His tongue peeled from the roof -of his mouth like a strip of adhesive tape and he dragged across the -compartment for a drink. Glancing toward the sun, he held his aluminum -cup under the spout and pressed the hot button gingerly. Although the -windows on that side were blanked out almost purple, the sun's horizon -glared through in a heaving mass of leaping gassy prominences. - -Jim turned away, his face wrinkling into a grimace. Across the -compartment a little cabinet held a pistol. It would be a simple sane -thing to walk across there, take out the pistol and bring this to a -sudden stop. He stepped toward it, then turned away ashamed. Spacemen -didn't think like that. - -Ahead of the ship something flared into incandescent brilliance. Waves -of force pounded on the front, the deck heaved. Jim sprawled on his -face and skidded over under the instrument panel, his cup clattering -along beside him. - -The deck scorched his hands and face. He wriggled out and dragged -himself up to the chair, clinging tightly. But it was all over. He -stood for a moment, waiting, then sat down. - -Experimentally he caressed his burned face. Looking out the windows -he tried to see some cause for the shock. Then he realized his moon -was gone. It had passed out of the deep shadow into the penumbra of -the ship and had been instantly vaporized. The shock had been its -dissociated molecules pummeling the front of the ship. - -He would have to be careful. If that could have passed directly into -the full light instead of through the half shadow of the penumbra, -the front of the ship might have caved in, softened as it was to near -plasticity. Jim reached for the log again, but his hand stopped in -mid air. With the spaceman's sensitivity to changes of state, he knew -something was wrong. Something had changed in the shock of the moon's -explosion. - -He puzzled it over, but his heat befuddled brain refused to grasp -things. He scanned all the instruments on the panel, but saw nothing -unusual. At one side, he had a little tracer going, little drum turning -with a needle scribing a red line. On it he had set the increase in -the sun's pull against time to describe a curve. He examined this -curve. The red line had changed direction suddenly; the sun's pull was -increasing faster. - -"Dammit!" he said. The force of the explosion in front had slowed him -and shorn off some protective centrifugal force. Now he picked up -points on the new curve, set down equations, and found he would die -some twenty hours sooner than he had expected. - - * * * * * - -His mind began to revolt at the training that made him go on like this. -The turning of the ship now showed him only the face of the sun. He -looked at it a while, then shrugged his shoulders in disgust. Slowly he -got up and walked toward the gun cabinet. The little door swung open as -he pressed the button and he stared at the holstered weapon. - -Leaving the door open, he walked away, looking back toward it. He -retrieved his cup and filled it with tepid water. Throwing his head -back he drained it at a gulp; then refilled it. He walked to the engine -compartment door. It swung open at his touch, and he stepped into -the tiny gangway. Here a tiny porthole looked out into the infinite -blue-black deeps of space. Jim leaned against a bulkhead and wiped -sweat from his eyes. - -He tried to think. Not of escape, but of the frigid emptiness of -space, the cool earth he had left behind. Into his mind came a -fleeting glimpse of a lake back home on earth, a cold lake ringed with -blue-green pines, jade waters where he had dived deep with the iciness -stinging his skin. Against the metal bulkhead, his back began to burn. -The vision faded. He realized he was thirsty all over. - -He gulped his cup of water and went back to the pilot's compartment. -At the open door of the gun cabinet, he stopped and sent his empty -cup clattering against the sunward windows. He took the gun from the -cabinet. - -Back to the pilot's chair again. He toyed with the gun. The ship had -turned now so that the other vast heaving horizon cut across the view. -"Oh, hell!" Jim said, and brought the gun's muzzle to his mouth. - -[Illustration: _"Oh, hell!" Jim said and brought the gun's muzzle to -his mouth._] - -Then he lowered it, sweat poured down into his eyes as his forehead -wrinkled in dull puzzlement. He should be thinking about something, -he was forgetting something. Jim tried to cudgel his heat-beclouded -brain into some semblance of order.... Water, explosion, change of -velocity.... Where was the drain outlet for the water supply located? - -He laid the gun aside and riffled through a drawer of blueprints, until -he found the piping layout. Now he explored the maze of piping along -the ship's sunward side. There it was, a little brass valve with a pipe -leading to the outside skin. - -The valve was hot enough to sear his hand. Jim carefully wrapped his -handkerchief around the handle and twisted gently. Inside pressure -squirted a thin stream of water from the supply tank into the hot -vacuum of space. As it vaporized and dissociated into its atoms, Jim -felt a mighty surge of expansion against the ship. The blows of a soft -fist pummeled the side. - -Jim groaned as the softened plates of the hull creaked and buckled, -but he held the valve as it was. An inside panel split and let a thin -sifting of insulation drift to the deck. His knee was against the deck -plates and he became conscious of the burning through the cloth of his -uniform. But he stayed there, until through the windows he saw nothing -but the speckled black of space turn slowly up. Then he shut the valve -off and, rubbing his burned knee, anxiously hobbled to the tracer. - -The red line had not so much swoop to it now. "Ya!" he shouted -exultantly. The centrifugal force from his forward velocity needed just -a little help to begin pushing him away from the sun. Jim read the -water tank gauge; about twenty gallons left. - - * * * * * - -Fidgeting, he waited another hour. The sun's horizon swung up into -view, the blazing plain filled the windows and at last he saw again the -other horizon. It would not do to twist the valve too soon; he had to -wait until the outlet was directly toward the sun so he wouldn't lose -any precious forward velocity. - -The sun's horizon bisected the windows. Now! Encouraged by his other -success, Jim twisted the valve hard. He stepped back so his sore knee -would not rest against the plates. - -The ship bounced like a beachball in the tremendous upshoot of the -gases outside. Jim clung to a stanchion to keep from being knocked off -his feet. - -Like a rubber ball dimpled by a thumb, the ship's skin began to bulge -inward. Jim tried to let go his hold to get the valve. - -The bounce of the ship knocked him to his knees. A little steel desk -came sliding across the compartment, banging him on the shoulder. He -let go with one hand and shoved the desk between the bulging wall and -a cross bulkhead. A white line appeared across the desk, and the paint -crackled as it began to fold in the middle. - -Jim let go and dived for the valve. A panel split wide and insulation -poured out. A scream bubbled from his throat as radiation cut a line -across his face. - -He rolled away, then struggled to get to the valve again. But the push -stopped. The tank was empty. - -Groaning with the pain of his face, Jim went to his tracer. He forgot -the burn as he saw the curve now paralleled zero. No ... it went up a -little. Jim whooped for joy. - -Now he scurried about the ship gathering together all the liquids he -could find. Soup, fruit juice, medicines. He piled them beside the -water tank and unscrewed the cap. Air whooshed in. - -At the sound, Jim grinned. He left his pile of cans and bottles as they -were, and unscrewed the cap to a spare oxygen tank. The compartment -air pressure went up to about twenty five pounds. The excess of oxygen -exhilarated him. - -He looked over his pile of cans and bottles. He didn't like consomme, -it went into the tank. Chicken broth followed. Everything he didn't -like went into the tank, everything else stayed out. Then he patched -the rip in the panel. - -It was time. Jim crouched carefully beside the valve, opening it -slowly. The mess inside the tank squirted out. Again the surge beat -against the ship, but with the first groan of the hull, Jim throttled -the valve down a little. His eyes were on the compartment pressure -gauge. The consomme went and inside air began to hiss out. As it too -expanded, the push on the hull continued. - -When the sun's horizon was out of sight, the inside pressure registered -only twelve pounds. Jim shut the valve off. - -Now the tracer line was a nice curve upward. - -Jim swung into the pilot's chair. He was a little oxygen drunk, but he -made calculations grow on the page until he had his result. Then he -leaned back and gave the universe a beatific smile. - -His spiral now outward, would stop as soon as his orbit expanded and -centrifugal force became less. As the forces came into balance, he -would take up a permanent orbit around the sun. But that orbit lay well -outside the region of heavy static, and he could radio for help. In his -mind he already heard the sweet clang of magnetic grapples against the -hull. - -Jim reached for the log and began to letter neatly at the top of a new -page: - -SUGGESTIONS FOR SPACEMEN CAUGHT IN THE SUN. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peril Orbit, by C. J. 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