Astounding Science Fiction, February 1952 (British Edition) — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION It's good enough for their purpose as it is.” Daniel sat in stricken silence. Brennan said more softly: “Don’t worry, Dr. Clark. I'll light your little star for you. It will mean the end of Our dying operations in Jersey and it will finally put New York out of its misery, but it’s too good an idea to let die. The old guard might as well go out in a blaze of glory. Your start will burn at our funeral.” : “A sun I know of That's brighter still!’ Daniel’s thoughts kept pace with the song. He remembered how his star rose from the earth and burned in the sky, a second sun! Robin was working with his plants, carefully adjusting them to a synthetic en- vironment analagous to that of Venus, when Daniel burst in. “Robin, get your plants packed. They're going home!” “Take it easy, Dan. You sound as if your talk with Brennan has finally snapped that cool, lucid brain!” “Brennan! Yes, we'll need him. Listen, poke a hole in the reactor. What have you got?” “A broken reactor.” “You’re wrong. It’s a rocket motor, driven by radiation pressure and flying nuclear particles. Brennan is right, the re- actor isn’t enough. We'll give them heaven, too! On to Venus!” The following weeks were the most exciting that Daniel remembered. For the first time in his life he was busy with posi- tive activity leading toward a clear and attainable goal. Brennan undertook to build the rocket but kept a tight rein on enthusiasm. “Let’s publicize the trip,” Robin had proposed. “We'll give stories to the news- papers and the radio and get the country excited about it. At least people will start thinking about other things than their Trees.” “Where do you think you are?” Brennan demanded. “Back in the time of the national press associations? Or are you re- ferring to the mimeographed gossip sheet of the Manhattan Clique when you speak of newspapers? And we will not let the official government radio in on it! Ap- parently you don’t realize that the Jersey shore industry is practically government controlled. They'd come down on us like a ton of bricks if they found we were wasting essential resources, there’s little left as it is. No, this is top secret stuff. We'll lay out the launching site in the Jersey marshes and call it something else. At take-off Pll arrange to have a govern- ment representative present and all the agents of local papers that I can dig up. Till then not a word.” So they called it the Manhattan Project for two reasons and kept quiet while the bugs were ironed out. And it was easy. It seemed as though Clark’s Star was born to fly. The problem of steering the rocket was solved by providing for slight changes in focus of the ion beams. And the operation of the reactor while in atmosphere, a point which worried everyone, was shown by calculation to be feasible; once in opera- tion, radiation pressure would prevent the entrance of air. The chain reaction would be initiated while the rocket rested in the launching site, the cradle forming an in- tegral part of the reactor shell. Thus evacu- ation of the composite sphere was possible. Only that portion of the shell formed by the cradle would be channeled for the mercury coolant, or in this case, the heat- ing element. The rest of the shell would be heated by radiation from this portion. Even radiation danger was at a minimum; transportation products would boil out of the carbon shell into open space at reaction temperature. Daniel had daily conferences with Bren- nan in which each of the two men learned to respect the abilities of the other. Robin was busy with his plants, and Charles Remington, professor of astronomy at Columbia and the rocket’s third intended occupant, pored over his equations. “This sun, my dearest ’Tis nought but thee’ A few days before take-off Daniel met Madeleine for the first time since Amber - Grove. Her story was a simple one of un- happiness and defeat. She had toured the country for years with a group of dancers, singers and raconteurs, and while many had listened and marveled at her voice, none was touched. The truth was that the traditions and disciplines of an art which embraced both performer and audience had perished from the land. The old works and attitudes lost their meaning when the culture which served as their frame of reference evaporated, and the new order COMIC IOOKSaCO