Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition), April 1944 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

16 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION or when the positive charge gets so high that the betatron can’t overcome the elec- trostatic attraction.” “Venus Equilateral is a free grid,” smiled Channing. “As soon as we shoot off elec- trons, Old Sol becomes a hot cathode and our Station collects ‘em until the charge is equalized again.” “And what happens to the bird who is holding on to something when we make oft with a billion volts? Does he scrape himself off the opposite wall in a week or’so—after he comes to—or can we use him for freez- ing ice cubes? Seems to me that it might be a little bit fatal.” “Didn’t think of that,’ said Channing. “There’s one thing, their personal charge doesn’t add up to a large quantity of elec- tricity. If we insulate ’°em and put ’em in their spacesuits, they’ll be all right as long as they don’t try to grab anything. They’ll be on the up and down for a bit, but the resistance of the spacesuit is high enough to keep ’em from draining all their elec- trons out at once. I recall the experiments with early Van Der Graf generators at a few million volts—the operator used to sit in the charged sphere because it was one place where he couldn’t be hit by man-made lightning. It'll be rough, but it won’t kill us. Spacesuits, and have ’em sit in plastic chairs the feet of which are insulated from the floor by china dinner plates. This plastic wall covering that we have in the apart- ments is a blessing. If it were all bare steel, every room would be a miniature hell. Issue general instructions to that effect. We’ve been having emergency drills for a long time, now’s the time to use the grand col- lection of elastomer spacesuits. Tell ’em we give ’em an hour to get ready.” Hellion Murdoch’s voice came over the radio at exactly the second of the expira- tion of his limit. He called Channing and said: “What is your answer, Mr. Channing?” Don squinted down the pilot tube of the meteor spotter and saw the Hippocrates passing. It was gone before he spoke, but the second ship came along, and the pilot tube leaped into line with it. Don checked meters on the crude panel before him, and then pressed the plastic handle of a long lever. There was the crash of a heavy-duty oil switch. That was all. Crackles of electricity flashed back and forth through the Station, and the smell of ozone arose. Electric light filaments leaned over crazily, trying to touch the inner walls of the glass. Panes of glass ran blue for an instant, and the nap of the carpets through- out the Station stood bolt upright. Hair stood on end, touched the plastic helmet dome, discharged, fell to the scalp, raised again and discharged. fell once more, and then repeated this raising and falling, again and again and again. Electric clocks ran crazily, and every bit of electronic equip- ment on the Station began to act in an unpredictable manner. Then things settled down again as the solar emission charged the Station to equilibrium. Aboard the ship, it was another story. The celestial globe of the meteor spotter blazed once in a blinding light and then went completely out of control. It danced with pin points of light, and the coupler that was used to direct the guns went crazy. Turrets tried to swivel, but the charge raised hob with the electronic controls, and the guns raised once and then fell, inert. One of them belched flame and fire, and the Shell went wild. The carefully balanced potentials in the driver tubes was upset, and the ship lost headway. The heavy ion stream from driving cathode bent and spread, touching the dynodes in the tube. The resulting current brought them to a red heat, and they melted down and floated through the evacuated tube in round drop- lets. Instruments went wild, and gave every possible answer, and the ship became a bed- lam of ringing bells and flashing danger lights. But the crew was in no shape to appreci- ate the display. From metal parts in the ship there appeared coronas that reached for the unprotected men, and seared their flesh. And since their gravity-apparent was gone, they floated freely through the air, and came in contact with highly charged walls, ceiling, and floor; to say nothing of the standard metal furniture. It was a sorry bunch of pirates that found themselves in a _ ship-without-motive-power that was beginning to leave their circular course on a tangent that would let them drop into the Sun. “That’s my answer, Murdoch!” snapped Channing. “Watch your second ship!” “You young devil,” shouted Murdoch, “what did you do?” “You never thought that it would be an electronics engineer that made the first energy gun, did you, Murdoch? I’m now going to take a shot at No. 3!” CcomiclbooksS.c©