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.Sure I will � think I want to vaporize half of myship?"Indeed, inerting the package was the Lensman's first care, for in thefreecondition it was a frightfully dangerous thing.Its intrinsic velocity wasthat of Arisia,while the ship's was that of Lyrane II.They might be forty or fifty miles persecond apart;and if the Dauntless should go inert that harmless-looking package wouldinstantlybecome a meteorite inside the ship.At the thought of that velocity he paused.Thecocoon would stand it�but would the Lens? Oh, sure, Mentor knew what wascoming;the Lens would be packed to stand it Kinnison wrapped the package in heavygauze,then in roll after roll of spring-steel mesh.He jammed heavy steel springsinto the ends,then clamped the whole thing into a form with high-alloy bolts an inch indiameter.Hepoured in two hundred pounds of metallic mercury, filling the form to the top.Then acover, also bolted on.This whole assembly went into the "cocoon", acushioned,heavily-padded affair suspended from all four walls, ceiling, and floor byevery shock-absorbing device known to the engineers of the Patrol.The Dauntless incited briefly at Kinnison's word and it seemed as thougha troopof elephants were running silently amuck in the cocoon room.The package to beinerted weighed no more than eight ounces�but eight ounces of mass, at arelativevelocity of fifty miles per second, possesses a kinetic energy by no means tobedespised.The frantic lurchings and bouncings subsided, the cruiser resumed herfree flight,and the man undid all that he had done.The Arisian package looked exactly asbefore,but it was harmless now; it had the same intrinsic velocity as did everythingPage 81ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlelse aboardthe vessel.Then the Lensman pulled on a pair of insulating gloves and opened thepackage;finding, as he had expected, that the packing material was a dense, viscousliquid.Hepoured it out and there was the Lens�Cris's Lens! He cleaned it carefully,thenwrapped it in heavy insulation.For of all the billions of unnumbered billionsof livingentities in existence, Clarrissa MacDougall was the only one whose flesh couldtouchthat apparently innocuous jewel with impunity.Others could safely touch itwhile shewore it, while it glowed with its marvelously polychromatic cold flame; butuntil she woreit and unless she wore it its touch meant death to any life to which it wasnot attuned.Shortly thereafter another Patrol cruiser hove in sight.This meeting,however,was to be no casual one, for the nurse could not be inerted from the freestate in theDauntless" cocoon.No such device ever built could stand it�and thosestructures arestronger far than is the human frame.Any adjustment which even the hardest,toughestspacehound can take in a cocoon is measured in feet per second, not in miles.Hundreds of miles apart, the ships inerted and their pilots fought withsupremeskill to make the two intrinsics match.And even so the vessels did not touch,evennearly.A space-line was thrown; the nurse and her space-roll were quiteunceremoniously hauled aboard.Kinnison did not meet her at the airlock, but waited for her in his conroom; andthe details of that meeting will remain unchronicled.They were young, theyhad notseen each other for a long time, and they were very much in love.It isevident,therefore, that Patrol affairs were not the first matters to be touched upon.Nor, if thehistorian has succeeded even partially in portraying truly the characters ofthe twopersons involved, is it either necessary or desirable to go at any length intotheargument they had as to whether or not she should be inducted so cavalierlyinto aservice from which her sex had always, automatically, been barred.He did notwant tomake her carry that load, but he had to; she did not�although for entirelydifferentreasons�want to take it.He shook out the Lens and, holding it in a thick-folded corner of theinsulatingblanket, flicked one of the girl's fingertips across the bracelet.Satisfiedby the fleetingflash of color which swept across the jewel, he snapped the platinum-iridiumbandaround her left wrist, which it fitted exactly.She stared for a minute at the smoothly, rhythmically flowing colors ofPage 82ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe thingso magically sprung to life upon her wrist; awe and humility in her gloriouseyes.Then:"I can't,.Kim.I simply can't.I'm not worthy of it," she choked."None of us are, Cris.We can't be�but we've got to do it, just thesame.""I suppose that's true�it would be so, of course.I'll do my best.but youknow perfectly well, Kim, that I'm not �can't ever be�a real Lensman.""Sure you can.Do we have to go over all that again? You won't have someof thetechnical stuff that we got, of course, but you carry jets that no otherLensman ever hashad.You're a real Lensman; don't worry about that�if you weren't, do youthink theywould have made that Lens for you?""I suppose not.it must be true, even though I can't understand it.But I'msimply scared to death of the rest of it, Kim.""You needn't be.It'll hurt, but not more than you can stand.Don't thinkwe'dbetter start that stuff for a few days yet, though; not until you get used tousing yourLens.Coming at you, Lensman!" and he went into Lens-to-Lens communication,broadening it gradually into a wide-open two-way.She was appalled at first,butentranced some thirty minutes later, when he called the lesson to a halt."Enough for now," he decided."It doesn't take much of that stuff to be agreatplenty, at first.""I'll say it doesn't," she agreed."Put this away for me until next time,will you,Kim? I don't want to wear it all the time until I know more about it.""Fair enough.In the meantime I want you to get acquainted with a newgirl-friendof mine," and he sent out a call for Illona Potter."Girl-friend!""Uh-huh.Study her.Educational no end, and she may be important.Want tocompare notes with you on her later, is why I'm not giving you any advancedope onher�here she comes.""Mac, this is Illona," he introduced them informally."I told them togive you thecabin next to hers," he added, to the nurse."I'll go with you to be sureeverything's onthe green." It was, and the Lensman left the two together."I'm awfully gladyou're here,"Illona said, shyly."I've heard so much about you, Miss."" 'Mac' to you, my dear�all my friends call me that," the nurse broke in."And youdon't want to believe everything you hear, especially aboard thisspace-bucket." Her lipssmiled, but her eyes were faintly troubled."Oh, it was nice," Illona assured her."About what a grand person youare, andwhat a wonderful couple you and Lensman Kinnison make�why, you really are inlovewith him, aren't you?" This in surprise, as she studied the nurse's face."Yes,"unequivocally."And you love him, too, and that makes it.""Good heavens, no!" the Aldebaranian exclaimed, so positively thatPage 83ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlClarrissajumped."What? You don't? Really?" Gold-flecked, tawny eyes stared intensely intoengagingly candid eyes of black.The nurse wished then that she had left herLens on,so she could tell whether this bejeweled brunette hussy was telling the truthor not."Certainly not.That's what I meant�I'm simply scared to death of him.He's so [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]