World at Bay by Paul Capon

Author:Paul Capon [Capon, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi
Publisher: Digit Science Fiction
Published: 1962-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9 Captured!

The fugitive spaceship was still rising steadily. Its movement was so smooth and gentle that inside it one hardly had any impression of movement at all. The Professor, with Ruth and Jim at his side, stood in front of the vast control panel and examined it in detail. At length he shrugged his shoulders hopelessly and muttered, “Intricate—and that’s an understatement!

What could one make of those scores upon scores of rounded buttons, each marked with a weird symbol, so that the general effect was reminiscent of a lunatic typewriter—the sort of typewriter one might come upon in a nightmare? Or what could one make of those strange bulbous levers, or of the long series of little knobs, like the tuning knobs on a radio set? And then, above all these there were these strange flickering dials, also marked with outlandish symbols. No doubt these included an altometer, an air-speed indicator, a space-speed indicator, a clock, as well as several gauges relating to the spaceship’s internal conditions, but from the point of view of the humans, nothing could have been more useless. Higher still, however, just above this double row of dials, were six circular screens, each about a foot across, that did mean something to the

Professor. They were like portholes and, while five showed nothing except an expanse of blue, the sixth was taken up by an ever-changing, bird’s-eye view of the country they were passing over. “Do you get the idea, Jim?” asked the Professor. "Those are the spaceship's eyes. One of those screens gives a view of what’s ahead, another of what's behind, then there's one for each of the side views, and the remaining two show what's above and what's below.”

“But the ship’s rotating,” Jim objected.

“Exactly,” said the Professor, “and, when you remember that, you get a glimpse of the incredible ingenuity of this device. These views are relative to the course we are traveling rather than to the spaceship itself, and not only does this device have to compensate for the ship’s rotation, but also it has to be automatically variable in relation to the speed of the rotation.”

Ruth shook her head helplessly. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said, “but I just don't get it.”

The Professor pointed to the screen that gave them a view of the ground they were passing over. "Well, take that, for instance,” he said. “That screen gives us a steady view of the countryside beneath us, and what does that imply? It implies that at the axis of this ship there is an optical device—an artificial eye—that is revolving in opposition to the ship’s rotation and at the same relative speed. If the ship rotates faster, then so does the eye, but, of course, in the opposite direction, and, if the ship’s rotation slows down, then so does that of the eye. As far as that particular view is concerned the mechanics of it are fairly simple. Think of the complications involved, Ruth, in getting a constant forward view.”

R uth laughed.

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