Rogue Ship

Lesbee knew that automatic warning lights were flickering on the big ship's two control boards. But he knew also that no person – at least, no person who understood – would be looking at the flashing signals.

Beside him, Tellier broke the silence. 'Look at those stars,' he said in a hushed tone. 'We must be spi

Lesbee's gaze flashed to the stabilizer needles. They were steady. Frowning, he stared into the viewplate. And there was no doubt that something was wrong. The 'fixed' stars seemed to be moving.

Gently, he took hold of the controls, gingerly moved them -first one way, then the other. The small ship responded perfectly, tilted to the left, then to the right. He brought the control back to dead center. The lifeboat came smoothly back into its electronically stabilized position.

Outside, the stars continued their slow movement. In all his years in space, Lesbee had never seen anything like it. In fact, one of the psychologically numbing realities of being out in space was that, almost literally, nothing ever changed position. As the years went by, a few 'near' stars gradually shifted a few degrees. Only when the ship rotated did the stars seem to move at all.

Now, the entire stellar universe was visibly in motion. At least, that was his first impression. As he watched the fantastic scene, Lesbee slowly grew aware that the great nebulae, the distant star clouds, were as steady as ever.

That proved the movement of the stars was real. Even if the distant nebulae were in motion that equaled the speed of the nearer stars, it wouldn't show. They were simply too far away. Even if they should start to move at scores of light-years a second, it would not be immediately detectable.

And since an instrument defect would show all the stars moving, not merely those that were close, the fact that those remote galaxies appeared to be stable proved that the star motion was not such a defect but a genuine event in space time.

'But,' Lesbee wondered uneasily, 'how can such a movement be explained?'

The only possibility – or so it seemed – was that the stars were actually speeding up in relation to the lifeboat -

He dared not utter that terrifying possibility to Tellier.

An hour went by. Two. Many.

In the darkness ahead was a star, which Lesbee believed was Earth's sun. What disturbed him was that the star began to dim. Although they were presumably approaching it, it grew smaller. And what confused Lesbee for a while was that even as it shrank it kept moving slowly across the face of their viewing lens. Each time he would bring it back into focus -and the creeping action would occur again.

Lesbee was baffled. According to the figures on the velocitor needles, they were going toward the solar system at a speed that was still almost light-speed.

Yet the sun was visibly receding, as if it were speeding away from them faster than they were approaching it.

If that were true, then the cross-movement meant that the solar system was receding at an angle away from their craft.

Each passing minute, as Lesbee watched, the stars moved faster in their already accelerated courses. Since they were not all going in the same direction, they presented more and more the appearance of chaos.

Minute by minute by minute, the scene grew wilder.

33

Gourdy had invited Hewitt to join him on the bridge.

With them were several of Browne's former officers, including Miller, Selwyn, and Mindel, and several scientists. Two astronomers, Clyde Josephs who was chief of the astronomical staff, and his chief assistant, Max Hook, were among the latter.

In the background, five of Gourdy's henchmen stood. Each of these five was armed with two blasters.

After they had gazed at the careening stars for at least a minute, Hewitt grew aware that the chief astronomer's eyes were begi

'Gentlemen!' the man said in an awed tone. 'We are witnessing a spectacle that surely no man ever dreamed he would see – certainly no astronomer who has taken the rigidities of the space-time universe for granted.'

He seemed to become aware of the tension in every person who was watching him. His eyes widened. Then he looked at Hewitt with an i

'What is it you want to know, Captain?'

Gourdy made a strangled sound. 'What's happening?' he asked explosively.

'The whole universe seems to be moving at millions of light-years a second.' He stopped, as though he had just realized the fantastic thing that he had said, and stood blinking. He must have been in shock, for he went on, 'I hope you will give me an opportunity to make a detailed study of the phenomenon.'

He appeared to realize, from the choleric expression on Gourdy's face, that his request was not the exciting thing for Gourdy that it was for him.

He glanced around the circle of tense, staring eyes, and his somewhat round face took on an understanding expression.

'Don't be alarmed, gentlemen! If you have some fear that the stars are going to run away from us, or that time will run out for us – don't worry. This can probably go on for billions of years.'

Again, he paused. Again, he must have realized that he was still not making a warm place for himself in the hearts of the dozen men who were watching him so grimly.

It was Hewitt who suddenly relaxed and said in a friendly tone, 'Mr. Josephs, the figure you have used – millions of light-years – indicates that we are in trouble as no human beings have ever been. At this moment I'm frightened. Are we ever going to see our own people again, and if so, how are we going to do it? This is what concerns us.'

Josephs stood stock-still, blinking. Then he said, 'Oh!' And in a subdued tone, 'The sun is only moving away from us slowly. I would venture to say that that proves that what we are witnessing is not entirely a speed phenomenon.'

Hewitt said, startled, 'But that would mean a time expansion of absolutely incredible proportions. I can't even imagine it.'

Josephs said apologetically, 'Perhaps the sooner I begin my study -'

'But where are the planets?' Gourdy yelled. 'That's what we want to know. What's happened to Earth, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and – and – the others? They aren't there.'

He was more perturbed about that than about the speed. Earth was his ultimate goal. His special situation required that he go there more slowly than the others desired.

But he wanted Earth to be there when he finally arrived.

Once more Josephs was apologetic. 'They probably are there, sir, but orbiting around the sun at such a high velocity we can't see them. I imagine that if we could look closely enough we'd see rings of light. The superspeed cameras aboard will undoubtedly be able to obtain some kind of picture.'

Gourdy said from between clenched teeth, 'Take 'em. Take the pictures, damn it, and send them to me.'

The photographs – which were delivered to Gourdy's desk later that day – showed all the planets. Josephs had appended a note: