"Drake just lifted it to thirty feet per," said Hammond, "and I've been timing it. So far, it does." "Steve," said McBride, "if we can figure out some way of keeping ourselves from getting killed as the acceleration hits the upper brackets, we'll have a drive that will get us places like fury. Think fast, brother." Hammond looked up, just as the acceleration reached a peak, and it snapped his head sharply. "_Whew_," he said. "This is fine stuff, but we couldn't run anywhere very long this way. We'd shake the whole crate loose." He was thoughtful for a minute. "Don't suppose that blackboard mind of yours could figure out our course constants from this saw-toothed curve we're running?" "Sure," grinned McBride. "Since the thing is not increasing constantly, but is returning to zero accel each time and then building up linearly to peak, our over-all, long-time acceleration is equivalent to the average acceleration. Besides, what difference does it make? We'll get there somehow, and we can probably plot well enough to keep from doing a lot of return-chasing to hit the lens." "O.K., but we're going to have to figure a way out of this. I couldn't stand knowing anything like this drive without trying to make it practical." "Wait until we can talk without getting our tongues bitten off by this drive of yours, and we'll go to work on it." McBride said: "And I'd say let's do it quick! Enid needs me--" * * * * * Sandra Drake forced the jack-rabbitting ship into a cockeyed orbit about Pluto after a couple of hours. They had nosebleed, jittery nerves, aching muscles, and voracious appetites by the time the drive was cut. They ate, smoked, took showers, and then decided to call a conference. Hammond opened it by saying: "There's one quick way to do this. It's on everybody's tongue, but I have the floor and I'll voice it first. To keep from getting squashed by our own weight under a few thousand feet per, we need something to take up the shock--something to counterbalance the gravity-apparent. Jimmy, how many mechanogravitic generators have we aboard?" "Two, including the one we're running in the drive right now. It is as big, however." "How's the output of our patched-together alphatron?" "Plenty. The coil of the E-grav was much oversize, and since electrons will rush in where alphons fear to tread, we've plenty of soup." "Then we'll set the other mech-grav up in the nose, and extend the warp down to envelop the ship. Right?" "Right. And now for some kind of safety factor? Supposing something goes blooey?" asked Pete. "And how do we maintain the relationship between the drive's power and the counter-drive's attraction?"