Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net The Impossible Voyage Home By F. L. WALLACE Illustrated by DICK FRANCIS [Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction August 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] [Illustration] [Sidenote: _The right question kept getting the wrong answer--but old Ethan and Amantha got the right answer by asking the wrong question!_] "Space life expectancy has been increased to twenty-five months and six days," said Marlowe, the training director. "That's a gain of a full month." _Millions of miles from Earth, Ethan also looked discontentedly proud. "A mighty healthy-looking boy," he declared._ Demarest bent a paperweight ship until it snapped. "It's something. You're gaining on the heredity block. What's the chief factor?" "Anti-radiation clothing. We just can't make them effective enough." _Across space, on distant Mars, Amantha reached for the picture. "How can you tell he ain't sickly? You can't see without glasses."_ _Ethan reared up. "Jimmy's boy, ain't he? Our kids were always healthy, 'specially the youngest. Stands to reason their kids will be better."_ _"Now you're thinking with your forgettery. They were all sick, one time or another. It was me who took care of them, though. You always could find ways of getting out of it." Amantha touched the chair switch._ The planets whirled around the Sun. Earth crept ahead of Mars, Venus gained on Earth. The flow of ships slackened or spurted forth anew, according to what destination could be reached at the moment: "A month helps," said Demarest. "But where does it end? You can't enclose a man completely, and even if you do, there still is the air he breathes and food he eats. Radiation in space contaminates everything the body needs. And part of the radioactivity finds its way to the reproductive system." * * * * * Marlowe didn't need to glance at the charts; the curve _was_ beginning to flatten. Mathematically, it was determinable when it wouldn't rise at all. According to analysis, Man someday might be able to endure the radiation encountered in space as long as three years, if exposure times were spaced at intervals. But that was in the future. "There's a lot you could do," he told Demarest. "Shield the atomics." "Working on it," commented Demarest. "But every ounce we add cuts down on the payload. The best way is to get the ship from one place to another faster. It's time in space that hurts. Less exposure time, more trips before the crew has to retire. It adds up to the same thing." _On Mars, Amantha fondled the picture. "Pretty. But it ain't real." She laid it aside._