Despotism -- Fiction; Dissenters -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
He kissed her again, exuberantly, and strode for the _Starshine_
record-room, shedding the parts of his space-suit as he went. He pulled
down the microfilm reels covering the ship's construction and zestfully
set to work to review them, making notes and sketches from time to
time. The reels, of course, contained not only the complete working
drawings of the entire ship, showing every bolt and rivet, but also
every moving part in stereoscopic relationship to its fellows, with
full data so that no possible breakdown could take place without full
information being available for its repair.
Dona watched him furtively as she began the tedious task of hunting
through the Galactic Pilot of this sector, two-hundred-odd volumes, for
even a stray reference to the planet Ades.
Ultimately she did find Ades mentioned. Not in the bound volumes of the
Pilot, but in the microfilm abbreviated Galactic Directory. Ades rated
just three lines of type--its space-coördinates, the spectral type of
its sun, a climate-atmosphere symbol which indicated that three-fourths
of its surface experienced sub-Arctic conditions, and the memo:
"Its borderline habitability caused it to be chosen as a penal
colony at a very early date. Landing upon it is forbidden under all
circumstances. A patrol-ship is on guard."
The memorandum was quaint, now that no space-line had operated in five
centuries, no exploring ship in nearly two, and the Space Patrol itself
had been disbanded three hundred years since.
"Mmmm!" Kim said. "If we need it, not too bad. People could survive on
Ades. People probably have. And they won't be sheep, anyhow."
"How far away is it?" Dona asked uneasily. "We have enough fuel for
twenty-five light-years' travel, you said."
"Ades is just about halfway across the Galaxy," he told her. "We
couldn't really get started there if our tanks were full. The only way
to reach it is by matter-transmitter."
But he did not look disheartened. Dona watch his face.
"It's ruled out. What did you hope from it, Kim?"
"A wedding," he said, and grinned. "But it isn't ruled out, Dona.
Nothing's ruled out, if an idea you gave me works. Your story about
the dust-grain hit my mind just right. I was trying to figure out how
to travel a hundred light-years on twenty-five light-years' fuel, even
though the Prime Board may have sent warnings three times that far. But
if you can't solve a little problem, make it a big one and tackle that.
That's what your story meant. It's a nice trick!"
5
_Super-Science_
Dona was puzzled by what Kim had said. She stared at him, wide-eyed,
trying to figure out his meaning. For a moment or two he made no
attempt to explain. He just stood there, grinning at her.
"Listen, Dona," he said, finally. "Why did they stop making
space-ships?"
"Matter-transmitters are quicker and space-ships aren't needed any
more."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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