The Black Star Passes John W. Campbell (good novels to read in english TXT) đ
- Author: John W. Campbell
Book online «The Black Star Passes John W. Campbell (good novels to read in english TXT) đ». Author John W. Campbell
The Solarite was shooting around the planet now at ten miles a second, far more than enough to carry them away from the planet again, out into space once more if their speed was not checked.
âHold on everybody,â Arcot called. âWeâre going to turn toward the planet now!â He depressed a small leverâ âthere was a sudden shock, and all the space about them seemed to burst into huge, deep-red atomic hydrogen flames.
The Solarite reeled under the sudden pressure, but the heavy gyroscopic stabilizers caught it, held it, and the ship remained on an even keel. Then suddenly there came to the ears of the men a long drawn whine, faintâ âalmost inaudibleâ âand the ship began slowing down. The Solarite had entered the atmosphere of Venusâ âthe first man-made machine to thus penetrate the air of another world!
Quickly Arcot snapped open the control that had kept the rockets flaming, turning the ship to the planetâ âdriving it into the atmosphere. Now they could get their power from the air that each instant grew more dense about them.
âWadeâ âin the power roomâ âemergency control postâ âMoreyâ âcontrol board thereâ âhang on, for weâll have to use some husky accelerations.â
Instantly the two men sprang for their postsâ âliterally diving, for they were still almost weightless.
Arcot pulled another leverâ âthere was a dull snap as a relay in the power room respondedâ âthe lights waveredâ âdimmedâ âthen the generator was once more humming smoothlyâ âworking on the atmosphere of Venus! In a moment the power units were again operating, and now as they sucked a plentitude of power from the surrounding air, they produced a force that made the men cling to their holds with almost frantic force. Around them the rapidly increasing density of the air made the whine grow to a roar; the temperature within the ship rose slowly, warmed by friction with the air, despite the extreme cold at this altitude, more than seventy-five miles above the surface of the planet.
They began dropping rapidly nowâ âtheir radio-speedometer had fallen from ten to nineâ âthen slowly, but faster and faster as more heat could be extracted from the air, it had fallen 8â â7â â6â â5â â4. Now they were well below orbital speed, falling under the influence of the planet. The struggle was overâ âthe men relaxed. The ship ran quietly now, the smooth hum of the air rushing over the great power units coming softly through the speaker to their ears, a humming melodyâ âthe song of a new world.
IVSuddenly the blazing sun was gone and they were floating in a vast world of rolling mistsâ âmists that brushed the car with tiny clicks, which, with the millions of particles that struck simultaneously, merged into a steady roar.
âIceâ âice clouds!â Morey exclaimed.
Arcot nodded. âWeâll drop below the clouds; theyâre probably miles deep. Look, already theyâre changingâ âsnow nowâ âin a moment it will be waterâ âthen itâll clear away and weâll actually see Venus!â
For ten milesâ âan endless distance it seemedâ âthey dropped through clouds utterly impenetrable to the eye. Then gradually the clouds thinned; there appeared brief clear spots, spots into which they could see short distancesâ âthen here and there they caught glimpses of green below. Was it waterâ âor land?
With a suddenness that startled them, they were out of the clouds, shooting smoothly and swiftly above a broad plain. It seemed to stretch for endless miles across the globe, to be lost in the far distance to east and west; but to the north they saw a low range of hills that rose blue and misty in the distance.
âVenus! We made it!â Morey cried jubilantly. âThe first men ever to leave Earthâ âIâm going to start the old sender and radio back home! Manâ âlook at that stretch of plain!â He jumped to his feet and started across the control room. âLordâ âI feel like a ton of lead nowâ âI sure am out of condition for walking after all that time just floating!â
Arcot raised a restraining hand. âWhoaâ âwait a minute there, Moreyâ âyou wonât get anything through to them now. The Earth is on the other side of Venusâ âitâs on the night side, rememberâ âand weâre on the day side. In about twelve hours weâll be able to send a message. In the meantime, take the controls while I make a test of the air here, will you?â
Relieved of the controls, Arcot rose and walked down the corridor to the power room where the chemical laboratory had been set up. Wade had already collected a dozen samples of air, and was working on them.
âHow is itâ âwhat have you tested for so far?â asked Arcot.
âOxygen and CO2. The oxygen is about twenty-two percent, or considering the slightly lower air pressure here, we will have just about the right amount of oxygen. The CO2 is about one-tenth of one percent. The atmosphere is OK for terrestrial life apparently; that mouse there is living quite happily. Whatever the other seventy-five percent or so of diluting gas is, I donât know, but it isnât nitrogen.â
Briefly Arcot and Wade discussed the unusual atmosphere, finally deciding that the inert gas was argon.
âNo great amount of nitrogen,â Arcot concluded. âThat means that life will have a sweet time extracting it from the airâ âbut wherever there is life, it finds a way to do the impossible. Test it more accurately, will youâ âyou try for nitrogen and Iâll try the component inert gasses.â
They ran the analyses rapidly, and in a very short timeâ âless than an hourâ âtheir results stood at 23 percent oxygen, .1 percent carbon dioxide, 68 percent argon, 6 percent nitrogen, 2 percent helium, 5 percent neon, .05 percent hydrogen, and the rest krypton and xenon apparently. The analyses of these inert gasses had to be done rather roughly in this short time, but it was sufficient to balance fairly accurately.
The two chemists reported back to the control cabin.
âWell, weâll be able to breathe the atmosphere of Venus with ease. I believe we can go on now. I
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