"It's getting lighter1. Look at those peaks down there! Like great knives. I don't seem to be falling as fast as I expected though. Almost seem to be floating. Let's switch on the radio and tell the world hello. Hello, earth ... hello, again ... and good-by ...
"Sorry about that. I passed out. I don't know what I said, if anything, and the suit recorder has no playback or eraser. What must have happened is that the suit ran out of oxygen, and I lost consciousness due to anoxia. I dreamed I switched on the radio, but I actually switched on the emergency tank, thank the Lord, and that brought me round.
"Come to think of it, why not crack the suit and breath fresh air instead of bottled?
"No. I'd have to get up to do that. I think I'll just lie here a little bit longer and get properly rested up before I try anything big like standing2 up.
"I was telling about the return journey, wasn't I? The long jump back home, which should have dumped us between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Instead of which, when James took his finger off the button, the mass-detector showed nothing except the noise-level of the universe.
"We were out in that no place for a day. We astronomers3 had to establish our exact position relative to the solar system. The crew had to find out exactly what went wrong. The physicists4 had to make mystic passes in front of meters and mutter about residual5 folds in stress-free space. Our task was easy, because we were about half a light-year from the sun. The crew's job was also easy: they found what went wrong in less than half an hour.
"It still seems incredible. To program the ship for a star-jump, you merely told it where you were and where you wanted to go. In practical terms, that entailed6 first a series of exact measurements which had to be translated into the somewhat abstruse7 co-ordinate system we used based on the topological order of mass-points in the galaxy8. Then you cut a tape on the computer and hit the button. Nothing was wrong with the computer. Nothing was wrong with the engines. We'd hit the right button and we'd gone to the place we'd aimed for. All we'd done was aim for the wrong place. It hurts me to tell you this and I'm just attached personnel with no space-flight tradition. In practical terms, one highly trained crew member had punched a wrong pattern of holes on the tape. Another equally skilled had failed to notice this when reading back. A childish error, highly improbable; twice repeated, thus squaring the improbability. Incredible, but that's what happened.
"Anyway, we took good care with the next lot of measurements. That's why we were out there so long. They were cross-checked about five times. I got sick so I climbed into a spacesuit and went outside and took some photographs of the Sun which I hoped would help to determine hydrogen density9 in the outer regions. When I got back everything was ready. We disposed ourselves about the control room and relaxed for all we were worth. We were all praying that this time nothing would go wrong, and all looking forward to seeing Earth again after four months subjective10 time away, except for Charley, who was still chuckling11 and shaking his head, and Captain James who was glaring at Charley and obviously wishing human dignity permitted him to tear Charley limb from limb. Then James pressed the button.
"Everything twanged like a bowstring. I felt myself turned inside out, passed through a small sieve12, and poured back into shape. The entire bow wall-screen was full of Earth. Something was wrong all right, and this time it was much, much worse. We'd come out of the jump about two hundred miles above the Pacific, pointed13 straight down, traveling at a relative speed of about two thousand miles an hour.
"It was a fantastic situation. Here was the Whale, the most powerful ship ever built, which could cover fifty light-years in a subjective time of one second, and it was helpless. For, as of course you know, the star-drive couldn't be used again for at least two hours.
"The Whale also had ion rockets of course, the standard deuterium-fusion thing with direct conversion14. As again you know, this is good for interplanetary flight because you can run it continuously and it has extremely high exhaust velocity15. But in our situation it was no good because it has rather a low thrust. It would have taken more time than we had to deflect16 us enough to avoid a smash. We had five minutes to abandon ship.
"James got us all into the Minnow at a dead run. There was no time to take anything at all except the clothes we stood in. The Minnow was meant for short heavy hops17 to planets or asteroids18. In addition to the ion drive it had emergency atomic rockets, using steam for reaction mass. We thanked God for that when Cazamian canceled our downwards19 velocity with them in a few seconds. We curved away up over China and from about fifty miles high we saw the Whale hit the Pacific. Six hundred tons of mass at well over two thousand miles an hour make an almighty20 splash. By now you'll have divers21 down, but I doubt they'll salvage22 much you can use.
"I wonder why James went down with the ship, as the saying is? Not that it made any difference. It must have broken his heart to know that his lovely ship was getting the chopper. Or did he suspect another human error?
"We didn't have time to think about that, or even to get the radio working. The steam rockets blew up. Poor Cazamian was burnt to a crisp. Only thing that saved me was the spacesuit I was still wearing. I snapped the face plate down because the cabin was filling with fumes23. I saw Charley coming out of the toilet—that's how he'd escaped—and I saw him beginning to laugh. Then the port side collapsed24 and I fell out.
"I saw the launch spinning away, glowing red against a purplish black sky. I tumbled head over heels towards the huge curved shield of earth fifty miles below. I shut my eyes and that's about all I remember. I don't see how any of us could have survived. I think we're all dead.
"I'll have to get up and crack this suit and let some air in. But I can't. I fell fifty miles without a parachute. I'm dead so I can't stand up."
There was silence for a while except for the vicious howl of the wind. Then snow began to shift on the ledge25. A man crawled stiffly out and came shakily to his feet. He moved slowly around for some time. After about two hours he returned to the hollow, squatted26 down and switched on the recorder. The voice began again, considerably27 wearier.
"Hello there. I'm in the bleakest28 wilderness29 I've ever seen. This place makes the moon look cozy30. There's precipice31 around me every way but one and that's up. So it's up I'll have to go till I find a way to go down. I've been chewing snow to quench32 my thirst but I could eat a horse. I picked up a short-wave broadcast on my suit but couldn't understand a word. Not English, not French, and there I stick. Listened to it for fifteen minutes just to hear a human voice again. I haven't much hope of reaching anyone with my five milliwatt suit transmitter but I'll keep trying.
"Just before I start the climb there are two things I want to get on tape. The first is how I got here. I've remembered something from my military training, when I did some parachute jumps. Terminal velocity for a human body falling through air is about one hundred twenty m.p.h. Falling fifty miles is no worse than falling five hundred feet. You'd be lucky to live through a five hundred foot fall, true, but I've been lucky. The suit is bulky but light and probably slowed my fall. I hit a sixty mile an hour updraft this side of the mountain, skidded33 downhill through about half a mile of snow and fetched up in a drift. The suit is part worn but still operational. I'm fine.
"The second thing I want to say is about the Chingsi, and here it is: watch out for them. Those jokers are dangerous. I'm not telling how because I've got a scientific reputation to watch. You'll have to figure it out for yourselves. Here are the clues:
(1) The Chingsi talk and laugh but after all they aren't human. On an alien world a hundred light-years away, why shouldn't alien talents develop? A talent that's so uncertain and rudimentary here that most people don't believe it, might be highly developed out there.
(2) The Whale expedition did fine till it found Chang. Then it hit a seam of bad luck. Real stinking34 bad luck that went on and on till it looks fishy35. We lost the ship, we lost the launch, all but one of us lost our lives. We couldn't even win a game of ping-pong.
"So what is luck, good or bad? Scientifically speaking, future chance events are by definition chance. They can turn out favorable or not. When a preponderance of chance events has occurred unfavorably, you've got bad luck. It's a fancy name for a lot of chance results that didn't go your way. But the gambler defines it differently. For him, luck refers to the future, and you've got bad luck when future chance events won't go your way. Scientific investigations36 into this have been inconclusive, but everyone knows that some people are lucky and others aren't. All we've got are hints and glimmers37, the fumbling38 touch of a rudimentary talent. There's the evil eye legend and the Jonah, bad luck bringers. Superstition39? Maybe; but ask the insurance companies about accident prones. What's in a name? Call a man unlucky and you're superstitious41. Call him accident prone40 and that's sound business sense. I've said enough.
"All the same, search the space-flight records, talk to the actuaries. When a ship is working perfectly42 and is operated by a hand-picked crew of highly trained men in perfect condition, how often is it wrecked43 by a series of silly errors happening one after another in defiance44 of probability?
"I'll sign off with two thoughts, one depressing and one cheering. A single Chingsi wrecked our ship and our launch. What could a whole planetful of them do?
"On the other hand, a talent that manipulates chance events is bound to be chancy. No matter how highly developed it can't be surefire. The proof is that I've survived to tell the tale."
At twenty below zero and fifty miles an hour the wind ravaged45 the mountain. Peering through his polarized vizor at the white waste and the snow-filled air howling over it, sliding and stumbling with every step on a slope that got gradually steeper and seemed to go on forever, Matt Hennessy began to inch his way up the north face of Mount Everest.
The End
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1
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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2
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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3
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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4
physicists
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| 物理学家( physicist的名词复数 ) | |
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5
residual
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| adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的 | |
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6
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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7
abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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8
galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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9
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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10
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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11
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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12
sieve
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| n.筛，滤器，漏勺 | |
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13
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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14
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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15
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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16
deflect
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| v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向 | |
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17
hops
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| 跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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18
asteroids
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| n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星 | |
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19
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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20
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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21
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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22
salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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23
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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24
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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25
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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26
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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27
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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28
bleakest
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| 阴冷的( bleak的最高级 )； （状况）无望的； 没有希望的； 光秃的 | |
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29
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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30
cozy
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| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
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31
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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32
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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33
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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34
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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35
fishy
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| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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36
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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37
glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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38
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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39
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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40
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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41
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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42
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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43
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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44
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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45
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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