The radioman of the Fomalhautian freighter gave the distress1 signal to the Deck Officer, who looked at it, blinked, and bolted ’bove decks to the captain’s cabin. His face was very white when he reached the door and his heart pounded with excitement. As the Deck Officer crossed an electronic beam before the door a metallic2 voice said: “The Captain is asleep and will be disturbed for nothing but emergency priority.”
Nodding, the Deck officer stuck his thumb in the whorl-lock of the door and entered the cabin. “Begging your pardon, sir,” he cried, “but we just received an SOS from—”
The Captain stirred groggily3, sat up, switched on a green night light and squinted4 through it at the Deck Officer. “Well, what is it? Isn’t the Eye working?”
“Yes, sir. An SOS, sir….”
“If we’re close enough to help, subspace or normal space, take the usual steps, lieutenant5. Surely you don’t need me to—”
“The usual steps can’t be taken, sir. Far as I can make out, that ship is doomed6. She’s bound on collision course for Sol, only twenty million miles out now.”
“That’s too bad, lieutenant,” the Captain said with genuine sympathy in his voice. “I’m sorry to hear that. But what do you want me to do about it?”
“The ship, sir. The ship that sent the SOS—hold on to your hat, sir—”
“Get to the point now, will you, young man?” the Captain growled7 sleepily.
“The ship which sent the SOS signal, the ship heading on collision course for Sol, is the Glory of the Galaxy8!”
For a moment the Captain said nothing. Distantly, you could hear the hum of the subspace drive-unit and the faint whining9 of the stasis generator10. Then the Captain bolted out of bed after unstrapping himself. In his haste he forgot the ship was in weightless deep space and went sailing, arms flailing11 air, across the room. The lieutenant helped him down and into his magnetic-soled shoes.
“My God,” the Captain said finally. “Why did it happen? Why did it have to happen to the Glory of the Galaxy?”
“What are you going to do, sir?”
“I can’t do anything. I won’t take the responsibility. Have the radioman contact the Hub at once.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Glory of the Galaxy, the SOS ship heading on collision course with the sun, was making its maiden12 run from the assembly satellites of Earth across the inner solar system via the perihelion passage
which would bring it within twenty-odd million miles of the sun, to Mars which now was on the opposite side of Sol from Earth. Aboard the gleaming new ship was the President of the Galactic Federation13 and his entire cabinet.
The Fomalhautian freighter’s emergency message was received at the Hub of the Galaxy within moments after it had been sent, although the normal space distance was in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand light years. The message was bounced—in amazingly quick time—from office to office at the hub, cutting through the usual red tape because of its top priority. And—since none of the normal agencies at the Hub could handle it—the message finally arrived at an office which very rarely received official messages of any kind. This was the one unofficial, extra-legal office at the Hub of the Galaxy. Lacking official function, the office had no technical existence and was not to be found in any Directory of the Hub. At the moment, two young men were seated inside. Their sole job was to maintain liaison14 with a man whose very existence was doubted by most of the human inhabitants of the Galaxy but whose importance could not be measured by mere15 human standards in those early days when the Galactic League was becoming the Galactic Federation.
The name of the man with whom they maintained contact was Johnny Mayhem.
“Did you read it?” the blond man asked.
“I read it.”
“If it got down here, that means they can’t handle it anywhere else.”
“Of course they can’t. What the hell could normal slobs like them or like us do about it?”
“Nothing, I guess. But wait a minute! You don’t mean you’re going to send Mayhem, without asking him, without telling—”
“We can’t ask him now, can we?”
“Johnny Mayhem’s elan is at the moment speeding from Canopus to Deneb, where on the fourth planet of the Denebian system a dead body is waiting for him in cold storage. The turnover16 from League to Federation status of the Denebian system is causing trouble in Deneb City, so Mayhem—”
“Deneb City will probably survive without Mayhem. Well, won’t it?”
“I guess so, but—”
“I know. The deal is we’re supposed to tell Mayhem where he’s going and what he can expect. The deal also is, every inhabited world has a body waiting for his elan in cold storage. But don’t you think if we could talk to Mayhem now—”
“It isn’t possible. He’s in transit17.”
“Don’t you think if we could talk to him now he would agree to board the Glory of the Galaxy?”
“How should I know? I’m not Johnny Mayhem.”
“If he doesn’t board her, it’s certain death for all of them.”
“And if he does board her, what the hell can he do about it? Besides, there isn’t any dead body awaiting his elan on that ship or any ship. He wouldn’t make a very efficacious ghost.”
“But there are live people. Scores of them. Mayhem’s elan is quite capable of possessing a living host.”
“Sure. Theoretically it is. But damn it all, what would the results be? We’ve never tried it. It’s liable to damage Mayhem. As for the host—”
“The host might die. I know it. But he’ll die anyway. The whole shipload of them is heading on collision course for the sun.”
“Does the SOS say why?”
“No. Maybe Mayhem can find out and do something about it.”
“Yeah, maybe. That’s a hell of a way to risk the life of the most important man in the Galaxy. Because if Mayhem boards that ship and can’t do anything about it, he’ll die with the rest of them.”
“Why? We could always pluck his elan out again.”
“If he were inhabiting a dead one. In a live body, I don’t think so. The attraction would be stronger. There would be forces of cohesion—”
“That’s true. Still, Mayhem’s our only hope.”
“I’ll admit it’s a job for Mayhem, but he’s too important.”
“Is he? Don’t be a fool. What, actually, is Johnny Mayhem’s importance? His importance lies in the very fact that he is expendable. His life—for the furtherance of the new Galactic Federation.”
“But—”
“And the President is aboard that ship. Maybe he can’t do as much for the Galaxy in the long run as Mayhem can, but don’t you see, man, he’s a figurehead. Right now he’s the most important man in the Galaxy, and if we could talk to him I’m sure
Mayhem would agree. Mayhem would want to board that ship.”
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收听单词发音
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1
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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2
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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3
groggily
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| adv.酒醉地；东倒西歪地 | |
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4
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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5
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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6
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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7
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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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
whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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10
generator
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| n.发电机，发生器 | |
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11
flailing
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| v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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12
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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13
federation
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| n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会 | |
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14
liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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15
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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16
turnover
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| n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量 | |
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17
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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