“And the figures show that Dirac was right. They also show that Blackett was right. Both magnetism and gravity are phenomena of rotation.
“I won’t bother to trace the succeeding steps, because I think you can work them out for yourself. It’s enough to say that there’s a drive-generator on board this ship which is the complete and final justification of all the hell you people on the Bridge gang have been put through. The gadget has a long technical name, but the technics who tend it have already nicknamed it the spindizzy, because of what it does to the magnetic moment of any atomany atomwithin its field.
“While it’s in operation, it absolutely refuses to notice any atom outside its own influence. Furthermore, it will notice no other strain or influence which holds good beyond the borders of that field. It’s so snooty that it has to be stopped down to almost nothing when it’s brought close to a planet, or it won’t let you land. But in deep space… well, it’s impervious to meteors and such trash, of course; it’s impervious to gravity; andit hasn’t the faintest interest in any legislation about top speed limits.”
“You’re kidding,” Helmuth said.
“Am I, now? This ship came to Ganymede directly from Earth. It did it in a little under two hours, counting ma-nceuvering time.”
Helmuth took a defiant pull at his drink. “This thing really has no top speed at all?” he said. “How can you be sure of that?”
“Well, we can’t,” Wagoner admitted. “After all, one of the unfortunate things about general mathematical formulas is that they don’t contain cut-off points to warn you of areas where they don’t apply. Even quantum mechanics is somewhat subject to that criticism. However, we expect to know pretty soon just how fast the spindizzy can drive an object, if there is any limit. We expect you to tell us.”