X

Masters of Space by E.E Doc Smith

ore. Giant miners tore and dug and slashed and refined and concentrated. Storage

silos by the hundreds were built and were filled. Hundreds upon hundreds of

concentrate-carriers bored their stolid ways through hyperspace. Many weeks of time

passed.

But of what importance are mere weeks of time to a race that has, for many millions of

years, been adhering rigidly to a pre-set program?

The sheer magnitude of the operation, and the extraordinary attention to detail with

which it was prepared and launched, explain why the Strett attack on Ardvor did not

occur until so many weeks later than Hilton and Sawtelle expected it. They also explain

the utterly incomprehensible fury, the completely fantastic intensity, the unparalleled

savagery, the almost immeasurable brute power of that attack when it finally did come.

When the Orion landed on Ardane Field from Earth, carrying the first contingent of

immigrants, Hilton and Sawtelle were almost as much surprised as relieved that the

Stretts had not already attacked.

Sawtelle, confident that his defenses were fully ready, took it more or less in stride.

Hilton worried. And after a couple of days he began to do some real thinking about it.

The first result of his thinking was a conference with Temple. As soon as she got the

drift, she called in Teddy and Big Bill Karns. Teddy in turn called in Becky and de Vaux;

Karns wanted Poynter and Beverly; Poynter wanted Braden and the twins; and so on.

Thus, what started out as a conference of two became a full Ardan staff meeting; a

meeting which, starting immediately after lunch, ran straight through into the following

afternoon.

“To sum up the consensus, for the record,” Hilton said then, studying a sheet of paper

covered with symbols, “the Stretts haven’t attacked yet because they found out that we

are stronger than they are. They found that out by analyzing our defensive web-which, if

we had had this meeting first, we wouldn’t have put up at all. Unlike anything known to

human or previous Strett science, it is proof against any form of attack up to the limit of

the power of its generators. They will attack as soon as they are equipped to break that

screen at the level of power probable to our ships. We can not arrive at any reliable

estimate as to how long that will take.

“As to the effectiveness of our cutting off their known fuel supply, opinion is divided.

We must therefore assume that fuel shortage will not be a factor.

“Neither are we unanimous on the basic matter as to why the Masters acted as they

did just before they left Ardry. Why did they set the status so far below their top ability?

Why did they make it impossible for the Omans ever, of themselves, to learn their

higher science? Why, if they did not want that science to become known, did they leave

complete records of it? The majority of us believe that the Masters coded their records

in such fashion that the Stretts, even if they conquered the Omans or destroyed them,

could never break that code, since it was keyed to the basic difference between the

Strett mentality and the human. Thus, they left it deliberately for some human race to

find.

“Finally, and most important, our physicists and theoreticians are not able to

extrapolate, from the analysis of our screen, to the concepts underlying the Masters’

ultimate weapons of offense, the first-stage booster and its final end-product, the Vang.

If, as we can safely assume, the Stretts do not already have those weapons, they will

know nothing about them until we ourselves use them in battle.

“These are, of course, only the principal points covered. Does anyone wish to amend

this summation as recorded?” No one did.

The meeting was adjourned. Hilton, however, accompanied Sawtelle and Kedy to the

captain’s office. “So you see, Skipper, we got troubles,” he said. “If we don’t use those

boosters against their skeletons it’ll boil down to a stalemate lasting God knows how

long. It will be a war of attrition, outcome dependent on which side can build the most

and biggest and strongest ships the fastest. On the other hand, if we do use ’em on

defense here, they’ll analyze ’em and have everything worked out in a day or so. The

first thing they’ll do is beef up their planetary defenses to match. That way, we’d blow all

their ships out of space, probably easily enough, but Strett itself will be just as safe as

though it were in God’s left-hand hip pocket. So what’s the answer?”

“It isn’t that simple, Jarve,” Sawtelle said. “Let’s hear from you, Kedy.”

“Thank you, sir. There is an optimum mass, a point of maximum efficiency of

fire-power as balanced against loss of maneuverability, for any craft designed for

attack,” Kedy thought, in his most professional manner. “We assume that the Stretts

know that as well as we do. No such limitation applies to strictly defensive structures,

but both the Strett craft and ours must be designed for attack. We have built and are

budding many hundreds of thousands of ships of that type. So, undoubtedly, are the

Stretts. Ship for ship, they will be pretty well matched. Therefore one part of my strategy

will be for two of our ships to engage simultaneously one of theirs. There is a distinct

probability that we will have enough advantage in speed control to make that tactic

operable.”

“But there’s another that we won’t,” Sawtelle objected. “And maybe they can build

more ships than we can.” “Another point is that they may build, in addition to their big

stuff, a lot of small, ultra-fast ones,” Hilton put in. “Suicide jobs-crash and

detonate-simply super-missiles. How sure are you that you can stop such missiles with

ordinary beams?”

“Not at all, sir. Some of them would of course reach and destroy some of our ships.

Which brings up the second part of my strategy. For each one of the heavies, we are

building many small ships of the type you just called ‘super-missiles.”

“Superdreadnoughts versus superdreadnoughts, supermissiles versus super-missiles.”

Hilton digested that concept for several minutes. “That could still wind up as a

stalemate, except for what you said about control. That isn’t much to depend on,

especially since we won’t have the time-lag advantage you Omans had before. They’ll

see to that. Also, I don’t like to sacrifice a million Omans, either.”

“I haven’t explained the newest development yet, sir. There will be no Omans. Each

ship and each missile has a built-in Kedy brain, sir.”

“What? That makes it infinitely worse. You Kedys, unless it’s absolutely necessary, are

not expendable.”

“Oh, but we are, sir. You don’t quite understand. We Kedys are not merely similar, but

are in fact identical. Thus we are not independent entities. All of us together make up

the actual Kedy-that which is meant when we say ‘I.’ That is, I am the sum total of all

Kedys everywhere, not merely this individual that you call Kedy One.”

“You mean you’re all talking to me?”

“Exactly, sir. Thus, no one element of the Kedy has any need of, or any desire for,

self-preservation. The destruction of one element, or of thousands of elements, would

be of no more consequence to the Kedy than . . . well, they are strictly analogous to the

severed ends of the hairs, every time you get a haircut.”

“My God!” Hilton stared at Sawtelle. Sawtelle stared back. “I’m beginning to see . . .

maybe . . . I hope. What control that would be! But just in case we should have to use

the boosters . . .” Hilton’s voice died away. Scowling in concentration, he clasped his

hands behind his back and began to pace the floor.

“Better give up, Jarve. Kedy’s got the same mind you have,” Sawtelle began, to Hilton’s

oblivious back; but Kedy silenced the thought almost in the moment of its inception.

“By no means, sir,” he contradicted. “I have the brain only. The mind is entirely

different.”

“Link up, Kody, and see what you think of this,” Hilton broke in. There ensued an

interchange of thought so fast and so deeply mathematical that Sawtelle was lost in

seconds. “Do you think it’ll work?”

“I don’t see how it can fail, sir. At what point in the action should it be put into effect?

And will you call the time of initiation, or shall I?”

“Not until all their reserves are in action. Or, at worst, all of ours except that one

task-force. Since you’ll know a lot more about the status of the battle than either

Sawtelle or I will, you give the signal and I’ll start things going.”

“What are you two talking about?” Sawtelle demanded. “It’s a long story, chum. Kedy

can tell you about it better than I can. Besides, it’s getting late and Dark Lady and Larry

both give me hell every time I hold supper on plus time unless there’s a mighty good

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Categories: E.E Doc Smith
curiosity: