where does that go?”
“To the Rollercoaster 1 .”
I hesitated when it was our turn to climb. She pulled gently on my hand and smiled for the first time since the Tunnel of Love. “Let’s go, Ion,” she whispered. We went up the ladder to the pink glow. The couples who had preceded us were standing at the base of what appeared to be an endless curved wall, whose top I couldn’t see, made of odd shaped brick. 2 Other couples were coming up the ladder out of the white void we had left, through the pink hole of light.
“Ions!” the Voice said at last. “You are about to board the Rollercoaster. Step this way, step lively! Board the Rollercoaster and move at the speed of one hundred million electric volts 3 ! Your entertainment is Our pleasure! Smash the riddle of the universe, the nucleus of the uranium atom!”
I must have balked, for Cleo’s hand, holding mine, tightened as if to calm me. “It will be very pleasant,” she whispered.
“Ready, Ions?” the Voice asked. “Ready now! Steady now! Obey your attendants!”
“Jump!” Cleo said and her eyes were bright, and she was smiling.
“Jump where?” I asked, and again she smiled. I felt myself shivering from head to foot.
“We have to jump from gravity. Like this,” she said, tugging on my hand. I shut my eyes and jumped. Right away, a gentle swinging motion carried us off. It was like being on a combination swing and merry-go-round. I opened my eyes and stared at the ions ahead of us, all of us swinging up and down, the merry-go-round taking us around and around, everything pink like a pink atmosphere, and far away, a million miles away, the towering Dees. I looked at Cleo, and I smiled also, and as we circled I felt a tingle, a nice pleasant tingle. It was the first charge 4 . Now, the swing swung us higher. Now, the merry-go-round went faster. The Dees, although still a million miles away, were a little closer, and then there was another tingle. Up we swung higher and faster, and Cleo was smiling with joy as we whirled around the next spiral. There was another tingle, and another, the spirals lengthening, and the next tingle wasn’t so pleasant, and the next was like the shock of death — but we didn’t die. Death changed into life, a swifter life, a swifter speed as the Dees came closer and closer, and the Voice spieling at us. “Ions, you’re on your way at one million electric volts. Two million electric volts. Three million electric volts! On your way to the world of the uranium atom! Uranium 235, one of the lighter isotopes! Your ancestors first released the energy of the uranium atom by splitting the nucleus! On your way at four million electric volts!”
The sensations of the swing and the merry-go-round became one sensation, and I waited for the next shock with fear and delight, knowing now that it wouldn’t kill me, but still fearing it, and when it came and I was accelerated ever faster I laughed with joy. Ever faster, so fast I no longer felt as if I had a body with a body’s parts but had been reduced to a particle of fear and delight, roaring down those infinite spirals, the Dees closer and closer, leaning inwards as if about to collapse. And Cleo was laughing with joy — I couldn’t hear her but I could see her head shaking on her neck.
“You’re on your way to the riddle of the universe!” the Voice boomed. “Five million electric volts! Ten million electric volts! One hundred million electric volts!”
Higher! Faster! And higher still, and even faster, a whir, a whiz, a whoosh and now there was a new sensation, not that of the swing or merry-go-round, but a push. A push building up behind us, pushing so hard, so terrible, that I felt as if I were about to burst and fly apart — and suddenly we shot out into space where there was only the Voice.
“Ions, you have entered a vast theatre of electric-magnetic forces! Between the nucleus of the uranium atom and its nearest orbit there is a gap vaster in proportion than
“To the Rollercoaster 1 .”
I hesitated when it was our turn to climb. She pulled gently on my hand and smiled for the first time since the Tunnel of Love. “Let’s go, Ion,” she whispered. We went up the ladder to the pink glow. The couples who had preceded us were standing at the base of what appeared to be an endless curved wall, whose top I couldn’t see, made of odd shaped brick. 2 Other couples were coming up the ladder out of the white void we had left, through the pink hole of light.
“Ions!” the Voice said at last. “You are about to board the Rollercoaster. Step this way, step lively! Board the Rollercoaster and move at the speed of one hundred million electric volts 3 ! Your entertainment is Our pleasure! Smash the riddle of the universe, the nucleus of the uranium atom!”
I must have balked, for Cleo’s hand, holding mine, tightened as if to calm me. “It will be very pleasant,” she whispered.
“Ready, Ions?” the Voice asked. “Ready now! Steady now! Obey your attendants!”
“Jump!” Cleo said and her eyes were bright, and she was smiling.
“Jump where?” I asked, and again she smiled. I felt myself shivering from head to foot.
“We have to jump from gravity. Like this,” she said, tugging on my hand. I shut my eyes and jumped. Right away, a gentle swinging motion carried us off. It was like being on a combination swing and merry-go-round. I opened my eyes and stared at the ions ahead of us, all of us swinging up and down, the merry-go-round taking us around and around, everything pink like a pink atmosphere, and far away, a million miles away, the towering Dees. I looked at Cleo, and I smiled also, and as we circled I felt a tingle, a nice pleasant tingle. It was the first charge 4 . Now, the swing swung us higher. Now, the merry-go-round went faster. The Dees, although still a million miles away, were a little closer, and then there was another tingle. Up we swung higher and faster, and Cleo was smiling with joy as we whirled around the next spiral. There was another tingle, and another, the spirals lengthening, and the next tingle wasn’t so pleasant, and the next was like the shock of death — but we didn’t die. Death changed into life, a swifter life, a swifter speed as the Dees came closer and closer, and the Voice spieling at us. “Ions, you’re on your way at one million electric volts. Two million electric volts. Three million electric volts! On your way to the world of the uranium atom! Uranium 235, one of the lighter isotopes! Your ancestors first released the energy of the uranium atom by splitting the nucleus! On your way at four million electric volts!”
The sensations of the swing and the merry-go-round became one sensation, and I waited for the next shock with fear and delight, knowing now that it wouldn’t kill me, but still fearing it, and when it came and I was accelerated ever faster I laughed with joy. Ever faster, so fast I no longer felt as if I had a body with a body’s parts but had been reduced to a particle of fear and delight, roaring down those infinite spirals, the Dees closer and closer, leaning inwards as if about to collapse. And Cleo was laughing with joy — I couldn’t hear her but I could see her head shaking on her neck.
“You’re on your way to the riddle of the universe!” the Voice boomed. “Five million electric volts! Ten million electric volts! One hundred million electric volts!”
Higher! Faster! And higher still, and even faster, a whir, a whiz, a whoosh and now there was a new sensation, not that of the swing or merry-go-round, but a push. A push building up behind us, pushing so hard, so terrible, that I felt as if I were about to burst and fly apart — and suddenly we shot out into space where there was only the Voice.
“Ions, you have entered a vast theatre of electric-magnetic forces! Between the nucleus of the uranium atom and its nearest orbit there is a gap vaster in proportion than
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