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Authors: Richard Purtill
Tags: Sci-Fi
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entered, fitting flush with the inner wall with a slight click. Those thick walls and the door made by the ramp made a formidable barrier. Against what, I wondered?
I learned the next morning, as I sat on my bed in a room that except for its smaller size might have been the room I had awakened in in the place they had called a “hospital.” As in that other room, there was an oval of swirling colors on the wall, which Pellow called a “View.” Touching one of the now-familiar circles made the colors vanish, to be replaced by what seemed to be a window looking out on the area we had walked through the night before. Dawn was still streaking the sky with colors when three red flashes chased each other across the scene and a woman’s voice spoke from the air. “Lift off in thirty seconds,” said the voice. “Off-duty crew and passengers secure for liftoff.”
There was a deep rumble and the fabric of the room shook very slightly, in the oval view the ground suddenly dropped away, and I saw again, as I had seen from Benton’s flying pavilion, the towers of the enchanters’ city. It was set among rolling hills: I looked for Benton’s estate and lodge but we were soon too high to see any building of ordinary size.
Higher and higher we went: I saw snow-capped mountains off to one side and a blue infinity that could only be the sea a long way off on the other side. The panorama was already vaster than any I had seen from the highest peak in Carpathia, but we rose yet higher; what sky I could see turned strangely dark, and the land beneath me seemed to take on a curve. As I watched in fascination the arc of the sky grew in proportion to the land and stars began to appear. After I don’t know how long I saw the starry sky engulf the land and sea, until the place we had come from was only a circle of misty blue set in a night sky full of stars.
Pellow’s voice brought me out of my trance. “Spectacular, isn’t it?” he said softly. “We take off on gravity-effect engines and it’s most economical to head straight for the sun, so you see the whole dayside.” Then he said more briskly, “There’s time for breakfast before we go Q. Not that you’ll feel the lack of it when you’re Q-time, but your body needs it and you might as well eat while you can still enjoy it.” From a niche in the wall very much like that in the “hospital” room he produced a tray of food and drink far tastier than the food in the “hospital” had been. Pellow grinned. “Trust a Greek captain to see that the Departure Day breakfast is a good one,” he said.
The three flashes came again and the voice said, “Prepare to go Q.” Pellow shrugged and carried our dishes back to the niche where they were whisked away as if by invisible fingers. A whooshing sound as of a great wind sighed through the room for a moment and Pellow cocked his head to listen. “Letting air out of the cargo holds,” he said. “The captain leaves it till the last moment for some reason. Wonder what the cargo is that we’re supposed to be in charge of.” He went to his bunk and stretched himself out, turning his face to the wall. Three flashes again and the disembodied voice said, “Entering Q space.”
In the View the starry sky blinked out, to be replaced by a curious gray blankness through which amorphous gray shapes moved slowly. After a moment I tore my eyes away and turned my face to the wall as Pellow had done. Waves of hot and cold seemed to move through my body and I had the unpleasant feeling that those gray shapes were moving unseen through the room and through my body. My heart pounded, then seemed to stop and start again. A weight seemed to rest on my chest and I struggled for breath, then the weight vanished and I was panting in shallow breaths. My sight blurred, then cleared again. Gradually I settled into a sort of dull apathy, as if my body and my emotions had been worn out by the rapid oscillations of sensation, and had retreated to a
I learned the next morning, as I sat on my bed in a room that except for its smaller size might have been the room I had awakened in in the place they had called a “hospital.” As in that other room, there was an oval of swirling colors on the wall, which Pellow called a “View.” Touching one of the now-familiar circles made the colors vanish, to be replaced by what seemed to be a window looking out on the area we had walked through the night before. Dawn was still streaking the sky with colors when three red flashes chased each other across the scene and a woman’s voice spoke from the air. “Lift off in thirty seconds,” said the voice. “Off-duty crew and passengers secure for liftoff.”
There was a deep rumble and the fabric of the room shook very slightly, in the oval view the ground suddenly dropped away, and I saw again, as I had seen from Benton’s flying pavilion, the towers of the enchanters’ city. It was set among rolling hills: I looked for Benton’s estate and lodge but we were soon too high to see any building of ordinary size.
Higher and higher we went: I saw snow-capped mountains off to one side and a blue infinity that could only be the sea a long way off on the other side. The panorama was already vaster than any I had seen from the highest peak in Carpathia, but we rose yet higher; what sky I could see turned strangely dark, and the land beneath me seemed to take on a curve. As I watched in fascination the arc of the sky grew in proportion to the land and stars began to appear. After I don’t know how long I saw the starry sky engulf the land and sea, until the place we had come from was only a circle of misty blue set in a night sky full of stars.
Pellow’s voice brought me out of my trance. “Spectacular, isn’t it?” he said softly. “We take off on gravity-effect engines and it’s most economical to head straight for the sun, so you see the whole dayside.” Then he said more briskly, “There’s time for breakfast before we go Q. Not that you’ll feel the lack of it when you’re Q-time, but your body needs it and you might as well eat while you can still enjoy it.” From a niche in the wall very much like that in the “hospital” room he produced a tray of food and drink far tastier than the food in the “hospital” had been. Pellow grinned. “Trust a Greek captain to see that the Departure Day breakfast is a good one,” he said.
The three flashes came again and the voice said, “Prepare to go Q.” Pellow shrugged and carried our dishes back to the niche where they were whisked away as if by invisible fingers. A whooshing sound as of a great wind sighed through the room for a moment and Pellow cocked his head to listen. “Letting air out of the cargo holds,” he said. “The captain leaves it till the last moment for some reason. Wonder what the cargo is that we’re supposed to be in charge of.” He went to his bunk and stretched himself out, turning his face to the wall. Three flashes again and the disembodied voice said, “Entering Q space.”
In the View the starry sky blinked out, to be replaced by a curious gray blankness through which amorphous gray shapes moved slowly. After a moment I tore my eyes away and turned my face to the wall as Pellow had done. Waves of hot and cold seemed to move through my body and I had the unpleasant feeling that those gray shapes were moving unseen through the room and through my body. My heart pounded, then seemed to stop and start again. A weight seemed to rest on my chest and I struggled for breath, then the weight vanished and I was panting in shallow breaths. My sight blurred, then cleared again. Gradually I settled into a sort of dull apathy, as if my body and my emotions had been worn out by the rapid oscillations of sensation, and had retreated to a
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