The Ultimate Weapon Read online

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  [Cover Illustration: JOHN W. CAMPBELL THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

  When star fights star, is chaos the best defense?]

  RED SUN RISING

  The star Mira was unpredictably variable. Sometimes it was blazing,brilliant and hot. Other times it was oddly dim, cool, shedding littlewarmth on its many planets. Gresth Gkae, leader of the Mirans, wasseeking a better star, one to which his "people" could migrate. Thatstar had to be steady, reliable, with a good planetary system. And inhis astronomical searching, he found Sol.

  With hundreds of ships, each larger than whole Terrestrial spaceports,and traveling faster than the speed of light, the Mirans set out to movein to Solar regions and take over.

  And on Earth there was nothing which would be capable of beating offthis incredible armada--until Buck Kendall stumbled upon THE ULTIMATEWEAPON.

  JOHN W. CAMPBELL first started writing in 1930 when his first shortstory, _When the Atoms Failed_, was accepted by a science-fictionmagazine. At that time he was twenty years old and still a student atcollege. As the title of the story indicates, he was even at that timeoccupied with the significance of atomic energy and nuclear physics.

  For the next seven years, Campbell, bolstered by a scientific backgroundthat ran from childhood experiments, to study at Duke University and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote and sold science-fiction,achieving for himself an enviable reputation in the field.

  In 1937 he became the editor of _Astounding Stories_ magazine andapplied himself at once to the task of bettering the magazine and thefield of s-f writing in general. His influence on science-fiction sincethen has been great. Today he still remains as the editor of thatmagazine's evolved and redesigned successor, _Analog_.

  _THE ULTIMATE WEAPON_

  by JOHN W. CAMPBELL

  ACE BOOKS, INC. 1120 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10036

  THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

  Copyright, 1936, by John W. Campbell

  Originally published as a serial in _Amazing Stories_ under the title of_Uncertainty_.

  All Rights Reserved

  _Cover by Gerald McConnell_

  Printed in U.S.A.

  Transcriber's Note:

  Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. Subscript characters are shown within {braces}. The mathematical symbol pi is shown as [pi].

  I

  Patrol Cruiser "IP-T 247" circling out toward Pluto on leisurelyinspection tour to visit the outpost miners there, was in no hurry atall as she loafed along. Her six-man crew was taking it very easy, andeasy meant two-man watches, and low speed, to watch for the instrumentpanel and attend ship into the bargain.

  She was about thirty million miles off Pluto, just beginning to get intouch with some of the larger mining stations out there, when BuckKendall's turn at the controls came along. Buck Kendall was one oflife's little jokes. When Nature made him, she was absentminded. Buckstood six feet two in his stocking feet, with his usual slight stoop inoperation. When he forgot, and stood up straight, he loomed about twoinches higher. He had the body and muscles of a dock navvy, which Naturestarted out to make. Then she forgot and added something of the samestuff she put in Sir Francis Drake. Maybe that made Old Nature nervous,and she started adding different things. At any rate, Kendall, asfinally turned out, had a brain that put him in the first rank ofscientists--when he felt like it--the general constitution of an ostrichand a flair for gambling.

  The present position was due to such a gamble. An IP man, a friend ofhis, had made the mistake of betting him a thousand dollars he wouldn'tget beyond a Captain's bars in the Patrol. Kendall had liked the ideaanyway, and adding a bit of a bet to it made it irresistible. So, beinga very particular kind of a fool, the glorious kind which old Natureturns out now and then, he left a five million dollar estate on LongIsland, Terra, that same evening, and joined up in the Patrol. The SirFrancis Drake strain had immediately come forth--and Kendall was havingthe time of his life. In a six-man cruiser, his real work in theInterplanetary Patrol had started. He was still in it--but it was hiscommand now, and a blue circle on his left sleeve gave his lieutenant'srank.

  Buck Kendall had immediately proceeded to enlist in his command the IPman who had made the mistaken bet, and Rad Cole was on duty with himnow. Cole was the technician of the T-247. His rank as TechnicalEngineer was practically equivalent to Kendall's circle-rank, which madethe two more comfortable together.

  Cole was listening carefully to the signals coming through from Pluto."That," he decided, "sounds like Tad Nichols' fist. You can recognizethat broken-down truck-horse trot of his on the key as far away as youcan hear it."

  "Is that what it is?" sighed Buck. "I thought it was static mushing himat first. What's he like?"

  "Like all the other damn fools who come out two billion miles to scratchrock, as if there weren't enough already on the inner planets. He's gota rich platinum property. Sells ninety percent of his output to buy hispower, and the other eleven percent for his clothes and food."

  "He must be an efficient miner," suggested Kendall, "to maintain 101%production like that."

  "No, but his bank account is. He's figured out that's the most economiclevel of production. If he produces less, he won't be able to pay forhis heating power, and if he produces more, his operation power willburn up his bank account too fast."

  "Hmmm--sensible way to figure. A man after my own heart. How does heplan to restock his bank account?"

  "By mining on Mercury. He does it regularly--sort of a commuter. Outhere his power bills eat it up. On Mercury he goes in for potassium, andsells the power he collects in cooling his dome, of course. He's a goodminer, and the old fool can make money down there." Like any reallyskilled operator, Cole had been sending Morse messages while he talked.Now he sat quiet waiting for the reply, glancing at the chronometer.

  "I take it he's not after money--just after fun," suggested Buck.

  "Oh, no. He's after money," replied Cole gravely. "You ask him--he'sgoing to make his eternal fortune yet by striking a real bed of jovium,and then he'll retire."

  "Oh, one of that kind."

  "They all are," Cole laughed. "Eternal hope, and the rest of it." Helistened a moment and went on. "But old Nichols is a first-gradeengineer. He wouldn't be able to remake that bankroll every time if hewasn't. You'll see his Dome out there on Pluto--it's always the best onthe planet. Tip-top shape. And he's a bit of an experimenter too.Ah--he's with us."

  Nichols' ragged signals were coming through--or pounding through. Theywere worse than usual, and at first Kendall and Cole couldn't make themout. Then finally they got them in bursts. The man was excited, and hisbad key-work made it worse. "--Randing stopped. They got him I think. Hesaid--th--ship as big--a--nsport. Said it wa--eaded my--ay. Neutrons--oninstruments--he's coming over the horizon--it's huge--war ship Ithink--register--instru--neutrons--." Abruptly the signals were blankedout completely.

  * * * * *

  Cole and Kendall sat frozen and stiff. Each looked at the other abruptly,then Kendall moved. From the receiver, he ripped out the recording coil,and instantly jammed it into the analyzer. He started it through once,then again, then again, at different tone settings, till he found a veryshrill whine that seemed to clear up most of Nichols' bad key-work."T-247--T-247--Emergency. Emergency. Randing reports the--over hishorizon. Huge--ip--reign manufacture. Almost spherical. Randing's stopped.They got him I think. He said the ship was as big as a
transport. Saidit was headed my way. Neutrons--ont--gister--instruments. I think--ish--he's coming over the horizon. It's huge, and a war ship Ithink--register--instruments--neutrons."

  Kendall's finger stabbed out at a button. Instantly the noise of theother men, wakened abruptly by the mild shocks, came from behind.Kendall swung to the controls, and Cole raced back to the engine room.The hundred-foot ship shot suddenly forward under the thrust of her tailion-rockets. A blue-red cloud formed slowly behind her and expanded.Talbot appeared, and silently took her over from Kendall. "Stations,men," snapped Kendall. "Emergency call from a miner of Pluto reporting alarge armed vessel which attacked them." Kendall swung back, and easedhimself against the thrusting acceleration of the over-powered littleship, toward the engine room. Cole was bending over his apparatus,making careful check-ups, closing weapon-circuits. No window gave viewof space here; on the left was the tiny tender's pocket, on the right,above and below the great water tanks that fed the ion-rockets, behindthe rockets themselves. The tungsten metal walls were cold and grayunder the ship lights; the hunched bulks of the apparatus crowded thetiny room. Gigantic racked accumulators huddled in the corners. Martinand Garnet swung into position in the fighting-tanks just ahead of thepower rooms; Canning slid rapidly through the engine room, oozed througha tiny door, and took up his position in the stern-chamber, seatedhalf-over the great ion-rocket sheath.

  "Ready in positions, Captain Kendall," called the war-pilot as thelittle green lights appeared on his board.

  "Test discharges on maximum," ordered Kendall. He turned to Cole. "Youstart the automatic key?"

  "Right, Captain."

  "All shipshape?"

  "Right as can be. Accumulators at thirty-seven per cent, thanks to theloaf out here. They ought to pick up our signal back on Jupiter, he'snearest now. The station on Europa will get it."

  "Talbot--we are only to investigate if the ship is as reported. Have youseen any signs of her?"

  "No sir, and the signals are blank."

  "I'll work from here." Kendall took his position at the commandingcontrol. Cole made way for him, and moved to the power board. One by onehe tested the automatic doors, the pressure bulkheads. Kendall watchedthe instruments as one after another of the weapons were tested onmomentary full discharge--titanic flames of five million volt protons.Then the ship thudded to the chatter of the Garnell rifles.

  * * * * *

  Tensely the men watched the planet ahead, white, yet barely visible inthe weak sunlight so far out. It was swimming slowly nearer as the tinyship gathered speed.

  Kendall cast a glance over his detector-instruments. The radio networkwas undisturbed, the magnetic and electric fields recognized only theslight disturbances occasioned by the planet itself. There was nothing,noth--

  Five hundred miles away, a gigantic ship came into instantaneous being.Simultaneously, and instantaneously, the various detector systems howledtheir warnings. Kendall gasped as the thing appeared on his view screen,with the scale-lines below. The scale must be cock-eyed. They said theship was fifteen hundred feet in diameter, and two thousand long!

  "Retreat," ordered Kendall, "at maximum acceleration."

  Talbot was already acting. The gyroscopes hummed in their castings, andthe motors creaked. The T-247 spun on her axis, and abruptly theacceleration built up as the ion-rockets began to shudder. A faint smellof "heat" began to creep out of the converter. Immense "weight" builtup, and pressed the men into their specially designed seats--

  The gigantic ship across the way turned slowly, and seemed to stare atthe T-247. Then it darted toward them at incredible speed till the poorlittle T-247 seemed to be standing still, as sailors say. The strangerwas so gigantic now, the screens could not show all of him.

  "God, Buck--he's going to take us!"

  Simultaneously, the T-247 rolled, and from her broke every possiblestream of destruction. The ion-rocket flames swirled abruptly towardher, the proton-guns whined their song of death in their housings, andthe heavy pounding shudder of the Garnell guns racked the ship.

  Strangely, Kendall suddenly noticed, there was a stillness in the ship.The guns and the rays were still going--but the little human soundsseemed abruptly gone.

  "Talbot--Garnet--" Only silence answered him. Cole looked across at himin sudden white-faced amazement.

  "They're gone--" gasped Cole.

  Kendall stood paralyzed for thirty seconds. Then suddenly he seemed tocome to life. "Neutrons! Neutrons--and water tanks! Old Nichols wasright--" He turned to his friend. "Cole--the tender--quick." He darted aglance at the screen. The giant ship still lay alongside. A wash of ionswas curling around her, splitting, and passing on. The pinprickexplosions of the Garnell shells dotted space around her--but never onher.

  Cole was already racing for the tender lock. In an instant Kendall piledin after him. The tiny ship, scarcely ten feet long, was powered forflights of only two hours acceleration, and had oxygen for buttwenty-four hours for six men, seventy-two hours for two men--maybe. Theheavy door was slammed shut behind them, as Cole seated himself at thepanel. He depressed a lever, and a sudden smooth push shot them awayfrom the T-247.

  "DON'T!" called Kendall sharply as Cole reached for the ion-rocketcontrol. "Douse those lights!" The ship was dark in dark space. Thelighted hull of the T-247 drifted away from the little tender--furtherand further till the giant ship on the far side became visible.

  "Not a light--not a sign of fields in operation." Kendall said,unconsciously speaking softly. "This thing is so tiny, that it mayescape their observation in the fields of the T-247 and Pluto downthere. It's our only hope."

  "What happened? How in the name of the planets did they kill those menwithout a sound, without a flash, and without even warning us, orinjuring us?"

  "Neutrons--don't you see?"

  "Frankly, I don't. I'm no scientist--merely a technician. Neutronsaren't used in any process I've run across."

  "Well, remember they're uncharged, tiny things. Small as protons, butwithout electric field. The result is they pass right through anordinary atom without being stopped unless they make a direct hit.Tungsten, while it has a beautifully high melting point, is mostly openspace, and a neutron just sails right through it, or any heavy atom.Light atoms stop neutrons better--there's less open space in 'em.Hydrogen is best. Well--a man is made up mostly of light elements, and aman stops those neutrons--it isn't surprising it killed those otherfellows invisibly, and without a sound."

  "You mean they bathed that ship in neutrons?"

  "Shot it full of 'em. Just like our proton guns, only sending neutrons."

  "Well, why weren't we killed too?"

  "'Water stops neutrons,' I said. Figure it out."

  "The rocket-water tanks--all around us! Great masses of water--" gaspedCole. "That saved us?"

  "Right. I wonder if they've spotted us."

  * * * * *

  The stranger ship was moving slowly in relation to the T-247. Suddenlythe motion changed, the stranger spun--and a giant lock appeared in herside, opened. The T-247 began to move, floated more and more rapidlystraight for the lock. Her various weapons had stopped operating now,the hoppers of the Garnell guns exhausted, the charge of theaccumulators aboard the ship down so low the proton guns had died out.

  "Lord--they're taking the whole ship!"

  "Say--Cole, is that any ship you ever heard of before? _I don't thinkthat's just a pirate!_"

  "Not a pirate--what then?"

  "How'd he get inside our detector screens so fast? Watch--he'll eitherleave, or come after us--" The T-247 had settled inside the lock now,and the great metal door closed after it. The whole patrol ship had beenswallowed by a giant. Kendall was sketching swiftly on a notebook,watching the vast ship closely, putting down a record of its lines, andformation. He glanced up at it, and then down for a few more lines, andup at it--

  The stranger ship abruptly dwindled. It dwindled with incredible speed,rushing off
along the line of sight at an impossible velocity, andabruptly clicking out of sight, like an image on a movie-film that hasbeen cut, and repaired after the scene that showed the finaldisappearance.

  "Cole--Cole--did you get that? Did you see--do you understand whathappened?" Kendall was excitedly shouting now.

  "He missed us," Cole sighed. "It's a wonder--hanging out here in space,with the protector of the T-247's fields gone."

  "No, no, you asteroid--that's not it. _He went off faster than lightitself!_"

  "Eh--what? Faster than _light_? That can't be done--"

  "He did it, I know he did. That's how he got inside our screens. He cameinside faster than the warning message could relay back the information.Didn't you see him accelerate to an impossible speed in an impossibletime? Didn't you see how he just vanished as he exceeded the speed oflight, and stopped reflecting it? _That ship was no ship of this solarsystem!_"

  "Where did he come from then?"

  "God only knows, but it's a long, long way off."