“I’m no better off,” grinned Nick. “I managed to get enough data from the radio so as to know how to throw the thing together, but as to precisely what it does and why I can only guess . . . and I’d rather not get out on a limb on it.
“All I know is this: interstellar travel, to be anything at all, requires really tremendous speed. To get that speed you have to accelerate like hell. And human bodies aren’t equipped to take the acceleration required.
“Well, what Dad did was to figure out a counter-acceleration device, which he called the ‘contracel’ for short. All I know is that it blankets the effects of really terrific acceleration so far as our feeling it goes.”
“Have you any idea, Nick,” asked Dorothy Gilbert, suddenly serious, “where the Hartnett party is?”
He shook his head. “They were outward bound for Alpha Centauri, just as we’ll be after we get home and check these results. I’ve no idea how far they got, because I don’t know how to check distances by wave n. In fact, I don’t think it can be done; the damned thing doesn’t travel right.
“You, Dorothy, and Bob, Edgar, and I are all members of the family of the original Hartnett expedition. The reason I wanted you three was because I really expect to look for Dad and his friends on our way to Alph. You. Fred, and Grenville and Timbie aren’t exactly family members in our little circle, but you’re next thing to it. We’ll have to have a bigger crew for the outing, of course.”
Dorothy ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s been over twelve years since I last saw Harry,” she whispered. “I wonder what he looks like now?”
Joe Timbie was sucking laboriously on a water-tube as they pulled themselves into the control room. He laid it aside at their entrance, and wiped his face furiously.
“The interference is terrific,” he began, “but I sounded the alarm because I’m definitely getting something every now and then, although it’s hard to say what.”