"Right. This fishy smell has a rare odor. I think we're on the trail of it."
"O.K., Steve. Can you wait about three minutes? The first encirclement of Telfu will be over then and we'll have our first experimental curve."
"We'll wait."
The sigma curve was completed, and Larry circled far out and made a fast run toward the planet, in a course similar to the one they used on their first try.
Meanwhile, Hammond looked at the curve and grinned.
McBride looked over his shoulder and grinned, too.
Hammond slapped the curve down on a drawing board and began to plot efficiency against a polar co-ordinate. The curve was roughly circular, but exhibited a tendency towards a cardioid. McBride played with the figures for a minute, and as he opened his mouth to say something, the Haywire Queen gave that sickening lurch and changed abruptly from super drive to the emergencies.
"Darn!" said McBride. "This everlasting acceleration changing business is going to make a nervous wreck of me yet."
"Also physical if it is taken in too large doses," grinned Steve. "The human anatomy can accept velocity without limit—well, up to the point where the ultimate velocity is reached. We've gone a goodly hunk of stuff over the speed of light."