But Hank ignored me. On the right track at last, he was developing his arguments.
"Reckon you know more 'bout energy-mass relationships than I do, Lanse. 'Spect you'll remember, then, the transformations cooked up by a guy from our time, feller by the name o' Lorentz? Him an' a couple other guys named Einstein an' Planck fiddled around with hyper-spatial mechanics an' discovered some interestin' things. Includin' the fact that mass is altered when it travels at high velocities.
"Whut I figger musta happened is this. The gadget you invented worked even better'n you expected. It worked so durn well that it give the Saturn one whale of a kick in the pants. Made it accelerate at a speed greater than that of light!
"So then what? Why, then the plus universe warn't big enough to hold the Saturn any more! That wild minute or two you talked about was when you exceeded the limitin' velocity. An' then here you was in the minus universe! Which is, so to speak, the negative matrix of the normal plus universe we ordinarily live in."
It didn't make sense to me, but apparently it did to Lieutenant Biggs. He passed a damp palm across a sweating forehead.
"You're right, Cleaver! You must be right, because your argument agrees with all the known theories and observed facts. The incredible readings on our instruments, the weird surroundings in which we find ourselves—" He stared at my friend sombrely. "But what are we going to do? How shall we get out of here?"
Hank said, "Same way we come in. We blast out."
"But I've tried that, Hank," Biggs defended. "Before I realized the full extent of our situation. And nothing happened. There's something strange in the response of the motors. Don't ask me what. It's hard to say, when the Saturn is plunging into beaconless, starless nothing. But stepped-up acceleration is just a waste of fuel."
"Yeah?" mused Hank. "That's queer. Now, I wonder why—"
At that instant came a most unexpected interruption. Todd, who had been quietly tending his controls, suddenly came to life with a startled cry.