Tales of the Flying Mountains Read Online Free Page A

as Dyson and Feinberg—” Harleman saw them drifting away again. Damn! I spent too much time with Emett last night. That jargon of his soaked into my skin .
    â€œWell, the point is, gentlemen,” he said, “in the newest theory, matter and energy are described by their properties from the equations, equations like those of a rotating force-field. Including gravitation.”
    Carter jerked to an upright sitting position. “Wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “You aren’t leading up to antigravity, are you? I happen to know what the Air Force has been doing in that line for the past fifty years. It’s no secret they’ve drawn absolute blanks. Antigravity belongs with witches on broomsticks. I could reach Mars easier by … by astral projection.”
    â€œNot antigravity, sir,” Harleman told him. “Gyrogravitics.”
    â€œA change of labels doesn’t——”
    â€œPlease sir. I’ve had some most interesting discussions with a Mr. Quentin Emett. Some of you may have heard of him: an independent investigator——”
    â€œMeans he hasn’t got his Ph.D.,” Thomasson said grimly.
    â€œWell, yes, he does happen to lack a union card,” Harleman replied, and saw a bit of approval in Stanhope. “The academic establishment doesn’t like him. However, the academic establishment—” He shrugged and smiled at Stanhope. Huge tax subsidies. Left-wing professors. Unruly students . “Frankly, he probably wouldn’t have gotten my ear if he weren’t a close relative of Senator Lamphier. But I need hardly assure you, gentlemen, the senator is no nepotist.” He’s the most majestic nepotist on Capitol Hill, as you know better than I. But you also know you’re well advised to stay on the good side of him . “He satisfied himself as to Mr. Emett’s qualifications before sending him to me. In the course of talks occupying almost a year, I have likewise satisfied myself.
    â€œMr. Emett’s ideas are unorthodox, true. He proposes to develop a generator which, by means of nuclear resonance rotations, will create fields that we can call gravitational, or antigravitational, or pseudogravitational, or whatever we like. I think ‘gyrogravitic’ is probably the best word, though if we can get this work authorized, the R and D effort should have a more suitable name such as, for example, Project Dyna-Thrust.”
    Carter sneered. “And you’ll make your spaceships weightless and float them right off Earth, eh?”
    â€œNo, sir.” Emett had carefully rehearsed Harleman. “Conservation of energy and momentum are not violated. In effect, a gyrogravitic drive should react against the entire mass of the ambient universe. You’ll still need power to rise, or accelerate, or maneuver in any other way. But it’ll be minimum power; you won’t be throwing energy out in exhaust gases. The power plant can be minimal too; since you can hover free, or nearly free, you don’t need a huge motor to raise you as fast as possible. Any energy source will do—fuel cells, batteries, nuclear reactors, I suppose even steam engines—though no doubt as a side benefit we’ll get small, portable fusion plants. A ship like this would be almost one hundred percent efficient, silent, unpolluting, economical to build, capable of going anywhere. The capability would derive in part from interior gyrogravitic fields. These would provide weight though the ship be in free fall, cushion against pressure when it accelerates, ward off solar-storm particles, meteoroids, and similar hazards.” Harleman ratcheted up his enthusiasm. “In short, gyrogravitlcs can give us the whole Solar System.”
    â€œSo can sorcery,” Carter grumbled, “if only we can discover how to make it work.”
    Harleman talked nominally to them all, actually to Stanhope: “My belief is, the United