The Mammoth Book of Golden Age SF Read Online Free Page A

Let me see that ring.” His voice was low, controlled, ominous.
    “You take a fit?” Braker snapped suspiciously.
    “I’m all right.” Tony deliberately took Braker’s cuffed hands into his own, looked at the gold band inset with the flawed emerald. Revulsion crawled in his stomach, yet he kept his eyes on the ring.
    “Where’d you get the ring, Braker?” He kept his glance down.
    “Why – ’29, I think it was; or ’28.” Braker’s tone was suddenly angry, resentful. He drew away. “What is this, anyway? I got it legal, and so what?”
    “What I really wanted to know,” said Tony, “was if there was another ring like this one – ever. I hope not . . . I don’t know if I do. Damn it!”
    “And I don’t know what you’re talking about,” snarled Braker. “I still think you’re bats. Hell, flawed emeralds are like fingerprints, never two alike. You know that yourself.”
    Tony slowly nodded and stepped back. Then he lighted a cigarette, and let the smoke inclose him.
    “You fellows stay here,” he said, and backed out and bolted the door behind him. He went heavily down the corridor, down a short flight of stairs, then down another short corridor.
    He chose one of two doors, jerked it open. A half dozen packages slid from the shelves of what was evidently a closet. Then the other door opened. Tony staggered backward, losing his balance under the flood of packages. He bumped into Laurette Overland. She gasped and started to fall. Tony managed to twist around in time to grab her. They both fell anyway. Tony drew her to him on impulse and kissed her.
    She twisted away from him, her face scarlet. Her palm came around, smashed into his face with all her considerable strength. She jumped to her feet, then the fury in her eyes died. Tony came erect, smarting under the blow.
    “Sportsmanlike,” he snapped angrily.
    “You’ve got a lot of nerve,” she said unsteadily. Her eyes went past him. “You clumsy fool. Help me get these packages back on the shelves before daddy or Erle come along. They’re Christmas presents, and if you broke any of the wrappings—Come on, can’t you help?”
    Tony slowly hoisted a large carton labeled with a “Do Not Open Before Christmas” sticker, and shoved it onto the lower rickety shelf, where it stuck out, practically ready to fall again. She put the smaller packages on top to balance it.
    She turned, seeming to meet his eyes with difficulty.
    Finally she got out, “I’m sorry I hit you like that, lieutenant. I guess it was natural – your kissing me I mean.” She smiled faintly at Tony, who was ruefully rubbing his cheek. Then her composure abruptly returned. She straightened.
    “If you’re looking for the door to the control room, that’s it.”
    “I wanted to see your father,” Tony explained.
    “You can’t see him now. He’s plotting our course. In fifteen minutes—” She let the sentence dangle. “Erle Masters can help you in a few minutes. He’s edging the ship out of the way of a polyhedron.”
    “Polyhedron?”
    “Many-sided asteroid. That’s the way we designate them.” She was being patronizing now.
    “Well, of course. But I stick to plain triangles and spheres and cubes. A polyhedron is a sphere to me. I didn’t know we were on the way. Since when? I didn’t feel the acceleration.”
    “Since ten minutes ago. And naturally there wouldn’t be any acceleration with an H-H drive. Well, if you want anything, you can talk to Erle.” She edged past him, went swinging up the corridor. Tony caught up with her.
    “You can help me,” he said, voice edged. “Will you answer a few questions?”
    She stopped, her penciled brows drawn together. She shrugged. “Fire away, lieutenant.”
    She leaned against the wall, tapping it patiently with one manicured fingernail.
    Tony said, “All I know about the Hoderay-Hammond drive, Miss Overland, is that it reverses the Fitz-Gerald Contraction principle. It makes use of a new type of mechanical