Islands of Space | Page 6

astonishment as he saw
a very complicated formation working out, a formation he knew was
far better than Arcot's usual game. He had just worked it out and felt
very proud of it.
Arcot looked at him and smiled. "That's the answer, Morey!"
Morey blinked. "What--what's the answer to what?"
"Yes--I meant it--don't be so surprised--you've seen it done before. I
have--no, not under him, but a more experienced teacher. I figured it
would come in handy in our explorations."
Morey's face grew more and more astonished as Arcot's strange
monologue continued.
Finally, Arcot turned to Wade, who was looking at him and Morey in
wide-eyed wonder. And this time, it was Wade who began talking in a
monologue.
"You did?" he said in a surprised voice. "When?" There was a long
pause, during which Arcot stared at Wade with such intensity that
Fuller began to understand what was happening.
"Well," said Wade, "if you've learned the trick so thoroughly, try it out.
Let's see you project your thoughts! Go ahead!"
Fuller, now understanding fully what was going on, burst out laughing.
"He has been projecting his thoughts! He hasn't said a word to you!"
Then he looked at Arcot. "As a matter of fact, you've said so little that I
don't know how you pulled this telepathic stunt--though I'm quite

convinced that you did."
"I spent three months on Venus a while back," said Arcot, "studying
with one of their foremost telepathists. Actually, most of that time was
spent on theory; learning how to do it isn't a difficult proposition. It just
takes practice.
"The whole secret is that everyone has the power; it's a very ancient
power in the human brain, and most of the lower animals possess it to a
greater degree than do humans. When Man developed language, it gave
his thoughts more concreteness and permitted a freer and more clearly
conceived type of thinking. The result was that telepathy fell into
disuse.
"I'm going to show you how to do it because it will be invaluable if we
meet a strange race. By projecting pictures and concepts, you can
dispense with going to the trouble of learning the language.
"After you learn the basics, all you'll need is practice, but watch
yourself! Too much practice can give you the great-granddaddy of all
headaches! Okay, now to begin with ..."
Arcot spent the rest of the evening teaching them the Venerian system
of telepathy.
* * * * *
They all rose at nine. Arcot got up first, and the others found it
expedient to follow his example shortly thereafter. He had brought a
large Tesla coil into the bedroom from the lab and succeeded in
inducing sufficient voltage in the bedsprings to make very effective,
though harmless, sparks.
"Come on, boys, hit the deck! Wade, as chief chemist, you are to
synthesize a little coffee and heat-treat a few eggs for us. We have
work ahead today! Rise and shine!" He didn't shut off the coil until he
was assured that each of them had gotten a considerable distance from
his bed.

"Ouch!" yelled Morey. "Okay! Shut it off! I want to get my pants!
We're all up! You win!"
After breakfast, they all went into the room they used as a calculating
room. Here they had two different types of integraph calculators and
plenty of paper and equipment to do their own calculations and draw
graphs.
"To begin with," said Fuller, "let's decide what shape we want to use.
As designer, I'd like to point out that a sphere is the strongest, a cube
easiest to build, and a torpedo shape the most efficient aerodynamically.
However, we intend to use it in space, not air.
"And remember, we'll need it more as a home than as a ship during the
greater part of the trip."
"We might need an aerodynamically stable hull," Wade interjected. "It
came in mighty handy on Venus. They're darned useful in emergencies.
What do you think, Arcot?"
"I favor the torpedo shape. Okay, now we've got a hull. How about
some engines to run it? Let's get those, too. I'll name the general things
first; facts and figures can come later.
"First: We must have a powerful mass-energy converter. We could use
the cavity radiator and use cosmic rays to warm it, and drive the
individual power units that way, or we can have a main electrical power
unit and warm them all electrically. Now, which one would be the
better?"
Morey frowned. "I think we'd be safer if we didn't depend on any one
plant, but had each as separate as possible. I'm for the individual cavity
radiators."
"Question," interjected Fuller. "How do these cavity radiators work?"
"They're built like a thermos bottle," Arcot explained. "The inner shell
will be of