The QUANTUM JUMP
By ROBERT WICKS
ILLUSTRATOR LLEWELLYN
Captain Brandon was a pioneer. He explored the farreaches of space and reported back on how things wereout there. So it was pretty disquieting to find out thatthe “far reaches of space” knew more about what wenton at home than he did.
BRANDON was looking at theMilky Way. Through hisperma-glas canopy, he could seeit trailing across the black velvetof space like a white bridalveil. Below his SC9B scout-shipstretched the red dust deserts ofSirius Three illuminated by thethin light of two ice moons. Helooked at the Milky Way.
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He looked at it as a man looksat a flickering fireplace andthinks of other things. Hethought of the sun, 52 trillionmiles away, a pinpoint of lightlost in the dazzle of the MilkyWay—the Earth a speck of dustin orbit just as this planet wasto its master, Sirius.
Nine light years away. Ofcourse, thirteen years had passedon Earth since they had left, becausethe trip took four years byRT—relative time. But evenfour years is a long time to beshut up in Astro One with fiveother men, especially when oneof them was the imperious ColonelTowers.
“A quantum jump—that’s theway to beat the Reds,” the colonelhad said a thousand times.His well-worn expression hadnothing to do with quantum mechanics—theactual change inatomic configuration due to theapplication of sufficient energy.Rather, it was a slang expressionreferring to a major advancein inter-planetary traveldue to a maximum scientific andtechnological effort.
“Let ’em have Mars andVenus,” the colonel would say—“Let’em have the whole damnSolar System! We’ll make aquantum jump—leap-frog aheadof ’em. We’ll be the first men toset foot on a planet of anothersolar system.”
Four years had gone by in theship; thirteen years on Earth.Four years of Colonel Towers.Military discipline grew morestrict each day. Space doesfunny things to some men. The“we’ll be the first men” hadturned into, “I’ll be the firstman.”
But it was Captain Brandonwho drew the assignment ofscouting Sirius Three for a suitablelanding place for Astro, ofsampling its atmosphere and observingmeteorological conditions.Even as Brandon climbed intothe scout-ship, Towers had cautionedhim.
“Remember, your assignmentis to locate a firm landing sitewith ample protection from theelements. Under no circumstancesare you to land yourself.Is that clearly understood?”
Brandon nodded, was launchedand now was cruising one hundredthousand feet above thealien planet.
Brandon tilted the ship up onone wing and glanced down atthe brick-red expanse of desert.Tiny red mists marked duststorms. Certainly this was noplace to set down the full weightof Astro nor to protect the crewand equipment from abrasivedust.