The Currents Of Space

"I arranged to be transferred to Florina as Townman and I took the Spatio-analyst with me on forged papers. I arranged to have him found, I picked Valona to take care of him. There was no danger thereafter except for that one time with the doctor. Then I had to enter the power plants of Upper City. That was not impossible. The engineers were Sarkites but the janitors were Florinian. On Sark I learned enough about power mechanics to know how to short a power line. It took me three days to find the proper time for it. After that, I could murder easily. I never knew, though, that the doctor kept duplicate records in both halves of his office. I wish I had."

Terens could see Fife's chronometer from where he sat. "Then, one hundred hours ago-it seems like a hundred years- Rik began remembering again. Now you have the whole story."

"No," said Junz, "we have not. What are the details of the Spatio-analyst's story of planetary destruction?"

"Do you think I understood the details of what he had to say? It was some sort of-pardon me, Rik-madness."

"It wasn't," blazed Elk. "It couldn't have been."

"The Spatio-analyst had a ship," said Junz. "Where is it?"

"On the scrap heap long ago," said Terens. "An order scrapping it was sent out. My superior signed it. A Sarldte never reads papers, of course. It was scrapped without question."

"And Elk's papers? You said he showed you papers!"

"Surrender that man to us," said Fife suddenly, "and we'll find out what he knows."

"No," said Junz. "His first crime was against the I.S.B. He kidnaped and damaged the mind of a Spatio-analyst. He belongs to us."

Abel said, "Junz is correct."

Terens said, "Now look here. I don't say a word without safeguards. I know where Rik's papers are. They're where no Sarkite or Trantorian will ever find them. If you want them you'll have to agree that I'm a political refugee. Whatever I did was out of patriotism, out of a regard for the needs of my planet. A Sarkite or a Trantorian may claim to be patriotic; why not a Florinian as well?"

"The Ambassador," said Junz, "has said you will be given over to the I.S.B. I assure you that you will not be turned over to Sark. For your treatment of the Spatio-analyst, you will be tried. I cannot guarantee the result, but if you co-operate with us now, it will count in your favor."

Terens looked searchingly at Junz. Then he said, "I'll take my chance with you, Doctor… According to the Spatio-analyst, Florina's sun is in the pre-nova stage."

"What!" The exclamation or its equivalent came from all but Valona.

"It's about to explode and go boom," said Terens sardonically. "And when that happens all of Florina will go poof, like a mouthful of tobacco smoke."

Abel said, "I'm no Spatio-analyst, but I have heard that there is no way of predicting when a star will explode."

"That's true. Until now, anyway. Did Elk explain what made him think so?" asked Junz.

"I suppose his papers will show that. All I can remember is about the carbon current."

"What?"

"He kept saying, 'The carbon current of space. The carbon current of space.' That, and the words 'catalytic effect.' There it is.

Steen giggled. Fife frowned. Junz stared.

Then Junz muttered, "Pardon me. I'll be right back." He stepped out of the limits of the receptor cube and vanished.

He was back in fifteen minutes.

Junz looked about in bewilderment when he returned. Only Abel and Fife were present.

He said, "Where-"

Abel broke in instantly. "We have been waiting for you, Dr. Junz. The Spatio-analyst and the girl are on their way to the Embassy. The conference is ended."

"Ended! Great Galaxy, we have only begun. I've got to explain the possibilities of nova formation."

Abel shifted uneasily in his seat. "It is not necessary to do that, Doctor."

"It is very necessary. It is essential. Give me five minutes."

"Let him speak," said Fife. He was smiling.

Junz said, 'Take it from the beginning. In the earliest recorded scientific writings of Galactic civilization it was already known that stars obtained their energy from nuclear transformations in their interiors. It was also known that, given what we know about conditions in stellar interiors, two types, and only two types, of nuclear transformations can possibly yield the necessary energy. Both involve the conversion of hydrogen to helium. The first transformation is direct: two hydrogens and two neutrons combine to form one helium nucleus. The second is indirect, with several steps. It ends up with hydrogen becoming helium, but in the intermediate steps, carbon nuclei take part. These carbon nuclei are not used up but are re-formed as the reactions proceed, so that a triffing amount of carbon can be used over and over again, serving to convert a great deal of hydrogen to helium. - The carbon acts as a catalyst, in other words. All this has been known back to the days of prehistory, back to the time when the human race was restricted to a single planet, if there ever was such a time."