Subspace Survivors

Subspace Survivors, by E. E.
Smith

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Title: Subspace Survivors
Author: E. E. Smith

Release Date: May 30, 2007 [eBook #21647]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUBSPACE
SURVIVORS***
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+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's
Notes and Errata | | | | This e-text was produced from Astounding
Science Fact and | | Fiction, July 1960. Extensive research did not
uncover any | | evidence that the U. S. copyright on this publication was
| | renewed. | | | | A few typographical errors have been marked in the
text with | | a nearby footnote. | | | | There was one instance each of
'hyperspace' and | | 'hyper-space'. There was one instance of 'hook-up'
and one | | of 'hookups'. These hyphenations were not changed. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

SUBSPACE SURVIVORS
by
EDWARD E. SMITH, Ph. D.
Illustrated by van Dongen

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | There has
always been, and will always be, the problem of | | surviving the
experience that any trained expert can handle | | ... when there hasn't
been any first survivor to be an | | expert! When no one has ever gotten
back to explain what | | happened.... |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
I.
"All passengers, will you[1] pay attention, please?" All the high-fidelity
speakers of the starship Procyon spoke as one, in the
skillfully-modulated voice of the trained announcer. "This is the fourth

and last cautionary announcement. Any who are not seated will seat
themselves at once. Prepare for take-off acceleration of one and
one-half gravities; that is, everyone will weigh one-half again as much
as his normal Earth weight for about fifteen minutes. We lift in twenty
seconds; I will count down the final five seconds.... Five ... Four ...
Three ... Two ... One ... Lift!"
[1] Transcriber's Note: The original read "will pay attention, please?"
[Illustration]
The immense vessel rose from her berth; slowly at first, but with
ever-increasing velocity; and in the main lounge, where many of the
passengers had gathered to watch the dwindling Earth, no one moved
for the first five minutes. Then a girl stood up.
She was not a startlingly beautiful girl; no more so than can be seen
fairly often, of a summer afternoon, on Seaside Beach. Her hair was an
artificial yellow. Her eyes were a deep, cool blue. Her skin, what could
be seen of it--she was wearing breeches and a long-sleeved shirt--was
lightly tanned. She was only about five-feet-three, and her build was
not spectacular. However, every ounce of her one hundred fifteen
pounds was exactly where it should have been.
First she stood tentatively, flexing her knees and testing her weight.
Then, stepping boldly out into a clear space, she began to do a
high-kicking acrobatic dance; and went on doing it as effortlessly and
as rhythmically as though she were on an Earthly stage.
"You mustn't do that, Miss!" A stewardess came bustling up. Or, rather,
not exactly bustling. Very few people, and almost no stewardesses,
either actually bustle in or really enjoy one point five gees. "You really
must resume your seat, Miss. I must insist.... Oh, you're Miss
Warner...."
She paused.
"That's right, Barbara Warner. Cabin two eight one."

"But really, Miss Warner, it's regulations, and if you should fall...."
"Foosh to regulations, and pfui on 'em. I won't fall. I've been wondering,
every time out, if I could do a thing, and now I'm going to find out."
Jackknifing double, she put both forearms flat on the carpet and lifted
both legs into the vertical. Then, silver slippers pointing motionlessly
ceilingward, she got up onto her hands and walked twice around a
vacant chair. She then performed a series of flips that would have done
credit to a professional acrobat; the finale of which left her sitting
calmly in the previously empty seat.
"See?" she informed the flabbergasted stewardess. "I could do it, and I
didn't...."
Her voice was drowned out in a yell of approval as everybody who
could clap their hands did so with enthusiasm. "More!" "Keep it up,
gal!" "Do it again!"
"Oh, I didn't do that to show off!" Barbara Warner flushed hotly as she
met the eyes of the nearby spectators. "Honestly I