down. We'd have to run a little light with the
slightly smaller firing chamber, but it will work! If we can get her up
there, it'll work!"
60 "What about pulling their system engine?" continued North.
61 "No good, sir. These old ships used a completely different system
drive than we do. They run directly off the star drive engines. These
old ships were terrible! They used twice as much fuel as we
do, and didn't get half the power."
62 North wanted to curse, but knew that would do little good. "You'd
better get to the engineering section," he said aloud, "see if it's
safe to power up the shields. If we can blow this sand away we'll try
to lift.
63 In the meantime, Communications, lock into the computer. See if you
can find the last tapes the Commander made. I'd like to know what
happened to this ship. If there's something dangerous in this system, I
want to know about it!"
64 In a few moments the main screen lit, and a familiar face appeared.
North recognized the voice as he began to speak. "This is Commander
Bright Comet, exploration ship Ain't Been There Yet. As you can see by
those around me, we're not in very good shape. The rest of the crew has
already gone into deep sleep, and I will shortly; little good it will
do us. I'm taking the time only to make this last report because our
instruments were knocked out and did not record what happened in the
last few hours.
65 Up until that point, we were cruising along normally when our
instruments went crazy. We were pulled off course into some kind of
energy flow beyond our understanding. The speed indicators burned out
after they reached their highest point. We felt like we were being
crushed. Then, suddenly, we were thrown clear in this system, right in
the middle of a damned asteroid