+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's note: | | | | This story was published in _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_, | | October 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence | | that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

THE QUANTUM JUMP

By ROBERT WICKS

Illustrator Llewellyn

 _Captain Brandon was a pioneer. He explored the far reaches of space and reported back on how things were out there. So it was pretty disquieting to find out that the "far reaches of space" knew more about what went on at home than he did. _

Brandon was looking at the Milky Way. Through his perma-glas canopy, hecould see it trailing across the black velvet of space like a whitebridal veil. Below his SC9B scout-ship stretched the red dust deserts ofSirius Three illuminated by the thin light of two ice moons. He lookedat the Milky Way. 

He looked at it as a man looks at a flickering fireplace and thinks ofother things. He thought of the sun, 52 trillion miles away, a pinpointof light lost in the dazzle of the Milky Way--the Earth a speck of dustin orbit just as this planet was to its master, Sirius. 

Nine light years away. Of course, thirteen years had passed on Earthsince they had left, because the trip took four years by RT--relativetime. But even four years is a long time to be shut up in Astro One withfive other men, especially when one of them was the imperious ColonelTowers. 

"A quantum jump--that's the way to beat the Reds, " the colonel had saida thousand times. His well-worn expression had nothing to do withquantum mechanics--the actual change in atomic configuration due to theapplication of sufficient energy. Rather, it was a slang expressionreferring to a major advance in inter-planetary travel due to a maximumscientific and technological effort. 

"Let 'em have Mars and Venus, " the colonel would say--"Let 'em have thewhole damn Solar System! We'll make a quantum jump--leap-frog ahead of'em. We'll be the first men to set foot on a planet of another solarsystem. "

Four years had gone by in the ship; thirteen years on Earth. Four yearsof Colonel Towers. Military discipline grew more strict each day. Spacedoes funny things to some men. The "we'll be the first men" had turnedinto, "_I'll_ be the first _man_. "

But it was Captain Brandon who drew the assignment of scouting SiriusThree for a suitable landing place for Astro, of sampling its atmosphereand observing meteorological conditions. Even as Brandon climbed intothe scout-ship, Towers had cautioned him. 

"Remember, your assignment is to locate a firm landing site with ampleprotection from the elements. Under no circumstances are you to landyourself. Is that clearly understood?"

Brandon nodded, was launched and now was cruising one hundred thousandfeet above the alien planet. 

Brandon tilted the ship up on one wing and glanced down at the brick-redexpanse of desert. Tiny red mists marked dust storms. Certainly this wasno place to set down the full weight of Astro nor to protect the crewand equipment from abrasive dust. 

He righted the ship. Far on the horizon was a bank of atmosphericclouds. Perhaps conditions were more promising there. He shoved thepower setting to 90 per cent. 

A fire warning indicator light blinked on. Instantly Brandon's eyes wereon the instrument panel. The tailpipe temperature seemed all right. Itcould be a false indication. He eased back on the power setting. Maybethe light would go out. But it didn't. Instead he felt a surging rumbledeep in the bowels of the ship. Luminous needles danced and a second redlight flashed on. 

He snapped the vidio switch and depressed the mike button. 

"Astro One, this is Brandon. Over. "

A steady crackling sound filled his earphones; a grid of light andshadow fluttered on the screen. A thought entered his mind. Maybe he hadput too much planet curvature between Astro and himself. 

"Astro One, this is Brandon. Come in, please. "

A series of muffled explosions rocked the ship. He chopped the powerback all the way and listened intently. 

"May Day! May Day! Astro, this is Brandon. May Day!"

A faint voice sputtered in his ear, the face of Reinhardt, the radiomanappeared before him. "Brandon, this is Astro One. What is your position?Over. "

Brandon's voice sounded strange and distant as he talked to his oxygenmask. "Heading--one-eight-zero. Approximately six hundred miles fromyou. Altitude one hundred thousand feet. "

"What is the nature of your trouble, Brandon?"

Before Brandon could answer, the face of Colonel Towers appeared besidethe radioman's. 

"Brandon, what're you trying to pull?"

"Engine trouble, sir. Losing altitude fast. "

"Do you know the nature of the trouble?"

"Negative. Might have thrown a compressor blade. Got a fire indication, then a compressor surge. Chopped off the power. "

Towers frowned. "Why didn't you use straight rocket power?"

"Well, sir--"

"Never mind now. You may have encountered oxygen or hydrogen-richatmosphere--melted your compressor blades. Try an air start on straightrocket. I want that ship back, Brandon. Repeat, I want that ship back!"

"I may be able to ride it down. Get it on the deck intact. "

"Try an air start, Brandon. " Towers leaned forward, his eyes fixed onBrandon. "I don't want you to set foot on that planet, get me?"

But there wasn't time to try anything. The cabin was filling with fumes. Brandon looked down. A fringe of blue flame crept along between thefloor and the bottom of the pilot's capsule. A cold ache filled thecavity of his stomach. 

"Too late. I'm on fire! Capsuling out. Repeat, capsuling out. "

"Brandon--!"

The colonel's glaring face flicked off as Brandon pushed thepre-ejection lever into the lock position severing all connectionsbetween the ship and the pilot's capsule. Brandon had a strange, detached feeling as he pushed the ejection button. 

There was an explosion and the pilot's capsule shot up like a wet bar ofsoap squeezed out of a giant's hand. 

The ship turned into a torch and sank beneath him. Brandon closed hiseyes for a moment. 

When he opened them he was staring at the Milky Way, then the desert ashe tumbled over and over. He talked to the Milky Way. 

"Ten seconds. Should wait at least ten seconds before releasing thedrogue chute so I'll clear the ship. " Then he spoke to the desert. "Andmaybe another ten to give the capsule time to slow down. "

He counted then pulled the chute release. Nylon streamed out behind himand snapped open with a tremendous jar. A moment later, bundles of metalribbons floated out and billowed into a giant umbrella. The last thinghe remembered was the taste of blood on his lips. 

When Brandon opened his eyes he was staring at the silvery disks of thetwin moons. They were high in the sky, obscuring the center of the MilkyWay. Funny he should be lying on his back looking at the sky, hethought. Then he remembered. 

The capsule was on its back and Brandon was still strapped securely tothe seat. His whole body ached. Tendons had been pulled, musclesstrained from the force of the ejection. His oxygen mask was still inplace, but his helmet hung partly loose. He adjusted it automatically, then unbuckled the seat straps. He took a deep breath. Under the oxygenmask, he was aware of dried blood clotted in his nostrils, caked aroundthe corners of his lips. 

With an effort he sat up on the seat back and looked through theperma-glas. A tangle of cords stretched out to the nylon of the mainchute draped over a dust dune. Beyond it he could see the gleaming metalribbons of the drogue chute. 

Ahead of him, behind some low hills, he could see a dull red glow. Theship, he thought. Astro may already be hovering over it. 

He dragged the survival kit from behind the seat and pulled out somerations, a first-aid kit, finally a tele-talkie. Raising the antenna, heplugged in the mike cord from his mask and held down the "talk" key withhis thumb. 

"Astro One, this is Brandon. Come in. "

As he talked a picture flickered on the screen. It was the radio room onAstro One. Colonel Towers was pacing back and forth in front of theradioman. 

"Shall I keep trying to raise him?" he heard Reinhardt ask. 

"Damn fool stunt, " Towers sputtered. "Know what I think? I think he wentdown deliberately. Just to be the first human being to walk the groundof a planet of another solar system. "

"Astro, this is Brandon. Come in please. "

Towers continued to pace and talk. "He did it to spite me. "

"But we can't raise him sir, " the radio operator said. "Maybe he didn'tget out of it alive. "

"Colonel Towers, can't you hear me?" Brandon yelled into his oxygenmask. 

"He got out all right, " the colonel said. "He's just stalling to make itlook good. "

"We aren't going to give up the search are we, sir?" asked the radioman. 

"It would serve his soul right. " The colonel stopped pacing and facedthe radioman. "Keep trying to raise him, Reinhardt. I'm going to bringus down to forty thousand feet and search the area where he went down. Helluva waste of rocket fuel tooling around in the atmosphere, " hemuttered, disappearing through a bulkhead door. 

"Wait! Colonel Towers!" Brandon called. But he knew it was no use. Obviously he could pick up Astro but they could neither see nor hearhim. 

"Captain Brandon, this is Astro calling. Over. " The radioman repeatedthe phrase a dozen times and each time Brandon acknowledged, swore andacknowledged again. Finally, in desperation, he switched off thetele-talkie. 

He snapped open the back of the unit and studied the maze oftransistors, resistors, and capacitators. If there was something wrongit was subtle, like a burned out resistor or a shorted condenser. Whatever it was, it was beyond emergency repair. He dropped thetele-talkie behind the seat and examined the gauge on his oxygen tank. There was enough to last the night but not much more. 

He sat down in the capsule to think. The first thing they'd locate isthe burning ship, he decided. Then they would probably start searchingin ever-widening circles. But would they see him in the faint light ofthe ice moons?

He looked back at the nylon chute again. Another thought ran through hismind. Suppose they don't spot me in the dark. When the sun--Sirius, Imean--comes up, there's a good chance they'll spot the parachute andsearch for him. 

He slid the canopy open and looked down at the red soil of Sirius Three. He hesitated for a moment, then swung his feet over the side and droppedto the ground. 

"At least I'll have that satisfaction, " he said, grinning under hisoxygen mask. 

Very much aware of gravity after years of weightlessness, he walked tothe canopy of the chute and spread it out on the flat ground in a fullcircle. It billowed in the wind. He searched around, found some glassyblack rocks and anchored down the chute. 

Then he looked at the orange glow that marked the funeral pyre of theship. He had a decision to make; stay here with the capsule or head forthe fire. 

Couldn't be more than a thousand yards away, he decided. Charging awalk-around oxygen bottle, he transferred his oxygen hose to it. Hesnapped the survival kit to his belt and picked up the tele-talkie. 

The ship was more than a thousand yards away. The first mile was acrossflat desert. He picked his way cautiously, his boots churning up cloudsof powdery dust. He remembered the Russian reports of the weird anddeadly creatures they had encountered in the Martian deserts. 

But aside from a few gray patches of brush there seemed to be no sign oflife. After all, he thought, the Earth held no life for the better partof its existence. And Towers had selected this planet because it borerelatively the same relationship to the brighter, hotter Sirius as didthe Earth to the sun. While farther away it should have approximatelythe same conditions as did the Earth. And it had seas, not as large ason Earth, but seas, nevertheless. 

Yet there was a fallacy in the argument. Presumably all of the stars inthe outer arms of the Milky Way and their planets were about the sameage. With similar conditions as the Earth, life must have been born andwalked out of the seas of Sirius Three just as it did on Earth. 

Something scurried into a wisp of brush, as if to bear out Brandon'srealization. He froze, his eyes on the brush, his hand reaching for hishydro-static shock pistol. He could hear nothing but the wind hollowinghis ears. He stood for a long moment, then cautiously skirted the brush, and continued on toward the burning ship. There was an odd clickingsound and he stopped. It sounded again. Brandon realized he wasperspiring despite the chill of the desert night. Again he moved on, thesound fading in the distance behind him. 

The next mile brought him to a great sheet of ancient lava laid bare bythe elements. He climbed to the top. The fire still seemed to be about athousand yards ahead, beyond a ridge of low hills. 

A distant flare lit up the sky ahead of him. It glowed for a few momentsand died. They've found the ship, he thought. After four years, I hadcompletely forgotten about the store of photo-flash flares. 

He watched for awhile but saw no more flares. Finally he scrambled downthe other side of the lava sheet and continued on toward the wreck, moving slowly but steadily. 

The third mile brought him to the scene of the crash. A smoking cylinderof fused metal lay in a gully. Parts were strewn along the bottom. Awing, untouched by the fire, was leaning tip down against the edge ofanother lava sheet some distance away. 

He sat down. Another flare flashed in the sky behind him silhouetting arow of grotesque trees. I'm over here, you fools, he thought. He watcheduntil the flare flickered out, then turned his head back toward theremains of the ship. There wasn't much of a glow to it now. It would behard to see unless Astro was right on top of it. 

He raised the antenna on the tele-talkie and snapped it on. The screenglowed into life. Towers was stepping through the bulkhead door into theradio room. Just like a television play in installments, Brandonthought. Scene two coming up. 

"No sign of him at the scene of the crash, " Towers told Reinhardt. 

"If he got out, " observed Reinhardt, "he could be a hundred miles awayor more. "

"_If_ he got out, " Towers said in a tone that irritated Brandon. 

"I got out, " Brandon said. "And right now I'm walking around yourprecious planet like a boy scout. Damn this tele-talkie! I'd give ayear's pay if you could see me now, Towers. "

"We may yet spot the escape capsule, " Reinhardt was saying. 

"We're still continuing the search, " put in Towers. "But I don't mindtelling you I'm not wasting much more fuel. "

The radio operator started to say something, hesitated and finallysettled for, "yes, sir. "

Brandon swore and snapped off the set. He looked at his walk-aroundbottle. 

"Can't stay here any longer, " he muttered. 

He couldn't find the capsule. He walked three, perhaps four miles. Hestopped and blotted his moist brow with his sleeve. He wasn't going tofind it. Before him stretched an endless carpet of red dust. The lightfrom the two moons was growing dim, as each settled toward differenthorizons. 

He sat down. A cloud of powdery dust settled over his legs. Thelightness in his head told him that his oxygen was running out. Theweakness in his muscles reminded him that it had been a long time sincehe had walked in a planet's gravity. A distant flare lit up the horizon. He choked off a sob, and beat his fist in the red dust. A wave of nauseaswept over him. Bitter stomach juices welled up in his throat but heswallowed them down again. 

Desperately he turned on the tele-talkie. 

"Astro, this is Brandon, " he said. 

"Brandon, this is Astro, " Reinhardt said. 

Brandon's body tensed. "Thank God I finally got through to you. Listen, Reinhardt, I must be about three--"

"Brandon, this is Astro, " said Reinhardt in a monotone. He said it againand again and again. 

Brandon fell back on the ground. His breathing was short, strained. Hisface was bathed in perspiration. The oxygen, he realized, was givingout. 

What are the odds, that the air of Sirius Three is breathable, hewondered. One in a hundred? The planet has water and both animal andplant life. Certainly it has sufficient gravity to hold its oxygen. Butwhat other elements--noxious gases might be present. Maybe the odds arecloser to one in fifty, he decided. 

"But it's no gamble when you have nothing to lose, " he told the MilkyWay. 

Ripping off his oxygen mask, he took a deep breath of the alienatmosphere. The dust choked him, his ears rang. Black spots dancedbefore his eyes, then melted into solid blackness. 

Brandon could hear Towers' voice in a vortex of darkness. 

"Let's face it--Brandon is dead. Must have burned with the ship, atleast that's the way the report will read. Get me, Reinhardt?"

"Yes, sir, " the disembodied voice of Reinhardt replied quietly. 

"We're going to set her down on a solid piece of ground near one of theoceans. " There was a pause and Brandon could almost see Colonel Towersdrawing up to his full height. "I'm going to be the first man to setfoot on a planet of another solar system. Know what that means, Reinhardt?"

"A quantum jump sir?"

"Right. Leap-frogging ahead of the Reds. Wait till they read the nameColonel John Towers--maybe _General_ John Towers--_General_. "

Brandon opened his eyes. Sirius was turning the sky to gray, trimming afew scattered clouds with gold. As he stared at the sky, Sirius rosewith a brassy glare. Near it he could see its white hot dwarf starcompanion. It was going to be a real scorcher, he decided; worse thanany desert on Earth. He sat up stiffly. 

On the tele-talkie screen, Reinhardt, alone in the radio room, wascalling quietly for Brandon. The bulkhead door swung open and Towerspoked his head through. 

"Knock that off, " said Towers sternly, "and take your landing station. "As Reinhardt rose to his feet, Brandon reached over and turned off theset. 

Brandon took a deep breath. His head spun and for the first time herealized that he was still alive. He gazed across the shimmering desertto a ridge of scrubby hills. Blue mountains rose up beyond them. Greatfloes of black lava had rolled down onto the desert floor at somedistant time. They were spotted with clumps of gray grass even as wasthe desert. The hills were studded with weird trees standing stiff, branches outstretched, like an army of scarecrows. 

The air of Sirius Three was doing strange things to him. Two of thetrees seemed to be moving. He swayed and sat heavily. 

As he watched through a haze of red dust whipped up by the morningbreeze, the two trees came closer, turned into men wearing desertuniforms and leaned over him. 

"Are you okay?" one of them asked. 

Brandon said nothing. 

"We saw you from our observation station over on the hill, " said theother pointing. 

They helped Brandon to his feet and gave him a swig of cool, sweet waterfrom a canteen. 

"I'm Captain Brandon, of the Astro One. "

"Astro One?" The man removed his pith helmet to wipe his brow andBrandon noticed the gleaming US insignia on the front of the helmet. "The Astro One left Earth thirteen years ago, " the man said. 

"Only four years by RT, " Brandon said. 

The man smiled and put his helmet back on his head. "A lot of thingshave happened since you left. There was a war which we won, and I guessyou guys were almost forgotten. And there was a lot of technologicaldevelopment. "

"You mean you had a quantum jump?" asked Brandon parroting ColonelTowers' favorite expression. 

"Odd you would know that, " replied the second man. "It was throughquantum mechanics that we learned to approximate the speed of light. While nine years pass on Earth when we make the trip, our RT is meremoments. "

"Good Lord!" Brandon said. "You must have passed us up. "

"Been on this planet for nearly a year, " the first man said. "Got men ondozens of planetary systems throughout the Milky Way. One ship went athousand light years out. By the time they come back, civilization onEarth will be two thousand years older. "

"Have you got a tele-talkie?" Brandon asked. 

"Sure, " said the first man, producing a set one-third the size ofBrandon's. 

"Could you tune it to 28. 6 microcycles?"

"Sure, " the man said again. He turned a dial with his thumb and handedthe unit to Brandon. Brandon depressed the "talk" button. A crystalclear image of Colonel Towers, putting the finishing touches on his fulldress uniform, appeared on the screen. 

"This is an historic occasion, " Colonel Towers was announcing to hiscrew. "Open the hatch--and, Reinhardt, be sure to stand by with themotion picture camera. "

"Excuse me, Colonel Towers, " said Brandon quietly. 

Towers swung around and looked out at Brandon. The colonel's face paled. 

"I have something to tell you, " said Brandon grinning, "about thequantum jump. "

THE END