the universe has
been confirmed.

"At any rate, they are created in that space, a perfect vacuum, and the
space there is distorted terrifically by the titanic forces at work. It
is bent and twisted far out of the normal, even curvature, and it was
that bumpy spot in space that threw us about so.

"When we first entered, using the space-strain drive, the space around
the ship, distorted as it was, conflicted with the region of the cosmic
ray generation and the ship lost out. The curvature of space that the
ship caused was sometimes reinforced and sometimes cancelled out by the
twisted space around it, and the tremendous surges of current back and
forth from the main power coil to the storage coils caused the electric
discharges that kept burning through the air. I notice we all got a few
burns from that. The field was caused by the terrific surges of current,
and that magnetic field caused the walls of the ship to heat up due to
the generation of electric current in the walls."

Fuller looked around at the walls of the ship. "Well, the _Ancient
Mariner_ sure took a beating."

"As a matter of fact, I was worried about that," said Arcot. "Strong as
that hull is, it might easily have been strained in that field of
terrific force. If it happened to hit two 'space waves' at once, it
might have given it an acceleration in two different directions at once,
which would strain the walls with a force amounting to thousands of
tons. I laid out the suits up front, and I think we might reasonably get
out there and take a look at the old boat. When Wade gets up--well,
well--speak of the devil! My, doesn't he look energetic?"

Wade's huge body was floating in through the library door. He was
yawning sleepily and rubbing his eyes. It was evident he had not yet
washed, and his growing beard, which was heavy and black on his cheeks,
testified to his need for a shave. The others had shaved before coming
into the library.

"Wade," said Arcot, "we're going outside, and we have to have someone in
here to operate the airlock. Suppose you get to work on the hirsute
adornment; there's an atomic hydrogen cutting torch down in the lab you
can use, if you wish. The rest of us are going outside." Then Arcot's
voice became serious. "By the way, don't try any little jokes like
starting off with a little acceleration. I don't think you would--you've
got good sense--but I like to make certain. If you did, we'd be left
behind, and you'd never find