The Project Gutenberg EBook of Atom Drive, by Charles Louis Fontenay

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Title: Atom Drive

Author: Charles Louis Fontenay

Release Date: April 20, 2010 [EBook #32067]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATOM DRIVE ***

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Transcriber's note:

This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction April 1956.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
on this publication was renewed.

[Illustration]

ATOM DRIVE

BY CHARLES FONTENAY

_It was a race between the tortoise and the hare. But this hare was
using some dirty tricks to make sure the ending would be
different...._

[Illustration: _Illustrated by Ed Emsh_]

The two spaceship crews were friendly enemies, sitting across the table
from each other for their last meal before blastoff. Outside the ports,
the sky was nothing but light-streaked blackness, punctured periodically
by Earth glare, for Space Station 2 whirled swiftly on its axis,
creating an artificial gravity.

"Jonner, I figured you the last man ever to desert the rockets for a
hot-rod tow-job," chided Russo Baat, captain of the Mars Corporation's
gleaming new freighter, _Marsward XVIII_. Baat was fat and red-faced,
and one of the shrewdest space captains in the business.

Jonner Jons, at the other end of the table, inclined his grizzled head
and smiled.

"Times change, Russo," he answered quietly. "Even the Mars Corporation
can't stop that."

"Is it true that you're pulling five thousand tons of cargo, Captain?"
asked one of the crewmen of the _Marsward XVIII_.

"Something like that," agreed Jonner, and his smile broadened. "And I
have only about twice the fuel supply you carry for a 100-ton payload."

The communicator above them squawked and blared:

"Captain Jons and Captain Baat of Martian competition run, please report
to control for final briefing."

"I knew it!" grumbled Baat, getting heavily and reluctantly to his feet.
"I haven't gotten to finish a meal on this blasted merry-go-round yet."

In the space