Brain Teaser Read online

  He switched the computer on and typed:

  DETERMINE THE DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE WARP SHUTTLE'S FOCAL

  BALL TO THE SPACE WARP POSITION OF SIRIUS AT 13:53, BASING YOUR

  COMPUTATIONS ON THE EXPANDING-SHIP THEORY.

  It gave him the answer a moment later: 18.3496 METERS.

  He visualized the distance, from his knowledge of the ship's interior, and saw the position would be within the forward spare-parts room.

  Next, to learn exactly where in that room he should place the shuttle. He could not do so by measuring from the present position of the shuttle. The most precise steel tape would have to be at exactly the right temperature for such a measurement to be neither too short nor too long. He had no such tape, and the distance from the focal ball was only part of the necessary measuring: he would have to measure off a certain distance and a precisely certain angle from the purely imaginary central line of the ship's axis to intersect the original line. Such a measurement would be impossible in the time he had. He considered what would be his last question to the computer. The hand was touching the zero and his question would have to be worded very clearly and subject to no misinterpretations. There would be no follow-up questions permitted.

  He began typing:

  IT IS DESIRED THAT THIS SHIP EMERGE INTO NORMAL SPACE ONE LIGHT-HOUR THIS

  SIDE OF SIRIUS AT 13:53. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MOVING THE WARP

  SHUTTLE TO SUCH A POSITION THAT ITS FOCAL CENTER WILL BE IN A SPACE WARP

  POSITION COINCIDING WITH A NORMAL SPACE POSITION ONE LIGHT-HOUR THIS

  SIDE OF SIRIUS AT 13:53. CONSIDER ALL FACTORS THAT MIGHT HAVE AFFECTED THE

  DIMENSIONS OF THIS SHIP, SUCH AS TEMPERATURE CHANGES PRODUCED BY OUR

  NORMAL SPACE ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION, WHEN COMPUTING THE

  POSITION OF SIRIUS. THEN DEFINE THAT LOCATION IN RELATION TO THE

  STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF THE ROOM'S INTERIOR. DO THIS IN SUCH A MANNER

  THAT PLACING THE SHUTTLE IN THE PROPER POSITION WILL REQUIRE THE LEAST

  POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF MEASURING DISTANCES AND ANGLES.

  It seemed to take it an unduly long time to answer the question and he waited restlessly, unpleasantly aware of the hand touching zero and wondering if the computer's mind was baffled by the question; the mind that thought best in terms of orderly mathematics and could not know or care that measurement by protractor and tape would result in a position fatally far from that described by the neat, rigid figures. Then the answer appeared, beautifully concise:

  POSITION WILL BE IN CORNER OF ROOM, 764.2 CENTIMETERS ABOVE FLOOR PLATE, 820 CENTIMETERS PERPENDICULAR TO PANEL AA, 652.05 CENTIMETERS

  PERPENDICULAR TO PANEL AB.

  The computer died with an oddly human sigh. Its last act had been to give him the location of Sirius in such a manner that he could accurately position the shuttle's focal ball with the aid of the precision measuring devices in the ship's repair room.

  He went to the shuttle and picked it up in his arms. It was entirely weightless, and each magnet-clicking step he took toward the bow of the ship brought Sirius almost half a light-year nearer.

  * * *

  He squinted against the white glare of Sirius in the viewscreen as he continued his terse report to the Thunderbolt's commander: "I have about a week's supply of food. How long will it be until you reach me?"

  The commander's reply came after the pause caused by the distance involved:

  "We'll be there within three days. Go ahead and eat hearty. But how did you travel from Earth to Sirius in only two hours? My God, man—what kind of a drive did that ship have?"

  "Why, it didn't have any drive from the start," he said. "To get here I"—he frowned thoughtfully—"you might say I walked and carried the ship."

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: c01f2b15-273f-470e-8878-f8bf39a4044c

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 8.4.2012

  Created using: calibre 0.8.10 software

  Document authors :

  Tom Godwin

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