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Process and the null-g field generator. I will travel where no man has dared to go. He was staring past
them now, out the port into space.
Durant hesitated, disbelieving, but Reinhardt s gaze and manner could be indicative of only one possible
destination. Into the black hole ...?
Stunned as they all were by the wonderful madness of such a thought, that was as much as any of them
could say.
9
REINHARDT continued to gaze past them, past the parameters of his ship. His was the look of a man
whose dedication was coupled with disregard for any-thing but achieving a particular end. Such a gaze
be-longed only to true visionaries.
Also true madmen.
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You strive to attain a most singular end, Doctor, an awed Durant finally added.
Reinhardt replied without smiling. No, Dr. Durant. To attain the end of a singularity.
That s crazy, Booth chimed in, not caring now whether he might provoke Reinhardt to anger or not.
Impossible! It s impossible to travel into a black hole, let alone through one!
It was not the aspersion Booth indirectly cast on Reinhardt s sanity that upset the commander of the
Cyg-nus, but rather the reporter s scientific absolutism and negativity.
Impossible? Impossible is a word found only in the dictionary of fools. He was barely holding his
an-ger in check.
Pizer glanced at Holland. Reinhardt noted the look, saw that at least the captain was giving the proposal
serious consideration. It calmed him somewhat. Foolish to allow a popular demagogue like Booth to
upset him!
Mr. Pizer, he told the first officer, I was dream-ing of this when you were still flying kites. If scientists
habitually restricted their researches to what their col-leagues consideredpossible, we would still be living
in caves, or on the Eurasian land mass because of fear of sailing off the edge of the Earth, or restricted to
the Earth alone because exploration of the cosmos might not seem financially feasible.
Such attitudes are characteristic of the Dark Ages. I am surprised that any of you, and he looked
around the table, would adhere to such deterministic non-sense.
Dreaming is one thing, the dangerous pursuit of dreams another, Holland argued. People have
dreamed for years about such an attempt, and have failed every time. Drone ships have managed to get
close, but eventually all are trapped by the collapsar s gravity and they vanish beyond the event horizon.
You disappoint me, Captain Holland. I expected more empathy for such a journey from someone like
yourself. Have you no desire, no curiosity, to know what may He on the other side of a black hole?
There is no other side, Booth insisted. Anything that enters a black hole is smashed down to
noth-ingness by the strength of the gravity.
That s one theory, Reinhardt readily admitted, un-perturbed. There are others.
The scientific consensus today says there s nothing on the other side, McCrae put in.
Yet if there is another side, which is where Mr. Booth and I disagree, then by definition there must be
something there. As I ve just pointed out, my dear, the scientific consensus once insisted the world was
flat.
It s not possible. Holland still spoke thoughtfully, his voice devoid of ridicule. Every leading scientist
says it s not possible.
Except this one, Reinhardt said loftily.
Assuming the impossible for a moment, Holland finally hypothesized, that your field functions as you
believe it will and that you can also generate enough power to break through to this imaginary other side
... how do you propose to return?
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Reinhardt surveyed him with the full pity the dedicated scientist reserves for the layman. My dear
Cap-tain Holland, I do not expect to return.
By now the pool table was surrounded by mechani-cal spectators, all viewing the action through optics
op-erating on everything from infrared up through the ultraviolet. Mutters of amazement and admiration
filled the air. As yet, Vincent s remarkable display of pool prowess had not engendered any apparent
hostility, not even from the mechanical he was playing against.
Making the usual ultrarapid calculations involving distance, mass and energy, Vincent lined up his next
shot. Another ball tumbled neatly into a far pocket. Nearby, the old B.O.B. unit he had befriended
looked on in astonishment. The tension-cue seemed to have become an extension of Vincent s mind as
well as his body.
Vincent noticed the flicker of lights on the older machine flashing the admiration sequence. The only
way to win. Never give the other fellow a shot. Run the table on him. He tilted himself sideways in the
air, lined up a ridiculously difficult shot and banked it home. A chorus of incredulous buzzes and murmurs
rose from the robotic audience he had attracted.
Are there any more like us on board? Vincent set up his next shot, a tough three-ball combination.
Bob shook its head no.
But something had finally convinced the old machine to talk. I m the last. There were others, but our
series was fairly new when theCygnus was first outfitted. A lot of us revealed bugs. Every one except
myself failed early in his journey. He turned prideful, tried to cor-rect the list to his hover.
I must have been one of the first in the series to be properly composed. I m still operative. These
upstarts think I m some old freak.
Vincent made the shot easily, moved to follow up as the cue ball glided to a halt. We re still the pride of
the fleet back home. He fired another ball in. There are units like you and me operating at every level of
fleet command. Also in private commercial service. We re highly regarded and valued.
You could be fixed up easily enough. Install some of the latest reaction circuitry and logic capacitors
and you d be good as new. No ... better than new. How would you like to go back with us?
The hum of conversation surrounding the table and players abruptly ceased. A couple of the machines
near Bob flashed warning lights.
Vincent appraised the scene and the attitude of the other robots. All were Reinhardt-made or modified.
None appeared sympathetic to his casual offer. He de-cided he would find no allies among these
mechanicals. With one possible exception.
I think you d be wise to drop the subject, Bob ad-vised him.
After studying his audience a moment longer, Vincent gave the equivalent of an electronic shrug. Forget
it. I was just joking. We wouldn t have room for additional machines anyway. Then he added as an idle
afterthought, One of those parts Maximillian drew for us doesn t work. I ll be needing a replacement for
a regenerator boost, module number A-Thirty-four.
He turned back to the game as if nothing had hap-pened, lined up another ball.
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