Quantum Jump - Robert Wicks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Quantum Jump by Robert Wicks. 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.

(00:22):
Brannon was looking at the Milky Way through his perma
glass canopy. He could see it trailing across the black
velvet of space like a white bridal veil. Below his
s C nine B scout ship stretched the red dust
deserts of Serious three, illuminated by the thin light of
two ice moons. He looked at the Milky Way. He

(00:43):
looked at it as a man looks at a flickering
fireplace and thinks of other things. He thought of the
Sun fifty two trillion miles away, a pinpoint of light
lost in the dazzle of the Milky Way, the Earth
a speck of dust in orbit, just as this planet
was to its master, Serious nine light years away. Of course,

(01:03):
thirteen years had passed on Earth since they had left,
because the trip took four years by r T relative time.
But even four years is a long time to be
shut up in astro one with five other men, especially
when one of them was the imperious Colonel Towers. A
quantum jump, that's the way to beat the reds, the
Colonel had said a thousand times. His well worn expression

(01:26):
had nothing to do with quantum mechanics, the actual change
in atomic configuration due to the application of sufficient energy. Rather,
it was a slang expression referring to a major advance
in interplanetary travel due to a maximum scientific and technological effort.
Let em have Mars and Venus, the colonel would say,
Let him have the whole Solar System. We'll make a

(01:48):
quantum jump. They brog ahead of em, will be the
first men to set foot on the planet of another
solar system. Four years had gone by in the ship,
thirteen years on Earth, four years of Colonel Towers. Military
discipline grew more strict each day. Space does funny things
to some men. The we'll be the first men had

(02:10):
turned into I'll be the first man. But it was
Captain Brandon who drew the assignment of scouting Serious three
for a suitable landing place for Astro, of sampling its
atmosphere and observing meteorological conditions. Even as Brandon climbed into
the scout ship. Towers had cautioned him, Remember, your assignment
is to locate a firm landing site with ample protection

(02:32):
from the elements. Under no circumstances are aligned yourself. As
that clearly understood, Brandon nodded, was launched, and now was
cruising one hundred thousand feet above the alien planet. Brandon
tilted the ship up on one wing and glanced down
at the brick red expanse of desert. Tiny red mists

(02:53):
marked dust storms. Certainly this was no place to set
down the full weight of Astro, nor to protect the
crew and equipment from a brace dust. He righted the ship.
Far on the horizon was a bank of atmospheric clouds.
Perhaps conditions were more promising there. He shoved the power
setting to ninety percent. A fire warning indicator light blinked

(03:14):
on instantly. Brandon's eyes were on the instrument panel. The
tailpipe temperature seemed all right. It could be a false indication.
He eased back on the power setting. Maybe the light
would go out, but it didn't. Instead, he felt the
surging rumble deep in the bowels of the ship. Luminous
needles danced, and a second red light flashed on. He

(03:35):
snapped the video switch and depressed the mic button. Astro one,
this is Brandon over. A steady, crackling sound filled his earphones.
A grid of light and shadow fluttered on the screen.
A thought entered his mind. Maybe he had put too
much planet curvature between Astro and himself. Astro one, this
is Brandon, Come in please. A series of muffled explosions

(03:59):
rocked the ship. He chopped the power back 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 radio man appeared before him. Brandon,
this is Astro one. What is your position over? Brandon's

(04:19):
voice sounded strange and distant as he talked to his
oxygen mask. Heading one eight zero, approximately six hundred miles
from you, altitude one hundred thousand feet. What is the
nature of your trouble, Brandon. Before Brandon could answer, the
face of Colonel Towers appeared beside the radio man's Brandon,

(04:40):
what are you trying to pull engine trouble, sir? Losing
altitude fast? You know the nature of the trouble? Negative
might had thrown a compressor blade, got a fire indication,
then a compressor surge chopped off the power. Towers frowned,
whydn't you us straight rocket power? Well, sir, never mind.

(05:03):
Now you may have encountered oxygen or hydrogen rich atmosphere
melted your compression blades. Try an air start on straight rocket.
I want that ship back, Brandon repeat. I want that
ship back. I may be able to write it down.
Get on the deck intact, Try an air start Brandon.
Towers leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Brandon. I don't

(05:27):
want you to set foot on that planet. Get me,
But there wasn't time to try anything. The cabin was
filling the fumes. Brandon looked down. A fringe of blue
flame crept along between the floor and the bottom of
the pilot's capsule. A cold ache filled the cavity of
his stomach. Too late, I'm on fire. Capsuling out, Repeat,

(05:47):
capsuling out, Brandon. The Colonel's glaring face flicked off as
Brandon pushed the pre ejection lever into the lock position,
severing all connections between the ship and the pilot's capsule.
Brandon had a strange, detached feeling as he pushed the
ejection button. There was an explosion in the pilot's capsule
shot up like a wet bar of soap squeezed out

(06:08):
of a giant's hand. The ship turned into a torch
and sank beneath him. Brandon closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, he was staring at the Milky Way,
then the desert as he tumbled over and over. He
talked to the Milky Way ten seconds she boiged at
least ten seconds before releasing a drogue choot, so will

(06:28):
clear the ship. Then he spoke to the desert, and
maybe another ten to give the capsule time to slow down.
He counted, then pulled the chute release. Nylon streamed out
behind him and snapped open with a tremendous jar. A
moment later, bundles of metal ribbons floated out and billowed
into a giant umbrella. The last thing he remembered was

(06:49):
the taste of blood on his lips. When Brandon opened
his eyes, he was staring at the silvery disks of
the twin Moons. They were high in the sky, obscuring
center of the Milky Way. Funny he should be lying
on his back looking at the sky, he thought. Then
he remembered the capsule was on its back, and Brandon
was still strapped securely to the seat. His whole body

(07:12):
ached tendons had been pulled, muscle strained from the force
of the ejection. His oxygen mask was still in place,
but his helmet hung partly loose. He adjusted it automatically,
then unbuckled the seat straps. He took a deep breath
under the oxygen mask. He was aware of dried blood
clotted in his nostrils, caked around the corners of his lips.

(07:36):
With an effort, he sat up on the back seat
and looked through the perma glass. A tangle of cords
stretched out to the nylon of the main chute, draped
over a dust stune. Beyond it, he could see the
gleaming metal ribbons of the Drogue chute. Ahead of him,
behind some low hills, he could see a dull red
glow the ship. He thought, Astro may already be hovering

(07:57):
over it. He dan I had this survival kit from
behind the seat, and pulled out some rations, a first
aid kit, finally a tele talkie. Raising the antenna, he
plugged in the mic cord from his mask and held
down the talk key with his thumb. Astro one, This
is Brandon, come in. As he talked to picture flickered

(08:18):
on the screen. It was the radio room on Astro one.
Colonel Towers was pacing back and forth in front of
the radio man. Shall I keep trying to raise him?
He heard Reinhardt ask, fool stunt. Towers sputtered, know what
I think? I think he went down deliberately just to
be the first human beIN to walk on the ground
of a planet of another Solar system. Astro this is Brandon,

(08:42):
come in, please. Towers continued to pace and talk. We
did it to spite me, but we can't raise him, Sir.
The radio operator said, maybe he didn't get out of
it alive. Colonel Towers, can't you hear me? Brandon yelled
into his oxygen mask. We are at all right, The
colonel said, you're just stalling to make you look good.

(09:05):
We aren't going to give up the search, aren't we? Sir?
Asked the radio man, I would serve his soul, right.
The colonel stopped pacing and faced the radio man. Keep
trying to raise him, rightheart, I'm going to bring us
down to forty thousand feet and search the area where
he went down. It's a waste a rocket fuel tooling
around in the atmosphere, he muttered, disappearing through a bulkhead door. Wait,

(09:29):
Colonel Towers, Brandon called, but he knew it was of
no use. Obviously he could pick up Astro, but they
could neither see nor hear him. Captain Brandon, this is
Astril calling over. The radio man repeated the phrase a
dozen times, and each time Brandon acknowledged, swore, and acknowledged again. Finally,

(09:49):
in desperation, he switched off the teletalcky. He snapped open
the back of the unit and studied a maze of transistors, resistors,
and capacitors. If there was something wrong, it was subtle,
like a burned out resistor or a shorty condenser. Whatever
it was, it was beyond emergency repair. He dropped the
telltalky behind the seat and examined the gauge on his

(10:10):
oxygen mask. There was enough to last the night, but
not much more. He sat down in the capsule to think.
The first thing they had located is the burning ship.
He decided. Then they would probably start searching in ever
widening circles, but would they see him in the faint
light of the ice moons. He looked back at the
nylon shoote again. Another thought ran through his mind. Suppose

(10:32):
they don't bob me in the dark. When the sun
Serious I Mean comes up, there's a good chance to'll
spot the parachute and search for me. He slid the
cannopy open and looked down at the red soil of
Serious three. He hesitated for a moment, then swung his
feet over the side and dropped to the ground. At
least still have that satisfaction, he said, grinning under his

(10:54):
oxygen mask. Very much aware of gravity after years of weightlessness.
He walked to the canopy of the chute and spread
it out on the flat ground in a full circle.
It billowed in the wind. He searched around, found some
glassy black rocks, and anchored down the chute. Then he
looked at the orange glow that marked the funeral pyre
of the ship. He had a decision to make stay

(11:17):
here with the capsule or head for the fire couldn't
be more than a thousand yards away, he decided. Charging
a walk around oxygen bottle, he transferred his oxygen hose
to it. He snapped a survival kid to his belt
and picked up the Teletalki. The ship was more than
a thousand yards away. The first mile was across flat desert.

(11:38):
He picked his way cautiously, his boots churning up clouds
of powdery dust. He remembered the Russian reports of the
weird and deadly creatures they had encountered in the Martian deserts,
but aside from a few gray patches of brush, there
seemed to be no signs of life. After all, he
thought the Earth held no life for the better part
of its existence, and Towers had selected this planet because

(12:00):
it bore relatively the same relationship to the brighter, hotter
serious as did the Earth to the Sun, while farther away,
it should have approximately the same conditions as did the Earth,
and it had seas, not as large as on Earth,
but seas. Nevertheless, yet there was a fallacy in this argument.
Presumably all the stars in the outer arms of the

(12:20):
Milky Way and their planets were about the same age,
with similar conditions as the Earth. Life must have been
borne and walked out of the seas of Serious three,
just as it did on Earth. Something scurried into a
wisp of brush, as if to bear out Brandon's realization.
He froze his eyes on the brush, his hand reaching
for his hydrostatic shark pistol. He could hear nothing but

(12:41):
the wind, hollowing his ears. He stood for a long moment,
then cautiously skirted the brush and continued on toward the
burning ship. There was an odd clicking sound, and he stopped.
It sounded again. Brandon realized he was perspiring despite the
chill of the desert night. Again, he moved on, the

(13:03):
sound fading in the distance behind him. The next mile
brought him to a great sheet of ancient lava, laid
bare by the helmets. He climbed to the top. The
fire still seemed to be about a thousand yards ahead,
beyond a ridge of low hills. A distant flare lit
up the sky ahead of him. It glowed for a
few moments, then died. They found the ship, he thought,

(13:27):
after four years, I had completely forgotten about the store
of photo flash flares. He watched for a while, but
saw no more flares. Finally, he scrambled down the 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 cylinder of fused

(13:47):
metal lay in a gully. Parts were strewn along the bottom.
A wing untouched by the fire was leaning tipped down
against the edge of another lava sheet. Some distance away.
He sat down on another. Flare flashed in the sky
behind him, silhouetting a row of grotesque trees. I'm over here,
you fools, he thought. He watched until the flare flickered out,

(14:12):
then turned his head back toward the remains of the ship.
There wasn't much of a glow to it now, it
would be hard to see unless Astro was right on
top of it. He raised the antenna on the teletocky
and snapped it on. The screen glowed into life. Towers
was stepping through the bulkhead door into the radio room,
just like a television plan in sawments. Brandon thought, scene

(14:33):
too coming up those igne of him at the scene
of the crash. Towers told Ryan Hart, if he got out,
observed rin Hart. It could be one hundred miles away
or 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 in your precious planet like

(14:55):
a boy scout. Curse this teletockey. I get the years pay.
If you could see me in towers, we may yet
spot the escape capsule. Renhart was saying, We're still continuing
to search put in towers, but I don't mind telling
you I'm not wasting much more fuel. The radio operator
started to say something, hesitated and finally settled for yes.

(15:18):
Sir Brandon Sworen snapped off the set. He looked at
his walk around bottle. Can't stay here any longer, he muttered.
He couldn't find the capsule. He walked three perhaps four miles.
He stopped and blotted his moist brow with his sleeve.
He wasn't going to find it. Before him stretched an

(15:39):
endless carpet of red dust. The light from the two
moons was growing dim as each settled towards different horizons.
He sat down. A cloud of powdery dust settled over
his legs. The lightness in his head told him that
his oxygen was running out. The weakness in his muscles
reminded him that it had been a long time since
he had walked in the plant its gravity. A distant

(16:02):
flare lit up the horizon. He choked off a sob
and beat his fist in the red dust. A wave
of nausea swept over him. Bitter stomach juices welled up
in his throat, but he swallowed them down again. Desperately.
He turned on the teletalky Astro. This is Brandon, he said, Brandon,
this is Astro, Rehinhardt said. Brandon's body tensed. Thank god

(16:27):
I finally got through to you. Listen, Rhinehart, I must
be about three, Brandon, This is Astro, said Rhinehart in
a monotone. He said it again and again and again.
Brandon fell back on the ground. His breathing was short strained,
his face was bathed in perspiration. The oxygen, he realized,

(16:47):
was giving out. What are the odds that the air
of serious three is breathable, he wondered, One and a hundred.
The blandet as water, and both animal and plant life
certainly at a sufficient gravity to hold its oxygen. But
what other elements noxious gases might be present. Maybe the

(17:07):
odds are closer to one in fifty, he decided. But
there's no gamble when you have nothing to lose, he
told the milky Way, ripping off his oxygen mask. He
took a deep breath of the alien atmosphere. The dust
choked him. His ears rang. Black spots danced before his eyes,
then melted into solid blackness. Brandon could hear Tower's voice

(17:31):
in a vortex of darkness. Let's face it, Brandon is dead.
Must have burned with the ship. At least that's where
the report will read. Get may Rhinehart, Yes, sir that
his embodied voice of Rheinhardt replied quietly. Are going to
set her down on a solid piece of ground near
one of the oceans. There was a pause, and Brandon

(17:53):
could almost see Colonel Towers trawing up to his full height.
I'm going to be the first man to set foot
on a planet of a another solar system. Know what
that means, Rhinehart? A quantum jump, sir, right leap frogging
ahead of the reds. Wait till they read their name.
Colonel John Towers, maybe General John Towers. General Brandon opened

(18:18):
his eyes. Sirius was turning the sky to gray, trimming
a few scattered clouds with gold. As he stared at
the sky, Sirius rose with a brassy glare near it,
he could see its white, hot dwarf star companion. It
was going to be a real scorcher, he decided, worse
than any desert on Earth. He sat up stiffly on

(18:39):
the teletalky screen. Reinhardt, alone in the radio room, was
calling quietly for Brandon. The bulkhead door swung open, and
Towers poked his head through. Knock that off, said Towers sternly,
and take your landing station. As Rhinehart rose to his feet,
Brandon reached over and turned off the set. Brandon took

(18:59):
a deep breath, His head spun, and for the first
time he realized that he was still alive. He gazed
across the shimmering desert to a ridge of scrubby hills.
Blue mountains rose up behind them. Great flows of black
lava had rolled down onto the desert floor at some
distant time. They were spotted with clumps of gray grass.
Even as was the desert, the hills were studded with

(19:22):
weird trees, standing stiff branches outstretched like an army of scarecrows.
The air of serious three was doing strange things to him.
Two of the trees seemed to be moving. He swayed
and sat heavily as he watched through a haze of
red dust whipped up by the morning breeze. The two
trees came closer, turned into men wearing desert uniforms, and

(19:44):
leaned over him. Were you okay, one of the masked
brandan said nothing. We saw you from our observation station
over on the hill, said the other, pointing. They helped
Brandon to his feet and gave him a swig of
cool sweet water from a canteen. I'm Captain Brandon of
the Astro One Astro One. The man removed his pith

(20:08):
helmet to wipe his brow, and Brandon noticed the gleaming
Us insignia on the front of the helmet. The astro
One left her thirteen years ago, the man said, only
four years by rte, Brandon said. The man smiled and
put his helmet back on his head. A lot of
things have happened since you left. There was a war
which we won, and I guess you guys were almost forgotten,

(20:31):
and there was a lot of technological development. You mean
you had a quantum jump, asked Brandon, parroting Colonel Towers
favorite expression. Oh do you would know that, replied the
second man. It was through quantum mechanics that we learned
to approximate the speed of light one nine years pass
on Earth when we make the trip or r t
is mere moments. Good, Lord, Brandon said, you must have

(20:53):
passed us up. Been on this planet for nearly a year,
the first man said, God been on dozens of place
monetary systems throughout the Milky Way. One ship when a
thousand light years out. By the time they come back,
civilization on Earth will be two thousand years older. Have
you got to tell ATALKI, Brandon asked, Sure, said the

(21:14):
first man, producing a set one third the size of Brandon's.
Could you tune it to twenty eight point six microcycles? Sure,
the man said again. He turned a dial with his
thumb and handed the unit to Brandon. Brandon depressed the
talk button. A crystal clear image of Colonel Towers putting
the final touches on his full dress uniform appeared on

(21:36):
the screen. This is a historic occasion, Colonel Towers was
announcing to his crew. Open the hatch and Reinehard be
sure to stand by with the motion picture camera. Excuse me,
Colonel Towers, said Brandon quietly. Towers swung around and looked
at Brandon. The colonel's face. Paled I have something to

(21:58):
tell you, said Brandon about the Quantum Jump. End of
the Quantum Jump by Robert Wicks