Shipwreck in the Sky - Eando Binder

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shipwreck in the Sky by Yando Binder, the flight into
space that made pilot Captain Dan Barstow famous. The flight
was listed at GHQ as Project Songbird. It was sponsored
by the Space Medicine Labs of the US Air Force,
and its pilot was Captain Dan Barstow. A hand picked man.

(00:23):
Dan Barstow chosen for the af's most important project of
the year because he and his VX three had already
broken all previous records set by hordes of V two's,
Navy Aarob's, and anything else that flew the skyways. Dan
Barstow first manned across the Sea of Air and sight
open unlimited space pioneer flight to infinity. He grinned and

(00:47):
hummed to himself as he settled down for the long jaunt.
Too busy to be either thrilled or scared, he considered
the thirty seven instruments he'd have to read, the twice
that many records to keep, and the miles of camera
film to run. He'd been hand picked and thoroughly conditioned
to take it all without more than a ten percent
increase in his pulse rate, so he worked as matter

(01:10):
of factly as if he were down in the g's
centrifuge of the Space Medicine labs, where he'd been schooled
for this trip. For months, he kept up a running
fire of oral reports through his helmet radio down to
rough Rock and his co all Roger, Sir. Temperature falling fast,
but this rubberoid spacesuit keeps me cozy. No chills. Doc

(01:31):
Blaine will be happy to hear that. Weightless sensations pretty queer,
and I feel upside down as much as right side up,
but no bad effects. Taking shots of the Sun's corona
now through color film. Huh oh, yes, sir, it's beautiful
all right now that you mention it. But hell, sir,
who's got time for aesthetics? Now? Oops? That was a
close one tenth meteor whizzing past. Makes me think of

(01:55):
the flak back on those Berlin bombing runs. Dan couldn't
help win when the meteors peppered down passed the flack
of space below. He could see the meteors flare up
brightly as they hit the atmosphere. Most of those near
his position were small, none bigger than a baseball, and
Dan took comfort in the fact that his rocket was

(02:16):
small too. In the immensity around him. A direct hit
would be sheer bad luck, but the good old law
of averages was on his side. Yes, Colonel, this tin
can I'm riding in is holding together. Okay. Dan continued
to rough rock. If he paused even a second in
his report, a top sergeant's yelled from the colonel's throat

(02:37):
came back for him to keep talking. Every bit of
information he could transmit to them was a vital revelation
in this USAF Alpha exploration of open space beyond Earth's
air cushion, with ceiling unlimited to infinity cosmic raycer Sure,
the readings shot up double on the Geiger. Huh Now,

(02:57):
I don't feel a thing, aired suspected we invented a
lot of old wives tales in advance before going into space.
I feel fine. So you can put down the cosmic
ray intensity as a boogeyman. What's that? Yeah, yeah, sir,
The stars shine without winking up here. What else? Space

(03:18):
is inky black? No deep purples or queer more than blacks,
like some jetted up riders dreamed up just plain old,
ordinary dead black Earth. Sir, Well, it does look dishshaped
from up here, concave. Sure I can see all the
way to Europe and say, here's something unexpected. I can
see that hurricane off the coast of Florida. You said it, sir.

(03:39):
Once we install permanent space stations up here, it will
be easy to spot typhoons, volcano eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes,
what have you the moment they start. If you ask me,
with a good telescope, you could even spot forest fires
the minute they broke out. Not to mention a sneak
bombing on a target city. Uh sorry, sir, I forgot.

(03:59):
Dan broke off and almost wretched as his stomach turned
the flip flop to end all flip flops. The VX
three had reached the peak of its trajectory at over
one thousand miles altitude, and now turned down lazily. At first,
He gulped oxygen from the emergency tube at his lips
and felt better turning back on schedule. Rough rock peak
altitude one thousand thirty seven miles. Everything fine, no danger,

(04:22):
This was a cinch. Hey wait, something not in the
books was popped up stand by. Dan had felt the
rocket swing a bit strangely, as if gripped by a
strong force instead of falling directly toward Earth with a
slight pitch. It slanted sideways and spun on its long axis.
And then Dan saw what it was beneath, intercepting his trajectory,

(04:46):
coming around fast over the curvature of Earth, was a
tiny black world, lit nine hundred and ninety eight miles
above Earth. It might be an enormous meteor, but Dan
felt he was right the first time, for it wasn't
falling like a meteor, but swinging parallel to Earth's surface
on even keel. He stared at the unexpected discovery, amazed,

(05:06):
as if it were a fire breathing dragon out of legend.
For it was, actually, he realized, in swift, stunned comprehension,
more amazing than any legend. Dan kept his voice calm, Hello,
rough rock, listen. Nobody expected this. Hold your hat, sir,
and sit down. I've discovered a second moon of Earth.

(05:26):
Uh huh, you heard me ride a second moon? Tie that?
Will you sure? It's a tiny less than a mile
in diameter, I'd say, dead black in color. I guess
that's why telescopes never spotted it. Tiny in black blends
into the black backdrop of space. It has terrific speed,
and that little Maverick's gravitational field caught my rocket. Of course,

(05:47):
it can't yank me away from Earth gravity. But the
trouble is dite my rocket in that moonlit may be
in for a mutual collision. Course. Dan's trained eye suddenly
saw that grim possibility. Barrowing around Earth and narrow orbit
with a speed something near to over twelve thousand miles
an hour. The tiny new moon had since his ascent,

(06:08):
charged directly into his downward free fall. It was a
chance in a thousand for a direct hit, except for
one added factor. The moon lid exerted enough gravity pull
out of its many million ton bulk to warp the
rocket into its path, and the thousand to one odds
were thus wiped out, becoming even money. Nip and Tuck

(06:28):
reported Dan, answering the excited pleadings and questions from rough rock.
It won't be ahead on crash. I may even miss
it entirely. Oh Lord, not, with that spire of rock
sticking up from it, I'm going to hit that. Dan
heard an atomic bomb blast once, and it sounded like
a string of them set off at once. As the
rocket smashed into the rocky prominence, the rocks splintered, the

(06:50):
rocket splintered, but Dan was not there to be splintered. Likewise,
he had jammed down a button at the critical moment,
and the rocket's emergency escape hatch had ejected him a
split second before the violent impact. But Dan blacked out,
receiving some of the concussion of the exploding rocket. When
his eyes snapped open, he was floating like a feather
in open airless space. His rubberoid spacesuit, living up to

(07:14):
its rigid tests, had inflated to its elastic limit, but
it held and within its automatic units began feeding him oxygen, heat,
and radio power. He had a chance now, because he
had been injected cleanly from the rocket without damage to
the protective suit. The stars wheeled dizzily around him. Dan
finally saw the reason why he was not just floating

(07:37):
as a free agent in space. He was circling the
black moonlet at perhaps a thousand yards from its pitted surface. Hello,
rough Rock, he called, still alive in kicking, sir, are
only now of all crazy mad things. I'm a moon
of this moon. The collision must have knocked me clear
out of my down to Earth orbit. I must have

(07:57):
been injected in the same direction as the moon looks
coarse in its gravity field. I don't know. Let an
electronic brain figure it out sometime anyway. Now I'm being
dragged along in the orbit of this moonlight. How about that? Yes, sir,
I'm circling down closer and closer. No, don't worry, sir.

(08:18):
It has a weak gravity pull, only a fraction of
an Earth g so I'm drifting down as gently as
a cloud standing by for my landing on the Earth's
second moon. The bloated figure in the bulging spacesuit circled
the black, stony surface several more times in a narrowing spiral,
and finally landed with a soft, skinning bump that didn't
even jar Dan's teeth. He bounced several times for a dimicient,

(08:41):
diminishing height of fifty odd feet in grotesque slow motion
before he finally came to a stop. He sat still
for a moment, adjusting to the fantastic fact of being
shipwrecked on an uncharted moonlet crowding down his pulse rate,
which must be over ten percent normal. Now, okay, rough rock,
I hear you. You're telling me, sir, obviously I'm marooned here.

(09:05):
No rocket to leave, with no way to get back
to Terra firma. What if you'll pardon my saying so, sir,
that's a silly question. Of course. I'm scared, scared green
sorry about the rocket, sir, losing it for you me, sir?
Thank you, sir, But stop apologizing, will you? I know
you haven't got any duplicates of VX three ready, no

(09:27):
rescue rocket. Dan listened for a moment longer than broke
in roughly, Oh, for Pete's sake, will you stop crying
over me, sir? So I get mine here? I might
have gotten it over Berlin too. Forget it, sir, Dan
grinned suddenly, Look what have I got to kick about?
I'll go out in a flash of glory. At least
one headline will put it that way, and I'll get

(09:48):
credit in the history books as the man who discovered
that Earth has two moons? What more could I ask? Really?
Dan blushed at the reply from rough Rock. Will you
lay off, please, Colonel how Ell? Should a man take it?
I'm still scared, silly inside, but look, I've really got
something to report now. This little moon makes tracks around

(10:09):
Earth in probably two hours minus, if I remember my spacenautics. Right,
I'm already looking down over the Grand Canyon heading west.
I'm going to get a pretty terrific bird's eye view
of the whole world and more in two more hours,
which is just about how much oxygen I've got left.
Lucky huh. Dan looks down, watching him fascination the majestic

(10:29):
wheeling of the earth below him. His little moonlight did
not rotate, or rather, it rotated once for each revolution
around Earth as the moon did, keeping one face earthward,
giving him an uninterrupted view. The Sierra's on Earth hove
into clear view, and the broad Pacific there would follow Hawaii,
than Japan, Asia, Europe. No he saw he was slanting southwest.

(10:54):
It would be across the equator, past Australia, perhaps near
the South Pole, then up around over the top of
the world, past Greenland, falling that great circle around the globe.
In any case, his was the speediest trip around the
world ever made by man. Before we're out of mutual range, Rofrock,
I'm going to explore this new moon. Me and Columbus

(11:16):
stand by for reports. Dan did his walking in huge
leaps that propelled him fifty feet at a step with
slight effort due to the extremely feeble gravity of the
tiny moon. What did he weigh here? Probably no more
than an ounce or two. Nothing much, report colonel. It's
a dead, airless, pipsqueak planetoid, just a big mile thick rock.

(11:37):
Probably no life, no vegetation, no people, know nothing. I
guess you might call me the man in the second moon,
and the joke's on me. Well, one in three quarters
hours of oxygen left by the gauge or one hundred
and five minutes sounds like more that way. What's that, sir?
Your voice is getting faint. Any last requests from me? Well,

(12:00):
one favor? Maybe pick up my body someday on another rocket. Yeah,
it'll stay preserved up here in this deep frieze of space. Thanks, sir,
can't hear you much now, going out of range. Give
Betty my fondness, you know the bond, Well, sir, goodbye now.
Ken was glad that Rough Rock's radio voice had faded
to a whispery nothingness. It wasn't easy to stay casual

(12:22):
now there was nothing more to say. Really, he didn't
want to hear him any more. Crying from the co
the old man had sounded almost hysterical. He wanted just
to be alone with his thoughts. Now making his final
peace with the universe, he checked the gauge with his watch.
Ninety minutes of oxygen to zero, or he thought, with

(12:43):
a grin eternity minus ninety minutes. He was beginning to
have trouble breathing, but it was awesomely grand, watching the
sweep of earth beneath him, the procession of dots that
were islands strung across the South Pacific seas like a
necklace of green beads. He was still within radio range
of ships below at sea, yet he didn't contact them.

(13:04):
He had nothing to say. Like a ghost in the sky,
Idly he kept pitching loose stones, watching their rifle like
speed away from him. Again, a phenomenon of the weak
gravity of the moonlit. Actually, he was able to pick
up a boulder ten feet across and heave it away
with ease. We who are about to die, amuse ourselves,

(13:24):
he thought. Then, because of a thread of stubborn hope
still clung in the corner of his mind, he got
an idea. It had lurked just beyond his mental grasp
for some time now. Something significant. Abruptly face alight, Dan
switched on his radio and contacted his ship, asking them
to relay him to rough Rock with their more powerful transmitter. Ohoy,

(13:47):
rough Rock, stop adding up my insurance, Colonel, I'm coming back. No, sir,
I haven't gone out of my head. It's so simple.
It's a laugh, sir. I'll see you in a few hours, sir,
And he did. Dan grinned. When they hauled his dripping
form from the sea aboard the search plane. They cut
him out of his spacesuit, to which he was still

(14:07):
attached his emergency twin parachute, but his helmet was gone,
ripped loose, for Dan had been breathing fresh earth air
during the long parachute descent. They stared at him as
a dead man, come alive, impossible to escape, He chuckled,
repeating their babble. That's what I thought, too, until I
remembered those data tables on gravity and escape velocity and such.

(14:29):
How on the Moon the escape velocity is much less
than on Earth, and on that tiny second moon. Well,
my clue was when I threw a stone into the
air and it never came back. Dan gulp hot coffee.
I got off the moonlit myself then got up to
more than a mile above it, where I was free
of its feeble gravity. But I was still in the
same orbit circling Earth. I'd have continued revolving as a

(14:53):
human satellite forever, of course, but this emergency gadget hooked
to my belt. Dan held up the metal gun with
its empty tank and needle nose, half burned away reaction
pistol fires hydrazene and oxidizer ordinary jet rocket principle, aiming
it towards the stars opposite Earth. It's reactive blasts shoved
me earthward. Thanks to Newton, I needed a speed of

(15:16):
about one half mile a second. The powerful little jet
gun had only my small mass to shove in free
space without gravity or friction. That brought me from freefall
around Earth to gravity fall toward Earth. Then I spiraled
down under gravity pool. I reached lung filling air density
just in time before my oxygen gave out. One more

(15:37):
danger was that I began heating up like a meteor
due to air friction. I flung out a prayer first,
followed by my twin parachutes designed for extreme initial shock.
They held slowed me down to a paratrooper's drift. The
rest of the way down. Wait, A puzzled pilot objected,
your story doesn't hang together. How did you get off
that moonlet? How did you get up there a mile above,

(16:00):
away from its gravity? There was no one to throw
you like a stone. I threw myself, said Dan. First,
I ran as fast as I could, maybe a halfway
around that moonlit to get a good running start. Then,
Dan Barstow's grin was undoubtedly the biggest grin in history.
Well then, since the feeble gravity couldn't pull me back again,

(16:21):
what I really did was to jump clear off that moon.
End of Shipwreck in the Sky by Yando Binder