The Worlds of the Sheaf

Lost in Space - Part 6

     Captain Stone agreed with the proposal, of course. What else could he do?

     The wizards took the needle to one of the airlocks, therefore, and carefully placed it over the side. They'd tried to leave it hanging stationary in space, but they couldn't help leaving it with a little residual angular momentum and the needle turned slowly end over end as it drifted away.

     "That doesn't matter," said Braddle, who was with the other bridge officers, watching it in the large scrying mirror. "In fact it's good. If it keeps on turning, we'll know it isn't working."

     Saturn looked to the side, to where Haskar was watching from his smaller chair at the side of the room. The felisian was looking uncomfortable and apprehensive, which gave Saturn a much welcome feeling of cheer. Well might you be uncomfortable, he thought. If we find the portal after your clear and unmistakable attempts to obstruct us, your people will be made to pay, and you know it.

      The felisian glanced in his direction and Saturn treated him to a smile of confident satisfaction. He was rewarded by a fearful widening of the other man's eyes as he turned to face the mirror again with a hurried snap of the neck. Saturn kept the smile on his face while trying not to think what a long shot this Needle of Stone Detection really was. If they failed now, it would be the felisian feeling the relieved sarisfaction and Saturn truly didn't know how that would make him react.

     Knowing that the Needle would take a long time to work, assuming it did, Saturn left the bridge to spend some time in his quarters. When he returned, though, he was encouraged to see that the Needle did seem to be turning more slowly.

     "It won't tell us where the portal is until it actually stops, though, will it?" asked Prup Chull. "How long will that take?"

     The wizard could only shrug, but inside he was trembling with excitement. It was working! It was working!"

     It was still turning a further six hours later, when the exhausted bridge crew left to make way for the night shift, and Thomas spent hours staring at it, willing it to slow down, to point the way. Ship's midnight came and went, and now it seemed that the needle was swinging faster on one half of its circuit than the other. In fact, there was one point in every rotation where the artifact almost came to a halt. The white end would be pointing their way, moving slower and slower, coming almost to a complete stop, then it would speed up again, although speed hardly seemed the right word when it took a full five minutes to complete one rotation. Then, as Thomas watched, rapt with fascination on the edge of his seat, the needle failed to complete a rotation. The needle slowed and slowed, came to a halt, then began turning in the opposite direction. It was now turning back and forth, like the pendulum of a clock, and Thomas breathlessly activated the Farspeaking link to summon Captain Strong.

     Saturn arrived hot on the Captain's heels, even though nobody had specifically told him of the development. "Can we now tell where the portal is?" the Captain asked.

     "Yes," replied Saturn. "It lies in the direction in which the needle is pointing when it's moving the fastest. Or at least there's something made of rock in that direction. Maybe Braddle's found a new planet."

     "That's not funny," said the Captain flatly. "Not at this stage. Okay, get the moon trogs up here. I want the vector identified as quickly as possible."

     Saturn acknowledged the order, and the Captain left to resume his interrupted sleep. As soon as he'd gone and the door closed behind him, though, Saturn stepped close to Thomas and glared angrily down at him. "In future," he said, "When you summon Strong to the bridge, you will inform me as well. I don't want to be left out of something important. Is that understood?"