Free The Watch Below by James White Page B

Heaven. Wallis would

have been content to stay in that dream forever, but for some reason it

began to change horribly, and fade.

The sky darkened suddenly, in patches, as if it were a jigsaw puzzle

and somebody was taking pieces away. It was much too cold, he realized,

to be wearing tropical whites. And all at once the rail of the bridge

felt like coarse sacking and the salt tang of the wind became a clammy,

almost unbreathable poison which stank of sweat. But the dream did not

fade completely.

His forehead still itched, and below him the deck moved gently with the

action of the waves.

VIII

In the Unthan flagship the problem, after twenty days of constant study

and twice-daily discussions, seemed no nearer solution. Now it was the

first discussion period of the twenty-first day and the engineer had

just asked permission to speak.

"Since two coolings will cause such mental degeneration as to make it

impossible for us to operate the ship," the engineer said, "my suggestion

is that we do not risk putting ourselves into Long Sleep until the process

has been made safe."

It was normal for their problem to be restated many times -- too many times

-- during the course of these discussions, but his idea was so glaringly

obvious that it must simply be a preface to a more important suggestion.

And there was something about the engineer's manner, a peculiar air of

tension which was foreign to him, which made Deslann listen carefully

to every word.

I have been wondering," the engineer went on, "if it is possible to correct

the malfunction in the Long Sleep equipment or, alternatively, evolve a

form of treatment or medication which would negate the equipment's effect

on our minds. I realize that this would necessitate the use of an

experimental, uh, subject of our species and that this subject might

expect to sustain mental or physical injury or perhaps even death.

At the same time the reputation and ability of Healer Hellahar, who is

a specialist in this particular field, is such that I feel confident

that if any harm befell me it would be necessary to the research and

therefore unavoidable."

There was a highly uncomfortable silence when the engineer finished speaking,

and Deslann wondered why it was that in this sophisticated and perhaps

degenerate age an act of bravery could give rise to as much embarrassment

as it did respect.

"Your confidence in me is flattering and perhaps misplaced," the healer said

awkwardly when the silence had begun to drag. "We do not have the resources

aboard ship to conduct such research, nor have I, in my opinion,

the ability."

"In any case," Gerrol said in a tone aimed at further dispelling the general

embarrassment, "we could not spare you. Every single member of the crew

will be required to guide in the main body of the fleet and to land this

ship -- "

"Then why not simply cool ourselves now," one of the computer team joined

in, "and set the warm-up time so that we waken, say, a year before the

calculated arrival date, putting everything on automatic. That way we

would -- "

"Get hopelessly lost," Gerrol finished for him. He went on, "We have

insufficient reaction mass for large-scale maneuvering should we arrive

wide of the target system. Our reserves are enough only for periodic

and minor course corrections."

Somewhere in the depths of Deslann's mind an idea stirred, stretched,

then went back to sleep again. Perhaps the idea would be a useless one,

but the captain thought that he should drag it out into the light and

look at it just to make sure. Meanwhile the conversation was rolling on,

drifting inexorably away from the subject which had almost given him

an idea. He had to get them back onto the subject, but he didn't know

which subject it was.

"Let's go back a little, Gerrol," Deslann said quickly. "You said that

everyone would be needed to land the ship and guide in the fleet. But

that is not strictly true. You could do without one of the