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Science Fiction, Jr., v. 1, issue 1, June-July 1942

Page 13

SCIENCE FICTION JR. 
 
     EINSTEIN IN REVERSE
                     By
          Malcolm Jameson

(Through Permission of "Stardust")

It is an established fact that the Universe is in constant motion; what then would the Universe look like if seen from "Absolute Rest" if such a position could be attained?
     The author of this story tells you the answer to that problem but in answering it another, greater problem appears!
          - - - - - - - - - 

     "H-M-M", grumbled the professor, gnawing at his scraggly beard as he withdrew his hand with the dividers from the dim visiplate on which the images of all the stars shone faintly. "Are you sure you applied components for each and every bit of motion?"
     "Oh, quite", assured Harry Longwill, his experimental pilot, "check with me if you like, here's the figure for the earth's rotational velocity, its orbital velocity and the Sun's own motion toward Vega, our rotational velocity about the axis fo the Galaxy, the drift of our Galaxy toward the Ultimate Point, Zeta, plus the other eight factors you gave me, and finally there is the rotational speed about the Ideal Center of the Whole Universe".
     "Ah", breathed the Professor, relieved, "it seems all to be there, and we have been accelerating all this time along a resultant exactly contrary to those figures?"
     "Yes, Sir, it is more than three months now since we hopped off on this voyage--braking ourselves in Absolute Space, so to speak. In another few minutes we should have exactly overcome all those velocities, then we can observe the real movements of all the heavenly bodies, not merely have to deduce them as heretofore.
     "It will astonish the world", said the professor, thinking rosily ahead to the day when he would mount the rostrum of the great hall of science and read his paper to an admiring world. He had already selected its title: "The Proper Motions of the Universe as Seen From Absolute Rest."
     Longwell looked back at the visiplate. Outside the scintillating points of the Universe gleamed much as they always had, or at least so he thought when he first looked. Yet, strangely, the stars seemed a bit smaller larger and more intense. black areas of the whole of the Earth's own Galaxy seemed to be but a cloud of fine mist, clinging to the periphery of the space ship itself, and the outlying brilliant clusters of the far-off island Universes seemed much nearer; yet they, too, had shrunk. They were barely visible as minute puff-balls of smoke, just a few yards away.
     Twist the view finder as he would, he could get no other picture, and his astonishment was deepened as the faint mist he was watching became even more nebulous, as if it were vanishing into the pores of ship itself.
     "What do you make of that professor?" asked the pilot.
The last faint glimmer of anything outside had vanished. As far as vision could reach in any direction there was nothing--nothing but the void and utter darkness of starless space. The Galaxy, the Universe, and all about them had vanished; there was no more of anything except the lonely ship and its two curious occupants.
    For a moment the professor's expression was one of deep bewilderment, then he tugged ruefully at his beard and gave an apologetic little laugh.
     "Sorry Longwill, that I got you into this - to be truthful, I did not expect such a tragic ending. It was terribly careless of me, I admit. You see in my anxiety to be the first to achieve absolute motionlessness I overlooked some of its implications. We are all there is now - you and me."
     Longwill stared at him - was the professor mad? "As you know, Einstein demonstrated that when an object attains the maximum possible speed, that of light, its dimension in the direction of its motion becomes zero."

Saving...

SCIENCE FICTION JR. EINSTEIN IN REVERSE By Malcolm Jameson (Through Permission of "Stardust") It is an established fact that the Universe is in constant motion; what then would the Universe look like if seen from "Absolute Rest" if such a position could be attained? The author of this story tells you the answer to that problem but in answering it another, greater problem appears! - - - - - - - - - "H-M-M", grumbled the professor, gnawing at his scraggly beard as he withdrew his hand with the dividers from the dim visiplate on which the images of all the stars shone faintly. "Are you sure you applied components for each and every bit of motion?" "Oh, quite", assured Harry Longwill, his experimental pilot, "check with me if you like, here's the figure for the earth's rotational velocity, its orbital velocity and the Sun's own motion toward Vega, our rotational velocity about the axis fo the Galaxy, the drift of our Galaxy toward the Ultimate Point, Zeta, plus the other eight factors you gave me, and finally there is the rotational speed about the Ideal Center of the Whole Universe". "Ah", breathed the Professor, relieved, "it seems all to be there, and we have been accelerating all this time along a resultant exactly contrary to those figures?" "Yes, Sir, it is more than three months now since we hopped off on this voyage--braking ourselves in Absolute Space, so to speak. In another few minutes we should have exactly overcome all those velocities, then we can observe the real movements of all the heavenly bodies, not merely have to deduce them as heretofore. "It will astonish the world", said the professor, thinking rosily ahead to the day when he would mount the rostrum of the great hall of science and read his paper to an admiring world. He had already selected its title: "The Proper Motions of the Universe as Seen From Absolute Rest." Longwell looked back at the visiplate. Outside the scintillating points of the Universe gleamed much as they always had, or at least so he thought when he first looked. Yet, strangely, the stars seemed a bit smaller larger and more intense. black areas of the whole of the Earth's own Galaxy seemed to be but a cloud of fine mist, clinging to the periphery of the space ship itself, and the outlying brilliant clusters of the far-off island Universes seemed much nearer; yet they, too, had shrunk. They were barely visible as minute puff-balls of smoke, just a few yards away. Twist the view finder as he would, he could get no other picture, and his astonishment was deepened as the faint mist he was watching became even more nebulous, as if it were vanishing into the pores of ship itself. "What do you make of that professor?" asked the pilot. The last faint glimmer of anything outside had vanished. As far as vision could reach in any direction there was nothing--nothing but the void and utter darkness of starless space. The Galaxy, the Universe, and all about them had vanished; there was no more of anything except the lonely ship and its two curious occupants. For a moment the professor's expression was one of deep bewilderment, then he tugged ruefully at his beard and gave an apologetic little laugh. "Sorry Longwill, that I got you into this - to be truthful, I did not expect such a tragic ending. It was terribly careless of me, I admit. You see in my anxiety to be the first to achieve absolute motionlessness I overlooked some of its implications. We are all there is now - you and me." Longwill stared at him - was the professor mad? "As you know, Einstein demonstrated that when an object attains the maximum possible speed, that of light, its dimension in the direction of its motion becomes zero."