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TWELVE HOURS FROM EARTH

The four men took off from Geosynch One for the twelve-hour trip to the Kuyper Belt space station Yukon in a craft that two of the men hoped would finally prove the speed of light was no barrier. At the controls were John Harris, the inventor of the craft, and Pete Williams, the billionaire who invested 1/3 of his fortune into the building of the Light Racer. Steve Simmons of United Press International was given exclusive rights to publishing the account of the trip while Dr. Jonas Lewis, a nuclear physicist, was aboard to keep the other three honest since he had spent most of his life believing Einstein was right. The speed of light was an uncrossable barrier.

Ever since the first Kuyper Belt station, Yukon, had been constructed during the mid-22nd century, there had been a constant stream of information that linked both Yukon with Geosynch One which was located in geosynchronous orbit above the mid-Atlantic. With a population of over 100,000 people, it was the most populated outpost in space and busier than all the other stations and colonies in the solar system.

In order to prove that the craft had exceeded the speed of light, an object was being taken from Geosynch One to Yukon and exchanged for another object in the belt. If the craft arrived back at Geosynch One before the monitors showed the exchange, it would prove that the craft had exceeded the speed of light. A sealed message had been given to the four-man crew of the craft that was to be read by the commander of Yukon. Only the commander of Geosynch One knew what the message was and if anyone opened the envelope before arriving at Yukon, the ink would start to be dissolved by a mild acid. So it had to be read within three minutes of opening or else there would be no message to read.

The crew of the Light Racer was relaxed and in no big hurry to fly out to Yukon. Going out to the Belt was not the test. The trip back would be the proof one way or another about vessels exceeding the speed of light. So the men spent most of the time talking, eating, checking on systems, and experiencing EPU programs either awake or as they slept. About the only nervous one aboard the craft was the physicist. If the craft truly exceeded the speed of light, his career would be dealt a severe blow as well as his ego. But he volunteered to be included in the crew. With his friend Dr. Raymond Drake being the one to exchange objects, he wanted the honor to be a part of the history-making

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