Page 2 (1/2)

part one

CHAPTER ONE

Jinn and Phyllis were spending a wonderful holiday, in space, as far away as possible from the inhabited stars

In those days interplanetary voyages were an everyday occurrence, and interstellar travel not uncommon Rockets took tourists to the wondrous sites of Sirius, or financiers to the faes of Arcturus and Aldebaran But Jinn and Phyllis, a wealthy leisured couple, were distinguished in their cosrains of poetry They wandered over the universe for their pleasure —by sail

Their ship was a sort of sphere with an envelope—the sail—which was h space propelled by the pressure of light-radiation Such a machine, left to its own devices in the vicinity of a star (though far enough away for the field of gravity not to be too powerful), will always ht line in the opposite direction to the star; but since Jinn and Phyllis’ stellar system contained three suns that were relatively close to one another, their vessel received rays of light along three different axes Jinn had therefore conceived an extre His sail was lined inside with a series of black blinds that he could roll up or unroll at will, thus changing the effect of the light-pressure bypower of certain sections

Furthermore, this elastic envelope could be stretched or contracted as the navigator pleased Thus, when Jinn wanted to increase his speed, he gave it the biggest diameter possible It would then take the blasts of radiation on an enorh space at a furious velocity, which made his o, and they would then cling passionately to each other, their gaze fixed on the ht propelled them When, on the other hand, they wanted to slon, Jinn pressed a button The sail would shrink until it becahtly together The effect of the light beca h suspended in the void by an invisible thread The young couple would spend rapturous idle hours in this reduced universe, erected on their own scale and for the ship and Phyllis to the air bubble of the sea spider

Jinn knew a nuht of art by sailing cos use of the shadows of the planets and certain satellites in order to change course He imparted this skill to Phyllis, as now al When she held the tiller, she would soht to the borders of the stellar systenetic storht-rays and to shake their skiff like a cockleshell On two or three occasions, woken up with a start by the te the tiller from her and, in order to run for shelter as quickly as possible, starting the auxiliary rocket, which they er

One day Jinn and Phyllis were lying side by side in thethethemselves to the rays of their three suns Eyes closed, Jinn was thinking only of his love for Phyllis Phyllis lay stretched out on her side, gazing at the i herself be hypnotized, as she often did, by the cosmic sensation of the void

All of a sudden she came out of her trance, wrinkled her brow, and sat up An unusual flash of light had streaked across this void She waited a few seconds and saw a second flash, like a ray being reflected off a shiny object The cosmic sense she had acquired in the course of these cruises could not deceive her Moreover, Jinn, when it was pointed out to hireed with her, and it was inconceivable that he should ht was floating through space, at a distance they could not yet assess Jinn picked up a pair of binoculars and focused them on the mysterious object, while Phyllis leaned on his shoulder

“It’s not a very big object,” he said “It see closer It’s going faster than we are It looks like”

A puzzled expression came into his eyes He lowered the binoculars, which she at once snatched up

“It’s a bottle, darling”

“A bottle!” She looked at it, in turn