E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne by E. E. (Doc) Smith

next time we take off.’
    ‘I will so,’ she protested; but Seaton was listeningto Vaneman.
    ‘… it take?’
    ‘Not quite an hour. We could have done it in much less time.’ Crane’s voice was calm, his face quiet; but to those who knew him so well, every feature showed emotion.
    Both inventors were at the summit, moved more than either could have told by their achievement, by the success of the flyer upon which they had worked so long.
    Shiro broke the tension by bowing until his head almost touched the floor. ‘Sirs and lady, I impel myself to state this to be wonder extreme. If permitting, I shall delightful luxuriate in preparation suitable refreshment.’
    Permission granted, he trotted away and the engineers invited the visitors to inspect their new craft.
    Although Dorothy knew what to expect, from plans and drawings and from her own knowledge of ‘Old Crip,’ she caught her breath as she looked about the brilliantly lighted interior of the great sky-rover.
    It was a spherical shell of hardened steel of great thickness, some forty feet in diameter. Its true shape was not readily apparent from inside, as it was divided into levels and compartments by decks and walls. In its center was a spherical structure of girders and beams. Inside this structure was a similar one which, on smooth but immensely strong universal bearings, was free to revolve in any direction. This inner sphere was filled with machinery surrounding a shining copper cylinder.
    Six tremendous fabricated columns radiated outward; branching in maximum-strength design out into the hull. The floor was heavily upholstered and was not solid; the same was true of the dozen or more seats built in various places. There were two instrument boards, upon which tiny lights flashed and plate glass, plastic and metal gleamed.
    Both Vanemans began to ask questions and Seaton showed them the principal features of the novel vessel. Crane accompanied them in silence, enjoying their pleasure, glorying in the mighty ship of space.
    Seaton called attention to the great size and strength of one of the lateral supporting columns, then led them over to the vertical column that pierced the floor. Enormous as the lateral was, it appeared puny beside this monster of fabricated steel. Seaton explained that the two verticals had to be much stronger than the four laterals, as the center of gravity of the ship had been placed lower than its geometrical center, so that the apparent motion of the vessel would always be upward. Resting one hand caressingly upon the huge member, he explained exultantly that it was the ultimately last wordin strength made of the strongest known high-tensile, heat-treated, special-alloy steel.
    ‘But why go to such an extreme?’ the lawyer asked. ‘It looks as though it could support a bridge.’
    ‘It could. It’ll have to, if we ever really cut loose with the power. Have you got any idea of how fast this thing can fly?’
    ‘I have heard you talk of approaching the velocity of light, but that’s a little overdrawn, isn’t it?’
    ‘Not a bit. If it wasn’t for Einstein and his famous theory we could develop an acceleration twice as great as one light-velocity. As it is, we’re going to see how close we can crowd it – and it’ll be close, believe me. Out in space, that is. In air we’ll be limited to three or four times sound, in spite of all we could do in the line of heat-exchangers and refrigeration.’
    ‘But, from what I read about jets, ten gravities for ten minutes can be fatal.’
    ‘That’s right. But these floors are special, and those seats are infinitely more so. That was one of our hardest jobs; designing supporting surfaces to hold a man safe through forces that would ordinarily flatten him out into a thin layer of goo.’
    ‘I see. How are you going to steer? And how about stable reference planes to steer by? Or are you merely going to head for Mars or Venus or Neptune or Aldebaran as the case may be?’
    ‘That