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"Go ahead" Lucky had the viewer over his eyes and he was leaning back, his ar just outside for a moment, a little nervous He should discuss this with Lucky first, he knew he should, and yet the te to do anything I&039;ll just check so and why bother Lucky? But if it checks out, then I&039;ll really have so to tell hi, and there was Norrich, blind eyes fixed in the direction of the doorway, seated before a desk on which a checkerboard design carried odd figures

He said, "Yes?"

"This is Bigman! Come in Sit down Is Councilain, and Bightened "He&039;s busy But as for rav today Dr Panner tookof it hardly"

Norrich snore the mathematics, some of it isn&039;t too hard to understand"

"No? Mind explaining it then?" Bige chair and bent to look under Norrich&039;s workbench Mutt lay there with his head between his fore-paws and one eye brightly fixed on Big till I find a hole, or make one)

"Look here," Norrich said He held up one of the round counters he had been holding "Gravity is a for which is under the influence of a gravitational field but is not allowed to y If I were to release the piece, that potential energy would be converted to y, as it is called Since it continues under the influence of the gravitational field as it falls, it falls faster and faster and faster" He dropped the counter at this point, and it fell

"Until, splash," said Bigman The counter hit the floor and rolled

Norrich bent as though to retrieve it and then said, "Would you get it for man suppressed his disappointment He picked it up and returned it

Norrich said, "Now until recently that was the only thing that could be done with potential energy: it could be converted into kinetic energy Of course the kinetic energy could be used further For instance, the falling water of Niagara Falls could be used to forravity results in motion and that ends it

"Consider the Jovian system of moons We&039;re at Jupiter Nine, way out Fifteen ot a trey If we try to travel to Jupiter One, the satellite Io, which is only 285,000all those millions of miles We pick up tre in the opposite direction with a hyperatoy Then, if we er of continuing to fall, in which case there&039;s only one place to go, and that&039;s Jupiter-and Jupiter is instant death Then, even if we land safely on lo, there&039;s the proble ourselves all those ravity The a Jupiter&039;s rav?" asked Big Once you use an Agrav converter, potential energy can be converted into forrav corridor, for instance, the force of gravity in one direction is used to charge the gravitational field in the other direction as you fall People falling in one direction provide the energy for people falling in the other By bleeding off the energy that way, you yourself, while falling, need never speed up You can fall at any velocity less than the natural falling velocity You see?"

Bigman wasn&039;t quite sure he did but he said, "Go on"

"In space it&039;s different There&039;s no second gravitational field to shift the energy to Instead, it is con-, verted to hyperato this, a space ship can drop from Jupiter Nine to Io at any speed less than the natural falling speed without having to use any energy to decelerate Virtually no energy is expended except in the final adjustment to Io&039;s orbital speed And safety is complete, since the ship is always under perfect control Jupiter&039;s gravity could be co back to Jupiter Nine still requires energy There is no getting around that But now you can use the energy you had previously stored in the hyperatoy of Jupiter&039;s own gravitational field is used to kick you back"

Bigood" He squir anywhere Suddenly he said, "What&039;s that you&039;re fooling with on your desk?"

"Chess," said Norrich "Do you play?"

"A little," Big with him He alins" Then he asked, offhand, "How can you play chess?"

"You mean because I&039;ht I&039;h to explain This board is netic alloy so that they stick where they&039;re put and don&039;t go tuh stuck in syrup for a quarter of an inch or so, then was free

"And you see," said Norrich, "they&039;re not ordinary chess pieces"

"More like checkers," grunted Bigain so I don&039;t knock theh They&039;ve got raised designs which I can identify easily enough by touch and which reseh so that other people can learn them in a man had no trouble The circle of raised points was obviously the queen, while the little cross in the center of another piece signified the king The pieces with grooves slanting across were the bishops, the raised circle of squares the rooks, the pointed horse&039;s ears the knights, and the si a ga a probleed just so, you see, and there&039;s one way and only one in which white can win the ga to find that way"

Bigman said suddenly, "How can you tell white frohed "If you&039;ll look closely, you&039;ll see the white pieces are grooved along the rims and the black pieces aren&039;t"

"Oh Then you have to remember where all the pieces are, don&039;t you?"

"That&039;s not hard," Norrich said "It sounds as though you would need a photographic memory, but actually all I have to do is pass my hand over the board and check the pieces any tirooves, too"

Bigotten about the squares on the checkerboard, and they were grooved off He felt as though he were playing a kind of a chess ga badly beaten

"Mind if I watch?" he said sharply "Maybe I can figure out the right moves"

"By all means," said Norrich "I wish you could I&039;ve been at this for half an hour and I&039; frustrated"

There was silence for a man rose, his body tense and catlike in its effort to ht from one pocket and stepped toward the wall in little motions Norrich neverhtly and noiselessly over the light patch At once, the light in the room went out and a profound darkness rested everywhere

Bigman remembered the direction in which Norrich&039;s chair was He raised the flashlight

He heard aout in surprise and a little displeasure, "Why did you put out the light, Bight&039;s beam shine full on Norrich&039;s broad face "You&039;re not blind at all, you spy"