or weeks that she toiled: she had no idea. She only knew she must not make a single mistake in the complicated conversion she was attempting. And at last she had it done.
Fixing the mechanical side of the business did not solve the problem of fuel, however—so, as she had done once before in an emergency, she sacrificed everything made of copper to the matrix of the atomic furnace. Terminals, earthing-rods, wires, struts, light-fittings, switches—the whole lot was torn to pieces and finally moulded at high temperature into a moderate-sized copper cube. This she firmly fixed in the jaws of the power plant and then gave the intricate conversion, now linked with the control board, a final once-over. Everything was apparently in order.
She made a careful survey of the unfamiliar heavens and, as near as possible, charted the approximate position of the planetoid she was on, then with the aid of computers worked out the approximate position of the Earth. Using what remained of her ordinary rocket fuel, she aligned the Ultra’s nose in that direction, then expended all the remaining fuel to build up as much speed as possible. This done, she was ready.
She closed the switch that operated the atomic power plant and waited tensely. The plant hummed immediately, and the Ultra became enveloped in a lavender light that flashed outward from the centre to swallow it in purple haze. To the Amazon the moments that followed were sheer anguish. She felt as if every nerve were being burned out, as if she and the machine were turning tremendously fast spins yet, paradoxically, without moving.
Space itself swung and warped before the Amazon’s vision, and it seemed as though the stars were hurtling straight towards her.
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