CUM GRANO SALIS.
BY DAVID GORDON
Illustrated by Emsh
“And that,” said Colonel Fennister glumly, “appears tobe that.”
The pile of glowing coals that had been Storage Shed Number One wasstill sending up tongues of flame, but they were nothing compared withwhat they’d been half an hour before.
“The smoke smells good, anyway,” said Major Grodski,sniffing appreciatively.
The colonel turned his head and glowered at his adjutant.
“There are times, Grodski, when your sense of humor is out ofplace.”
“Yes, sir,” said the major, still sniffing. “Funnything for lightning to do, though. Sort of a dirty trick, you mightsay.”
“You might,” growled the colonel. He was a short, ratherroundish man, who was forever thankful that the Twentieth Centurypredictions of skin-tight uniforms for the Space Service had never cometrue. He had round, pleasant, blue eyes, a rather largish nose, and arumbling basso voice that was a little surprising the first time youheard it, but which seemed to fit perfectly after you knew him better.
Right at the moment, he was filing data and recommendations in hismemory, where they would be instantly available for use when he neededthem. Not in a physical file, but in his own mind.
All right, Colonel Fennister, he thought to himself, just what doesthis mean—to me? And to the rest?
The Space Service was not old. Unlike the Air Service, the Land Service,or the Sea Service, it did not have centuries or tradition behind it.But it had something else. It had something that none of the otherServices had—Potential.
In his own mind, Colonel Fennister spelled the word with an upper[61]case P, and put the word in italics. It was, to him, a more potentword than any other in the Universe.
Potential.
Potential!
Because the Space Service of the United Earth had more potential[62]than any other Service on Earth. How many seas were there for the SeaService to sail? How much land could the Land Service march over? Howmany atmospheres were there for the Air Service to conquer?
Not for any of those questions was there an accurate answer, but foreach of those questions, the answer had a limit. But how much space wasthere for the Space Service to conquer?
Colonel Fennister was not a proud man. He was not an arrogant man. Buthe did have a sense of destiny; he did have a feeling that the humanrace was going somewhere, and he did not intend that that feeling shouldbecome totally lost to humanity.
Potential.
Definition: Potential; that which has a possibility of coming intoexistence.
No, more than that. That which has a—
He jerked his mind away suddenly from the thoughts which had crowdedinto his forebrain.
What were the chances that the first expedition to Alphegar IV wouldsucceed? What were the chances that it would fail?
And (Fennister grinned grimly to himself) what good did it do tocalculate chances after the event had happened?
Surrounding the compound had been a double-ply, heavy-gauge, wovenfence. It was guaranteed to be able to stop a diplodocus in full charge;the electric potential (potential!