It ran on seventy per cent hydrogen peroxide, first developed
as a fuel back in the 1940s for the pumps of the V2 rockets that tried
to win the Second World War for Germany. When hydrogen peroxide comes in
contact with a catalyst, such as permanganate of potash, it breaks down
into oxygen and water. But the water is in the form of high-pressure
steam, which is used in engines. The jeep's fuel supplied steam for
power and its ashes were water to drink and oxygen to breathe. Steam ran
all motorized vehicles on Luna.
"What are you thinking about, Jones?" asked Cochrane suddenly.
Jones said meditatively:
"I'm wondering what sort of field-strength a capacity-storage system
would give me. I boosted the field intensity this time. The results were
pretty good. I'm thinking--suppose I made the field with a strobe-light
power-pack--or maybe a spot-welding unit. Even a portable strobe-light
gives a couple of million watts for the forty-thousandth of a second.
Suppose I fixed up a storage-pack to give me a field with a few billion
watts in it? It might be practically like matter-transmission, though it
would really be only high-speed travel.
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