Page 37 - Astounding Pulp V2

r 36 ASTOU:NDING SCTDJCE-FICTTON f MOON OE DELIRIUM 3'1
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days," promjsed Dr. Frontai~. "A shot gets. Why should I tag along with nugget bad by this time· cooled. Egard's across the blue-black sky almost imper-
of B-X-44, in the fracture, will do the them? \¥e've got to spread out." face looked tired and drawn as he re- ceptible.
trick." The other searchers seemed to be of ceived Norm's report. _ A green burr circled close to Norm
For a time thereafter, Norm was . this opinion also. They were now rather " Did McDill join up with Griffin and in the thin air. Then -another, and an-
alone in the control room while Captain widely dispersed over the rugged area Hall ?" he demanded astutely. other. Some were large. Talbot's
Egard and Frontaiu were making the surrounding the Pegas11s; Rives and " \\' ell . . . er . . . no," confessed simile, suggesting their resemblance to
injured man comfortaule in his bunk Talbot were perhaps two miles from Norm. " H es over there where Perrin chestnut burrs, seemed very apt. Para-
the ship, H all and Griffin nearly as far )
amidship. met with his accident." sitic life, evolved through some strange
McDill was again outside. Presently away. But the impetuous McDill was Egard snatched up the au.:'dliary head- symbiosis of plant and animal to resist
his voice sounded in Norm's phone: choosing a course which lay on the I set. the rigor of existence on this inhospita-
"Kid-you · don't know what you're opposite side of the ship, far from any "Mc Dill, you crazy fool!" he roared ble moon. Was the captain right in
missing." of the others. into the transmitted. " McDill- Mc- thinking these burrs were its only mani-
"\Vhere you going ?" asked Norm, for Norm stretched his cramped legs Dill-" festation?
the direction-finder certainly did not under the microwave panel. He longed There was no reply. And what was now happening to Mc-
indicate that · the engineer was follow- to take a more active part in• things. " Norm, why don't he answer?" de- Dill? H is sudden silence-though
Presently he threw the switch o~er to
ing Egard's orders. manded Egard, sharply. ominous-might have a simple explana-
"Back where Perrin took that fall," Griffin and Hall. They had nothing to Norm shook his head. "He was on tion. Microwaves were very beam.like
said l\fcDill. "I got a hunch that it's report ; neither had Ri,•es an~ Tall~ot. only a moment ago." in action. If he had entered some pocket
The latter two were still d1sagree'.ng
a likely place to look." Eg·ard's hand flipped over the control or cavern surrounded by metallic rocks-
monotonously about the surroun~ 111g -
" Griffin and Hall aren't over there." switches. " Rives, Talbot ! And you, Norm raced down a declivity., leaped
"I know, but they're finding no nug- scener'y in whole and in part, o~cas1on- Griffin and Hall-start back on the a rod-wide fissure. Then, for the first
ally revertmg to jump! McDill's silent; something may time, he noticed that his own communi-
the former dispute
concerning frost- be w rong. You're too far away to help cation-unit was not functioning. Per-
mounds and to the immediately, so I'm sending Norm-" rin's fall in this -same suit, had evidently
1
Norm snatched off his own headse't. broken or displaced some essential part
exact meaning oi
the word "snow." At last he was to engage in a little action of the instrument!
T wenty minutes -personally! .. , Vv ell, thought N·orm, perhaps . it
"Use Perrin's oxygen suit,'' directed wouldn't mal_.ce any difference. H e could
passed.
Captain Egard. "You know where to still go on,. though his si~e~ce w o:-1Id
"}'vicDill, h o w
go-or I hope you do! I'll take your probably add to the captct,m s wor_nes.
ar e you making No telling· what McDill ha~ gotten mto,
out ?" asked Norm place here. Now get a move on, my the
for the tenth time. lad- but watch yourself!" and a few minutes delay might spell
th
differenee. between life and ~ea ·
"Stop worrying As he cli'mbed the opposite s)ope, a
So E n1c N ORM went i~to action.
about me!" bawled thin, bitterly cold ,~ihd whispered
\i\'ith Dr. F rontain's help he thrust Ii.is
:tvicDill desperately. im-quite audible thr-ough the
lea1~ body into Perrin's oxygen suit- aroun d h . . d
Then in· a milder which was the only one quickly available clirect~sound diaphragm 111 ' 1 11 .s 1 100 ·
tone he confided, --clamped the glassoplast hood down · But the oxygen suit · was esp_ec1ally de-
" Listen, kid- just over lu? head and adjusted the flow of signed to maintain a11 even temperature.
bet ween you a n d oxygen. I :.:r Id still see the Pegasus, although
tf ·1
:ie cou
d.
It was
me-I think l 'm The Pegasus' air locks were almost .• now a good ha -m1 e . 1stant.
.
finding something.'' automatic in action. Less than five min- From this particular side of D10n~,. the
.
d planet Saturn was never v1s1ble.
At this moment utes after the initial alarm Norm was rmge - , , .
.
?utside the ship, surrotmded by toe· life- F 01, as Di·one t'"ced swiftly around the
. d f
Captain Egard re- . ,.. . 1
turned to the con- m fested atmosphere of Dione. mother planet in an orbital per10 o on y
V/ith long· strides he started out ·sixty-six hours, ~he _ kept always t~is
trol room. T h e
general enthusiasm across that rough basin in the direction desolate, 11191.\lltam-runmed depression
followi1~g the dis- he knew McDill had taken. O ver him facing outward toward the depths of
covery of that first the tiny, brilliant disk of the sun -space.
gleamed coldly down, its slow advance And now, with that almost black sky