Phillip Evans rubbed his lean jaw and took one more careful look at the sheaf of papers he held in his hands.
“Yes,” he said deliberately, “everything is ready. The supplies were aboard last night. I checked them myself.”
“Good,” Captain Malcolm nodded. He was a solidly built, middle-aged man with graying hair and alert blue eyes. He was one of the most prominent scientists of Earth, having been appointed to the supreme command of the Central Earth Laboratories five years previous, in 2245 A.D. “We’ll be excavating on Mars for several months, completely dependent on our own resources, so we can’t take any chances on leaving anything behind.”
“We haven’t,” Phillip said emphatically. “The provisions and equipment we have will take care of us comfortably for six months. The scientific apparatus, charges for the blasting rays, chemical supplies, everything is aboard.”
“All the men present and accounted for?” Captain Malcolm asked.
Phillip nodded. “They arrived in a group from the Central laboratory over an hour ago. We have sixty-two field men, a dozen chemists, four ray specialists, a hundred laborers and thirty-two miscellaneous cooks, waiters and servants. I checked everyone aboard personally. Their papers and planetary passports are all in order. I know most of the scientists personally, I’ve worked in the field with many of them. But I was particularly careful with the laborers and others. I’m sure we’ve got an excellent crew.”
“Fine,” Captain Malcolm said. “I have great hopes, Phillip, for this expedition. I’m working on a completely new theory for the Martian excavation and I think that this time we’ll definitely find traces of their civilization and culture.”
“There’s just one thing missing,” Phillip said a trifle grimly. “The men are all aboard, but Nada Connors hasn’t arrived yet.”
CAPTAIN MALCOLM grimaced.
“I knew we were going to have trouble with a woman along on field trip,” he said, shaking his head disgustedly. “I have been opposed from the start to taking her with us, but she used her influence with the Secretary of Research and I was forced to consider her application. The woman is a competent scientist, I won’t take that from her, but she has no business on a Martian field trip. Maybe,” he said hopefully glancing at his watch, “she won’t make it. We’ve got only two minutes left and I’m not holding the Astra for anyone.”
“We can hope,” Phillip said, “but she’ll probably get here at the last minute.” He ran a hand through his close-cropped black hair and said bitterly, “she’s probably a long-nosed spinster who wouldn’t miss a trip to Mars with a couple of hundred men anymore than she’d stop breathing.”
“You’ve never seen her?” Captain Malcolm asked, smiling.
“No,” Phillip said, “but I know the type. Any woman who’d force herself on a scientific expedition because her uncle happens to be the State Secretary of Research, can’t be a very admirable sort of person.”
“Don’t misunderstand me,” Captain Malcolm said. “My objections to her presence are purely a matter of principle. From the standpoint of competence, Miss Connors will carry her own weight, I assure you.”
“I’ll have to be shown,” Phillip said ironically.
“Perhaps you won’t have the chance,” Captain Malcolm said. He glanced at his watch again and then walked up the steps to the open door that was a dark oblong against the gleaming hull of the Astra. He turned in the doorway and glanced up and down the empty ramp. “It looks as if Miss Connors has been detained. If she isn’t here in sixty seconds we will be forced to leave without her. I’m going up to the control bridge now and signal Central Tower that we’re leaving on schedule. You’d better wait here on the ramp until the Tower’s all-clear rockets go up; then come aboard and check the seal valves.”
“Right,” Phillip said.
He glanced at his watch as Captain Malcolm disappeared, then folded his arms over his chest, prepared to wait exactly fifty seconds before following him. And once the hermetically sealed doors of the Astra closed they would not open until the ship reached Mars. He glanced down the deserted epa.ee ramp toward the sliding steel door that separated this section from the rest of the vast terminal. Miss Nada Connors, if she came at all, would come through that door.
The Astra was resting in a propulsion slot that was used only for special departures. Overhead, Phillip could see pin-point streaks of light against the sky: the rocket blasts of great transports that were flashing from the terminal’s regular propulsion slots at a rate of a dozen a minute.
He glanced at his watch.
Thirty seconds . . .
HE LOOKED down the ramp again toward the steel door. No one was in sight. He watched the second hand on his watch revolve slowly for fifteen seconds, before turning and, with a final last glance along the ramp, starting up the steps to the Astra’s open door.
He had one foot inside the ship when a faint cry arrested him. Turning he saw a small figure running down the ramp toward the Astra.
Phillip’s lips tightened stubbornly. It was Nada Connors without a doubt. But she was just five seconds too late!
She was fifty yards from the door and Phillip could see her small white face. A loud flaring explosion sounded above him, and he knew that Central Tower was signalling the Astra with all-clear rockets. He glanced up and saw the great blue bulbs directly above the Astra’s propulsion slot, gleaming with a pale blue luminescence against the black velvet background of the night.
He knew that Captain Malcolm would be signalling the power section of the ship this very second for full speed ahead; and that in a matter of seconds the Astra’s great, gleaming hull would be hurled into the heavens by the propulsive force of its mighty aft rockets.
The girl was only a dozen yards from the steps and Phillip saw the entreaty in her eyes as she cried out desperately:
“Please, just another second—”
One ankle twisted under her suddenly, and she fell forward to one knee, an involuntary cry of pain breaking from her lips.
Phillip cursed savagely. Women!
He plunged down the steps and reached her side in three giant strides. “Thank you,” the girl said fervently, “if you’ll laid me your arm—”
“Shut up, you little fool!” Phillip snapped.
He whipped, an arm about her small waist, lifted her to his shoulder and ran toward the open door of the space ship. He took the steps in one stride and dove through the door to the interior of the ship. He dumped the girl unceremoniously to the floor and sprang to the switch that hermetically sealed all valve doors throughout the ship.
He closed it and instantly the door slid shut with a hiss of escaping air as the compressed air chambers forced it into position under tremendous pressure.
And that sound had hardly faded when the aft rockets of the Astra roared into a sudden full song of releasing power and the great ship trembled like a live thing.
Phillip dropped to the floor beside the girl.
“We haven’t time to get to a blastoff chamber,” he said quickly. He put his feet against one wall of the narrow passage and pressed his back against the other. He put his arm around the girl’s shoulders and pulled her close to him.
“Hang on,” he said.
The girl struggled against the pressure of his arm.
“Is this necessary?” she gasped.
“Not unless you want your neck broken when we blast-off,” Phillip said bitterly. “Now shut up and hang on tight. I—”
The words were forced back into his throat as the Astra blasted from its propulsion slot at a speed of several hundred miles a minute.
Phillip felt as if his back were going to be shoved straight through the steel wall of the ship. He braced himself using very ounce of muscle in his body, and he held the girl in the vise-like angle of his arm until the pressure slowly lessened and the Astra reached a comparatively level position on the arc of its trajectory.
CHAPTER II
PHILLIP got slowly to his feet and sho
ok his head until the buzzing in his ears stopped. He glanced down at the girl. She was still huddled on the floor, hands clasped over her ears.
He bent down, put his hands under her elbows and lifted her to her feet.
“Take your hands away from your ears,” he ordered. “That won’t help now. A few deep breaths and you’ll be all right.”
The girl obeyed his orders, but there were spots of color in her cheeks.
“I’m sorry I’ve caused you this trouble,” she said coolly.
“If you’d gotten here on time you wouldn’t be apologizing now,” Phillip said curtly. “But I suppose punctuality is too much to expect from such a distinguished personage as the niece of the Secretary of Research.”
The girl regarded him with steady eyes and Phillip noted that she was rather pretty, with dark hair that curled to her shoulders and fine pale skin. She wore a leatherette shirt and breeches that accentuated the slim, feminine outline of her form.
“You know who I am. then?”
Phillip nodded.
“But of course,” he said sarcastically. “Who but the renowned Nada Connors would arrive five seconds before the ship was ready to blast-off?”
“I’m sorry you don’t like me,” Nada Connors said quietly. “Your objection seems based on the fact that I am a woman and that my uncle is Secretary of Research, two facts which I can’t very well change. I’m grateful for what you did for me but you needn’t worry that I’ll bother you in the future.”
“Fine,” Phillip said.
“Perhaps you could do me one more favor and tell me where I can find Captain Malcolm. I’d like to let him know that I finally got here.”
“He’ll be overjoyed,” Phillip said. “He’s on the central control bridge now, probably checking our course.”
“Thank you,” the girl said. She looked uncertainly down the narrow corridor that ended abruptly against a closed steel door. “How would I get there?”
“There’s an elatube just beyond that door that takes you directly to the bridge,” Phillip said. “I’ll show you.”
HE WAS feeling slightly ashamed of himself for his attitude toward the girl. After all, she was in a tough spot and maybe it hadn’t been her fault that she was late. The least he could do was give her an even break.
The girl moved away from the wall and Phillip saw that she was limping, favoring the injured ankle.
“Here,” he said, “take my arm. It’ll be a little easier.”
The girl looked at him and he saw then the stubborn line of her jaw and the determination in her eyes. And he realized that this girl was the type who might bend, but would never break.
“I wouldn’t think of bothering you,” she said quietly.
She limped to the end of the corridor and he opened the door for her, feeling that he was getting only what he deserved.
He opened the elatube compartment and followed her into the small car.
“I’ll go up with you,” he said, “I’ve got to see the captain myself.”
They flashed up past the eight layers of the great ship in silence and stepped out onto the bridge of the Astra. Captain Malcolm was standing between two men studying the electro-magnetic chart recorder that covered one entire wall of the large room.
This room was the heart of the great space ship. Communication tubes reached every section of the ship from the bridge and one microphone used only in emergency cases, carried the captain’s voice to every lounge and compartment of the Astra.
Opposite the chart recorder was a large visi-screen which mirrored the reaches of the void into which the Astra was now hurtling. Every asteroid, planet or ship for thousands of miles dead ahead was brought into scale focus by the visi-screen.
Captain Malcolm turned and greeted Nada Connors with a smile.
“Glad to have you aboard,” he said. “We thought for a while you weren’t going to make it.”
“I almost didn’t,” the girl said. “If it hadn’t been for this young man,” she nodded to Phillip, “I probably wouldn’t have gotten aboard.”
“Then you two have met?” Captain Malcolm asked.
“No, we haven’t,” Nada Connors said. “Everything happened so quickly that we didn’t have time for introductions.”
“No time like the present to remedy that,” Captain Malcolm chuckled. “Miss Connors, my assistant, Phillip Evans, probably the best planetary archaeologist in the business.”
The girl nodded politely to Phillip. “Of course I’ve heard of Mr. Evans,” she said. “His books are standard texts at most universities.”
Captain Malcolm turned to the man who was standing at his right, a very tall, heavily built man of middle age.
“I’d like you both to meet Jarah Simar, one of the members of our expedition. Mr. Simar is an outstanding authority on rock and lava formations.”
PHILLIP had met the man that morning when he had checked his papers, but he hadn’t had an opportunity to talk to him. He shook hands with him now and was surprised at the strength in Simar’s large, soft hand. Simar smiled at him, bowed slightly to Nada Connors. His face was flat and expressionless and the skin stretched tightly over the cheekbones when he smiled. His eyes were set deeply in his head and they seemed strangely lusterless. Black, glossy hair lay on his scalp like a closely fitting cap.
“How do you do?” he said. His voice was soft, modulated, but strangely flat and lifelesss.
Phillip had never heard of the man before checking his papers that morning. And he was surprised because he certainly should have met or heard of the man at some time, considering his reputation.
There was something about Simar that puzzled him. He couldn’t place the feeling definitely and he decided, with a slight irritation at himself, that he was being ridiculous.
“I feel as if I know you both, by reputation at least,” Simar was saying in his quiet, listless voice. “I consider it an honor to be associated with you on this expedition. I have the feeling that we are going to accomplish something magnificent under Captain Malcolm’s scholarly guidance.”
“We all hope so,” Nada said. “I hope, Mr. Simar, that you don’t share Mr. Evans’ aversion to my presence aboard the Astra on this trip.”
Simar raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It seems incredible,” he murmured, “that anyone should object to your presence, Miss Connors—anywhere, anytime.”
Phillip found himself disliking the man, but he realized that his feeling was completely illogical and ridiculous.
“My opinion of Miss Connors’ presence is of no importance,” Phillip said. “She is here and will, presumably, do her share of the work, competently and thoroughly. That is all that matters. I’ll admit I didn’t like the idea of a woman along on an expedition of this sort, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“I’m sure we’re all going to get along splendidly,” Captain Malcolm said smiling tactfully at all of them. “At least we’re off to a fine start. We should be beyond heaviside by this time and in a few more minutes we will pass Luna and then we can open up the Astra to full speed. Is this your first trip into the void. Miss Connors?”
“Yes, it is,” the girl said eagerly. Her face was lit with excitement. “I can hardly wait until we actually reach outer space.”
“It will be an interesting experience at this time of the year,” Captain Malcolm said. “You should see more spectacular meteor storms and we may see some comets at rather close range.”
“When will we pass Luna?” Simar asked softly.
“Very shortly,” Captain Malcolm said. “She is off to our side right now, beyond the range of the fore visi-screen. Would you like to see Earth’s moon at close range, Miss Connors? I can flash on a side screen and give you a pretty good view.”
“That would be interesting,” Nada said, smiling. “I can remember several nights on Earth when I was interested in the moon for other than scientific reasons.”
CAPTAIN MALCOLM smiled and turned to a uniformed young man who stood at a
gleaming control table.
“Turn on the port screen, please.”
The young man nodded and flicked one of the switches. Instantly the screen on the port wall began to gleam with pale, pulsing light and, dimly at first, and then with rapidly developing clarity the great orb of Luna came into view, glowing with warm lambent luminescence, ethereally beautiful against the blackness of the void. The outline of its thin atmosphere surrounded it like a filmy halo.
But no one noticed its beauty. Every pair of eyes was centered on the incredible sight of a great city, sprawling for miles in one of the cavernous depressions of Luna, its majestic white spires reaching high into the air.
“Good Lord!” Captain Malcolm cried. “Am I dreaming?” He stared like a man in a trance at the sight of the mighty city on Luna.
Phillip felt as if all the breath had been squeezed from his body.
A city on Luna!
It was too fantastic to contemplate. Luna had been under observation by powerful telescopes from Earth for centuries and no trace of a civilization had ever been discovered. And dozens of expeditions had explored the small satellite and had found evidence that it had been inhabited.
But there was no doubting the evidence of their eyes. Everyone was staring at the great city as if it were some strange specter. Nada Connors’ lips were slightly parted and her eyes were dazedly incredulous.
There was a strange expression on Simar’s fiat, taut features. Even in the tenseness of the moment, Phillip found himself puzzled by the sudden light in the man’s eyes and the proud, glowing expression on his face that was as if he were staring at something that moved him to the core of his being.
But he forgot that in his absorption with the great city revealed on the visi-screen.
The tenseness of the moment was suddenly shattered by Captain Malcolm’s crisp command to the operator at the control panel.
Collected Fiction (1940-1963) Page 195
