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shattering force. Dick saw the rear jet break loose, saw oxygen and hydrogen
spill across the rocks.
Sound did not carry across the vacuum, but the man felt the shock, He whirled,
gazed in consternation at the broken raft. He glanced up, his eyes met Dick s:
baleful yellow eyes.
Dick backed away, hastily boarded his raft. A moment later he was skidding at
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full speed toward
Baxter Point.
He looked over his shoulder. Who was the man in the space suit? Dick knew of
only one man with lion-yellow eyes: A. B. Sende. When he returned to the
observatory it would be easy enough to make sure. And after the man s identity
had been established it would be simple enough to send out a search party to
pick him up. Of course and Dick looked back toward the observatory, still
visible it was possible to move very swiftly across the moon, especially
across a smooth pumice plain. The man, Sende or not, might well return to the
observatory on foot.
He must hurry. He opened the master valve to its widest extent. Blue flame
lanced astern, the raft fled like a frightened bird across the nightmare
landscape.
Ahead rose Baxter Mesa. Dick guided the raft down toward the precarious ledge.
He took one last look around the sky, dropped into the black chasm that was
Baxter s Bottomless Pit. The rock walls rose past him; the avenue of stars
above grew narrower and narrower. Down, down, down, with every muscle tense,
blue flame lighting the walls with eerie glow.
Down, ever farther into the hidden parts of the moon. The street of stars
became a far path, a line. The walls which no eye but his own had seen towered
past, closing in ever closer, and at last the bottom.
Dick landed, briskly jumped off the raft. He flicked on his dome searchlight.
Where had Sam struck? It must be near by. He started off along the narrow
floor of the crevasse, went fifty feet, a hundred feet. Something glimmered
ahead. Dick rushed forward eagerly. He bent, picked it up:
Sam s pouch. Inside was the notebook.
Dick opened the book; the red and blue network over the neat black appeared.
Satisfied, he
L
tucked it into his own pouch, turned back toward the raft. He climbed aboard,
started the jets. The rock walls slid down past him, faster and faster as the
narrow gap far above became a trickle of stars, a path, a street, a broad
expanse and Dick was out in free space.
He rose high; Baxter s Bottomless Pit became a split in ancient stone, Baxter
Mesa a trestle. He slid over the Sam Baxter Range, crossed Mare Baxteria.
Somewhere below him Dick chuckled
someone was furiously plodding the weary miles back to the observatory.
Dick landed in the square, jumped off, ran toward the administration building.
He entered through the air lock, slipped out of his space suit. Now to find
his father. Dick felt a qualm of uneasiness. Even though he had Crazy Sam s
chart in his pocket, his father would not think too well of his exploit,
especially when he learned of the still-anonymous man who must now be close to
the observatory.
The lounge was empty. Dick ran up to the second floor, looked into the
bookkeeping office.
Hutchings sat at his desk. What do you want? he growled.
I m looking for my father, said Dick. Have you seen him?
No. Hutchings turned back to his work.
Dick went down the passage, knocked at Professor Dexter s darkroom. There was
no answer, nor was Professor Dexter in his quarters. He continued to the
library, opened the door, looked inside. Empty.
Dick ran upstairs, but the rooms he shared with his father were vacant.
Somewhat puzzled, he descended to the lounge, started through the tube. He
knocked at the radio shack. No answer. In the mess hail he found Curtis, the
chemist, drinking coffee. Curtis had just come in from the laboratory and had
seen no one. "They' re probably all up at the telescope, he said.
Dick ran to the ward room, jumped back into his space suit, passed out the air
lock into the square. In thirty-foot leaps he ran across the black glass of
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the crater floor, started up the slope. The telescope came into view, the tube
laying almost horizontal. Dick paused in his stride, stared, and his heart
stood still.
The tube was pointed directly at the sun; the sun shield was swung back. The
full glare of the sun, collected and concentrated by the mirror, poured in a
terrible blazing Hood into the observer s cage.
Who was inside? Dick shrieked out in sudden agony. He knew who was inside his
father.
Chapter 16
The Eyes of the Basilisk (I)
For a time that perhaps could be measured in tenths of seconds Dick stood
transfixed; and short though the time was, it seemed as if the whole of his
life were passing. Later he never remembered his next actions. He must have
run forward, torn frantically at the drive-switches in the platform control
booth; when the tube swung to the landing stage he was there to pull open the
door to the observer s cage.
Then a spectacle he would never forget as long as he lived: his father came
staggering out, stary-
eyed, his space suit blistered and boiling, the helmet melted egg-shape. As he
fell to the floor of the landing stage, a mirror clattered from his hands.
As Dick bent over him he went limp, his eyes closed, his mouth fell open. Dick
cried out, but there was no answer, no sound. He lifted his father easy in the
weak gravity carried him as swiftly as possible downhill.
The journey was a nightmare. His father s arms and legs sagged; his head
lolled horribly. Dick was sure he was dead. Somehow or other he carried him
through the air lock, into the lounge;
suddenly the room was full of people.
A stern and white-faced Professor Dexter removed the helmet while Dr. Lister,
the observatory medic, pulled away the suit. A stretcher was brought. Dr.
Murdock, limp, breathing heavily, moaning a little, was carried upstairs to
the infirmary.
Dick numbly removed his own space suit, went slowly up to the infirmary,
presently found courage enough to go in. Dr. Lister was spraying his father s
face with some sort of balm.
Is he will he
Dr. Lister looked up. Yes, he ll pull through. He s had a close call heat
exhaustion and burns.
I ll keep him under sedation for a few days and then I think he ll be right as
rain.
Is there anything I can do? asked Dick. Does he need a blood transfusion or
anything of that sort?
Dr. Lister shook his head. No, Dick. The best thing you can do is go to your
room and rest.
Here. He gave Dick two white tablets. To quiet your nerves. The main thing
is, don t worry. Your father had a very close call; another minute in that
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