In the of the I was aware that all the us upon the port quarter. The of the a hole, but the up-sliding cross-bulkhead it off. Two or three of the and the were gone that bulkhead. Their in a moment would be into space.
"It may hold, Drac. Order Waters out of his cubby. Forward!"
I was calling the engine-room. "Order your men up by the bow, not the stern." But I got no answer from the engine-chief.
I Grantline. "Order your men forward: Clear amidships! I want to close the bulkheads. If the one with the pressure...."
"Right, Gregg. Are we lost?"
"God knows! We'll know in a minute or two. Get all your men into their space-suits. Keep in the bow. Prepare the exit-port there."
"Right, Gregg. You down?"
"Yes. When I finish." I cut him off. "Drac, out of here! Did you order Waters forward?"
"He won't leave."
"Why the not?"[58]
"He thinks he may be able to with Earth."
"He can't where he is; there's no protection up here! When that goes...."
It was breaking. I see it under the pressure. And at best it was air, so that the were a of wind. Already Drac and I were with the pressure.
"Drac, out of here. Go Waters; him forward. The with his transmitter: this is life or death!"
"But you?"
"I'm down. From the deck, call the rooms. Order and to the deck."
"What about the pressure pumps?"
"I can keep them going from here."
I set the to the fresh air forward, but it was against the of wind toward the stern. As the up I saw, with the little added pressure, the great of the harder. It would go in a moment.
Drac was to me. "Tell me what to do!"
"I've told you what to do!" I him to the catwalk. "Get out of here. Get Waters forward. Get the men out of the hull."
His at me; then he and ran on the catwalk. I saw him the bald-headed Waters from the cubby. It was the last time I saw either of them.
A was in the turret, and I for it. The put a of pain across my chest, a from the pressure.
Fanning, engineer, was still at the pressure pumps. His voice came up: "Pumps and working. Will you use the shifters?"
"Hell, no! Get out of there, Fanning. We're smashed. Air going. It's a of minutes—abandoning ship. Get forward!"
Suddenly the with a great rift. I waited a moment to give them all time to forward; then I all the 'midship bulkheads.
It was in time. The out with a[59] of wind, but the it. Half of the was of air, but here in the we last a little longer. Beneath me I see Grantline's men—some of them, not all—and a of the stewards, and officers, the deck, space-suits. The two were ready; a dozen men into each of them. The doors closed. The opened; helmeted, goggled, were by the air from the into space. Then the closed. The up the chambers; the doors opened again. Another of men....
I saw Grantline, but with his off, from one of the to the other, the abandonment.
The holding. Then little red lights in the me where in the the doors were leaking, cracking, away, under the strain. The whole of the was and slued. The no longer set true in the casements. Air was and sternward.
It was the last stand; I was aware that the had ceased. There was a stillness, with only the of the men at the exit-ports with the of the wind and the in my head. I detached, far-away; my were reeling.
I to the of the Erentz system, the an current, the double-shelled of and dome, into negative energy much of the pressure. The main of the were outward. The Cometara at any moment. I started for the door. The electro-telescope near it and I to a to into the eyepiece. The was still operative. I it sternward.
The enemy ship had not vanished. By what means, I cannot say, its had been checked. A thousand miles from us, it was making a narrow, close-angle turn. Coming back? I so.
I my of having all the gravity-plates in the ship. I the con[60]trols now. An of was upon me that the shifting would fail. But they did not. The plates haltingly, reluctantly.
I to the catwalk. It that the was breaking. There were on the me. I against the of a man who had himself in the of the rail and was there.
I think I the last ten to the deck. The in my ears, the about my all the world.
Then I was on my again, and I over another body. It was in a space-suit, with the it. I it of the suit. I was panting, with all the world in a daze, of light my eyes.
Ten away the was the opened door of the pressure chamber. A came into my vista, moving for the pressure door. It turned, saw me, came and over me. I saw the that it was Grantline. His bloated, hands helped me my suit.
He helped me with my helmet. The metal on Grantline's hand touched the contact-plate on my shoulder. His voice from the my helmet. "Gregg! Thank God I you! All right?"
"Yes." My was clearing.
"I've got the ready. We're the last, Gregg."
I his shoulder. "You're sure there's nobody else?"
"No. I've been I reach. The are almost gone."
He pushed me into the pressure chamber. There was need to close the door after us. I him as he opened the small slides. The was at our feet; the wind at us like a gale, so that we the casements.
"Thank God you've got a power-suit, Gregg. So have I. We must keep together."
"Yes."
I the of the my feet. The Cometara was cracking, her length; at any she might collapse.
For a moment we poised. Beneath us, here at the[61] were millions upon millions of miles of emptiness, the remote, void. Blazing worlds there in the black darkness.
"Good-by, Gregg. It may be the end for us."
"Good luck, Johnny."
His away from me. I waited just an instant, and then I into space.
For a moment there was a of strangeness, the to my of the transition. I had been the of a little world, the Cometara, with a my feet. Now, in a breath, I had no world to inhabit. I was alone in space. No gravity; nothing solid to touch; emptiness.
I was in a world to myself, and the of it a shock. But in a moment the came. I passed the transition, the of falling.
The and my cleared. My from the Cometara me in a slow some three hundred away. There had been a of falling, but no fall. My was retarded, with the of the Cometara at me. I like a toy in water by a child, slowing. In a moments, the was gone, and I poised. I saw Grantline's not over fifty from me. He an arm at me.
Out here in the I weightless, as though upon an soft bed. I kick, flounder, but not myself with motion. I my neck, around through the pane.
The Earth and the Sun level with the white star-dots everywhere. I not see that unknown light-beam from Greater New York; it was out now in the other direction, so that the Earth it from me. Venus was visible to one of the Sun. The enemy light-stream from Grebhar was apparent; and as I my and to look me, I saw Mars and the sword-like from Ferrok-Shahn. The off like the of the Milky Way, but visible for an distance.
The Cometara was now toward the Moon, irresistibly, and all of us with her, toward the surface. It so close, that black and white mountainous[62] disc. We were, I suppose, some twenty thousand miles from it, speed as it at us. But that motion was not now. Distance all these motions, so that all the into immobility.
But there was some motion. Twenty or more figures, the from the of the Cometara, were it in orbits, around it like satellites. Some were in, against it. I saw one against the dome, and like a fly. And I that the of the were my also. My was checked. I for an instant, and then I took my orbit. I too, was a of the Cometara.
I at the of the Cometara. My ship! My command! So smoothly, from the Earth only a hours ago; and she had come to this. She in the heavens. The was all its length and like a at the sterntip.
I see the the dome, the and lines of the hull. A ship now, the stilled; and inside, with all the gone out of it. All the air dissipated, so that in every cubby, every dark of that there was the and of space.
I these me a seconds. I saw myself starting to in my orbit. Perhaps my motion would me around indefinitely; or I might be to the as those other had been drawn.
Grantline, with one of the power suits, was toward me now, with along his from his blades. I on my own mechanism. It moved me toward him, and our us. We off the power when twenty apart; together; contacted; like as our struck. Then in a moment we had and clung.
I touched the metal plate of his shoulder. "Working all right?"
"Yes. Thank God for this much, Gregg. I wonder how many are alive."
In the of the abandonment, many of the men's air[63] had failed to operate. It is always so in times of disaster. We see, around the wreck, and against its dome, those flabby, where the Erentz had failed. Within was only a corpse.
"Too many," I said. "And not more than four or five of us with power. What shall we do first? Round them up? We must all together."
His voice was grim. "We can them from the wreck. Six or seven of us have power. Do you we can away, Gregg? Get from the ship she falls?"
Only trying it tell us that. The Cometara, and all of us with her, were for the Moon. We would out the men who were alive and them in a string. If we the of the ship, and then from the Moon, we maintain ourselves here in space until some ship from Earth, Venus or Mars would come and us up.
"You take one side, Gregg; I'll take the other. Don't go aboard; she might collapse."
"I'll up the men without power and alive. The others with power will do the same. Then we'll meet out here, about where we are now?"
"Yes. And hurry, Gregg! Every mile toward the Moon makes it that much harder. We're fast."
"Good luck!" I away from him. And a minute, as he in an toward the Cometara and I toward her stern, I of that returning enemy vessel. My last look through the 'scope had that she was returning; and then I had it.
My the now. I had no 'scope the helmet. With the the enemy ship was not in sight. But I that meant little; a moment she come in view and be here if she were going at any great velocity.
There were on the Cometara, at the time of the disaster, some sixty-odd men; had away. And I see very soon that not more than fifteen, or less, out here were alive. Two with power were ahead of me now, slowly past the of the stern. One had picked[64] up two others, them alive and was them out. They past me, moving very slowly so that I see that two were all that one of us and any at all.
I with the leader. He was one of Grantline's men.
"Two or three hundred out," I directed. I gestured. "Grantline said to meet out there. I'll others."
"Yes. Around the you'll find—God! Haljan, look!"
A mile from us the enemy ship was in view. Passing—no! Stopping! With she had into view, was here, and yet had no great velocity. She no more than a great air past, so close that her reddish-tinged length clearly. The were gone. The set on top of her was toward us as she rolled on her side, so that I see into it. There was some there. The was a narrow in of the bow.
"Slowing, Haljan!"
"Yes, stopping. Don't try to meet Grantline. Tow your men away!"
"Or should we the Cometara and hide?"
"No. They've come to her."
I at him violently. With his two behind, he past me. I the stern. Upon its of our men were glued, there inert. I a of the of the stern, the deck; men there had been they had time to into their suits.
On the outside, forward, I saw Grantline come the bow, a and for another. On the of the bow-peak a group of others were perched, for help. I started that way; then I saw another, and nearer in a power for them. I back. There were two on the of the under-hull I more reach. Inverted flies. Their were on the keel. They and toward me.
I took a swoop. Passing close the hull, my rocket-streams the plates and gave me velocity. I down, out past the keel. And again I saw the[65] enemy ship. She poised, no more than two miles away. And as I over, with all the black, star-strewn in a whirl, the great Moon-disc, above, and then me, I saw the bow-beam of the enemy swinging. It came to the Cometara, and there it clung.
I had gone fifty the with my when I righted. I was mounting. I saw the ten-foot circle of the moving along the Cometara hull. It to do no damage; then it and to me.
I nothing save the impact of a push, something with a against me.
I saw the Cometara receding, the as I over. The red of the Earth swooped. The Moon surface and above me.
I was helpless, rolling, then end-over-end. Then again I steadied. The was gone from me.
I saw the Cometara, a full mile away from me! The enemy ship was again in motion, moving toward me, and the Cometara and the Earth. And the was upon the Cometara's mid-section.
The Cometara had a new now. I not miss it. She was in size; relative to me, she was receding, upon the Moon. More than that she was being pushed by the of the enemy upon her. I stared, as with all the little which were our men around and upon her, she into the void.
I myself presently alone up here, with the enemy ship nearby. Its to the Cometara toward the Moon had it a mile of me. The bow-beam was still on the Cometara; and then it vanished.
The Cometara had almost the of my vision. By chance, undoubtedly, the had upon me and me from the wreck. I was alone up here now with the enemy, but they may not have noticed me, or cared. I my power intact. I it on; slowly, like a in water, I moving away.
A minute. Five minutes. The Cometara was lost. Grantline,[66] all the men, were lost; with that added they free themselves from the wreck.
I was out of my by the of an red blob. Something was from the enemy ship, red with the and earthlight, by the Moon and the stars. It took form. It was a disc, another of those discs, sent to me!
Then, when it was a of a mile away, I saw that it was a which was slowly. Rocket came from its circumference; it came directly at me, so that my own was futile.
Another minute and I was caught. I saw that the was some fifteen in diameter, and that it bulged, so that its and was a space of feet.
I cut off my power and with waiting. The space-suit had no for save a knife in the belt. I it out, it in my fingers.
The upon its level, axis. Its slowed; I saw little set around its middle. It came up and me with its metal side. I away, off. Shapes were moving in a light the port-panes. Little hand-beams of out. They to me, me.
I myself to the surface of the disc. The speed again, but I looked presently only at the surface to which I was pinned. Had I been a metal upon the of an electro-magnet, I not have been more helpless.
An passed. With the plate of my against this it that I voices within, strange, words. I twisted, but not see into the port.
Again the was slowing. The near shape of the enemy close and past; and again and again I saw that we were over it, into the wide black opening of the funnel-top. It presently like a great black tunnel, into which we fell.
The of landing me loose, and no the also me. I another space, up and back. I that something like a port-door closed over me.[67]
And then, in the dimness, were me. I and struck, but the knife was away.
I was a in a pressure-port of the enemy ship!
