him, and then, together, we gained thesafety of the air-lock. Without orders, the men swung shut the ponderousdoor, and Hendricks and I stood there panting, and drawing in breathsof the _Ertak's_ clean, reviving air.
"That possibility was one we overlooked, sir," said Hendricks. "Let'ssee what's happening."
We opened the shutter of a port nearby and gazed out onto the beach wehad so hurriedly deserted. There were three or four of the glowingthings huddled shapelessly around our abandoned suits, and ragged holesshowed in several places in the thin copper helmets. Even as we looked,they dissolved into nothingness, and after a few seconds of hesitation,the things swarmed swiftly back to the ship.
"Well," I commented, trying to keep my voice reasonably free from thefeelings which gripped me, "I believe we're beaten, Hendricks. At least,we're helpless against them. Our only chance is that they'll leave usbefore they have eaten through the second skin; so long as we still havethat, we can live ... and perhaps be found."
"I doubt they'll leave us while there's a scrap of metal left, sir,"said Hendricks slowly. "Something's brought them from their usualhaunts. There's no reason why they should leave a certainty for anuncertainty. But we're not quite through trying. I saw something--have Iyour permission to make another try at them? Alone, sir?"
"Any chance of success, lad?" I asked, searching his eyes.
"A chance, sir," he replied, his glance never wavering. "I can be readyin a few minutes."
"Then, go ahead--on one condition: that you let me come with you."
"Very good, sir; as you wish. Have two other breathing masks ready. I'llbe back very soon."
And he left me hastily, taking the steps of the companionway two at atime.
* * * * *
It was nearly an hour before Hendricks returned, bringing with him twoof the most amazing pieces of apparatus I have ever seen.
To make each of them, he had taken a flask of compressed air from ouremergency stores, and run a flexible tube from it into a cylindricaldrinking water container. Another tube, which I recognized as being apart of our fire-extinguishers, and terminating in a metal nozzle,sprouted from the water container. Both tubes were securely sealed intothe mouth of the metal cylinder, and lengths of hastily-knotted rope hadbeen bound around each contrivance so that the two heavy containers, theair flask and the small water tank could be slung from the shoulders.
"Here, sir," he said hastily, "get into a breathing mask, and put onthese things as you see me do. No time to explain anything now, exceptthis: as soon as you're outside the ship, turn the valve that opens thecompressed air flask. Hold this hose, coming from the water container,in your right hand. Don't touch the metal nozzle. Use the hose just asyou'd use a portable disintegrator-ray projector."
I nodded, and followed his instructions as swiftly as possible. The twocontainers were heavy, but I adjusted their ropes across my shoulders sothat my left hand had easy access to the valve of the air flask, and thewater container was under my right arm where I could have the full useof the hose.
"Let me go first, sir," breathed Hendricks as we stood again in theair-lock, and the door turned out of its threaded seat and swung open."Keep your eyes on me, and do as I do!"
* * * * *
He ran heavily out of the ship, his burdens lurching. I saw him turn thepet-cock of the air flask, and I did likewise. A fine, powerful sprayshot from the nozzle of the tube in my right hand, and I whirled aroundto face the ship.
Several of the things were detaching themselves from the ship, andinstinctively, I turned the spray upon them. Hendricks, I could see outof the corner of my eye, did likewise. And now a most amazing thinghappened.
The spray seemed to dissolve the crescent-shaped creatures; where ithit, ragged holes appeared. A terrible hissing, crackling sound came tomy ears, even through the muffling mask I wore.
"It works! It works!" Hendricks was crying over and over, hardly aware,in his excitement, that he was wearing a menore. "We're saved!"
I put down three of the things in as many seconds. The central nucleus,in the thickest portion of the crescent, was always the last to go, andit seemed to explode in a little shower of crackling sparks. Hendricksaccounted for four in the same length of time.
"Keep back, sir!" he ordered in a sort of happy delirium. "Let them cometo us! We'll get them as they come. And they'll come, all right! Look atthem! Look at them! Quick, sir!"
The things showed no fear, no intelligence. But one by one they sensedthe nearness of the copper helmets we wore, and detached themselves fromthe ship. They moved like red tongues of flame upon the fat sides of the_Ertak_; crawling, uneasy flames, releasing themselves swiftly, oneafter the other.
* * * * *
Our sprays met them in mid-air, and they dissolved like mist, one afterthe other.... I directed my death-dealing spray with a grim delight, andas each glowing heart crackled and exploded, I chuckled to myself.
The sweat was running down my face; I was shaking with excitement Oneside of the ship was already cleared of the things; they were slippingover the top now, one or two at a time, and as rapidly as they came, wewiped them out.
At last there came a period in which there were none of the things insight; none coming over the top of the sorely tried ship.
"Stay here and watch, Hendricks," I ordered. "I'll look on the otherside. I believe we've got them all!"
I hurried, as best I could, around to the other side of the _Ertak_. Herhull was pitted and corroded, but there was no other evidence of thecrescent-shaped things which had so nearly brought about the ship'suntimely, ghastly end.
"Hendricks!" I emanated happily. "'Nothing Less Than Complete Success!'And that's ours right now! They're gone--all of them!"
I slipped the contrivances from my shoulders and ran back to the otherside of the ship. Hendricks was executing some weird sort of dance,patting the containers, swinging them wildly about his body, with anunderstandable fondness.
"Come inside, you idiot," I suggested, "and tell us how you did it. Andsee how it feels to be a hero!"
* * * * *
"It was just luck," Hendricks tried to make us believe, a few minuteslater, when Kincaide, Correy, and myself were through slapping his backand shaking his hands. "When you, sir, splashed into the water, I hadjust torn off my mask. I saw some of the water fall on one of the thingsclustered upon your helmet, and I distinctly heard it hiss, as it fell.And where it fell, it made a ragged hole, which very slowly closed up,leaving a dim spot in the tentacle where the hole had been. As I figureit, the water--to put it crudely--short-circuited the electrical energyof the things. That, too, is just a guess, but I think it's a good one.
"Of course, it was a long chance, but it seemed like our only one. Therewas nothing more or less than acidulated water in the containers; andthe air flasks, of course, were merely to supply the pressure to throwthe water out in a powerful spray. It happened to work, and there isn'tanybody any happier about it than I am. I'm young, and there're lots ofthings I want to do before I bleach my bones on a little deserted worldlike this, that isn't important enough to even have a name!"
That was typical of Hendricks. He was a practical scientist, willing andeager to try out his own devices. A man of action first--as a man shouldbe.
* * * * *
None of us, I think, spent a really easy moment until the _Ertak_ wasback at Base. Our outer hull was weakened by at least half, and we wereobliged to increase the degree of vacuum there and thus place the majorportion of the load on the inner skin. It was a ticklish business, butthose old ships were solidly built, and we made it.
As soon as I had completed my report to the Chief, the _Ertak_ was sentinstantly to a secret field, under heavy guard, and a new outer hull putin place.
"This can't be made public," the Chief warned me. "It would ruin thewhole future of space travel, as people are just lear
ning to accept itas a matter of course. You will swear your men to utter secrecy, andpass me your word, in behalf of your officers and yourself, that youwill not divulge any details of this trip."
The scientists, of course, questioned me for days; they turned up theirnoses at the crude apparatus Hendricks had made, and which had saved the_Ertak_ and all her crew--but they kept it, I noticed, for futurereference.
All ships were immediately supplied with devices very similar, but morecompact, the use of which only chief officers knew. And the scientists,to my knowledge, never did improve greatly on the model made for them bymy third officer.
Whether or not these devices were ever used, I do not know. Thesilver-sleeves at Base are a
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