[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
worth of dark scrubby beard mottling his chin. His mouth was caked and dry.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He was staring at the sea, only a few hundred meters from the wrecked base, where he stood. The
waves were lapping up softly, sliding up onto the sandy beach. He could walk out there and be
waist-deep in the water...
Can't drink it,he was telling himself.It's gat to be purified. The contaminants in it will kill you.
"Another few hours," he mumbled, his voice thick and raspy, "and it won't make any difference what's in
the water. We'll have to try it."
Cranston was back in the shelter, in his bunk, paralyzed by the fear of dying. Dan found that he couldn't
stand being in the cramped little shelter with him. It was better up here on the surface, even though he had
to stay inside the suit. H is own body smell was getting overpowering, though.
He almost smiled.Larry's going to get his way, after all. lean just see him. Death-planet, he'll call
it. Too dangerous. Got to move on. The smile faded.He's going to make sure we die.
A distant crack of thunder and its following rumble made him look up. Another storm? No, the sky
looked the same as it had for the past three days: gray, completely overcast, but not stormy. The wind
was so light that he couldn't notice it except as a gentle swaying of the grass.
Dan looked up again. And blinked. There was a white streak etching across the clouded sky. A thin
white line. Acontrail!
If he could have jumped inside the heavy suit, he would have. He wanted to leap up and down, to
dance, to shout.
Instead he stood rooted to the spot, watching as the streak swung around overhead. He could make out
the tiny arrowhead form of the shuttle rocket now. It grew, took on solidity. The sweetly beautiful roar of
the craft's auxiliary turbo engines came to him, even through the helmet and earphones. The ship banked
smoothly, raced low across the water and came up toward him, landing wheels out. It touched down
with a puff of dust, rolled past the ruined base.
Dan stood there motionless as the shuttle craft taxied
around, nosed back toward the base and edged slowly "toward him, engines screeching and blowing up
a miniature sandstorm of dust and ash behind it.
Then'the roar died away. The bubble canopy popped open and a pressure-suited figure stood up.
In sudden realization, Dan reached for the radio switch on his belt.
"...just stand there, will you? Say something, wave,do something ! What's the matter, are you frozen?"
"I'm okay," Dan croaked, his voice sounding strange and harsh, even to himself. "Just... thirsty."
"You're alive!" It was Estelella's voice, and there was no missing the elation in it. "Don't move... I've got
plenty of water with me. Be right there."
If Dan had still had enough moisture in his body, he would have cried for joy.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
They celebrated that night.
Nearly everyone on the ship, all those who weren't absolutely needed on duty, gathered in the cafeteria
and ate and drank and sang together. Dan had to fight off the determined medical insistence of the whole
infirmary staff, but he made the scene too. In a wheelchair.
"It's my party, dammit!" he shouted at them.
For the first time in months, Dan, Valery, and Larry found themselves at the same place, even at the
same table. And for a few hours, it was almost like old times. No one mentioned Larry's reluctance to
send a ship down to the surface. Old tensions, old fears were forgotten. For a while.
They laughed together, remembered happier times. They sang far into the early hours of the morning.
But then, as the party was finally winding down and people were tiptoeing or staggering or lurching
homeward, somebody said loudly enough for everyone to hear:
"I guess this proves that we can't stay on the surface. Too dangerous. We were lucky to get you guys
back alive."
Dan's face went deathly grim. "It proves that we need much better equipment and precautions to work
on the surface. But if we lived through that storm, we can live through whatever else the planet throws at
us."
"I don't know..." Larry began.
Valery said, "We still need more deuterium, don't we? Someone will have to go back to the surface,
with more equipment."
"That'll be a long, tough job."
"But it's got to be done."
Dan pushed himself out of the wheelchair and got to his feet. He still looked gaunt, eyes dark and
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]