ship's powerpossible.
"But, in space, what could these things feed upon? What--if not thosetroublesome bodies, meteorites? And meteorites, as we know, are largelymetallic in composition. And ships are made of metal.
"Here are the only proofs, if proofs you can call them, that these arenot wild ideas: first, the disintegrator rays, working upon anelectrical principle, reacted upon but did not destroy these things, asmight be expected from the meeting of two not dissimilar manifestationsof energy; and the fact that I did, from the port, see one of thesespace-things, or part of one, flattened out upon the body of the_Ertak_, and feeding upon her skin, already roughened and pittedslightly from the thing's hungry activities."
* * * * *
Hendricks fell silent, staring down at the floor. He was only ayoungster, and the significance of his remarks was as plain to him as itwas to the rest of us. If these monsters from the void were trulyfeeding on the skin of our ship, vampire-like, it would not be longbefore it would be weakened; weakened to the danger point, weakeneduntil we would explode in space like a gigantic bomb, to leave ourfragments to whirl onward forever through the darkness and the silenceof outer space.
"And what, sir, do you plan to do when we reach this N-127?" askedCorrey. "Burn them off with a run through the atmosphere?"
"No; that wouldn't work, I imagine." I glanced at Hendricks inquiringly,and he shook his head. "My only thought was to land, so that we wouldhave some chance. Outside the ship we can at least attack; locked inhere we're helpless."
"Attack, sir? With what?" asked Kincaide curiously.
"That I can't answer. But at least we can fight--with solid ground underour feet. And that's something."
"You're right, sir!" grinned Correy. It was the first smile that hadappeared on the faces of any of us in many minutes. "And fight we will!And if we lose the ship, at least we'll be alive, with a hope ofrescue."
Hendricks glanced up at him and shook his head, smiling crookedly.
"You forget," he remarked, "that there's no air to breathe on N-127. Anatmosphere of nitrogen. And no water that's drinkable--if the reportsare accurate. A breathing mask will not last long, even the new types."
"That's so," said Kincaide. "The tanks hold about a ten-hours' supply;less, if the wearer is working hard, or fighting."
Ten hours! No more, if we did not find some way to destroy these leechesof space before they destroyed the _Ertak_.
* * * * *
During the next half hour little was said. We were drawing close to ourtiny, uninhabited haven, and both Correy and Kincaide were busy withtheir navigation. Working in reverse, as it were, from the roughreadings of the television disk settings, an ordinarily simple task wasmade extremely difficult.
I helped Correy interpret his headings, and kept a weather eye on thegauges over the operating table. We were slipping into the atmosphericfringe of N-127, and the surface-temperature gauge was slowly climbing.Hendricks sat hunched heavily in a corner, his head bowed in his hands.
"I believe," said Kincaide at length, "I can take over visually now." Heunshuttered one of the ports, and peered out. N-127 was full abreast ofus, and we were dropping sideways toward her at a gradually diminishingspeed. The impression given us, due to the gravity pads in the keel ofthe ship, was that we were right side up, and N-127 was approaching usswiftly from the side.
"'Vegetation of heroic size' is right, too," said Correy, who had beenexamining the terrain at close range, through the medium of thetelevision disk. "Two of the leaves on some of the weeds would make anawning for the whole ship. See any likely place to land, Kincaide?"
"Nowhere except along the shore--and then we'll have to do some nicework and lay the _Ertak_ parallel to the edge of the water. The beach isnarrow, but apparently the only barren portion. Will that be all right,sir?"
"Use your own judgment, but waste no time. Correy, break out thebreathing masks, and order the men at the air-lock exit port to standby. I'm going out to have a look at these things."
"May I go with you, sir?" asked Hendricks sharply.
"And I?" pleaded Kincaide and Correy in chorus.
"You, Hendricks, but not you two. The ship needs officers, you know."
"Then why not me instead of you, sir?" argued Correy. "You don't knowwhat you're going up against."
"All the more reason I shouldn't be receiving any informationsecond-hand," I said. "And as for Hendricks, he's the laboratory man ofthe _Ertak_. And these things are his particular pets. Right,Hendricks?"
"Right, sir!" said my third officer grimly.
Correy muttered under his breath, something which sounded very much likeprofanity, but I let it pass.
I knew just how he felt.
* * * * *
I have never liked to wear a breathing mask. I feel shut in, frustrated,more or less helpless. The hiss of the air and the everlasting_flap-flap_ of the exhaust-valve disturb me. But they are very handythings when you walk abroad on a world which has no breathableatmosphere.
You've probably seen, in the museums, the breathing masks of thatperiod. They were very new and modern then, although they certainlyappear cumbersome by comparison with the devices of to-day.
Our masks consisted of a huge shirt of air-tight, light material whichwas belted in tightly around the waist, and bloused out like an ancientballoon when inflated. The arm-holes were sealed by two heavy bands ofelastic, close to the shoulders, and the head-piece was of thin copper,set with a broad, curved band of crystal which extended from one side tothe other, across the front, giving the wearer a clear view ofeverything except that which was directly behind him. The balloon-likeblouse, of course, was designed to hold a small reserve supply of air,for an emergency, should anything happen to the tank upon the shoulders,or the valve which released the air from it.
They were cumbersome, uncomfortable things, but I donned mine andadjusted the menore, built into the helmet, to full strength. I wantedto be sure I kept in communication with both Hendricks and the sentriesat the air-lock exit, and of course, inside the helmets, verbalcommunication was impossible.
I glanced at Hendricks, and saw that he was ready and waiting. We werestanding inside the air-lock, and the mighty door of the port had justfinished turning in its threads, and was swinging back slowly on itsmassive gimbals.
"Let's go, Hendricks," I emanated. "Remember, take no chances, and keepyour eyes open."
"I'll remember, sir," replied Hendricks, and together we stepped outonto the coarse gravel of the beach.
* * * * *
Before us, waves of an unhealthy, cloudy green rolled slowly, heavilyshoreward, but we had no eyes for this, nor for the amazing vegetationof the place, plainly visible on the curving shores. We took a fewhurried steps away from the ship, and then turned to survey the monsterswhich had attacked it.
They literally covered the ship; in several places their transparent,glowing bodies overlapped. And the sides of the _Ertak_, ordinarilypolished and smooth as the surface of a mirror, were dull and deeplyeroded.
"Notice, sir," emanated Hendricks excitedly, "how much brighter thethings are! They _are_ feeding, and they are growing stronger and morebrilliant. They--look out, sir! They're attacking! Our copperhelmets--"
But I had seen it as quickly as he. Half a dozen of the glowing things,sensing in some way the presence of a metal which they apparentlypreferred to that of the _Ertak's_ hull, suddenly detached themselvesand came swarming directly down upon us.
I was standing closer to the ship than Hendricks, and they attacked mefirst. Several of them dropped upon me, their glowing bodies coveringthe vision-piece, and blinding me with their light. I waved my arms andstarted to run blindly, incoherent warnings coming to me through themenore from Hendricks and the sentries.
The things had no weight, but they emitted a strange, electric warmthwhich seemed to penetrate my entire body instantly as I ran unseeingly,tr
ying to find the ship, tearing at the fastenings of my mask as I ran.I could not, of course, enter the ship with these things clinging to mygarments.
Suddenly I felt water splash under my feet; felt its grateful coolnessupon my legs, and with a gasp I realized I had in my confusion beenrunning away from the ship, instead of toward it. I stopped, trying toget a grip on myself.
The belt of the breathing mask came loose, and I tore the thing from me,holding my breath and staring around wildly. The ship was only a fewyards away, and Hendricks, his mask already off, was running toward me.
* * * * *
"Back!" I shouted. "I'm all right now. Back!" He hesitated for aninstant until I caught up with