there were so many wrecks here!" Kentmarvelled. "There must be thousands of them!"
"They've been collecting here ever since the first interplanetaryrocket-ships went forth," Crain reminded him. "Not only meteor-wreckedships, but ships whose mechanisms went wrong--or that ran out of fuellike ours--or that were captured and sacked, and then set adrift byspace-pirates."
The _Pallas_ by then was drifting along the wreck-pack's rim at ahalf-mile distance, and Kent's eyes were running over the mass.
"Some of those ships look entirely undamaged. Why couldn't we find onethat has fuel in its tanks, transfer it to our own tanks, and get away?"he asked.
Crain's eyes lit. "Kent, that's a real chance! There must be some shipsin that pack with fuel in them, and we can use the space-suits toexplore for them!"
"Look, we're beginning to curve in around the pack now!" Liggettexclaimed.
The _Pallas_, as though loath to pass the wreck-pack, was curvinginward to follow its rim. In the next hours it continued to sail slowlyaround the great pack, approaching closer and closer to its edge.
In those hours Kent and Crain and all in the ship watched with afascinated interest that even knowledge of their own peril could notkill. They could see swift-lined passenger-ships of the Pluto andNeptune runs shouldering against small space-yachts with the insignia ofMars or Venus on their bows. Wrecked freighters from Saturn or Earthfloated beside rotund grain-boats from Jupiter.
The debris among the pack's wrecks was just as varied, holding fragmentsof metal, dark meteors of differing size--and many human bodies. Amongthese were some clad in the insulated space-suits, with theirtransparent glassite helmets. Kent wondered what wreck they hadabandoned hastily in those suits, only to be swept with it into thedead-area, to die in their suits.
By the end of that ship-day, the _Pallas_, having floated almostcompletely around the wreck-pack, finally struck the wrecks at its edgewith a jarring shock; then bobbed for a while and lay still. Frompilot-house and deck windows the men looked eagerly forth.
* * * * *
Their ship floated at the wreck-pack's edge. Directly to its rightfloated a sleek, shining Uranus-Jupiter passenger-ship whose bows hadbeen smashed in by a meteor. On their left bobbed an unmarked freighterof the old type with projecting rocket-tubes, apparently intact. Beyondthem in the wreck-pack lay another Uranus craft, a freighter, and,beyond it, stretched the countless other wrecks.
Captain Crain summoned the crew together again on the middle-deck.
"Men, we've reached the wreck-pack at the dead-area's center, and herewe'll stay until the end of time unless we get out under our own power.Mr. Kent has suggested a possible way of doing so, which I considerhighly feasible.
"He has suggested that in some of the ships in the wreck-pack may befound enough fuel to enable us to escape from the dead-area, once it istransferred to this ship. I am going to permit him to explore thewreck-pack with a party in space suits, and I am asking for volunteersfor this service."
The entire crew stepped quickly forward. Crain smiled. "Twelve of youwill be enough," he told them. "The eight tube-men and four of thecargo-men will go, therefore, with Mr. Kent and Mr. Liggett as leaders.Mr. Kent, you may address the men if you wish."
"Get down to the lower airlock and into your space-suits at once, then,"Kent told them. "Mr. Liggett, will you supervise that?"
As Liggett and the men trooped down to the airlock, Kent turned backtoward his superior.
"There's a very real chance of your becoming lost in this hugewreck-pack, Kent," Crain told him: "so be very careful to keep yourbearings at all times. I know I can depend on you."
"I'll do my best," Kent was saying, when Liggett's excited facereappeared suddenly at the stair.
"There are men coming toward the _Pallas_ along the wreck-pack's edge!"he reported--"a half-dozen men in space-suits!"
"You must be mistaken, Liggett!" exclaimed Crain. "They must be some ofthe bodies in space-suits we saw in the pack."
"No, they're living men!" Liggett cried. "They're coming straight towardus--come down and see!"
* * * * *
Crain and Kent followed Liggett quickly down to the airlock room, wherethe men who had started donning their space-suits were now peeringexcitedly from the windows. Crain and Kent looked where Liggett pointed,along the wreck-pack's edge to the ship's right.
Six floating shapes, men in space-suits, were approaching along thepack's border. They floated smoothly through space, reaching the wreckedpassenger-ship beside the _Pallas_. They braced their feet against itsside and propelled themselves on through the void like swimmers underwater, toward the _Pallas_.
"They must be survivors from some wreck that drifted in here as we did!"Kent exclaimed. "Maybe they've lived here for months!"
"It's evident that they saw the _Pallas_ drift into the pack, and havecome to investigate," Crain estimated. "Open the airlock for them, men,for they'll want to come inside."
Two of the men spun the wheels that slid aside the airlock's outer door.In a moment the half-dozen men outside had reached the ship's side, andhad pulled themselves down inside the airlock.
When all were in, the outer door was closed, and air hissed in to fillthe lock. The airlock's inner door then slid open and the newcomersstepped into the ship's interior, unscrewing their transparent helmetsas they did so. For a few moments the visitors silently surveyed theirnew surroundings.
Their leader was a swarthy individual with sardonic black eyes who, onnoticing Crain's captain-insignia, came toward him with outstretchedhand. His followers seemed to be cargo-men or deck-men, looking hardlyintelligent enough to Kent's eyes to be tube-men.
* * * * *
"Welcome to our city!" their leader exclaimed as he shook Crain's hand."We saw your ship drift in, but hardly expected to find anyone living init."
"I'll confess that we're surprised ourselves to find any life here,"Crain told him. "You're living on one of the wrecks?"
The other nodded. "Yes, on the _Martian Queen_, a quarter-mile along thepack's edge. It was a Saturn-Neptune passenger ship, and about a monthago we were at this cursed dead-area's edge, when half our rocket-tubesexploded. Eighteen of us escaped the explosion, the ship's walls stillbeing tight; and we drifted into the pack here, and have been livinghere ever since."
"My name's Krell," he added, "and I was a tube-man on the ship. I andanother of the tube-men, named Jandron, were the highest in rank left,all the officers and other tube-men having been killed, so we tookcharge and have been keeping order."
"What about your passengers?" Liggett asked.
"All killed but one," Krell answered. "When the tubes let go theysmashed up the whole lower two decks."
Crain briefly explained to him the _Pallas'_ predicament. "Mr. Kent andMr. Liggett were on the point of starting a search of the wreck-pack forfuel when you arrived," he said, "With enough fuel we can get clear ofthe dead-area."
Krell's eyes lit up. "That would mean a getaway for all of us! It surelyought to be possible!"
"Do you know whether there are any ships in the pack with fuel in theirtanks?" Kent asked. Krell shook his head.
"We've searched through the wreck-pack a good bit, but never botheredabout fuel, it being no good to us. But there ought to be some, atleast: there's enough wrecks in this cursed place to make it possibleto find almost anything.
"You'd better not start exploring, though," he added, "without some ofus along as guides, for I'm here to tell you that you can lose yourselfin this wreck-pack without knowing it. If you wait until to-morrow, I'llcome over myself and go with you."
"I think that would be wise," Crain said to Kent. "There is plenty oftime."
"Time is the one thing there's plenty of in this damned place," Krellagreed. "We'll be getting back to the _Martian Queen_ now and give thegood news to Jandron and the rest."
"Wouldn't mind if Liggett and I came along, would you?" Kent asked. "I'dlike to
see how your ship's fixed--that is, if it's all right with you,sir," he added to his superior.
Crain nodded. "All right if you don't stay long," he said. But, toKent's surprise Krell seemed reluctant to endorse his proposal.
"I guess it'll be all right," he said slowly, "though there's nothingmuch on the _Martian Queen_ to see."
* * * * *
Krell and his followers replaced their helmets and returned into