Part 7 (1/2)

”That'll get them there a little while after the crash,” Elmer said.

”In time to get in on the marsquakes and the dust storms.”

”Yeah,” said Artie, ”if they make it through the atmosphere while it's still being churned.”

”Why don't you guys stow the chatter,” I said brusquely. ”Let us hear what's going on.”

The announcer was saying, ”... in ninety seconds. All hope of regaining control of the s.h.i.+p is past. The entire crew is now in the four lifeboats ready to leave.” Then he started a long countdown, a full sixty seconds.

The scope magnified the s.h.i.+p more.

I found myself holding my breath. The countdown neared an end--ended.

And two lifeboats sprang from each side of the freighter.

The scope lost them for a moment, then picked up one pair. They were almost invisible specks in the background.

In another five minutes they had joined the other pair of lifeboats, and all four were now headed slowly toward Mars, apparently well behind the mother s.h.i.+p.

The scope s.h.i.+fted back to the abandoned s.h.i.+p. The announcer was saying:

”And now take a long last look at this--this compounded missile that in a few hours may very well destroy a world unless a miracle--”

The scene, the words could not have been more perfectly timed even in a cla.s.s B trideo s.p.a.ce thriller. The racing derelict was framed against a background of ruddy Mars, then the next instant the area completely around it seemed to blacken out. Then it started glowing, increasing in intensity, expanding, throwing fiery arms wildly outward. It became a nova of fury. The scope had it centered beautifully. Even the coolest molten blobs could be seen being pushed from the ma.s.s until the inner h.e.l.l caught up with them and turned them into vapor.

A quick-thinking engineer must have thrown a filter somewhere in the scope's innards, for the scene became sort of an X-ray one in which the glare of the light no longer impeded vision. The heart of the fury could easily be seen as it expanded itself, feeding and growing on the solid matter within its reach. The central fury overtook the lagging perimeter forces, engulfed them, then blossomed out, thinned, and became a diaphanous curtain rippling and s.h.i.+mmering in an uncertainty of direction. It waned, leaving a residual flicker that might have been only a product of imagination.