Meteor and Other Stories Page 4

  He waited for an hour, while the distant sun set, and then he went back to the window to observe results. As he looked in, he saw Lellie putting on her space-suit by the light of two emergency lamps. He swore. He would not be able to freeze her out, since her suit would protect her from the cold. And her air would last much longer than his - as well as the air in the dome itself she had plenty of full containers.

  He waited until she had put on her face-plate and then switched on the radio in his own. As soon as she heard his voice, she switched off her receiver. He did not; he kept his own on, to be ready for the moment when she began to behave sensibly again.

  Duncan returned to the small building beside the dome. He realized that he must use his final plan. There was no other way. He would have to cut a hole through the double skin of the dome. He took the electric cutter from its shelf, and connected it to a power point. He carried the cutter, with its wires floating behind him, across to the house. He chose the place in the side of the house where he would do least damage, held the cutter against the outer skin, and switched on. Nothing happened.

  He realized that there was no power coming through the wires as he had switched off the electricity to freeze Lellie out. He-went back to the small building and switched the electricity on again. The lights in the house went on, and he knew that Lellie would guess why the electricity had been switched on.

  In a few minutes he had cut a hole about a metre across in the outer skin of the dome. He was going to start cutting the inner skin when Lellie’s voice spoke into his ear through his receiver: ‘Don’t try to come in through the wall. I’m ready for that.’

  He hesitated, and did not switch the cutter on. The threat in her voice worried him. What was she planning to do? He went to the front of the house and looked in at the window.

  She was standing at the table, still dressed in her space-suit. On the table was a plastic food-bag, half-full of air and tied at its neck to keep the air in. She had attached a metal plate to the top of the bag, and another metal plate was hanging over the first one. There was only a small space between the two plates. One of them was connected by wires to an electric battery, and the other to a box standing by a bundle of several sticks of explosive.

  Duncan realized immediately what her plan was, and he knew it would work. If he cut a hole in the side of the house, all the air would rush out. With no air in the house, the air in the plastic bag would increase in volume, making the bag swell up. As the bag swelled, the metal plate on it would rise up and meet the other plate. When they connected, electricity would flow along the wire to the box that would set off the explosives. Then the dome would be blown up, and he and Lellie with it.

  Lellie turned to look at him. It was hard to believe that behind that stupid look of surprise fixed on her face she knew what she was doing. Duncan tried to speak to her, but she had switched her radio off, and refused to switch on again. She simply gave him a long steady look as he shouted and swore angrily at her.

  ‘All right, then,’ Duncan shouted inside his face-plate. ‘But you’ll be blown up with it, curse you.’ But naturally, he had no real intention of blowing up the house or himself.

  He went back to the small building. He thought very hard, but he could not think of any way of getting into the dome without letting out the air.

  There was only one thing left for him to do. He would have to go to Jupiter IV by container rocket. He looked up at Jupiter IV, which was hanging huge in the sky above him. The journey there did not worry him. If the men on the station there did not see him approaching, he would wait until he was close enough to use the radio in his suit to send them a message. Then they would switch on their equipment to guide him in. It was the landing at the other end that would be very difficult. He would have to pack himself very carefully in soft material to protect himself against the shock. Later on, the men on IV could bring him back, and they would find some way of entering the dome. And then Lellie would be very sorry - very sorry indeed.

  There were three containers standing ready for take-off, with their rockets prepared for firing. He went over to them, and opened one. There was not much inside the container, so he opened the others and took out all the soft materials in them to pack around himself. Then he paused for a moment to work out how he was going to fire the rocket once he was inside the container. As he stood there thinking, he realized he was feeling cold. He turned up the heating control on his suit, and as he did so, he glanced at the dials on his chest. And in an instant he knew. She had realized he would fit fresh air containers and test them, so she had done something to the battery or to the electrical system on the suit. The needle on the dial was nearly at zero. The suit must have been losing heat for some time, and there was no power left to warm it again.

  He knew that he would not be able to last long - perhaps no more than a few minutes. For a few moments he was overcome by fear, and then, suddenly, the fear was replaced by a fierce anger. She had tricked him at the very end, but he’d make sure she didn’t get away with it. He would die, but if he made one small hole in the dome he wouldn’t be going alone …

  The cold was creeping into him as if ice was coming through the suit. He went towards the dome, and as he moved, he felt his hands and then his feet begin to lose their life. He moved more and more slowly, and then came to a stop. The cutter was where he had left it on the ground, and he was within a metre of it. He made one more attempt to move, but he could not reach it. He cried and gasped with the effort of trying to make his legs obey his commands, and with the cruel pain that was creeping up his arms. Suddenly the pain became enormous and stabbed deep into his chest. He cried out, and, as he gasped, the unheated air rushed into his lungs and froze them …

  In the living-room of the dome Lellie stood waiting. She had seen Duncan going towards the side of the dome where he had left the cutter. She understood what was happening. She had already taken the wire off the battery and let the air out of the plastic bag. Now she stood anxiously with a thick sheet of rubber in her hand, ready to place it swiftly over any hole that might appear in the wall. She waited one minute, two minutes … When five minutes had passed, she went to the window. By putting her face close to the window and looking sideways, she was able to see the whole of one leg dressed in a space-suit, and part of another. They hung there horizontally, a metre off the ground. She watched them for several minutes, and knew that they were the legs of a dead man.

  She crossed the room to the bookshelves on the other side. She took down a book on law, and opened it at the chapter on widows. She read it through carefully until she was satisfied that she understood exactly what her position was.

  She put the book away and took out paper and pencil. She wrote down a number of figures in the way that Duncan had taught her, and began to work on them. At last she lifted her head and looked at the result: £5,000 a year for five years at a high interest rate and tax free … It worked out to be a very generous amount - indeed, it was a small fortune for a Martian.

  But then she hesitated. A face that was not fixed for ever in an innocent look of slight surprise would have frowned a little at that point. There was, of course, something to be taken away from the grand total - a matter of £2,310.

  CHAPTER THREE

  SURVIVAL

  As the bus drove slowly across the field between the spaceport buildings and the take-off point, Mrs Holding stared ahead of her to where the spaceship was waiting. It looked like a huge, isolated, silver pencil standing on end. Near its point she could see the bright blue light that showed it was nearly ready to take off. Under the ship’s great tail, tiny-looking men and machines moved about working at the final preparations. Mrs Holding looked at the scene and felt a fierce, hopeless hatred for the ship and all the inventions of men.

  Then she stopped looking at the spaceship, and looked instead at her son-in-law, who was sitting in the seat in front of her. She hated him, too.

  She turned and looked quickly at her daughter, who was s
itting next to her. Alice Morgan looked pale, and her eyes were fixed straight ahead. Mrs Holding hesitated, and then she decided to make one last effort.

  ‘Alice, dearest, it’s not too late even now, you know. I’m thinking of you. You only have to say you’ve changed your mind. Nobody would blame you. Everybody knows that Mars is no place for—’

  ‘Mother, please stop it,’ interrupted the girl. She spoke so sharply that her mother stopped for a moment. But time was short. Mrs Holding hesitated and then went on:

  ‘You’re not used to the sort of life you’ll have to live there. It’s no life for any woman. It’s very hard. After all, it’s only a five-year appointment for David. I’m sure if he really loves you he’d rather know that you’re safe here and waiting—’

  Alice said coldly: ‘We’ve discussed all this before, Mother. I’m not a child. I’ve thought about it very carefully, and I’ve made up my mind. I’m going.’

  Mrs Holding sat silent for some moments. The bus drove on, and the spaceship seemed to reach even higher up into the sky.

  If you had a child of your own …’ Mrs Holding said, half to herself. ‘Well, I expect some day you will have. Then you’ll begin to understand. I love you, I gave birth to you. I know you. And I know this can’t be the kind of life for you. If you were a hard, insensitive kind of girl, you might put up with such a life. But you aren’t. You know very well you aren’t.’

  ‘Perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think you do, Mother,’ Alice said, I’m no longer a child. I’m a woman with a life of my own to live. I must become a real person …’

  The bus stopped. It was like a toy beside the spaceship, which looked too huge to lift off from the ground. The passengers left the bus and stood looking upwards along the shining side. Mr Holding put his arms round his daughter, and Alice held on to him, tears in her eyes. His voice trembled as he said very softly:

  ‘Goodbye, my dear. And all the luck there is.’ He let her go, and shook hands with his son-in-law.

  ‘Keep her safe, David. She’s everything—’

  I know. I will. Don’t you worry,’ said Alice’s husband.

  Mrs Holding kissed her daughter, and forced herself to shake hands with her son-in-law.

  ‘All passengers aboard, please.’ The metal voice of the public address system echoed round the take-off area. The doors of the lift closed on the last goodbyes.

  Mr Holding put his arm round his wife, and led her back to the bus in silence. Mrs Holding was crying as the bus took them back to the spaceport buildings. She held her husband’s hand and said:

  I can’t believe it even now. It’s so completely unlike her to do something like this. She was always very quiet, and we used to worry in case she became one of those very shy, boring people. Do you remember how the other children used to call her Mouse? And now she’s married this man and is going to live for five years in that awful place. She’ll never manage it. Oh, why didn’t you forbid it? You could have stopped her going.’

  ‘Perhaps I could,’ said her husband, ‘but she might never have forgiven me.’ He sighed. ‘We mustn’t try to live other people’s lives for them. Alice is a woman now, with her own rights.’

  I don’t think we shall ever see them again. I can feel it. Oh, why, why must she go to that horrible place? She’s so young. Why is she so determined - not like my little Mouse at all?’

  Mr Holding patted his wife’s hand comfortingly.

  ‘You must try to stop thinking of her as a child,’ he said. ‘She’s not; she’s a woman now. And if all our women were mice, our chances of survival would not be great!’

  The Pilot Officer of the spaceship Hunter handed the Captain a sheet of paper.

  ‘Here’s the latest voyage report, sir,’ he said.

  Captain Winters took the sheet of paper and looked at it closely.

  ‘Hmm. Not bad,’ he said. ‘We’re only one point three six five degrees off our proper course. Let’s correct it before we go further off.’

  The Captain put some figures into the computer in front of him.

  ‘Check, please, Mr Carter,’ he told the Pilot Officer, who did as he was asked, and approved the results.

  ‘How’s the ship lying?’ the Captain asked.

  ‘She’s moving sideways and rolling slowly, sir,’ said the Pilot Officer.

  ‘Correct that as well, please, Mr Carter,’ Captain Winters ordered. ‘A ten-second burst from the side-rockets on the right. Force three. She should take about thirty minutes, twenty seconds to pull over and straighten out. Then keep her steady on line with the left side-rockets at force two. OK?’

  ‘Very good, sir.’ The Pilot Officer sat down in the control chair and fastened his belt. Captain Winters switched on the public address system and pulled the microphone towards him.

  ‘Your attention, please. Your attention, please. We are about to adjust the ship’s course. The side-rockets will kick a little. There will not be any violent movements, but any objects that could break easily must be tied down. I advise you to remain in your seats and fasten your safety-belts. The whole exercise will take about half an hour, and will start in five minutes from now. I shall inform you when it has been completed. That is all.’ He switched off.

  ‘Some fool always thinks that a meteor has made a hole in the ship unless you warn them that you’re going to use the rockets,’ he added. ‘That woman, Mrs Morgan, would have a breakdown, I should think.’ He thought for a moment and then went on. I wonder why she’s come on this trip, anyway. A quiet little thing like that ought to be sitting in some village back home, knitting woollen socks.’

  ‘She knits here,’ said the Pilot Officer.

  I know - and think what that implies!’ said the Captain. ‘What’s the idea of that kind of woman going to Mars? She’ll be hopelessly homesick and will hate the place as soon as she sees it. Her husband ought to have had more sense. It’s almost like cruelty to children!’

  It mightn’t be his fault, sir,’ the Pilot Officer said, i mean, some of those quiet women can be amazingly determined. And because they’re so quiet, you can’t have a proper quarrel with them. They don’t seem to be resisting, but they get their own way in the end.’

  ‘Hmm, I’m not convinced, Mr Carter,’ said the Captain, I’m not a man of wide experience, but I know what I’d do if my wife suggested accompanying me to Mars. Anyway, why does this woman want to go to Mars if her husband isn’t making her go with him?’

  ‘Well, sir - I think she’s the sort of woman who could be very determined if someone who belongs to her needs protection … You’ve heard of sheep facing lions in defence of their babies. That’s the type of woman she is, I think.’

  The Captain scratched the end of his nose thoughtfully.

  ‘You may be right,’ he said. ‘But if I were going to take a wife to Mars, I’d take someone tough who could use a gun and fight her own battles. This poor little woman is going to be very frightened for most of the time. She’ll soon be crying to get back to the comforts of her home on Earth.’ He looked at the clock. ‘They’ve had time to get everything ready. We must put the ship straight now.’

  He turned away and fastened his own safety-belt. Then he switched on the screen in front of him, and saw the stars moving slowly across it.

  ‘Are you ready, Mr Carter?’

  The Pilot nodded, and held his right hand over a switch in front of him.

  ‘All ready, sir,’ he replied.

  ‘OK. Put her straight,’ the Captain ordered.

  The Pilot touched the switch. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still there was no response.

  I said “Put her straight”,’ the Captain said impatiently.

  The Pilot looked worried. He decided to try to move the ship the other way. He touched a switch under his left hand. This time there was an immediate response. The whole ship jumped sideways and trembled. There was a loud crash that echoed through the metal walls around them.

  Only his safety-belt kept the Pilo
t in his seat. He stared stupidly at the needles spinning round on the dials in front of him. On the screen the stars were shooting across like a shower of liquid fire.

  The Captain unfastened his safety-belt and moved towards the Pilot. At each step the magnetic bottoms of his shoes banged down to stick to the metal floor. He waved the Pilot out of his seat, and took his place.

  He checked the instruments in front of him, and then tried the switches. No response. He tried other switches, but nothing happened. The needles on the dials, and the stars on the screen, continued to spin.

  After a long moment he got up and moved back to his own seat. He pressed a button and spoke to the Chief Engineer.

  ‘Jacks,’ he said, ‘the side-rockets aren’t working. They won’t fire.’

  ‘What - none of them, sir?’ came Jacks’ voice over the internal radio.

  ‘The left-hand rockets fired once, but they shouldn’t have kicked the way they did. Send someone outside to have a look at them. I don’t like what’s happening.’ ‘Very good, sir.’

  The Captain switched on the public address system.

  ‘Attention, please. You may unfasten your safety-belts. We shall postpone adjusting the ship’s course. You will be warned when we are going to carry out the exercise. That is all.’

  The Captain and the Pilot looked at each other. Their faces were serious, and their eyes worried.

  *

  Captain Winters looked at his audience. There were fourteen men and one woman - everyone aboard the Hunter. Six of the men were his crew; all the others were passengers. The male passengers would cause the trouble, Captain Winters thought to himself. Men who were chosen to work on Mars were always strong characters, otherwise they never managed to live there. The woman might have caused trouble, but luckily she was quiet and shy. A mouse of a woman, he thought. She annoyed him because she seemed to have no mind of her own. But now he was glad that he did not have a strong-minded, beautiful woman on board. That would really have added to his troubles!