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Marooned off Vesta

'Will you please stop walking up and down like that?' said Warren Moore froood Think of our blessings; we're airtight, aren't we?'

Mark Brandon whirled and ground his teeth at hilad you feel happy about that,' he spat out viciously 'Of course, you don't know that our air supply will last only three days' He resumed his interrupted stride with a defiant air

Moore yawned and stretched, assu all that energy will only use it up faster Why don't you take a hint fro it easy'

'Mike' was Michael Shea, late a member of the crew of the Silver Queen His short, squat body was resting on the only chair in the room and his feet were on the only table He looked up as his narin

'You've got to expect things like this to happen so the asteroids is risky business We should've taken the hop It takes longer, but it's the only safe way But no, the captain wanted to ustedly-'and here we are'

'What's the "hop"?' asked Brandon

'Oh, I take it that friend Mike means that we should have avoided the asteroid belt by plotting a course outside the plane of the ecliptic,' answered Moore That's it, isn't it, Mike?'

Mike hesitated and then replied cautiously, 'Yeah-I guess that's it'

Moore smiled blandly and continued, 'Well, I wouldn't blame Captain Crane too much The repulsion screen ranite barged into us That's not his fault, though of course we ought to have steered clear instead of relying on the screen' He shook his head meditatively The Silver Queen just went to pieces It's really miraculously lucky that this part of the ship reht'

'You've got a funny idea of luck, Warren,' said Brandon 'Always have, for as long as I've known you Here we are in a tenth part of a spaceship, co only three whole roo alive after that, and you have the infernal gall to prate about luck'

'Compared to the others who died instantly when the asteroid struck, yes,' was Moore's answer

'You think so, eh? Well, let me tell you that instant death isn't so bad coh Suffocation is a da'

'We ested hopefully

'Why not face facts!' Brandon's face was flushed and his voice treh!'

Mike glanced frohed to attract their attention 'Well, gents, seeing that we're all in the sas' He drew a sreenish liquid 'Grad A Jabra this is I ain't too proud to share and share alike'

Brandon exhibited the first signs of pleasure for over a day 'Martian Jabra water Why didn't you say so before?'

But as he reached for it, a firm hand clamped down upon his wrist He looked up into the calm blue eyes of Warren Moore

'Don't be a fool,' said Moore, 'there isn't enough to keep us drunk for three days What do you want to do? Go on a tear now and then die cold sober? Let's save this for the last six hours when the air gets stuffy and breathing hurts-then we'll finish the bottle a as and never knohen the end comes or care'

Brandon's hand fell away reluctantly 'Damn it, Warren, you'd bleed ice if you were cut How can you think straight at a time like this?' He motioned to Mike and the bottle was once azed out

Moore approached and placed a kindly arer man 'Why take it so hard, man?' he asked 'You can't last at this rate Inside of twenty-four hours you'll be a madman if you keep this up'

There was no answer Brandon stared bitterly at the globe that filled al Vesta won't do you any good either'

Mike Shea lumbered up to the porthole 'We'd be safe if ere only down there on Vesta There're people there How far away are we?'

'Notfrom its apparent size,' answered Moore 'You must remember that it is only two hundred miles in diameter'

'Three hundred ht as well be a et ourselves out of the orbit this rotten fragive ourselves a push so as to start falling There'd be no danger of crashing if we did, because that ravity to crush a cream puff'

'It has enough to keep us in the orbit,' retorted Brandon 'Itunconscious after the crash Wish it had coht have been able to land on it'

'Funny place, Vesta,' observed Mike Shea 'I was down there two-three times What a dump! It's all covered with soet what they call it'

'Frozen carbon dioxide?' prompted Moore 'Yeah, dry ice that carbon stuff, that's it They say that's what makes Vesta so shiny'

Of course! That would give it a high albedo'

Mike cocked a suspicious eye at Moore and decided to let it pass 'It's hard to see anything down there on account of the snow, but if you look close'-he pointed-'you can see a sort of gray se I think that's Bennett's dome That's where they keep the observatory And there is Calorn's dome up there

That's a fuel station, that is There're plenty more, too, only I don't see them'

He hesitated and then turned to Moore 'Listen, boss, I've been thinking Wouldn't they be looking for us as soon as they hear about the crash?And wouldn't we be easy to find fro we're so close?'

Moore shook his head, 'No, Mike, they won't be looking for us No one's going to find out about the crash until the Silver Queen fails to turn up on schedule You see, when the asteroid hit, we didn't have tihed-'and they won't find us down there at Vesta, either We're so small that even at our distance they couldn't see us unless they knehat they were looking for, and exactly where to look'

'Hht Then we've got to get to Vesta before three days are up'

'You've got the gist of the o about it, eh?'

Brandon suddenly exploded, 'Will you two stop this infernal chitter-chatter and do so'

Moore shrugged his shoulders and without answer returned to the couch He lounged at ease, apparently carefree, but there was the tiniest crease between his eyes which bespoke concentration

There was no doubt about it; they were in a bad spot He reviewed the events of the preceding day for perhaps the twentieth time

After the asteroid had struck, tearing the ship apart, he'd gone out like a light; for how long he didn't know, his oatch being broken and no other ti with Mark Brandon, who shared his room, and Mike Shea, a member of the crew, sole occupants of all that was left of the Silver Queen This re in an orbit about Vesta At present, things were fairly comfortable There was a food supply that would last a week Likewise there was a regional Gravitator under the rooht and continue to do so for an indefinite ti system was less satisfactory but had held on so far

There was no doubt, however, where the joker in the pack lay Three days' air! Not that there weren't other disheartening features There was no heating syste tih heat into the vacuum of space to render them too uncomfortable Far more important was the fact that their part of the ship had neither a hed One fuel jet in working order would fix everything, for one blast in the right direction would send them safely to Vesta

The crease between his eyes deepened What was to be done? They had but one spacesuit a them, one heat ray, and one detonator That was the suh search of the accessible parts of the ship A pretty hopeless mess, that

Moore shrugged, rose, and drew hilass of water He sed it ht, when an idea struck hilanced curiously at the empty cup in his hand

'Say, Mike,' he said, 'what kind of water supply have we? Funny that I never thought of that before'

Mike's eyes opened to their fullest extent in an expression of ludicrous surprise 'Didn't you know, boss?'

'Knohat!' asked Moore impatiently

'We've got all the water there was' He waved his hand in an all-inclusive gesture He paused, but as Moore's expression showed nothing but total ot the main tank, the place where all the water for the whole ship was stored' He pointed to one of the walls

'Do youus?'

Mike nodded vigorously, 'Yep! Cubic vat a hundred feet each way And she's three-quarters full'

Moore was astonished 'Seven hundredand fifty thousand cubic feetof water'Then suddenly:'Why hasn't it run out through the broken pipes?'

'It only has one main outlet, which runs down the corridor just outside this roo that main when the asteroid hit and had to shut it off After I ca to our faucet, but that's the only outlet open now'

'Oh' Moore had a curious feeling way down deep inside An idea had half-for it into the light of day He knew only that there was so in what he had just heard that had soer on it

Brandon,to Shea in silence, and now he eh

'Fate see its fill of fun with us, I see First, it puts us within arm's reach of a place of safety and then sees to it that we have no way of getting there

'Then she provides us with a week's food, three days' air, and a year's supply of water A year's supply, do you hear le and to wash and to take baths in and-and to do anything else ant Water-damn the water!'

'Oh, take a less serious view, Mark,' said Moore in an atteer man's melancholy

'Pretend we're a satellite of Vesta-which we are We have our own period of revolution and of rotation

We have an equator and an axis Our "north pole" is located so toward Vesta, and our "south" sticks out away froh the water tank somewhere Well, as a satellite, we have an atmosphere, and now, you see, we have a newly discovered ocean

'And seriously, we're not so badly off For the three days our atmosphere will last, we can eat double rations and drink ourselves soggy Hell, we have water enough to throay-'

The idea which had been half-for to esture hich he had accompanied the last remark was frozen in mid-air His mouth closed with a snap and his head came up with a jerk

But Brandon, ie actions 'Why don't you coy to a satellite,' he sneered, 'or do you, as a Professional Optireeable facts? If I were you, I'd continue this way' Here he imitated Moore's voice: The satellite is at present habitable and inhabited but, due to the approaching depletion of its atmosphere in three days, is expected to become a dead world

'Well, why don't you answer? Why do you persist ina joke out of this? Can't you see- What's the matter?'

The last was a surprised exclamation and certainly Moore's actions didhimself a s into the far distance with gradually narrowing eyelids Brandon and Mike Shea watched him in speechless astonishment

Suddenly Moore burst out, 'Ha! I've got it Why didn't I think of it before?' His exclaible

Mike drew out the Jabra bottle with a significant look, but Moore waved it away i, lashed out with his right, catching the surprised Moore flush on the jaw and toppling him

Moore groaned and rubbed his chin Sonant, he asked, 'What was the reason for that?'

'Stand up and I'll do it again,' shouted Brandon, 'I can't stand it any to listen to your Pollyanna talk You're the one that's going daffy'

'Daffy, nothing! Just a little overexcited, that's all Listen, for God's sake I think I knoay-' Brandon glared at him balefully 'Oh, you do, do' you? Raise our hopes with some silly scheme and then find it doesn't work I won't take it, do you hear? I'll find a real use for the water-drown you-and save some of the air besides'

Moore lost his teh alone I don't need your help and I don't want it if you're that sure of dyingand that afraid, why not havethe agony over? We've got oneheat ray and one detonator, both reliable weapons Take your choice and kill yourself Shea and I won't interfere' Brandon's lip curled in a last weak gesture of defiance and then suddenly he capitulated, couess I didn't quite knohat I was doing I don't feel well, Warren I-I-'

'Aw, that's all right, boy' Moore was genuinely sorry for hiot o stark, ravingto ht yet'

Brandon, pressing a hand to an aching forehead, stumbled to the couch and tumbled down Silent sobs shook his frame while Moore and Shea remained in embarrassed silence nearby

At last Moore nudged Mike 'Co places Airlock five is at the end of the corridor, isn't it?' Shea nodded and Moore continued, 'Is it airtight?'

'Well,' said Shea after soht, 'the inner door is, of course, but I don't know anything about the outer one For all I know it htness, I didn't dare open the inner door, because if there was anything wrong with the outer one-blooey!' The accoesture was very expressive

Then it's up to us to find out about that outer door right now I've got to get outside some way and we'll just have to take chances Where's the spacesuit?'

He grabbed the lone suit from its place in the cupboard, threw it over his shoulder and led the way into the long corridor that ran down the side of the rooht barriers hat once had been passenger quarters but which were now merely cavities, open to space At the end of the corridor was the tight-fitting door of Airlock 5