While I am taking this in some small cold corner of my mind is
remembering the instructions that are on the pain-killer ampoule; it
does not say, outright, that it is the last refuge for men in the
extremity of pain and despair; therefore it cannot say, outright, that
they sometimes despair too soon; but it does tell you the name of the
antidote.
There are only three ampoules of this and they also say, maximum dose
one ampoule. I try to work it out but lacking all other information
the best I can do is inject two and keep one till later. I put that
one in my pocket.
The stretcher is all expanded now; a very thin but quite rigid grid,
six feet by two; I lash him on it without changing his position and
fasten the helmet over his head.
Antigrav; the straps just go round him and the stretcher.
I point the thing up towards the trap door and give it a gentle push;
then I scramble up the rungs and get there just in time to guide it
through. It takes a knock then and some more while I am getting it
down to the next partition, but he can't feel it.
This time I find the door, because the roar of noise behind it acts as
a guide. The sea is getting up and is dashing halfway to the door as I
crawl through. My boat is awash, pivoting to and fro on the grips of
the front "limbs."
I grab it, release the limbs and pull it as far back as the door. I
maneuver the stretcher on top and realize there is nothing to fasten
it with ... except the antigrav, I get that undone, holding the
stretcher in balance, and manage to put it under the stretcher and
pass the straps between the bars of the grid ... then round the little
boat, and the buckle just grips the last inch. It will hold, though.
* * * * *
I set the boat to face the broken end of the ship, but I daren't put
it farther back than the doorway; I turn the antigrav to half, fasten
the limb-grips and rush back towards the nose of the ship. Silver knob
under the dial. I turn it down, hear the thing begin a fast, steady
ticking, and turn and run.
Twenty minutes.
One and a half to get back to the boat, four to get inside it without
overturning. Nearly two to get down to the sea--balance difficult. One
and a half to lower myself in.
Thirty seconds' tossing before I sink below the wave layer; then I
turn the motor as high as I dare and head for the shore.
In a minute I have to turn it down; at this speed the radar is
bothered by water currents and keeps steering me away from them as
though they were rocks; I finally find the maximum safe speed but it
is achingly slow. What happens if you are in water when Andite blows
half a mile away? A moment's panic as I find the ship being forced up,
then I realize I have reached the point where the beach starts to
shelve, turn off radar and motor and start crawling. Eternal slow
reach out, grab, shove, haul, with my heart in my mouth; then suddenly
the nose breaks water and I am hauling myself out with a last wave
doing its best to overbalance me.
I am halfway out of the boat when the Andite blows behind me. There is
a flat slapping sound; then an instant roar of wind as the air
receives the binding energies of several tons of matter; then a long
wave comes pelting up the beach and snatches at the boat.
I huddle into the shingle and hold the boat; I have just got the
antigrav turned off, otherwise I think it would have been carried
away. There are two or three more big waves and a patter of spray;
then it is over.
The outlet valve of the helmet is working, so M'Clare is still
breathing; very deep, very slow.
I unfasten the belt of the antigrav, having turned it on again, and
pull the belt through the buckle. No time to take it off and rearrange
it; anyway it will work as well under the stretcher as on top of it. I
drag the boat down to the water, put in an Andite cartridge with the
longest fuse I have, set the controls to take it straight out to sea
at maximum depth the radar control will allow--six feet above
bottom--and push it off. The other Andite cartridge starts burning a
hole in my pocket; I would have liked to put that in too, but I must
keep it, in case.