Olympia, the largest colony on Titan, was gripped by a wave of fear. The
broad streets were empty; the shops and stores were deserted; and the
population waited in line at the spaceport, with their most valuable
belongings, for their turn to leave the threatened settlement. Slowly
the satellite of Saturn was dying, and through the methane ammonia
atmosphere, the glittering rings of the mother planet shone down on her
death struggle.
Tom Corbett and Astro walked through the streets silently, overcome by
the desolation around them. Many parts of the city were completely
abandoned, and the few remaining citizens wore cumbersome oxygen masks
as the deadly atmosphere of gas seeped through the force field to reach
the ground surface of the satellite.
As the two cadets continued their dismal tour, they could only find one
small restaurant open, a self-service food center that required no help.
They were the only customers. During the meal they hardly talked, as
they watched the slow procession of people outside, heading for the
spaceport.
When the two cadets left the restaurant, a jet car suddenly blasted to a
stop beside them and a master sergeant, dressed in the scarlet red of
the enlisted Solar Guard, jumped out to face them.
"All persons are required to wear oxygen masks, Cadets," the sergeant
announced, handing over two masks. "And I would suggest that you leave
this section of the city as quickly as possible. The screens are leaking
badly again. We may have to close off this section too."
[Illustration]
Tom and Astro took the masks but did not put them on.
"Thanks, Sergeant," said Tom. "But we'll probably be around here for
some time. We're on special duty with Commander Walters and Captain
Strong."
At the mention of Strong's name, the sergeant started, looked at the
boys closely, and then smiled. "Say, aren't you Corbett and Astro?"
"That's right," acknowledged Tom.
"Well, don't you remember me?" asked the sergeant.
Tom looked at him closely and then smiled in sudden recognition.
"Morgan! Phil Morgan!" he cried.
"Of course," chimed in Astro.
"Sure," said the sergeant. "We went through our first test together at
the Academy and I washed out."
"And you became an enlisted man!" exclaimed Tom. "Man, you're a real
space buster!"
"I figured if I couldn't get into space one way, I'd do it another,"
said Morgan proudly. "A lot of times I wished I was still a cadet with
you, but now I don't think I'd change it for anything in the world."
"I can believe that," said Tom, smiling. "And a master sergeant at that!
McKenny told us once it took a man nearly fifteen years to get top
rating. It must really be a labor of love for you to have made it this
quickly." He stuck out his hand. "Congratulations, Morgan."
They shook hands. "Well, I've got to get rolling," said Morgan. "I sure
hope you fellows find out what's cooking here. I've got a lot of friends
here and they stand to lose everything they own if Titan is abandoned."
"With Captain Strong on the job, you can bet we'll find out the
trouble," declared Astro.
Morgan smiled. "See you around," he said, and jumped back into the jet
car. A second later it was roaring down the street to the western part
of the city.
"Boy, sure makes you feel good to know that a guy loves space so much
that he would fight his way to the top of the enlisted guard as Morgan
did!" said Tom.
Suddenly Astro jerked Tom by the sleeve and pulled him back into the
restaurant to crouch behind the door.
"Hey, what's the matter with you?" growled Tom.
"Sh-h-h!" hissed Astro and pointed across the street. "Look!"
Tom poked his head around the corner of the doorway and quickly jerked
it back again. Quent Miles was hurrying down the street.
"Wonder what he's doing around here?" whispered Astro, watching the
black-clad spaceman pass directly opposite them and continue down the
street, seemingly unaware that he was being watched.
"He must be heading for the evacuated section," said Tom.
"How do you figure that?" asked Astro, as they peered cautiously around
the edge of the doorway.
"He's wearing his oxygen mask."
"Come on!" said Astro. "Let's find out what that heel is up to."
Hugging the buildings, the two cadets walked down the street, following
Miles. There was a puzzled frown on Astro's face as he stared at the
spaceman, a hundred feet away. "I swear, Tom," he complained, "I'm about
to bust a rocket. Every time I see that guy, I think I know him, but
when I try to pin it down, it slips away from me."
"Watch it!" cried Tom. "He's stopping."
The boys ducked behind a deserted jet car as Quent Miles suddenly spun
around to stare suspiciously back down the street.
"I don't know if he saw us or not," whispered Tom.
"With that oxygen mask," replied the big cadet, "maybe he can't see very
well."
"He's going on," replied Tom. "Come on. We've got to find out what he's
up to. He wouldn't be concerned about someone following him if he
weren't trying to hide something."
They slipped around the jet car and stepped back on the sidewalk. Ahead
of them, Quent Miles was walking quickly, reading all the street signs.
Suddenly he turned down a side street, and the two cadets raced after
him.
They were in the outskirts of the city now. Great areas were covered
with rolling grass fields where the citizens of Titan spent their
leisure hours playing ball and picnicking, and it was easy for the
cadets to follow the black-suited spaceman. They had to put on their
oxygen masks as the deadly fumes of the methane ammonia atmosphere began
to swirl around them. They were near the outer limits of the atmosphere
screen's effectiveness.
"I think he's going into that building up ahead, Astro," said Tom, his
voice distorted to a low metallic hiss by the miniature amplifier in the
face of the mask.
Astro nodded and they ducked into a gully as Quent Miles turned once
again and glanced down the street.
"Wonder what's in that building?" mused Tom.
"One way to find out," said Astro. "Come on. He's moving again."
The gas began to thicken now, and the two cadets found it difficult to
see more than a few feet ahead as they moved cautiously through the
swirling death around them. After what seemed like an hour, but was
actually hardly more than a few minutes, they found the building Miles
had entered.
"I'd give two weeks' leave for a ray gun now," said Tom.
"Want me to try the door?" asked Astro.
"Go ahead. We can't learn anything standing out here."
Astro put his hand on the circular latch and twisted it slowly. The door
slid back on rollers, exposing a dark interior. The two boys slipped
inside.
"Better close the door, Astro," said Tom. "The ammonia doesn't seem to
be so thick in here."
Astro twisted the latch on the inner side and the heavy door rolled back
into place. They turned slowly and saw a room that was dark except for a
single light gleaming weakly through the haze of the gas. When their
eyes became adjusted to the semidarkness, they moved, searching for
another door in the huge room.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Astro.
"I can't be positive," said Tom. "The stuff outside was too thick--" He
stopped, touched Astro on the arm, and pointed to his left. There was
the sound of a door sliding back and light filtered into the murky room.
Quent Miles stood framed in the doorway, the unmistakable outline of a
paralo-ray gun in his right hand.
"Drop to the floor," hissed Tom.
The two cadets dropped lightly to the floor and lay face down, while
Quent Miles walked toward them fanning the gun around menacingly. Then,
as he was about to step on Astro's hand, he turned and walked quickly
back to the door. "You must be nuts, Charley," the two cadets heard him
say. "There's nobody here."
The door rolled closed and the light was cut off. Tom and Astro rose and
quietly made their way toward the door. They stopped, leaned against the
door, and tried to hear what was going on inside, but were unable to
distinguish more than a vague mumble of voices, because of their masks
and the thickness of the door. Suddenly, however, they were conscious of
footsteps approaching from the other side.
There was no time to hide. Each boy flattened himself against the wall
on opposite sides of the door and held his breath as the door opened
slowly.
* * * * *
"There can be no doubt about it, Steve," said Commander Walters to the
young captain. "What we need are more powerful pumping stations for
oxygen _and_ additional generators for supplying power to the force
field."
"How do you figure that, sir?" asked Strong.
"It's simply this," replied Walters. "The population here has nearly
tripled in the past two years. The force-field screens were set up
originally to accommodate only a minimum number of miners and their
families. With the heavy demand for crystal, and therefore, more
civilians to dig it out, the force field has been overloaded."
"But I still don't see how, sir," Strong protested.
"The more people, the more oxygen needed to keep them alive, right?"
Strong nodded.
"The force screens hold back the methane ammonia gas and create a vacuum
into which we pump oxygen, right?"
Again Strong nodded.
"Now we have a demand for more and more oxygen, and we pump it into the
vacuum, but eventually we arrive at the point where the pressure of the
oxygen inside is greater than the pressure outside. Therefore, the
screening force field is broken in its weaker points and the oxygen
escapes. When the balance is restored, the rupture isn't sealed and gas
seeps in."
Strong glanced questioningly at Captain Howard and at Kit Barnard, who
had been asked to remain on Titan and lend his assistance to the problem
of the screens.
"Well, gentlemen?" asked Walters, noticing Strong's glance. "That is my
theory. Do any of you have a better one? Or a more reasonable
explanation?"
Strong, Barnard, and Howard shook their heads. A complete check of every
possible source of trouble had been made by the four men and they had
found nothing.
"We still have to wait for a report from the electronics sections, sir,"
said Howard, rubbing his eyes. He started to get up and then suddenly
slumped to the floor.
"By the craters of Luna!" cried Walters, jumping to the young officer's
side. Howard was picked up and placed on a nearby couch. While Strong
and Kit loosened his clothing, Walters grabbed the nearest oxygen mask
and slipped it over the spaceman's face.
"Funny that he should pass out like that," commented Strong, sniffing
the air. "I _still_ don't smell anything."
Kit looked up at Strong and grinned. "He's not gassed. He's asleep."
"Asleep!" exclaimed Walters.
The enlisted spaceman standing on guard at the door stepped forward and
saluted smartly. "Captain Howard hasn't slept for the last five days,"
he said. "He's been working night and day."
Walters smiled. "All right, Sergeant, take him to his quarters." Then he
held up his hand. "No, let him stay where he is." He turned to Steve.
"Come on, Steve. You too, Kit. Let's see if we can't get a report from
the electronics section before we speculate any further."
The three men left the control-tower office under the watchful eyes of a
squad of Space Marines. Trouble had already started at the spaceport
when a crowd of excited miners had charged a detachment of enlisted men
guarding Solar Guard cruisers. The crowds were growing panicky as the
deadly gas filled the city, unchecked.
Strong, Walters, and Kit Barnard climbed into a waiting jet car, amid
the hoots and catcalls from the waiting miners, and hurtled away to the
giant building housing the electronic "brain" that controlled the
force-field screens.
Walters' face was grim. Beside him, Strong and Kit were silent as they
raced through the empty streets. If there was no positive discovery by
the electronics section of the huge screening operations, then it would
have to be assumed that Commander Walters was right in his theory of
overpopulation. To remedy that situation would require complete
reconstruction of the satellite settlement and temporary abandonment of
Titan. Millions of dollars would be lost and thousands of people thrown
out of work. It would be a severe blow to the Solar Alliance.
The jet car slowed to a stop. They were in front of the electronics
building and the three men climbed out wearily. They would know in a few
minutes now.