I set the word-buttons for the distress siren, and pulled the lever.
Its voice screamed over the uproar. "_Keep forward! Take the
space-suits! Prepare to abandon ship!_"
7
In the midst of the chaos I was aware that all the remaining discs
struck us upon the port stern quarter. The broken dome of the stern
showed a jagged hole, but the up-sliding cross-bulkhead partially shut
it off. Two or three of the crew and the stern lookout were gone
behind that closing bulkhead. Their bodies in a moment would be blown
into space.
"It may hold, Drac. Order Waters out of his cubby. Forward!"
I was calling the engine-room. "Order your men up by the bow, not the
stern." But I got no answer from the engine-chief.
I raised Grantline. "Order your men forward: Clear amidships! I want
to close the central bulkheads. If the stern one breaks with the
pressure...."
"Right, Gregg. Are we lost?"
"God knows! We'll know in a minute or two. Get all your men into their
space-suits. Keep in the bow. Prepare the exit-port there."
"Right, Gregg. You coming down?"
"Yes. When I finish." I cut him off. "Drac, get out of here! Did you
order Waters forward?"
"He won't leave."
"Why the hell not?"
"He thinks he may be able to get communication with Earth."
"He can't stay where he is; there's no protection up here! When that
stern bulkhead goes...."
It was breaking. I could see it bending sternward under the pressure.
And at best it was leaking air, so that the decks were a rush of wind.
Already Drac and I were gasping with the lowered pressure.
"Drac, get out of here. Go get Waters; bring him forward. The hell
with his transmitter: this is life or death!"
"But you?"
"I'm coming down. From the forward deck, call the hull control rooms.
Order everybody forward and to the deck."
"What about the pressure pumps?"
"I can keep them going from here."
I set the circulating system to guide the fresh air forward, but it
was futile against the sucking rush of wind toward the stern. As the
pumps speeded up I saw, with the little added pressure, the great
cross panel of the stern bulkhead straining harder. It would go in a
moment.