"We'll find it again. I floated up a marking buoy. That round thing
over there isn't Grampaw."
Grampaw's voice was raucous, belligerent. "You bet y'r boots it ain't!
I'm on my way to terry firmy. The last one ashore's a sissy!"
Swimming in a bulger, Bobby found, was silly. Like paddling a big,
warm, safe rubber rowboat. The stars winked at him, the soft waves
explored his face-plate with curious, white fingers of spray. Pretty
soon there was sand scraping his boots ... a long, smooth beach with
rolling hills beyond.
* * * * *
In the sudden scarlet of dawn, it was impossible to believe the night
had even been frightening. Throughout the night, the Moseley clan
huddled together there on the beach, waiting, silent, wondering. But
when the sun burst over the horizon like a clamoring, brazen gong, they
looked upon this land which was their new home--and found it good.
The night did not last long. But Pop had told them it would not.
"Eros rotates on its axis," he explained, "in about ten hours, forty
minutes, Earth time measurement. Therefore we shall have 'days' and
'nights' of five hours; short dawns or twilights. This will vary
somewhat, you understand, with the change of seasons."
Dick asked, "Isn't that a remarkably slow rotation? For such a tiny
planet, I mean? After all, Eros is only one hundred and eighty odd
miles in circumference--"
"Eros has many peculiarities. Some of them we have discussed before. It
approaches Earth nearer than any other celestial body, excepting Luna
and an occasional meteor or comet. When first discovered by Witt, in
1898, the world of science marveled at finding a true planetoid with
such an uncommon orbit. At perihelion it comes far within the orbit of
Mars; at aphelion it is far outside.
"During its near approach in 1900-01, Eros was seen to vary in
brightness at intervals of five hours and fifteen or twenty minutes.
At that time, a few of the more imaginative astronomers offered the
suggestion that this variation might be caused by diurnal rotation.
After 1931, though, the planetoid fled from Earth. It was not until
1975, the period of its next approach, that the Ronaldson-Chenwith
expedition visited it and determined the old presumption to be correct."
"We're not the first men to visit Eros, then?"
"Not at all. It was investigated early in the days of spaceflight.
Two research foundations, the Royal Cosmographic Society and the
Interplanetary Service, sent expeditions here. During the Black
Douglass period of terrorism, the S.S.P. set up a brief military
occupation. The Galactic Metals Corporation at one time attempted
to establish mining operations here, but the Bureau refused them
permission, for under the Spacecode of '08, it was agreed by the Triune
that all asteroids should be settled under land-grant law.
"That is why," concluded Pop, "we are here now. As long as I can
remember, it has been my dream to take a land-grant colony for my very
own. Long years ago I decided that Eros should be my settlement. As you
have said, Richard, it necessitated the pulling of many strings. Eros
is a wealthy little planet; the man who earns it wins a rich prize.
More than that, though--" Pop lifted his face to the skies, now blue
with hazy morning. There was something terribly bright and proud in his
eyes. "More than that, there is the desire to carve a home out of the
wilderness. To be able to one day say, 'Here is my home that I have
molded into beauty with my own hands.' Do you know what I mean, son?
In this workaday world of ours there are no more Earthly frontiers for
us to dare, as did our forefathers. But still within us all stirs the
deep, instinctive longing to hew a new home from virgin land--"
His words dwindled into silence, and, inexplicably, Bobby felt awed.
It was Grampaw Moseley who burst the queer moment into a thousand
spluttering fragments.
"Talkin' about hewin'," he said, "S'posen we 'hew us a few vittles?
Hey?"
Dick roused himself.
"Right you are, Grampaw," he said. "You can remove your bulgars. I've
tested the air; it's fine and warm, just as the report said. Moira,
while Mom and Eleanor are fixing breakfast, suppose you lay out our
blankets and spare clothing to dry? Grampaw, get a fire going. Pop and
Bobby and I will get some wood."
Thus Eros greeted its new masters, and the Moseleys faced morning in
their new Eden.