So does Kroger.
* * * * *
Brief reprieve for us. The acid-sugar combination not only produces
carbon but water vapor, and the gauge has gone up a notch. That means
that we have a quart of water in the tanks for drinking. However, the
air's a bit better, and we voted to let Kroger stay inside the rocket.
Meantime, we have to catch those Martians.
* * * * *
_June 29, 1961_
Worse and worse. Lloyd caught one of the Martians in the firing chamber.
We had to flood the chamber with acid to subdue the creature, which
carbonized nicely. So now we have plenty of air and water again, but
besides having another Martian still on the loose, we now don't have
enough acid left in the fuel tanks to make a landing.
Pat says at least our vector will carry us to Earth and we can die on
our home planet, which is better than perishing in space.
The hell it is.
* * * * *
_March 3, 1962_
Earth in sight. The other Martian is still with us. He's where we can't
get at him without blow-torches, but he can't get at the carbon in the
AFAR system, either, which is a help. However, his tail is prehensile,
and now and then it snakes out through an air duct and yanks food right
off the table from under our noses.
Kroger says watch out. _We_ are made of carbohydrates, too. I'd rather
not have known.
* * * * *
_March 4, 1962_
Earth fills the screen in the control room. Pat says if we're lucky, he
might be able to use the bit of fuel we have left to set us in a
descending spiral into one of the oceans. The rocket is tighter than a
submarine, he insists, and it will float till we're rescued, if the
plates don't crack under the impact.
We all agreed to try it. Not that we thought it had a good chance of
working, but none of us had a better idea.
* * * * *
I guess you know the rest of the story, about how that destroyer spotted
us and got us and my diary aboard, and towed the rocket to San
Francisco. News of the "captured Martian" leaked out, and we all became
nine-day wonders until the dismantling of the rocket.
Kroger says he must have dissolved in the water, and wonders what _that_
would do. There are about a thousand of those crystal-scales on a
Martian.
So last week we found out, when those red-scaled things began clambering
out of the sea on every coastal region on Earth. Kroger tried to explain
to me about salinity osmosis and hydrostatic pressure and crystalline
life, but in no time at all he lost me.
The point is, bullets won't stop these things, and wherever a crystal
falls, a new Martian springs up in a few weeks. It looks like the five
of us have abetted an invasion from Mars.
Needless to say, we're no longer heroes.
I haven't heard from Pat or Lloyd for a week. Jones was picked up
attacking a candy factory yesterday, and Kroger and I were allowed to
sign on for the flight to Venus scheduled within the next few
days--because of our experience.
Kroger says there's only enough fuel for a one-way trip. I don't care.
I've always wanted to travel with the President.
--JACK SHARKEY
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy Magazine_ June 1960. Extensive
research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on
this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical
errors have been corrected without note.