It took a long time for the boys to pull themselves together after
experiencing this final fateful blow. Down into the depths with those
precious air cylinders had gone whatever chance the boys had for
escaping alive from the cruel moon and for saving their friends. Patch
broke down and Garry felt just as badly himself, but he managed to hold
back the tears.
“Garry,” Patch burst out, “we may as well go back and die with the
others now! There’s no use at all in going on any farther!” His voice
still sounded far off to Garry because of the damaged antenna.
“If we went back, then _they_ would no longer have any hope,” Garry
argued. “We took everything else they had. We’ve got to leave them
hope—even until the end. Besides, we couldn’t accomplish anything by
going back. Maybe, Patch, there’s just the barest chance that we have
enough oxygen to reach the settlement. Or enough to get out into the
open again and wait to see if a rescue flier comes over.”
“I’m not moving, Garry!” Patch snapped in utter despair. “I’m not going,
do you hear?”
“You _are_ going,” Garry said determinedly. “You’re going if I have to
carry you! It’s no time to quit, Patch.”
“Then when _is_ it time?” Patch shot back. “You and your hopes, Garry!
Always hoping, even when there isn’t a smidgin of a chance.”
“It may be only a smidgin,” Garry said firmly, “but sometimes that’s
enough. Now stop being a quitter and get to your feet.”
There was only silence over Garry’s receiver for several tense seconds.
Garry didn’t know what he would do if Patch chose to defy him again. He
knew he could not really make his friend do anything his heart refused
to do.
But Patch solved this latest problem himself. Garry heard rustling
sounds as Patch climbed slowly to his feet.
“I’m sorry I talked rough, Patch,” Garry apologized. “I don’t think
we’ve quarreled twice in all our lives, have we? But we’re in this thing
together, and we’ve got to keep going, no matter how bad things look.
We’ve just _got_ to, don’t you see?”
“We’re talking about keeping going,” Patch returned, “but we can’t even
get across this crevasse. How do you propose to do that? Besides that,
we can’t even see as well as moles in this darkness.”
“Let’s walk along the edge, first in one direction and then the other,”
Garry said. “Maybe the crevasse narrows and disappears before too far!”
They began exploring the treacherous cliff edge, moving slowly and
carefully along in one direction. Every once in a while they tested the
width of the chasm. Garry would get down on hands and knees and reach
out, feeling with his hand to see if he could contact the other side.
Time after time this was done, but each time his hands met empty air.
After a tedious hour, Patch complained bitterly, “Can’t you see it’s
hopeless, Garry? Gee whiz, what does it take to convince you?”
“Let’s try a few more times,” Garry replied doggedly. “Then if we still
can’t find a way across, we’ll start going along the crevasse in the
other direction.”
Patch did not reply to this, and Garry knew how bitter his friend must
feel toward him after so many setbacks.
The next time Garry got down on his hands and knees and reached out, his
probing hand touched hard, firm rock on the other side!
“Patch!” he shouted. “I’ve found a place where we can cross!”
Even Patch was heartened by this and made an enthusiastic comment. In
the hope of finding the crevasse even narrower and safer farther along,
Garry followed the ledge, and, sure enough, it grew narrower and
narrower until it was a crack in the ground only a few inches across.
Making the crossing to the other side, the boys, in feeling their way
along, found that the ground began to rise again. Garry still maintained
the lead, with Patch holding onto him and following blindly only a step
behind.
Up, up the slope they went, and before long they could see rays of light
flickering down into their eyes.
Soon there was enough light so that they could see a little distance
ahead. They quickened their steps, although it still required some care
on their part to avoid the sharp-edged stones and rugged underfooting
that still lay in front of them.
But the light grew steadily brighter and the trail flatter.
“Look, Patch, I can see the stars again!” Garry was soon able to say.
Then, scarcely before they realized it, they were completely out of the
shadows of the rocky formation that had very nearly finished them. Above
and behind them once more shone the big bright ball of earth floating
among the stars.
“Good old earth!” Patch exclaimed, with new hope. “I never thought I’d
see it again!”
“It’s a great sight!” Garry agreed.
“Garry,” Patch said, “we can see right over the top of the crater wall
in the distance. We seem to be higher than we were when we started.”
“I’ve noticed that too,” Garry replied. “I’ll check the map again.”
Garry did so, then told Patch that they were still on course.
They moved on and presently stood at the raised edge of a gradually
lowering basin that stretched out very far and flat ahead of them. They
could see a break in the crater wall a few miles away, which the captain
had pointed out to them on the map.
“It looks like we’ll have easy traveling for awhile,” Garry said, “and
we’ll be right out in the open in case a flier comes over. They’ll be
sure to see us unless they’re completely blind.”
“Garry,” Patch said in a thoughtful voice, “I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” Garry asked in surprise.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted. I lost my head completely. When I found
out I’d lost the air cylinders over the ledge, I just seemed to go to
pieces. It’s a good thing one of us knows how to keep his head.”
“Forget it, Patch,” Garry soothed. “It could have been me just as easy
as you. Besides, that’s not important now. We’ve still got a long way to
go, and time is running short.”
Suddenly, Patch ran past Garry in great haste and stood staring over the
plain below, shielding his eyes with his hands.
Garry joined him. “Patch, what is it? Do you see something?”
“It’s impossible!” Patch gasped. “It’s completely impossible!”
“What?” Garry begged, his own excitement growing.
“Look! There’s somebody walking around down there or else I’m seeing
things!”
Garry looked where Patch pointed, and he too found it hard to believe
his eyes. There _was_ someone or something moving around.
“I see it!” Garry said. “Come on, let’s go down and get a closer look!”
“I just hope it isn’t in as bad shape as we are!” Patch exclaimed.
They hurried as fast as they dared over the bumpy ground, heading
straight for the person or thing that was moving about in seemingly
aimless fashion on the plain below.
“He sees us!” Patch said. “He’s coming toward us!”
Swiftly the distance closed between the boys and the lone stranger. And
then Garry and Patch received the surprise of their lives.
“Katrinka!” they shouted together, not believing what they saw.
“It can’t be!” Patch cried in amazement. “Garry, we must be seeing a
mirage or something! How could Katrinka...?”
“It’s Katrinka all right!” Garry said, as the robot drew close enough to
be fully recognized. “But I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it
at all! Katrinka crashed with the _Carefree_ and poor Ben! But even if
she didn’t crash, how is it she’s wandering around out here on the
moon?”
“And what could make her start moving toward us?” Patch asked, as the
mystery deepened. “You’ll never make me believe she’s _really_ human,
although at times it seemed that she was.”
The big robot stopped in front of the boys and remained still. Garry and
Patch felt almost as if they should say “Hello,” because indeed it was
like meeting an old friend.
After a few moments of remaining stock still, Katrinka turned and
started shuffling off with great long strides.
“What’ll we do, Garry?” Patch asked. “Follow her? But that would be
silly! She’s still an unthinking machine.”
“I don’t know, Patch. This whole thing seems very strange, although it
may be that she was merely thrown clear when the _Carefree_ crashed and
somehow her works were activated by the jolt. And yet I have the feeling
that she almost knows what she’s doing, as if she wants us to follow
her.”
“Now you’re talking spooky,” Patch said. “You don’t really believe that
Katrinka can _think_!”
“I don’t know what to believe,” Garry replied. “But I sure would like to
follow her a little way to see just what she’s going to do next.”
“But our air, Garry! We don’t have enough to waste on playing ‘follow
the leader’!”
“Just a little way, Patch. Who knows—this might even lead to something
important.”
“I think you’re way off base, Garry, but I’ll admit I’m curious too.
Let’s go.”
Katrinka had already gained some distance on them while they were
debating what to do, and she did not wait for them. They started running
to catch up and presently did so. But the robot traveled at such a fast
pace that they still had to move in long, antelopelike jumps to keep up.
Katrinka was definitely headed in one particular direction because she
varied hardly any in her line of motion. She seemed to be going toward
an area where the rocks rose high and ominous looking. It was much like
the spot where the boys had had their recent harrowing experience.
“Garry, please,” Patch begged, panting for breath, “let’s call this
crazy chase off! That athletic gal is running me ragged! Besides, she
seems to be taking us straight into those rocky walls!”
“Well, there’s one thing certain,” Garry replied. “She’s _got_ to change
direction pretty quick, or she’ll crash into something. Let’s stick it
out a few more minutes.”
They drew closer to the shadowy outcropping. But the robot did not even
slow her pace. The boys knew she was heading for a collision, but there
was nothing they could do but watch.
Somehow she got past the first row of stones, tripping and nearly
falling, then recovering automatically. But her luck was short lived.
The path went downhill beyond this spot, and her big metal foot slammed
against a boulder. The robot arched through the air and crashed
headfirst into a rocky wall. It crumpled her metal cranium, spewing out
wires and electronic parts.
The boys came running up and stood looking at the fallen giant.
“Poor old Katrinka,” Garry said. “She was almost like one of us. It’s
nearly as if another one of us had died.”
“Yeah, I liked the old gal,” Patch replied. “She may have survived a
crash on the moon, but it’s a cinch she’s reached the end of her rope
now.”
Garry cast a look around to see what sort of area they had come into.
His eyes followed the downhill trail ahead that Katrinka would still be
following had she not had her accident.
What he saw brought a gasp of astonishment from him, and a nervous
tremor coursed through his body.
“Patch, look!” he shouted. “The _Carefree_! There’s the _Carefree_ down
there, half buried in moon dust!”
They rushed down the trail to get a closer look. The giant space ship
was indeed buried half of her depth in pumice dust. The rear air lock
was level with the ground, and extending from the air lock was a
gangplank!
The boys moved up to the edge of the gangplank, looking it over in
bafflement.
“Don’t tell me Katrinka put that down and walked out of the ship on it!”
Patch challenged. “You can’t get me to believe that, Garry.”
“No, you’re right; she couldn’t possibly have done that on her own. She
might have done it, Patch, but she would have had to be guided by an
intelligent _human_ brain.”
“Garry, what are you saying? Are you trying to say that Ben might have
survived that crash and rigged up Katrinka so that she could go out
looking for us? Why, that’s fantastic!”
“We’ll soon find out if it’s so fantastic,” Garry said. “The ship is
nearly undamaged, as you can see.”
“What are you going to do?” Patch asked, as Garry moved ahead.
“I’m going to walk that gangplank up to the air lock and see if Ben is
inside.”
They could see that the gangplank had been put down because of the depth
of the Lunar dust. It was obviously quite deep in this area, since the
_Carefree_ itself was half buried in it. Deep, enormous dust pits were
very common on the moon and were among the most dangerous obstacles to
travel, because they never gave any indication of how deep they were
until someone fell in and was suffocated.
Carefully, Garry, with Patch right behind him, stepped out on the narrow
gangplank and moved slowly forward toward the air lock at the other end.
It was a little unsteady underfoot, but it was rigid and did not sink
beneath the boys’ light lunar weight. Besides, Garry felt pretty sure
now that Katrinka had crossed it, and she was far heavier than both of
them together.
Garry reached the air lock, his heart thumping rapidly with hope and
expectation. He raised his gloved hand and began pounding on the outer
door.
They waited. Five seconds, then ten, fifteen....
Garry’s hopes began to dim. It didn’t look as if there were anyone alive
inside after all.
But then the air-lock door began to swing open. The boys scrambled
inside, too tense and excited to speak to one another. They heard air
swishing into the air lock. Then, after another half minute, the inner
door swung open.
Standing there inside facing them was—Ben.