The rocks and rubble near the remains of the Havelock were rumbling and
grinding. Burt heard a great cracking sound, like a huge dead branch
breaking. The ground near the Havelock trembled and the shock of it
reached them. Burt sat down hard, and he saw Joan and Marcia fall in a
heap.
He tried to get up, but he couldn't; the ground was still trembling.
A crack appeared near the Havelock, and it crawled along the ground
slowly, crookedly. It crawled at a snail's pace, less than a snail's
pace--but it moved. And it grew. It was as wide as Burt's arm. Wider.
It grew.
* * * * *
Suddenly, it gaped wide, and the grinding and rumbling was louder. It
opened into a cavernous maw--right under the Havelock. For a moment the
Havelock stood poised, as if on air--and then the battered; flattened
ship disappeared within the hole, clattering against the walls as it
fell.
The ground shuddered again, violently; the hole became a crack, closing
in upon itself. It disappeared altogether, and only the rough terrain
remained.
But the Havelock was gone.
Marcia stood up. "An earthquake?" She trembled.
"On a planetoid twenty miles in diameter? Don't be silly. You'd need an
unstable interior for an earthquake--and this little globe cooled and
stabilized long ago."
"Yes? Then why is it warm?"
She had him there, and Burt didn't know. Why was the asteroid warm? If
he knew the answer to that, he might know the answer to a lot of things.
"This is stupid, Burt. Let's stop talking and find Johnny. He could be
half way around the asteroid by now, or more."
Burt shook his head. "We can't all go and look. Joan would delay us.
You stay here with her, Marcia--or, better still, get back to the ship
with her and stay inside. I'll find Johnny and bring him back. Then
we'll get the devil out of here."