Table Of ContentAstounding Stories, November, 1931
The Planetoid of Peril
By Paul Ernst
Undaunted by crazy tales of an indestructible presence on Asteroid Z-40, Harley 2Q14N20 sets
out alone to face and master it.
Astounding Stories, November, 1931
H
ARLEY 2Q14N20 stopped for a around for a planetoid; want to get a place of
moment outside the great dome of the my own out a way from Earth. Something,
Celestial Developments Company. you understand, that may turn out to be a
Moodily he stared at their asteroid profitable investment as well as furnishing an
development chart. It showed, as was to be exclusive home-site. I see on your chart that
expected, the pick of the latest asteroid you have a sphere left for sale, in the Red
subdivision projects: the Celestial Belt, so I came in to ask about it."
Developments Company, established far back "Ah, you mean asteroid Z-40," said the
in 2045, would handle none but the very best. youngster, gazing with envious respect at the
Small chance of his finding anything here! ten-bar insignia, with the crossed Sco drills,
However, as he gazed at the chart, that proclaimed Harley to be a mining
hope came suddenly to his face, and his heart engineer of the highest rank. "Yes, that is still
beat high under his sapphire blue tunic. There for sale. A splendid sphere, sir; and listed at a
was an asteroid left for sale there—one blank remarkably low figure. Half a million dollars."
space among the myriad, pink-lettered Sold "Half a million dollars!" exclaimed
symbols. Could it be that here was the chance Harley. It was an incredibly small sum:
he had been hunting so desperately? scarcely the yearly salary of an unskilled
He bent closer, to read the description laborer. "Are you sure that's right?"
of the sphere, and the hope faded gradually "Yes, that's the correct figure. Down
from his countenance. According to its orbit payment of a third, and the remaining two
and location, and the spectroscopic table of its thirds to be paid out of the exploitation
mineral resources, it was a choice planetoid profits—"
indeed. Of course such a rich little sphere,
listed for sale by the luxurious Celestial HERE the conversation was interrupted by an
Developments Company, would cost far more elderly, grey-haired man with the six-bar
than he could ever rake together to pay for an dollar-mark insignia of a business executive
asteroid. on his purple tunic. He had been standing
Shaking his head, he adjusted his nearby, and at the mention of asteroid Z-40
gravity regulator to give him about a pound had looked up alertly. He glided to the two
and a half of weight, and started to float on. with a frown on his forehead, and spoke a few
Then, his lips twisting at his own absurd curt words to the neophyte, who slunk away.
hopefulness, he stopped again; and after "Sorry, sir," he said to Harley. "Z-40
another moment of indecision turned into the isn't for sale."
archway that led to the concern's great main "But your young man just told me that
office. After all, it wouldn't hurt to inquire the it was," replied Hartley, loath to give up what
price, even though he knew in advance it had begun to look like an almost unbelievable
would be beyond his humble means. bargain.
"He was mistaken. It's not on the
A YOUNGSTER in the pale green of the one- market. It isn't habitable, you see."
bar neophyte in business promptly glided "What's wrong—hasn't it an
toward him. atmosphere?"
"Something for you to-day, sir?" he "Oh, yes. One that is exceptionally
asked politely. rich in oxygen, as is true of all the spheres we
"Yes," said Harley. "I'm looking handle. With a late model oxygen
The Planetoid of Peril 3
concentrator, one would have no trouble at all "Z-40 is an exceptionally fine bit of
existing there." property. It is commodious; about twenty
"Is its speed of revolution too great?" miles in diameter. Its internal heat is such that
"Not at all. The days are nearly three it has a delightful climate in spite of the
hours long: annoying till you get used to it, extreme rarity of atmosphere common to even
but nothing like the inferior asteroids of the the best of asteroids. It has a small lake; in
Mars Company where days and nights are less fact it has about everything a man could want.
than ten minutes in duration." Yet, as I said, it is uninhabitable."
"Well, is it barren, then? No minerals His voice sank still lower.
of value? No vegetation?" "You see, sir, there's already a tenant
"The spectroscope shows plenty of on that sphere, a tenant that was in possession
metals, including heavy radium deposits. The long before the Celestial Developments
vegetation is as luxuriant as that of semi- Company was organized. And it's a tenant that
tropic Earth." can't be bought off or reasoned with. It's some
"Then why in the name of Betelguese," sort of beast, powerful, ferocious, that makes
said Harley, exasperated, "won't you sell the it certain death for a man to try to land there."
place to me? It's exactly what I've been "A beast?" echoed Harley. "What kind
looking for, and what I'd despaired of finding of a beast?"
at my price." "We don't know. In fact we hardly
"I'm forbidden to tell why it isn't for even know what it looks like. But from what
sale," said the executive, starting to float off. little has been seen of it, it's clear that it is like
"It might hurt our business, reputation if the no other specimen known to universal science.
truth about that bit of our celestial properties It's something enormous, some freak of animal
became widely known—Oh, disintegrate it creation that seems invulnerable to man's
all! Why wasn't the thing erased from the smaller weapons. And that is why we can't
chart weeks ago!" offer the place for sale. It would be suicide for
"Wait a minute." Harley caught his anyone to try to make a home there."
arm and detained him. "You've gone too far to "Has anyone ever tried it?" asked
back out now. I'm too eager to find some such Harley. "Any competent adventurer, I mean?"
place as your Z-40 to be thrown off the "Yes. Twice we sold Z-40 before we
subject like a child. Why isn't it for sale?" realized that there was something terribly
wrong with it. Both buyers were hardy,
THE MAN tightened his lips as though to intrepid men. The first was never heard of
refuse to answer, then shrugged. after thirty-six hours on the asteroid. The
"I'll tell you," he said at last. "But I beg second man managed to escape in his Blinco
of you to keep it confidential. If some of our Dart, and came back to Earth to tell of a vast
investors on neighboring asteroids ever found creature that had attacked him during one of
out about the peril adjoining them on Z-40, the three-hour nights. His hair was white from
they'd probably insist on having their money the sight of it, and he's still in a sanitarium,
back." slowly recovering from the nervous shock."
He led the way to a more secluded spot
under the big dome, and spoke in a low tone, HARLEY frowned thoughtfully. "If this thing
with many a glance over his shoulder to see if is more than a match for one man, why don't
anyone were within earshot. you send an armed band with heavy atomic
Astounding Stories 4
guns and clear the asteroid by main force?" it means the fulfillment of all my dreams.
"My dear sir, don't you suppose we've With that in view, do you think I'd hesitate to
tried that? Twice we sent expensive risk my neck?"
expeditions to Z-40 to blow the animal off the
face of the sphere, but neither expedition was "NO," said the executive slowly, looking at
able to find the thing, whatever it is. Possibly the younger man's powerful shoulders and
it has intelligence enough to hide if faced by square-set chin and resolute eyes. "I don't
overwhelming force. When the second think you would. Well, so be it. I'd greatly
expedition failed, we gave it up. Poor business prefer not to sell you Z-40. But if you want to
to go further. Already, Z-40 has cost us more sign an agreement that we're released of all
than we could clear from the sale of half a blame or responsibility in case of your death,
dozen planetoids." you can buy it."
For a long time Harley was silent. The "I'll sign any agreement you please,"
Company was a hard headed, cold blooded snapped Harley. "Here is a down payment of a
concern. Anything that kept them from selling hundred and seventy thousand dollars. My
an asteroid must be terrible indeed. name is Harley; sign 2Q14N20; unmarried—
His jaw set in a hard line. "You've though I hope to change that soon, if I live—
been honest with me," he said at length. "I occupation, mining engineer, ten-bar degree;
appreciate it. Just the same—I still want to age, thirty-four. Now draw me up a deed for
buy Z-40. Maybe I can oust the present tenant. Z-40, and see that I'm given a stellar call
I'm pretty good with a ray-pistol." number on the switchboard of the Radivision
"It would be poor policy for us to sell Corporation. I'll drop around there later and
the asteroid. We don't want to become known get a receiving unit. Good day." And,
as a firm that trades in globes on which it is adjusting his gravity regulator to lighten his
fatal to land." weight to less than a pound, he catapulted out
"Surely my fate is none of your the archway.
worry?" urged Harley. Behind him a prosaic business
"The asteroid," began the executive executive snatched a moment from a busy day
with an air of finality, "is not for—" to indulge in a sentimental flight of fancy. He
"Man, it's got to be!" cried Harley. had read once of curious old-time beings
Then, with a perceptible effort he composed called knights, who had undertaken to fight
himself. "There's a reason. The reason is a and slay fire-eating things called dragons for
girl. I'm a poor man, and she's heiress to the sake of an almost outmoded emotion
fabulous—Well, frankly, she's the daughter of referred to as love. It occurred to him that this
3W28W12 himself!" The executive started at brusque man of action might be compared to
mention of that universally known number. "I just such a being. He was undertaking to slay
don't want to be known as a fortune hunter; a dragon and win a castle for the daughter of
and my best bet is to find a potentially rich 3W28W12—
asteroid, cheap, and develop it—incidentally The romantic thought was abruptly
getting an exclusive estate for my bride and broken up by the numeral. It jarred so,
myself far out in space, away from the smoke somehow, that modern use of numbers instead
and bustle of urban Earth. Z-40, save for the of names, when thinking of sentimental
menace you say now has possession of it, passages of long ago. "The rose is fair; but in
seems to be just what I want. If I can clear it, all the world there is no rose as fair as thou,
The Planetoid of Peril 5
my princess 3W28W12...." No, it wouldn't do. A tremendous, weirdly manlike
Cursing himself for a soft-headed fool, creature looming in the dim night—a thing
he went to deliver a stinging rebuke to that seemed a part of the planetoid itself,
somebody for not having blocked Z-40 off the fashioned from the very dirt and rock from
asteroid chart weeks before. which it had risen—a thing immune to the
ray-pistol, that latest and deadliest of man-
"HARLEY 2Q14N20," recited the control made small-arms—a thing that moved like a
assistant at Landon Field. "Destination, walking mountain and stared with terrible,
asteroid Z-40. Red Belt, arc 31.3470. Sights stony eyes at its prey! That was what the
corrected, flight period twelve minutes, forty- fellow said he had faintly made out in the
eight seconds past nine o'clock. All set, sir?" darkness before his nerves had finally given
Harley nodded. He stepped inside the way.
double shell of his new Blinco Dart—that He had impressed Harley as being a
small but excellent quantity-production craft capable kind of a person, too; not at all the
that had entirely replaced the cumbersome sort to distort facts, nor to see imaginary
space ships of a decade ago—and screwed figures in the night.
down the man-hole lid. Then, with his hand on There was that matter of the stone
the gravity bar, he gazed out the rear panel, splinter, however, which certainly argued that
ready to throw the lever at the control the wan, prematurely white-haired fellow was
assistant's signal. a little unbalanced, and hence not to be
The move was unthinkingly, believed too implicitly. He'd handed it to
mechanically made. Too many times had he Harley, and gravely declared it to be a bit of
gone through this process of being aimed by the monster's flesh.
astronomical calculation, and launched into "Why, it's only a piece of rock!"
the heavens, to be much stirred by the wonder Harley had exclaimed before he could check
of it. The journey to Z-40 in the Dart was no himself.
more disquieting than, a century and a half "Did you ever see rock like it before?"
ago, before the United States had fused Turning it over in his hands, Harley
together into one vast city, a journey from had been forced to admit that he never had. It
Chicago to Florida would have been in one of was of the texture and roughness of granite,
the inefficient gasoline-driven vehicles of that but more heavily shot with quartz, or tridymite
day. than any other granite he'd ever seen. It had a
All his thoughts were on his dull opalescent sheen, too. But it was rock, all
destination, and on a wonder as to what could right.
be the nature of the thing that dwelt there. "It's a piece of the thing's hide," the
He had just come from the sanitarium man had told him. "It flaked off when it tried
where the man who'd bought Z-40 before him to pry open the man-hole cover of my Dart. A
was recovering from nervous exhaustion. He'd moment after that I got Radivision arc
gone there to try to get first hand information directions from London Field, aimed my
about the creature the executive at the sights, and shot for Earth. It was a miracle I
Celestial Developments Company had talked escaped."
so vaguely of. And the tale the convalescent "But surely your ray-pistol—" Harley
had told him of the thing on the asteroid was had begun, preserving a discreet silence about
as fantastic as it was sketchy. the man's delusion concerning the stone
Astounding Stories 6
splinter. dropped, plummet-like, away from him. He
"I tell you it was useless as a toy! pushed the bar to the limit leg; and, at a rate of
Never before have I seen any form of life that hundreds of miles a second, was repelled from
could stand up against a ray-gun. But this Earth toward Z-40, and the thing that skulked
thing did!" there.
THIS was another statement Harley had WITH a scarcely perceptible jar, he landed on
accepted with a good deal of reservation. He the small sphere that, he hoped, was to be his
had felt sure the weapon the man had used had future home. Before opening his man-hole lid,
a leak in the power chamber, or was in need of he went from panel to panel of the Dart and
recharging, or something of the kind. For it cautiously reconnoitered. He had elected to
had been conclusively proved that all organic land beside the little lake that was set like a
matter withered and burned away under the three hundred-acre gem on the surface of Z-
impact of the Randchron ray. 40, and it was more than possible that the
Nevertheless, discounting heavily the enemy had its den nearby.
convalescent's wild story, only a fool would However, a careful survey of the
have clung to a conviction that the menace on curved landscape in all directions failed to
Z-40 was a trivial one. There was something reveal a glimpse of anything remotely
on that asteroid, something larger and more threatening. He donned his oxygen
deadly than Harley had ever heard of before in concentrator—in appearance a simple tube of
all his planetary wanderings. a thing, projecting about six inches above his
He squared his shoulders. Whatever it forehead, and set in a light metal band that
was, he was about to face it, man against encircled his head. Adjusting his gravity
animal. He was reasonably certain his ray-gun regulator so he wouldn't inadvertently walk
would down anything on two legs or ten. If it clear off into empty space—he calculated his
didn't—well, there was nothing else that weight would be less than a twentieth of an
could; and he'd certainly provide a meal for ounce here—he stepped out of the Dart and
the creature, assuming it ate human flesh.... gazed around at the little world.
A mechanic tapped against the rear Before him was the tiny lake, of an
view panel to recall his wandering attention. emerald green hue in the flashing sunlight.
The control assistant held up his hands, Around its shores, and covering the adjacent,
fingers outspread, to indicate that there were softly rolling countryside as far as eye could
ten seconds left. reach, was a thick growth of carmine-tinted
Harley's hand went to his throat, where vegetation: squat, enormous-leaved bushes;
was hung a locket—a lovely but useless low, sturdy trees, webbed together by
trinket of the kind once much worn by Earth innumerable vines. To left and right, miniature
women—and his fingers tightened tenderly on mountains reared ragged crests over the
it. It had belonged to Beatrice 3W28W12's abbreviated horizon, making the spot he was
great-great-grandmother, and Beatrice had in a peaceful, lovely valley.
given it to him as a token. He sighed. There was everything here
"With luck, my dear," he whispered a man could wish for—provided he could win
aloud. "With luck...." it! Loosening his ray-pistol in its holster, he
There was a slight vibration. He threw started to walk slowly around the lake to
the gravity bar over to the first notch. Earth choose a site for the house he intended to
The Planetoid of Peril 7
build. On the opposite shore he found a place tapered down in a thick ridge; and this ridge
that looked suitable. had a deep, horizontal cleft running along it
which made it appear as though it were
A FEW yards back from the water's edge, divided into two leg-like members. In the
curling in a thick crescent like a giant sleeping center the mound swelled to resemble a
on its side, was a precipitous outcropping of paunchy trunk with sagging shoulders. This
rock; curious stuff, rather like granite, that was topped by a huge, nearly round ball that
gleamed with dull opalescence in the brilliant looked for all the world like a head. There
sunlight. With that as a sort of natural buttress were even rudimentary features. It was
behind the house, and with the beautiful lake grotesque—one of those freak sculptures of
as his front dooryard, he'd have a location that nature, Harley reflected, that made it seem as
any man might envy. though the Old Girl had a mind and artistic
He returned to his Dart, hopped back talent of her own.
across the lake in it, and unloaded his Sco drill He scrambled through the brush till he
[see endnote 1] . With this he planned to sink reached that part of the long mound that
a shaft that would serve in the future as the looked like a head. There, as the sun began to
cellar for his villa, and in the present as an stream the red lines of its descent over the sky,
entrenchment against danger. he prepared to ascend for his view of the
But now the swift night of Z-40 was surrounding landscape.
almost upon him. The low slant of the He'd got within twenty feet of the
descending sun warned him that he had less irregular ball, and had adjusted his gravity
than ten minutes of light left, until the next regulator to enable him to leap to its top, when
three-hour day should break over the eastern he stopped as abruptly as though he had been
rim. He placed the drums and the flexible hose suddenly paralyzed. Over the two deep pits
of the Sco drill so that he could begin that resembled nostrils in the grotesque mask
operations with it as soon as the dawn broke, of a face he thought he had observed a quiver.
and started to walk toward the precipitous The illusion had occurred in just the proper
outcropping of quartziferous stone place for an eyelid. It was startling, to say the
immediately behind the home-site he had least.
picked. He would climb to the top of this for a "I'm getting imaginative," said Harley.
short look around, and then return to the He spoke aloud as a man tends to do when he
Dart—in which double-hulled, metal fortress is alone and uneasy. "I'd better get a tighter
he thought he would be safe from anything. grip on my nerves, or—good God!"
HE HAD almost reached the rock outcropping COINCIDENT with the sound of his voice in
when the peculiarities of its outline struck him the thin, quiet air, the huge stumps that looked
anew. He'd already observed that the craggy like legs stirred slightly. A tremor ran through
mound rather resembled a sleeping, formless the entire mass of rock. And directly in front
giant. The closer he got to it the more the of Harley, less than twenty feet from where he
resemblance was heightened and the greater stood, a sort of half-moon-shaped curtain of
grew his perplexity. rock slid slowly up to reveal an enormous,
It sprang straight up from the carmine staring eye.
underbrush, like a separate heap of stone cast Frozen with a terror such as he had
there by some mighty hand. One end of it never felt before in a life filled with
Astounding Stories 8
adventure, scarce breathing, Harley glared at away. The power was exhausted. It was only
the monstrous spectacle transpiring before good for about ten seconds of such an
him. A hill was coming to life, A granite cliff emergency, full-force discharge, after which it
was growing animate. It was impossible, but it must be re-charged again. The ten seconds
was happening. were up. And the gigantic creature against
The half-moon curtains of rock that so which it had been directed had apparently felt
eerily resembled eyelids, blinked heavily. He no injury from a beam that would have
could hear a faint rasping like the rustle of annihilated ten thousand men.
sandpaper, as they did so. One of the great leg The now useless ray-pistol slipped
stumps moved distinctly, independent of the from his limp fingers. Stupefied with horror at
other one. Three columnar masses of rock— the futility of the deadly Randchron ray
arms, or tentacles, with a dozen hinging joints against this terrible adversary, he stood rooted
in each—slowly moved away from the parent to the spot. Then the thing reached for him
mass near the base of the head, and extended again; and his muscles were galvanized to
toward the Earth man. action—to instinctive, stupid, reasonless
Still in his trance, with his heart action.
pounding in his throat till he thought it would Screaming incoherently, mad with
burst, Harley watched the further awful horror of the stone claws that had clutched at
developments. The eyelids remained opened, him, he turned and ran. In great leaps he
disclosing two great, dull eyes like poorly bounded away from the accursed lake and
polished agates, which stared expressionlessly made for the taller trees and thicker vegetation
at him. There was a convulsion like a minor at a distance from the shore. It was the worst
earthquake, and the mass shortened and thing he could have done. There was a chance
heightened its bulk, raising itself to a sitting that he could have reached his Dart, had he
posture. The three hinged, irregular arms thought of it, and soared aloft out of reach.
suddenly extended themselves to the full in a But he thought of nothing. All he wanted to
thrust that barely missed him. They were do, in that abysmal fear that can still make a
tipped, those arms, with immense claws, like mindless animal out of a civilized man, was to
interlocking, rough-hewn stone fingers. They run and hide—to get away from the fearful
crashed emptily together within a few feet of monster that had risen up to glare at him with
Harley. Then, and not till then, did the those stony, pitiless eyes, and to reach for him
paralysis of horror loose its grip on the with two-fingered bands like grinding rock
human. vises.
He tore his ray-pistol from its holster
and pointed it at the incredible body. An JUST AS the sun fell below the rim of the
angry, blue-green cone of light leaped from asteroid, plunging it into a darkness only
the muzzle, and played over the mighty torso. faintly relieved by the light of the stars, he
Nothing happened. He squeezed the trigger crashed into the deeper underbrush. A trailing
back to the guard. The blue-green beam creeper tripped him in his mad flight. He fell
increased in intensity, and a crackling noise headlong, to lie panting, sobbing for breath, in
was audible. Under that awful power the the thick carpet of blood-colored moss.
monster should have disappeared, dissolved to Behind him, from the direction of the
a greasy mist. But it didn't. lake, he heard a sudden clangor as of rock
The light beam from the ray-gun died beating against metal. This endured only a
The Planetoid of Peril 9
short time. Then the solid ground beneath him oxygen, and his tongue felt thick as though he
shook slightly, and an appalling crash of trees were being strangled. Then he saw that his
and underbrush to the rear told him that the oxygen concentrator had been knocked from
stone colossus was on his trail. his head when he fell, and was dangling from
He leaped to his feet and continued his a limb several feet away. It was almost out of
great bounds over the sharply curved surface breathing range. Had it fallen on through the
of the asteroid, banging against tree trunks, branches to the ground he would have died, in
bruising himself against stones, falling in the his unconsciousness, in the rarified
darkness to rise again and flee as before in a atmosphere. He reached for it; settled the band
mad attempt to distance the crashing sound of around his head again.
pursuit behind him. After once more listening and peering
Then he felt himself writhing in thin around to make sure the rock colossus was not
air as his flying course took him over the edge about, he descended the tree that had saved his
of a cliff. Down, down he fell, to land in a life, and began to walk in the direction he
dense bed of foliage far below. Something hit judged the lake to be. He would get into his
his head with terrific force. Pinwheels of light Dart, cruise aloft out of harm's way, and
flashed before his eyes, to fade into velvety perhaps think up some effective course of
nothingness.... action.
SLOWLY, uncertainly he wavered back to HE WAS thinking clearly, now. And, in the
consciousness. For a moment he was aware of glare of daylight, no longer an unreasoning
nothing save that he was lying on some animal fleeing blindly over a dim-lit foreign
surface that was jagged and uncomfortable, sphere, he was unable to understand his panic
and that it was broad daylight. He opened his of the night. Afraid? Of course he had been
eyes, and saw that he was reclining, across a afraid! What man wouldn't have been at sight
springy bed formed of the top of a tree. Ahead of that monstrous thing? But that he, Harley
of him loomed a cliff about a hundred feet 2Q14N20, should have lost his head
high. completely and gone plunging off into the
Remembrance suddenly came to him. brush like that, seemed unbelievable. To the
The unreasoning rush through the underbrush. depths of his soul he felt ashamed. And to his
The nightmare creature lumbering swiftly own soul he made the promise that he would
after him. The fall over the cliff into the top of wipe out, in action, that hour of cowardice.
this tree. As he wound his way through the
With a cry, he sat up, expecting to see squat, carmine forest, he tried to figure out the
the stone giant nearby and poised to leap. But nature of the thing that had crashed balefully
it was nowhere in sight; nor, listen as intently after him in the black hours.
as he would, could he hear the sounds of its It had seemed made of rock—a giant,
crashing path through the brush. Somehow, primitive stone statue imbued with life. But it
for the moment at least, he had been saved. was impossible that it should really be
Perhaps his disappearance over the cliff edge fashioned of rock. At least it ought to be
had thrown it off his track. impossible. Rock is inorganic, inanimate. It
He became aware of the fact that it simply couldn't have the spark of life in it.
was difficult for him to breathe. His lungs Harley had seen many strange creations, on
were heaving in a vain effort to suck in more many strange planets, but never had he seen
Astounding Stories 10
inorganic mineral matter endowed with distance it appeared to be all right; but as he
animation. Nor had anyone else. drew near a cry rose involuntarily to his lips.
In a dozen places the double hull of the
Yet the thing looked as though made little space craft was battered in. The man-
of stone. Of some peculiar, quartz-suffused hole lid was torn from its braces and bent
granite—proving that the wan, white-haired double. The glass panels, unbreakable in
man he had talked to in the sanitarium had not themselves, had been shoved clear into the
been mad at all, but only too terribly sane. The cabin; their empty sash frames gaped at
creature's very eyes had had a stony look. Its Harley like blinded eyes. Never again would
eyelids had rasped like stone curtains rubbing that Blinco Dart speed through the heavens!
together. Its awful, two-fingered hands, or He went to the spot where he had left
claws, had ground together like stones his Sco drill, and a further evidence of the
rubbing. thing's cold blooded ferocity was revealed.
Was it akin to the lizards, the cold- The intricate mechanism had been wrenched
blooded life of Earth? Was this rocky exterior into twisted pieces. The drums were battered
merely a horny shell like that of a turtle? No. in and the flexible hose lengths torn apart in
Horn is horn and rock is rock. The two can't shreds. The inventor himself couldn't have put
be confused. it in working order again.
The only theory Harley could form He was hopelessly trapped. He had no
was that the great beast was in some strange means of fighting the colossus. He had no way
way a link between the animal and the mineral of escaping into space, nor of returning to
kingdoms. Its skeletal structure, perhaps, was Earth and trying to raise a loan that would
silicate in substance, extending to provide an allow him to come back here with men and
outside covering that had hardened into actual atomic guns. He hadn't even a way of
stone, while forming an interior support to intrenching himself in the ground against the
flesh that was half organic, half inorganic next attack.
matter. Some such silicate construction was to
be found in the sponge, of Earth. Could this be FOR AN instant his hair prickled in a flash of
a gigantic relative of that lowly creature? He the blind panic that had seized him a few
did not know, and couldn't guess. He wasn't a hours before. With a tremendous effort of will
zoologist. All he knew was that the thing he fought it down. This—the destruction of
appeared to be formed of living, impregnable his precious Dart and drill—was the result of
stone. He knew, also, that this fabulous one siege of insensate fear. If he succumbed to
creature was bent on destroying him. another one he might well dash straight into
At this point in his reflections, the the arms of death. He sank to the ground and
glint of water came to his eyes between the rested his chin on his fist, concentrating all his
tree trunks ahead of him. He had come back to intellect on the hopeless problem that faced
the lake. him.
The surface of Z-40 was many square
FOR moments he stood behind one of the miles in extent. But, if he tried to hide himself,
larger trees on the fringe and searched around he knew it was only a question of time before
the shore for sight of the rock giant. It was he would be hunted down. The asteroid was
nowhere in evidence. Rapidly he advanced too tiny to give him indefinite concealment.
from the forest and ran for the Dart. From a Flight, then, was futile.
