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Updated: June 1, 2025
"I was thinking, Moa when we land at the Moon tomorrow where is our equipment?" The Moon, with its lack of atmosphere, needed special equipment. I had never heard Captain Carter mention what apparatus the Planetara was carrying. Moa laughed. "We have located air suits and helmets a variety of suitable apparatus, Gregg.
The bulge of the dome enclosed us; it rounded like a great observatory window some twenty feet above the ceiling of this little metal cubbyhole. The Planetara was still in Earth's shadow. The firmament black, interstellar space with its blazing white, red and yellow stars lay spread around us. The Moon, with nearly all its disc illumined, hung, a great silver ball, over our bow quarter.
Gregg Haljan was aware that there was a certain danger in having the giant spaceship Planetara stop off at the moon to pick up Grantline's special cargo of moon ore. For that rare metal invaluable in keeping Earth's technology running was the target of many greedy eyes. But nevertheless he hadn't figured on the special twist the clever Martian brigands would use.
There were instrument panels. The range finder for the giant projector was here; its telescope with the trajectory apparatus and the firing switch were unmistakable. And the signaling apparatus was here! Not a Martian set, but a fully powerful Botz ultra-violet sender with its attendant receiving mirrors. The Planetara had used the Botz system, so I was thoroughly familiar with it.
He knew, and had told the others that Grantline had found that priceless metal on the Moon and that the Planetara would stop there on the way home. But we could not incarcerate George Prince for being an eavesdropper. Nor had we the faintest possible evidence against Ob Hahn or Rankin.
And the troubadours of old would sing: "A fleeting glance; a touch; two wildly beating hearts and love was born." I think, with Anita and me, it must have been like that. I stood, gazing after her, unconscious of Dr. Frank, who was watching me with his quizzical smile. And presently, no more than a quarter beyond the zero hour, the Planetara got away.
We slid down the sloping side of the Planetara. We were unweighted, irrationally agile with this slight gravity. I fell a dozen feet and landed with barely a jar. We were out on the Lunar surface. A great sloping ramp of crags stretched down before us. Gray-black rock tinged with Earthlight. The Earth hung amid the stars in the blackness overhead like a huge section of a glowing yellow ball.
Your duties on the Planetara leave you comparatively free, don't they?" "Yes," I agreed. With the first and second officers on duty, and the Captain aboard, my routine was more or less that of an understudy. I said, "George Prince? Who is he?" "A mechanical engineer," said Halsey. "An underofficial of the Earth Federated Catalyst Corporation.
There were very few observers in the high-powered Earth stations who knew that an exploring party was on the Moon. Perhaps none of them. The Government officials who had sanctioned the expedition and Halsey and his confrères in the Detective Bureau were not anticipating trouble at this point. The Planetara was supposed to be well on her course to Ferrok-Shahn.
And we now have those code passwords I forced Dean to tell me where he had hidden them. If we should be challenged, our password answer will relieve suspicion." "The Planetara," I objected, "being overdue at Ferrok-Shahn, will cause alarm. You'll have a covey of patrol ships after you." "That will be two weeks from now," he smiled. "I have a ship of my own in Ferrok-Shahn.
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