A motion in the direction of the setting sun caught his eye. He turned
to face it and saw a narrow, dazzling crescent low in the western sky,
a crescent that rose and grew broader as he watched. The planet had a
satellite, like Mars, so close that its period of revolution was less
than one of its own days. Little wondered if a body so close to the
planet might not prove useful. He filed the thought away for future
reference.
The sun set as he watched, and he realized he had been right about
the thinness of the air. Darkness shut down almost at once. The moon
sprang into brilliance--brilliance that was deceptive, for details on
the landscape were almost impossible to make out. Stars, scattered
at random over the sky, began to appear; and as the last traces of
daylight faded away, there became visible, at first hazily and then
clear and definite, the ghostly shape of the Galaxy. Its sprawling
spiral arms stretched across a quarter of the sky, the bulk of the
system inclined some thirty degrees from the edge-on position--just
enough to show off the tracing of the great lanes of dust that divided
the arms.
The men began to drift toward the orange glow that shone through the
entrance panels and windows of the "penthouse!" They were greeted by
the whistle of Denham, who had just completed preparation of another
meal. It was eaten as the first had been, in the corridor with a silent
audience of guards. The men had grown used to the creatures, and were
no longer bothered by their presence. The conversation was desultory,
except when Arthur Dennis offered to take the place of Denham's helper
for the evening. It was the most plausible excuse for entering the
kitchen-storeroom, where the packs had been stowed. No one commented,
though everybody guessed the reason.
Windows and doors of all rooms were left open, the first because of
Little's advice, the second because the pentapods had removed all means
of closing the entrances--privacy was impossible, which did not in the
least surprise Little. At the conclusion of the meal, he accompanied
Leo Dennis to the latter's room, which was near the end of the corridor
farthest from the elevator, and waited for the arrival of Arthur. A
little investigation solved the secret of turning out the room's tube
lights, which darkened the place somewhat, but the light from the
corridor was sufficient to move around by.
* * * * *
Arthur entered after about fifteen minutes, carrying three packs
under his arms. Two of these he tossed to his brother and the doctor,
remarking, "Pillows in one suite, anyway!" The other he retained. The
three men rolled up the packs and placed them under the canvas at the
heads of their sleeping bags, conscious meanwhile of the never-ending
scrutiny from the door; then they leaned back against the wall and
relaxed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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