Straining his ears Dynamon heard a tiny voice far away saying, "I'm
still falling."
"I'm coming after you, Keltry!" the centurion yelled, and reaching
up to the knob on his helmet, twisted frantically. By doing that, he
multiplied the gravitational pull of the planet and was now falling
much more swiftly than Keltry. How deep this black pit was, Dynamon had
no idea, but he prayed it would be deep enough so that he could catch
up with Keltry before she hit the bottom. It was a desperate chance but
Dynamon was willing to take it.
"Keltry!" he shouted into the transmitter. "Can you hear me? I'm coming
for you."
"Yes, I hear you, Dynamon," came the answer, and Dynamon's heart leapt
as it seemed to him that the voice sounded a little stronger.
"Keep your courage up, Keltry," he said, trying to sound calm. "I'm
falling faster than you are. There doesn't seem to be any bottom to
this pit so I'm bound to catch up with you."
"Oh, Dynamon! You shouldn't have jumped after me. There's--there's
only--one chance in a million that we don't crash."
* * * * *
Keltry was bravely trying to hide the despair and terror in her
voice, but most important of all to Dynamon was the fact that she
sounded--still nearer! He resolutely put out of his mind the frightful
probability that at any second, first Keltry and then he, would be
dashed to pieces at the bottom of the pit. It seemed to him that he had
been falling for miles, and he thought that there was beginning to be
more air resistance now. He bent his head and peered downward, trying
to pierce the inky blackness with his eyes, but he could see nothing.
It was a fantastic sensation or, better still, a lack of all sensation.
He seemed to be resting immobile in a black nothingness, with only the
rushing air tearing at his cloak to indicate that he was falling.
"Keep talking, Keltry," he cried.
"Oh, you sound so much nearer!" There was a note of incredulous hope
in Keltry's voice.
"I told you I'd catch up with you!" Dynamon exulted.
Suddenly, his heart gave a great bound. He was still peering downward
and it seemed to him that far away he could see a tiny pin point of
light.
"Keltry!" he cried, "am I seeing things? Or is there something that
looks like a star; way down there?"
"Oh, I think I see it!" Keltry answered breathlessly. "Dynamon, what
could that mean?"
"I don't know," said Dynamon, "but it seems to be growing larger, and
I'm getting much nearer to you."
Under his fascinated eyes, the star grew bigger and brighter by the
second. In a few moments Dynamon, hardly daring to believe his eyes,
thought he could make out the outlines of a flying figure between him
and the light.
"Keltry!" he shouted. "I've almost caught up with you! Hold your hands
up over your head."
"Oh Dynamon! I think I can see you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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