"Here's to a good pilot and a good joe, Eddie Glazer," Dan Coye said raising the flask, suddenly serious. "He wanted to get to the moon and he did. It belongs to him now, all of it, by right of occupation." He squeezed the doll dry and methodically screwed the head back on and replaced it in his pocket. "Now let's see what we can do about contacting control, putting them in the picture, and start cutting an orbit back towards Earth." * * * * * Gino turned the radio on but did not send out the call yet. While they had talked their orbit had carried them around to the other side of the moon and its bulk successfully blocked any radio communication with Earth. They hurtled their measured arc through the darkness and watched another sunrise over the sharp lunar peaks: then the great globe of the Earth swung into sight again. North America was clearly visible and there was no need to use repeater stations. Gino beamed the signal at Cape Canaveral and waited the two and a half seconds for his signal to be received and for the answer to come back the 480,000 miles from Earth. The seconds stretched on and on, and with a growing feeling of fear he watched the hand track slowly around the clock face. "They don't answer...." "Interference, sunspots ... try them again," Dan said in a suddenly strained voice. The control at Canaveral did not answer the next message, nor was there any response when they tried the emergency frequencies. They picked up some aircraft chatter on the higher frequencies, but no one noticed them or paid any attention to their repeated calls. They looked at the blue sphere of Earth, with horror now, and only after an hour of sweating strain would they admit that, for some unimaginable reason, they were cut off from all radio contact with it. "Whatever happened, happened during our last orbit around the moon. I was in contact with them while you were matching orbits," Dan said, tapping the dial of the ammeter on the radio. "There couldn't be anything wrong...?" "Not at this end," Gino said grimly. "But something has happened down there." "Could it be ... a war?" "It might be. But with _whom_ and why? There's nothing unusual on the emergency frequencies and I don't think...." "_Look!_" Dan shouted hoarsely, "The lights--where are the lights?" In their last orbit the twinkling lights of the American cities had been seen clearly through their telescope. The entire continent was now black. "Wait, see South America--the cities are lit up there, Gino. What could possibly have happened at home while we were in that orbit?" "There's only one way to find out. We're going back. With or without any help from ground control."