Though Maw Barstow protested and wailed, she had no counter suggestion to offer. DuChane held aloof from the discussion, but when Marlin called on McGruder to pick up one end of the blanket-swathed figure, DuChane thrust himself between them and gathered the body in his arms. "I'll take care of this," he said gruffly. * * * * * A sense of bleak desolation swept over Marlin, as he watched the other man, with his somber burden, slowly ascend the ramp toward the blackened door of the incinerator. At this moment the blow struck. The concussion was so terrific that it sent Marlin sprawling the full length of the ramp. He brought up against a hard surface, dazed and gasping, and lay inert for a period that might have been minutes, vaguely aware of the darkness, of shrieks, and the crash of falling bodies. Painfully, at length, he picked himself up. As the sphere continued to heave and vibrate from the impact, someone fell against him. Clutching arms caught at him and a voice--Sally's--sobbed convulsively in his ears. He disengaged the clinging arms. "Cut it out!" he said gruffly. "We're still alive--I don't know why. Let's see if we can find any lights." Half dragging the girl after him, he made his way to the storeroom. He remembered a drawer containing flashlights. Several were broken, but he located a couple in working order. Above the general clamor, the howls of someone apparently in agony rose with monotonous regularity. With the aid of the flashlights, he stumbled toward the sound, Sally following. Overhead the girders groaned and clanked with metallic reverberations. Several of them must have been fractured. By the feeble radiance of the torches, he located the source of the agonized howls. Above the level of the observation scaffold--now a mass of tumbled wreckage--the gummy substance of the outer coating was issuing inexorably through a rent in the shell. Trapped in the deluge was Slinky Link--his face distorted with animal-like terror, one free arm pawing helplessly at the engulfing tide. Marlin hastily sought a way of reaching him, but before he could salvage a ladder the demented creature was beyond help. His howls abruptly ended in a gurgle as the eruption relentlessly closed over him. Sally was suddenly very sick. McGruder, and then DuChane stumbled toward the light. "Wha--what happened?" came the befuddled question. "We were struck, of course. Help me get Sally back to her bunk. The stuff--swallowed up Link. Where are the others?" They found Pearl sitting in a corner with Maw's head in her lap. She was gently smoothing the older woman's brow, which bore an ugly welt. Maw was groaning, but apparently more in fright than pain. * * * * * Marlin swept his flashlight over them, decided they were in need of no immediate attention. "Let's see whether we can restore the lights."