One Against the Moon DONALD A. WOLLHEIM The World Publishing Company CLEVELAND AND NEW YORK Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-9261 FIRST EDITION HC856 Copyright 1956 by Donald A. Wollheim. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except for brief passages included in a review appearing in a newspaper or magazine. Manufactured in the United States of America. [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] To WILLIAM BALTER A fixed star in a fickle sky DONALD A. WOLLHEIM HAS WRITTEN The Secret of Saturn's Rings The Secret of the Martian Moons HAS EDITED Terror in the Modern Vein Every Boy's Book of Science-Fiction The Portable Novels of Science Flight into Space Adventures on Other Planets The Pocket Book of Science-Fiction Contents 1. Dream of Stars 13 2. White Sands or Red? 23 3. Up the Space Ladder 33 4. Riding the Atoms 51 5. Fall Without End 61 6. Target: Luna 71 7. The Honeycomb Place 81 8. Robinson Crusoe Carew 92 9. From Stone Age to Iron Age 102 10. The Incredible Footprints 111 11. The Glass Man 121 12. The Long Trek 131 13. The Sun and the Trap 147 14. The Man From Lake Baikal 157 15. Getaway Bomb 165 16. On the Crater Floor 175 17. Moon Calling Earth 187 18. Madman's Battle 198 19. Riding the Tornado 208 One Against the Moon _1. To Dream of Stars_ That morning began like all the preceding mornings of the past two years with the tinny jangling of the little alarm clock on Robin Carew's bureau. Opening his black eyes, he struggled into a sitting position on the narrow bed, reached out his hand and turned off the alarm. He yawned, swung his feet to the floor, rubbed his eyes. It was half past seven again of another workday morning.