Prisoners -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
Logan hit the auxiliary switch. They were within the Moon's
gravitational pull and he had no choice. He was exhausted and felt like
crying. Lord, was there no end to it? Would the lunatic never stop?
Hadn't he paid enough for his own relapse?
The startled face of the radaronics operator flashed on the screen
again. "Prepare for crash," Logan shouted at him, then cut the power to
conserve fuel.
Through the steering port he could see the soiled craters of the Moon
leaping up at him and the Patrol spacer began to whine and vibrate
as it hit the three pound air pressure. He sweat over the auxiliary
controls, nursing the fuel in short bursts, breaking the rate of fall,
juggling the angle. They were west of the Mountains of Caucasus and
directly above a narrow strip of plains. Within a thousand feet he hit
the jet activator and held it. A single explosive roar sounded; died.
There was nothing more he could do. He closed his eyes and began to
pray.
The Patrol spacer hit and dug a furrow across the plain for three
miles, eight inches of the finest steel fighting lava rock and meteor
metal. The base of the Alps range was within leaping distance when the
battered hull shivered to a halt. The deck was twisted and friction
smoke filled the air.
Logan got up. His legs didn't want to hold him, but he got up anyhow.
There was blood on his face and more oozing from his thigh. He heard
the high whine of escaping air, moved to a stern locker and pulled out
two pressure suits. His arms and legs were like lead. He wanted to lie
down on the floor, say to-hell-with-everything--maybe die.
Edward Snyder was quiet but alive and conscious. A trickle of blood
ran from his nose and dripped from the second chin. The monkey-like
mimic moaned up and down the scale.
"Put this on," Logan whispered. He tossed one of the suits on the bunk.
Enough air had escaped to hamper breathing and affect his voice.
"I'm chained," Snyder snarled. "For God's sake, why don't you kill me?"
For a moment Logan stared at him, then swayed and caught himself on the
bulkhead. He had reached the end and he knew it. He lifted the blaster
toward his captive.
Snyder's expression was ethereal. He threw back his shoulders and
braced himself. Then the massive face turned blank as the leg chains
were carried away. The second blast freed one arm. Logan dropped the
piece of file on the bunk. The fat man stared dumbly, then snatched it
up and sawed at the remaining chain with savage joy.
Lt. Mike Logan crawled numbly into his pressure suit, slipped out an
escape hatch and dropped to the Moon's cold crust. He couldn't let
Snyder die; he couldn't stay with the insane killer free. There was no
end to it.
He struck off toward the towering crags of the Alps. His lead wouldn't
be much. Snyder with his twisted brain would be after him in a few
minutes, but he didn't care how it ended anymore. The giant couldn't
escape from the Moon. They'd get him again. But he, Logan, wasn't going
to kill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account