Remember Me, Kama! By Walter Kubilius [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astonishing Stories, October 1942. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Old Cobber's hand trembled slightly as he turned his tankbox so that his guns would point at the crew working outside. Wilson, atop the white hill, watching the men clear away the ammonia snow drifts from the jets of the rocket, was the first to notice the challenging position of Cobber in his tankbox. "Are you getting in or out of the airlock?" he radioed to Cobber. "Make up your mind." The old man's lips were dry and his voice was hoarse as he spoke into the mouthpiece. "I am going to blow up the ship," he said. Instantly the work of clearing the field stopped. Through the haze of poison air that surrounded the planet, Cobber could see them wheel into a semi-circle not more than thirty yards away from him and the airlock that he held. Wilson's tank rumbled a few feet forward from the semi-circle. "You don't dare shoot, Cobber," he said quietly. "You're outnumbered thirty to one." "Stand back! All of you!" Cobber shouted into the mike. "I'll blow up the first one that moves!" "Don't be a fool, Cobber," Wilson said. "There's enough catalytic rock stored in the ship for all of us. I can make you a rich man. Put down those guns and we'll forget what has happened. Put down those guns." "This ship is not going back to Earth," Cobber said. "Put down those guns, Cobber!" Wilson shouted. "You can't win!" Cobber turned the knob and shut off Wilson's loud voice. He then opened one of the dinatro bombs that lay beside him, unscrewed the cap and tossed it into the back of the car with the other neatly stacked-up explosives. "Ten seconds!" he yelled. The men were stunned for a moment by the suddenness of his decision to blow up the ship. They stood dumfounded, not knowing what to do, until one of them screamed "Dinatro!" Panic-stricken, they dashed their tanks for the meager protection of the nearby cliffs. Wilson's tank stood still, not moving. "You're bluffing, Cobber," he called out. "You want to scare the men away so you can seize the ship and get back to Earth. All right, Cobber, you win. Only you and I will share the cargo. I'm coming in." One second. Two. Three. "There's more than a cargo at stake," Cobber said. Four seconds. Five. Six. "Remember me, Kama!" Cobber said softly to himself. Seven. Eight.... * * * * * The silent bulbous mass that was the Great Kama extended an undulating growing finger and pointed. When Cobber saw the charred bodies of the Kamae he knew what it meant to have one's people ravaged and killed. In that moment he forget the rosy glow of ammonia snow on the mountain tops and the purple clouds that battled majestically over the planet.