At the end of another shift, Nelsen took a walk, farther than ever
before, up through a twisted pass that penetrated to the other side of
the Arabian Mountains. He still had that much freedom. He wanted to
think things out. In bitter, frustrating reversal of all his former
urges to get off the Earth, he wanted, like a desperate weakling, to be
back home.
Up beyond the Arabians, he saw the tread marks of a small tractor
vehicle in a patch of dust. There was a single boot print. A short
distance farther on, there was another. He examined them with a
quizzical excitement. But there weren't any more. For miles, ahead and
behind, unimpressable lava rock extended.
Another curious thing happened, only minutes later. A thousand miles
overhead, out of reach of his sabotaged transmitter, one of those around
the Moon tour bubbs, like the unfortunate _Far Side_, was passing. He
heard the program they were broadcasting. A male voice crooned out what
must be a new, popular song. He had heard so few new songs.
"Serene...
Found a queen...
And her name is Eileen..."
Nelsen's reaction wasn't even a thought, at first; it was only an eerie
tingle in all his flesh. Then, realizing what his suspicion was, he
listened further, with all his nerves taut. But no explanation of the
song's origin was given... He even tried futilely to radio the pleasure
bubb, full of Earth tourists. In minutes it had sunk behind the abrupt
horizon, leaving him with his unanswered wonder.
Girls, he thought, in the midst of his utter solitude. All girls, to
love and have ... Eileen? Cripes, could it be little old Eileen Sands,
up on her ballet-dancing toes, sometimes, at Hendricks', and humming
herself a tune? Eileen who had deserted the Bunch, meaning to approach
space in a feminine way? Holy cow, had even _she_ gotten _that_ far, so
fast?
Suddenly the possibility became a symbol of what the others of the
Bunch must be accomplishing, while here he was, trapped, stuck futilely,
inside a few bleak square miles on the far side of Earth's own
satellite!
So here was another force of Frank Nelsen's desperation.
He made up his mind--which perhaps just then was a bit mad.
With outward calm he returned to camp, slept, worked, slept and worked
again. He decided that there was no help to be had from Lester, who was
still no man of action. Better to work alone, anyway.
Fortunately, on the Moon, it was easy to call deadly forces to one's
aid. Something as simple as possible, the trick should be. Of course all
he wanted to do was to get the upper hand on Rodan and Dutch, take over
the camp, get the missing parts of his radio and Archer, borrow the
solar tractor, and get out of here. To Serenitatis Base--Serene.
His only preparation was to sharpen the edges of a diamond-shaped trowel
used at the diggings, with a piece of pumice. Then he waited.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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