Cold War -- Fiction; Moon -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Survival -- Fiction
With the drum of calking compound inside, both Capt. Lawler and Lt.
Chandler retreated to the bunks. Capt. Wilkins maneuvered the mixing
attachment. "I feel crowded," he said.
"Cozy's the word."
"Watch it! Watch it! You almost hit me in the face plate with that!"
"Sorry."
At length the mixer was in operation in the drum.
"Works perfectly," said Capt. Wilkins proudly.
"Now what, Skip? The instructions aren't in English."
"You're supposed to dump the bucket of stuff in. Then clean the area
thoroughly around the leak."
"With what?" asked Major Winship.
"Sandpaper, I guess."
"With sandpaper?" Major Winship said, emptying the bucket of fluid into
the drum. "We don't have any sandpaper."
"It's been a long day," Capt. Wilkins said.
"Mix it thoroughly," Lt. Chandler mused. "I guess that means let it mix
for about ten minutes or so. Then you apply it. It sets for service in
just a little bit, Finogenov said. An hour or so, maybe."
"I hope this doesn't set on exposure to air."
"No," Capt. Lawler said. "It sets by some kind of chemical action.
General Finogenov wasn't sure of the English name for it. Some kind of
plastic."
"Let's come back to how we're going to clean around the leak," Major
Winship said.
"Say, I--" interrupted Capt. Wilkins. There was a trace of concern
in his voice. "This is a hell of a time for this to occur to
me. I just wasn't thinking, before. _You don't suppose it's a
room-temperature-curing epoxy resin, do you?_"
"Larry," said Major Winship, "I wouldn't know a room-temperature-curing
epoxy resin from--"
"Hey!" exclaimed Capt. Wilkins. "The mixer's stopped." He bent forward
and touched the drum. He jerked back. "Ye Gods! that's hot! And it's
harder than a rock! It _is_ an epoxy! Let's get out of here."
"Huh?"
"Out! Out!"
Major Winship, Lt. Chandler, and Capt. Lawler, recognizing the sense of
urgency, simultaneously glanced at the drum. It was glowing cherry red.
"Let's go!" Capt. Wilkins said.
He and the Major reached the airlock at the same time and became
temporarily engaged with each other. Movement was somewhat ungainly
in the space suits under the best of conditions, and now, with the
necessity for speed, was doubly so. The other two crashed into them
from behind, and they spewed forth from the dome in a tangle of arms
and legs.
At the table, they separated, two going to the left, two to the right.
The table remained untouched.
When they halted, Capt. Wilkins said, "Get to one side, it may go off
like shrapnel." They obeyed.
"What--what--what?" Capt. Lawler stuttered.
They were still separated, two on one side of the airlock, two on the
other.
"I'm going to try to look," Capt. Wilkins said. "Let me go." He
lumbered directly away from the dome for a distance of about fifteen
feet, then turned and positioned himself, some five feet behind the
table, on a line of sight with the airlock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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