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Read Ebook: Flight Into the Unknown by Harris Tom W
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Ebook has 77 lines and 6006 words, and 2 pages
Things were a little better after that.
Krotzer's reports kept coming in, and they were nearing the unknown satellite. Everyone felt a little numble-witted because the meteor patch was leaking and pressure was low. DiCredico kept a tight routine and they leaned into it for support.
Finally a little red globe appeared on the viewer, and they were approaching Katherine Two.
They followed Krotzer's bearings and they saw his ship and near it the bubble. Nobody responded when they fired flares.
The Ranger touched down. DiCredico took Bailey, Regan, and the medic Fry out with him. Conditions were similar to earth, and they wore no space suits.
They swished through red waist-high growths like spongy fern.
"There's his ship," said Fry. "It doesn't look in bad shape."
"Can't tell," said DiCredico. "Funny things happen."
They reached the ship and paused by it. It appeared unharmed. A body lay near it, burned in two.
Matt turned to the skipper. "It looks like--like a heater did it. Do you suppose these things have something like that?"
"Funny things happen," said DiCredico. "Anyway, he's dead. Let's get on to Krotzer."
They saw that Krotzer had half-opaqued his bubble. They would have to come in close enough to see and be seen through it for him to know they were there. Nobody saw any indication of life or motion outside it.
"We'll give it a wide circle," said DiCredico. "See if there's any visible danger."
It took twenty minutes to make the circle. Nobody saw anything.
"Something's damned queer," said Regan.
"Something's always queer," said DiCredico. "Now, here's the plan. Get your suits on. From Krotzer's reports, whatever is after him is stopped or impeded by material substance. Then we go in one at a time. I go first. If nothing happens to me, Regan comes in. If he makes it, Bailey. Then Fry. If anything goes wrong, I want the man with next turn to try the other side of the bubble. Except you, Fry. If you're the only one left, get back to the ship. You'll have to make a report, and you and the men can decide the next step. Dig?"
They nodded. DiCredico sauntered off through the spongy feathers. He reached the bubble, looked in, waved on Regan. Regan reached it, peered into it, turned and waved to Bailey, an odd expression on his face.
Bailey started across the red field. Aloneness, menace, strangeness settled on him as he walked. Maybe you got used to these feelings. Maybe you got over them. Maybe they got you. Or maybe something else got you. So this was the service.
He was at the bubble. Fry and DiCredico were looking at him so strangely ... partly expectant, appraising, ironic--indefinable. Matt turned to wave Fry on, then went up and peered into the bubble.
Then he knew what had happened to Captain Krotzer.
The captain sat with his shirt undone and dirty, his eyes fixed glassily to a place on the dome some twenty feet from where Bailey stood. Unkempt beard was on his face. A blaster lay on the table. The bodies of his crew lay about him.
Krotzer held the radar mike, his lips moving monotonously.
It must have smelled terrible in there.
Space was the monster that had got Krotzer and the crew of the Galileo, moving in on them with icy probings until one of them had cracked.
Bailey felt a hand on his shoulder. Fry had arrived. The medic gazed into the dome. They went over and sat near DiCredico.
"We may as well go in and get him," said their skipper. "Try to be easy on him."
Matt Bailey felt something breaking inside his chest. Maybe it would grow back, maybe it wouldn't.
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