Page:Fantastic Volume 08 Number 01.djvu/67

 have started to tackle that, but it was clear that it had not been touched.

He asked how things were going, and nodded when I told him.

"We'll need the two-man dome, and gear for it, and of course, the fuel containers—might as well unload the lot of them while you're at it; just as well to have them stacked handy; no point in leaving them in the ship. And some cases of food, and bottles of water, and—"

"Steady on," I protested. "We shan't be going on a week's expedition right away. All I expect to do tomorrow is try the thing out, and perhaps have a short flip over to see what that dark line is. We can take the dome and some food against an emergency, but there's no point in loading up useless extra weight."

"Tomorrow?" he repeated. "I thought—I mean, there's about five hours of light yet

"Possibly," I admitted, "but I've just done nearly three hours steady work in a spacesuit. If you are so anxious to hurry it on, you try a shift on the job yourself."

I had scarcely expected him to rise to that, and he didn't. Instead, he watched me for a minute or two without speaking, while I collected some food. Then he went back to looking out of the window. He'd stand there, motionless, peering intently for a time, then he would suddenly turn his head quickly from side to side, like a spectator watching an unnaturally fast rally at a tennis-match, and draw his breath in quickly. After that, there would be another motionless interlude for a bit. I was already on edge from the spell outside, and it soon began to get on my nerves.

"You won't see anything," I told him. "Come over here, and have some food."

Rather surprisingly, he came without demur.

"I suppose you told them to keep out of sight," he said. "Well, they're doing it, but they aren't fooling me."

"Oh, for God's sake—!" I began, letting my temper slip a bit at last.

"All right—all right," he said, hurriedly. "Perhaps they told you not to let on about them. It doesn't matter, really. Comes to the same thing."

I gave up trying to follow that, and simply grunted.

During the rest of the meal, and after it, we maintained a state of tactful truce, but when this had been disturbed some five times by his leaping THE TROONS OF SPACE