The Early Asimov. Volume 2

'When c'n we get out the next shipment, All'n?'

'Not for at least a week. We haven't a thing that'll either roll or fly for days, and it will be even longer before we can start harvesting again.'

'Have we any supplies on hand now?'

'A few tons of assorted blooms - mainly the red-purples. The Earth shipment last Tuesday took off almost everything.'

George fell into a reverie.

His brother waited a moment and did sharply, 'Well, what's on your mind? What's the news from Aresopolis?'

'Domned bad! The quake's leveled three-fourths o' Aresopolis and the rest's pretty much gutted with fire, I rackon. There 're fifty thousand that'll have t' camp out nights. -That's no fun in Martian autumn weather with the Airth gravity system broken down.'

Allen whistled, 'Pneumonia!'

'And common colds and influenza and any o' half doz'n diseases t' say nothing o' people bairnt. - Old Vincent is raising cain.'

'Wants blooms?'

'He's only got a two-day supply on hand. He's got t' have more.'

Both were speaking quietly, almost with indifference, with the vast understatement that is all that makes great crises bearable.

There was a pause and then George spoke again, 'What the best we c'n do?'

'Not under a week - not if we kill ourselves to do it. If they could send over a ship as soon as the storm dies down, we might be able to send what we have as a temporary supply until we can get over with the rest.'

'Silly even t' think o' that. The Aresopolis port is just ruins. They haven't a ship t' their names.'

Again silence. Then Allen spoke in a low, tense voice, 'What are you waiting for? What's that look on your face for?"

'I'm waiting f'r y* t' admit y'r domned machines have failed y' in the fairest emairgency we've had t' meet.'

'Admitted,' snarled the Earthman.

'Good! And now it's up t' me t' show y' what human ingenuity can do.' He handed a sheet of paper to his brother, 'There's a copy of the message I sent Vincent.'

Allen looked long at his brother and slowly read the pencilled scribbling.

'Will deliver all we have on hand in thirty-six hours. Hope it will keep you going the few days until we can get a real shipment out. Things are a little rough out here.'

'How are you going to do it?' demanded Allen, upon finishing.

'I'm trying to show y',' answered George, and Allen realized for the first time that they had left Central and were out in the caverns.

George led the way for five minutes and stopped before an object bulking blackly in the dimness. He turned on the section lights and said, 'Sand truck!'

The sand truck was not an imposing object. With the low driving car in front and the three squat, open-topped freight-cars behind it, presented a picture of obsolete decrepitude. Fifteen years ago, it had been relegated to the dust-heap by the sand-sleds and rocket-freights.

The Ganymedan was speaking, 'Checked it an hour ago, m'self, and 'tis still in wairking order. It has shielded bearings, air conditioning unit f'r the driving car and an intairnal combustion engine.'

The other looked up sharply. There was an expression of distaste on his face. 'You mean it burns chemical fuel.'

'Yup! Gas'line. That's why I like it. Reminds me o' Ganymede. On Ga

'But wait a while. We haven't any of that gasoline.'

'No, rackon not. But we got lots o' liquid hydrocarbons round the place. How about Solvent D? That's mostly octane. We've got tanks o' it.'

Allen said, 'That's so; - but the truck holds only two.'

'I know it. I'm one.'

'And I'm the other.'

George grunted, 'I rackond y'd say that - but this isn't going t' be a push-button machine job. Rackon y'r up t' it - Airth-man?'

'I reckon I am - Ga

The sun had been up some two hours before the sand-truck's engine whirred into life, but outside, the murk had become, if anything, thicker.

The main driveway within the caverns was ahum with activity. Grotesque figures with eyes peering through the thick glass of improvised air-helmets stepped back as the truck's broad, sand-adapted wheels began their slow turn. The three cars behind had been piled high with purple blooms, canvas covers had been thrown over them and bound down tightly - and now the signal was given to open the doors.

The lever was jerked downwards and the double doors separated with sand-clogged protests. Through a gray whirl of inblown sand, the truck made its way outwards, and behind it sand-coated figures brushed at their air-helmets and closed the doors again.

George Carter, inured by long Ganymedan custom, met the sudden gravity change as they left the protective Gravitor fields of the caverns, with a single long-drawn breath. His hands held steady upon the wheels. His Terrestrial brother, however, was in far different condition. The hard nauseating knot into which his stomach tied itself loosened only very gradually, and it was a long time before his irregular stertorous breathing approached anything like normality again.

And throughout, the Earthman was conscious of the other's side-long glance and of just a trace of a smile about the other's lips.

It was enough to keep the slightest moan from issuing forth, though his abdominal muscles cramped and icy perspiration bathed his face.

The miles clicked off slowly, but the illusion of motionless-ness was almost as complete as that in space. The surroundings were gray - uniform, monotonous and unvarying. The noise of the engine was a harsh purr and the clicking of the air-purifier behind like a drowsy tick. Occasionally, there was an especially strong gust of wind, and a patter of sand dashed against the window with a million tiny, separate pings.

George kept his eye strictly upon the compass before him. The silence was almost oppressive.

And then the Ganymedan swivelled his head, and growled, 'What's wrong with the domned vent'lator?'

Allen squeezed upward, head against the low top, and then turned back, pale-faced, 'It's stopped.'

'It'll be hours 'fore the storm's over. We've got t' have air till then. Crawl in back there and start it again.' His voice was flat and final.

'Here,' he said, as the other crawled over his shoulder into the back of the car. 'Here's the tool-kit. Y've got 'bout twenty minutes 'fore the air gets too foul t' breathe. 'Tis pretty bad now.'

The clouds of sand hemmed in closer and the dim yellow light above George's head dispelled only partially the darkness within.

There was the sound of scrambling from behind him and then Allen's voice, 'Damn this rope. What's it doing here?' There was a hammering and then a disgusted curse.

This thing is choked with rust.'

'Anything else wrong?' called out the Ganymedan.

'Don't know. Wait till I clear it out.' More hammering and an almost continuous harsh, scraping sound followed.

Allen backed into his seat once more. His face dripped rusty perspiration and a swab with the back of an equally damp, rust-covered hand did it no good.

'The pump is leaking like a punctured kettle, now that the rust's been knocked loose. I've got it going at top speed, but the only thing between it and a total breakdown is a prayer.'

'Start praying,' said George, bruskly. 'Pray for a button to push.'

The Earthman frowned, and stared ahead in sullen silence.

At four in the afternoon, the Ganymedan drawed, 'Air's begi

Allen snapped to alertness. The air was foul and humid within. The ventilator behind swished sibilantly between each click and the clicks were spacing themselves further apart. It wouldn't hold out much longer now.

'How much ground have we covered?'

' 'Bout a thaird o' the distance,' was the reply. 'How 'r y' holding out?'

'Well enough,' Allen snapped back. He retired once more into his shell.