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Du
Jo
“Start taking pictures,” he yelled at the rest of them. They had three picto-recorders aboard, an instrument that measured depth below surfaces, and one that measured densities while drawing a pattern. The instruments were “light” Psychlo prospecting tools, but being Psychlo, they required a lot of muscle.
The Scots took the equipment and began individually operating through the slots in the side of the fuselage.
Jo
“Aye!” said Du
They shot back into the chasm. Jo
They swerved. The wall came within inches and swept back to yards. It danced up and down. The scream of the motors began to match the wind as they raced to correct positions.
Jo
Dead on!
He triggered the rotator. The line whipped up and down in the wind.
The plane suddenly slid sideways in a sickening swoop and almost hit the opposite wall. The core came out and dangled below the ship. Jo
“Take her up!” he shouted.
Du
“Did you get your readings and pictures?” Jo
The instrument men had gotten their depths and densities. But those operating the picto-recorders, struck by the awesome scene and seeing much more of it to take, said no, they wanted another crack at it.
"I’ll take her,” said Jo
“The devil's wife?” said Du
They wanted the slide debris at the canyon bottom.
“I hope you all made your peace with the parson before we left,” said Du
They plummeted to the bottom of the gorge and made a pass. The boiling white froth of the river fanged at the fallen fragments. They were mainly under water.
The plane fought back up the narrow gorge slowly so the picture takers could track it on both sides. Du
“Something is getting hot,” called Robert the Fox. And it had become warm in the cabin despite the altitude.
It was the motor housings, overworked in compensating for the lunging and changing inertia of the ship.
They drew opposite the top of the cliff. Jo
There was no flat surface there where one could set down a ship. There was no space where one could operate a lowered drilling platform. It was all pi
Jo
They went directly above it and Jo
Yes, he saw it plainly now. There was a crack inset about thirty feet from the top edge of the cliff, parallel to it. Another such crack had caused the fall of rock that bared the lode. But here was a second one. Just waiting for another earthquake. The whole lode would pitch into the gorge.
They went up two thousand feet and the picto-recorder operators had to be content with general scenery. It was impressive enough in its gigantic beauty.
“By your leave, MacTyler," said Du
Jo
Du
The core in Jo
“Head for home,” he told Thor.
They were very quiet on the way back.
Chapter 8
Jo
Jo
Jo
Ker had come over at Jo
So Ker had come to the base, growling a bit about it: he was an operations officer, not a mechanic. But Terl had sent him.
The midget Psychlo's temper was sweetened, however, by Jo
“Why give me this?” said Ker, suspiciously.
“Souvenir,” said Jo
It was valuable. It was a month's pay.
Ker dented it slightly with a fang. Pure gold.
“You want something, don't you,” Ker decided.
“No,” said Jo
“We have, haven't we,” said Ker.
“Besides, I might want somebody killed,” Jo
This sent Ker off into a gale of laughter. He appreciated a good joke. He put the ring in his pocket and got busy on the motor.
Half an hour later he came over to where Jo
Jo