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investigate the conditions that lie beyond, this should be done at once.
The space men answered this challenge.  We are probably too late. All the space ships in the world
could not handle one percent of the Earth s population for an immediate mass migration. For years we
have argued for huge space fleets, but our argument has been ignored. Whether there is any escape for
us, it will soon be known. We can break through the shell. The Battering Rams equipped with augers are
equal to the task. And everyone knows we can count on Lester Allison to lead the way.
Something in this proposal caught the imagination of the people. No longer were they paralyzed with fear.
This panic in contrast to former ones was a call for action.
 Build more ships! Cut tunnels through the shell! Break away from this civilization! Start afresh!
Perhaps it was more a mania of unrest than a sane, calculated plan of action. The conservative engineers
were sure that the proposal was utterly impossible.
Kirk Riley was one of the first to go to work. He knew the Battering Rams by now, and he had helped
Allison with one drilling job. While other Battering Rams were being prepared with the automatic boring
mechanisms, Kirk selected a crew of his own and opened his power drive upon the crystal wall.
Meanwhile, June Allison and Diana Scott went to the Ohio Zoo to appeal to Lester. Their meeting was
disheartening. Allison did not want to talk. He was taking a vacation, he said.
They came away resolved to leave him alone until he had had a rest. It was true he had been under great
pressure in recent weeks.
But the space men were sending out such urgent calls for him that June decided to make another effort.
She and Diana Scott enlisted Professor Haycox in the cause, and the three of them went back to Ohio.
Haycox was not much help. In the presence of these huge specimens, flapping silently against the top of a
pen, he was something of a goggle-eyed schoolboy himself.
 I think it was a mistake, June whispered,  for us to bring him along. Now we can t get a word out of
either of them.
 I was that way the first time I saw an elephant, said Diana,  but those boys act a little goofy to me.
 Scuse me, June, I didn t mean to insult your husband.
 That s all right. I know Lester s not goofy. But June s voice was troubled.
Then, to make matters worse, the manager of the zoo sauntered past and made a comment.
 Were you noticing that tall, good-looking fellow sitting over there on the bench? Well, he sits there all
day long, just watching. It s too bad, isn t it? But don t be afraid of him. He s harmless.
CHAPTER XXIII
Bright Lights for Starfish
KIRK was a hero now. He had succeeded in cutting a straight tunnel through the shell. He had gone out
and come back and lived to tell the story. He had even taken the supreme risk of drawing breath while
outside the shell. Yes, there was oxygen to be breathed.
The air had been so thick, in fact, that he had not chanced a long flight outside the shell. The friction was
as great as at a takeoff from sea level. But he had gone far enough to get a clear view of the amazing
green creatures. He had been much too small for them to see. He had flown around the head of one and
had circled back between the creature s horns.
His most startling news from this expedition was that he had seen no signs of any ammunition in the
vicinity of the weapon. He believed that it was not a mammoth gun, but a telescope.
In the next few days other space travelers ventured out to corroborate these findings. They came back
with tales of an endless host of the great green creatures, who were said to be parading along the flat
green plain.
These discoveries were revolutionary. The whole program of space ship building was temporarily
shelved. If no gun was going to blow up the Earth, the migration would be folly.
The new plan was to cut more tunnels through the crystal wall and build within them colossal telescopes.
This plan received immediate action from the heads of the various scientific groups. Since the job would
require much co-operation between space men and other engineers, they decided that Lester Allison
should be called in to direct the project.
Kirk conferred with June and Diana on this matter. He could not understand their reluctance to ask
Lester to accept this responsibility.
 But he s the only man for the job, Kirk insisted.  Everyone says so. I will go to him. He will be rested
up by this time. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]