'Clamp on the emergency plates,' he called as we passed.
There had been no time in the main cabin to fix the heavy steel plates across the windows, but now we seized them from their racks and set to with a will. No sooner was a plate fixed over one port-hole than the Moon-men turned their attack to another, and we had to rush that also to cover with an emergency plate.
In the middle of our activity came word that the men in the control-dome were abandoning their position. The place was becoming untenable on account of the bombardment of rocks, for while the rocks could be thrown on a trajectory which kept the throwers concealed, the riflemen must have direct vision before their shots could be effective.
For what seemed several hours, we lived in a nightmare of rushes from point to point. As fast as we made one spot safe, another was attacked. Then, at last, when we were weary to the point of exhaustion, we became aware that the frenzy was lessening. The batterings grew fewer and feebler, until at length they stopped altogether.
We waited, puzzled. It was almost an hour before we cautiously removed an emergency plate and peered out. Only then did we understand the abrupt cessation of hostilities. The Sun had set, and the sea-bed shimmered coldly in the pale, green-blue Earth-light. Of the Moon-men, only a few still, crumpled forms were to be seen.
'They've gone.' I said. 'But why?'
Robson pointed towards the cliff, and I saw that the stone door was now closed.
'The cold,' he explained. 'Right now it's colder out there than anything you've ever known. In a little while, it will be so cold that what little air there is left will freeze solid.'
'And the Moon-men?'
'It means the end of them. Even in their vaults, the air will freeze—though they'll freeze first.'
'Poor devils,' I said. 'To wait all those thousands of years just for this—to freeze to death!'
I had an unhappy vision of the last luckless Moon-men and women huddled together in their lightless tomb, waiting without hope for the creeping coldness of death. Robson's voice broke my mood.
'All hands on the job,' he said briskly. 'We've got to get shipshape again. Captain Toft, what are your orders, sir?'
Chapter Five
THE TWELVE COFFINS
It was decided that we would make for Earth. The morale of the Scintilla's company was too shaken to undertake the exploration of Luna's hidden side on our present trip. Since little or no calculation was necessary, Toft waited only until the engines were repaired before he headed straight for the great pale disc of Terra.
The ground fell away, and we looked for the last time on that misnamed Sea of Serenity. A few scattered brown figures were visible in the Earth-light; they seemed like a sad symbol of the littleness of that passing phase of worlds which we call life. With that final glimpse, those of us not on duty turned away and sought our cabins for overdue rest.
I slept long. It was all of twelve hours before I reopened my cabin door. My way down the passage led me past the chief engineer's room, and I hesitated outside his door, wondering whether to take him along for breakfast or whether to let him have his sleep out. My hand was on the knob when the door opened abruptly and in the doorway stood a woman—a Moon-woman !
I stood frozen with the shock, staring at her. She returned the stare, white teeth and dark eyes glinting. She crouched slightly, becoming the more grotesque and horrifying. Her right hand slid forward, and I saw that it held a knife which was red with blood.
I lunged to grip her wrist, but she was too swift. With a twist and a cry, she had passed me and was away up the corridor. I hesitated, then turned into the engineer's cabin. One look at him was enough; that Moon-devil must have slashed and slashed....
For a moment I stood irresolute. The engineer's fate might well have been mine—and I was not safe now. I ran into the corridor; the rest must be warned.
At the threshold of the living-cabin, I checked in horror. Five still forms lay on the floor, each of them horribly mutilated. I recoiled and fled to the control-dome, hoping desperately.
My fears were not vain. Just in the entrance, I stumbled over the bodies of two officers. Beside a third figure crouched a Moon-woman. At my entrance, she arose and whirled towards me; I could see that the man at her feet was Toft, alive, but bound and helpless.
She faced me like some terrifying Medusa, stepping cat-like, a knife in either hand. I backed and grasped a chair, intending to use it as a weapon—I had forgotten that all furniture on the ship must be fixed. She gave a cry, semi-human and chilling. A door on the far side of the dome opened suddenly to reveal a group of the grotesque Moon-men and women.
It was more than I could stand; I fled, bolting the door behind me.
For the next twelve hours, I remained locked in my cabin. There was plenty of time to review our folly. How could we, even in our excitement, have overlooked the possibility of menace from those twelve coffins that we had taken aboard? And not only had we taken them aboard, but we had even opened them to assure ourselves of their contents. Surely, some of us should have foreseen the danger! Either Robson or myself ought to have fastened down the lids, or, better still, have jettisoned them upon the Moon.
And in the middle of my self-blame, it came to me that this was not the end. They must have taken the ship completely by surprise and murdered every man they had found except Toft; they would make him show them how to work the ship, or else force him to guide the Scintilla back to Earth himself. The Moon-people had planned thousands of years ago their bid for survival, and it had not yet failed. A dozen of the Lunarians might yet be let loose upon Earth.
I was unarmed, for all the weapons were kept in a cupboard off the main living-cabin. I would have to get there before I could avenge my comrades and wipe out the Moon-folk. I crept to the door and listened. One hasty glance up and down the corridor assured me that it was empty, and I made stealthily in the direction of the bows.
I reached the main cabin undetected, and slipped inside. Averting my eyes from the shambles on the floor, I sought the armoury cupboard. Its steel door was locked....
Footsteps rang on the floor beyond the opposite door. In a flash, I was across the room and back by the way I had entered —weaponless, and perhaps the only survivor, unless they had permitted Toft still to live. What could I do? I could think of nothing but that I must live and carry my warning. And to live, I must have food.
By devious ways I gained the store-room, and piled the necessities of life into an empty case. I had lugged it half-way back to my cabin when misfortune overtook me. Rounding a corner, I came face to face with a Moon-man.
His surprise was greater than mine—I got in a good drive to the chin while he still stared. He went down with a cry which was half shout and half groan. It was not loud, but it served to alarm his fellows. There came a din of feet pounding down the corridor behind me. Leaving my case of food, I jumped over the prostrate man and fled.
Running and sliding on the metal floors, I made for the only safe place I knew; my cabin. The clatter of pursuing feet grew louder, spurring me on. Turning at last into the final alley, I found my way blocked. But I was desperate, and there was only one thing to do. I put my head down and charged like a bull at the four brown figures before me.
There was a brief, whirling nightmare of kicking and hammering, and then somehow I broke out of that melee and gained my cabin. With a final effort, I slammed the door in my pursuers' faces. My chest and face were bloody and lacerated. I remember pulling free a Moon-man's dagger which lodged in my left shoulder; and after that—nothing....