Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 200: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

McKay dogged the hatch and the pressure began to come up. “O.K.,” Goodrich said. “Il guess we can get these helmets off now.” McKay helped Brown with his. “Boy, that was rough,” the second officer said. “Next time, somebody else can have it.” He lay back on his acceleration couch. “No rush now,” he said_ presently. “Bertha’s abandoned, and I’ve got the ship made fast. There was a tie-down cable fast to a ring by the hatch. | hooked it into one of the second-stage couplings.” He stripped off his gloves and stared curiously at his hands. They were a puffy white, mottled by dark blotches where capillaries had broken. Blood oozed from under the fingernails. ‘Til bet I’m like that all over,” he said. “I Suppose so,” Goodrich said. His vision was clearing now, but he felt as if he had been beaten all over his body, very carefully, with a rubber hose. His own fingernails felt as if they had been drown out with pincers. “What makes you think it’s abandoned?” he asked. “Well, | went in through that hatch, it must be an air lock, there’s another hatch just inside, and that’s open, too. lt gives out onto a sort of corridor. | couldn't see very well in there, there’s no light, but | think that corridor runs around the hull like a belt. | felt along it a way, and as near as | could make out it goes on at least halfway around, with doors opening on it. Some of those were open too, the whole thing’s wide open, no air. And it just feels dead. | came back to the hatch then and banged on the deck a couple of times with that oxygen bottle, didn’t get any sign of life at all.” Goodrich frowned. “| don’t see it,” he said. “Why would anyone put this thing up here, go to all that trouble, and then leave it?” “T don’t think anyone put it up here,” Brown said earnestly. “What | mean its, | think it came from another planet. Listen, there were controls in that air lock, | could see CORniclooo SS (SO)