Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 326: what you’re looking at

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

The tank scrambled up the wall and darted through. lt was as though they had come upon a conclave of the “things.” Or an ambush. The place was packed with them and the walls were less than a thousand meters apart and not eighty meters high. “Up!” said Gedso. “Reverse your gravity!” And then, “Hold on at the top here.” Below the “things” had awakened to the presence of the interloper and now began to tumble over one another and climb on backs to strike at the object above them. Other “things” poured into the cavern and, by sheer volume, the height steadily decreased. Gedso was staring anxiously around the interior of the place into which they had come. Here the walls were not flat, but arranged in a regular pattern of hummocks. And at the end was one particular knoll, much bigger than the rest. The range to it was about two hundred and twenty meters. With powerful hands Gedso poised the arc cannon and let drive at the hummock. The green-yellow streak lit up the crawling scene below. “Advance on that target,” said Gedso. Stewie eased the tank forward, trying not to look at the thickening multitude which was coming up to them. Smoke was flying from the hummock and the top of it was becoming charred. As they approached they could see that it was a nub of something which, in gigantic volume, reached out beyond. The arc cannon ate steadily into it, biting off dozens of cubic meters a second, for the stuff appeared to be very soft and highly inflammable. A feeler was touching the tank now and then, with decreasing intervals and increasing force. CORniclooo SS CO