Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition) — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

98 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION job of servomech officer automatically became superfluous, or words to that effect. He ended by confessing to a yen to stretch his legs outside the ship. | Bennett’s volunteering for the job beat Harrison’s by split seconds. The gunnery Officer also gave reasons, good ones—the same ones in fact. Spence sighed. He’d expected this. He said quietly, “We all volunteer, naturally, but someone will have to stay in the ship. Now,” he argued, “two people will stand a_ better chance out there than one, but we’ve got to increase that chance as much as possible. The way I see it, Mr. Harrison and myself will attend to the Crawlers, while you, Mr. Bennett, will support us whenever possible with your servos. That way we will all be gainfully employed.” The captain wanted to go, too. But Bennett had an_ objection. Supposing something should happen to the captain when he was outside. If he was killed, or injured maybe, what about the ship? The servomech officer couldn’t handle it, that he was sure of. The cargo was far too valuable to risk leaving it stranded on the planet in the face of what was coming, or to lose in space because of an untrained pilot. The captain shouldn’t go out. He was right, of course. On a job like this the cargo came first, always. But Spence was annoyed. He showed it by being very sarcastic at first, out the mood left him quickly. This was no time to lose his temper. “All right, heroes,” he said, “get going. You'll need suits. The light- weight type will do here—the pressure is nearly Earth-normal. [Pll give you the details while you’re climbing in. Hurry it up.” The suits arrived. With rapid, practiced movements Bennett and Harrison dropped onto their backs, wriggled their legs into the lower half, then flipped over and began pushing in their arms. It looked like the donning of long flannel under- wear, the hard way. Then came the fish bowls. In eighty seconds they were dressed. Pretty good going. Spence kept talking all the time. “The air contains about thirty per cent oxygen. It isn’t poisonous, exactly, but you’d strangle or burst your hearts through coughing if you had to breathe it for more than a few seconds, it irritates the breathing passages so much. Gravity is point six five Gee, so be careful—’ He broke off and said sharply to Harrison, “Check that seam at your shoulder. Is it tight? Slap some cement on it and make sure. No, give it to me. Pll do it. Get the walkie-talkie strapped on.” Dressed, the two men began stretch- ing and bending vigorously, testing for leaks. The captain continued. “For weapons, better take gas guns and pistols firing nonexplosive bullets. Use the pistols only as a last resort. The reports will probably bring down the tunnel roof, and we’ve got to avoid damaging the things if possible. Concentrate on gassing them, we know enough about their body chemis- try now to do that. There are a couple of gases in stock that will knock them out like a light. But if something should come.up and you fave to shoot, aim for the center of the twin flaps of muscle which cover their retract- able eyes. These are at the top of their heads, which are very heavily boned, almost armor-plated, so don’t miss them, the brain is located just behind the flaps. If you should come at them from the side, shoot at their hearts. They have two, located just above the second pair of gripping limbs and the fifth pair of walking EComichooksnco im