The Moon is Hell! Read online

  We welcomed them, and watched them settle less than a mile from the Dome. They landed with a slight jar at 11:12. Almost immediately the stern rockets broke out, and hurled the ship fully fifty miles straight up, with terrific acceleration. The men were very quiet as we watched. It was easy to understand that the main rockets had in some way been accidentally opened, and could not be shut off.

  The ship was finally driven to a height of half a mile by some of the most skillful management of rockets I can conceive. The servo controls failed suddenly, and under the full drive of the main rockets, and lunar gravity, the ship crashed to the plain, now less than a quarter of a mile from the Dome. It exploded instantly. In fifteen seconds it was a white hot mass in which we know the pilots have lost their lives. We could not investigate today, as the wreck was too hot to approach.

  Dr. Garner called a meeting of the men shortly after that, and briefly pointed out that it would be over a month before Earth would realize the relief ship had crashed, and at least eight months before a second ship could be built. He asked that suggestions be given in the morning.

  May 19.

  Temperature: 163 C in rocks.

  The meeting was called this morning after breakfast. Moore, in charge of pure atmosphere, advised permanent discontinuation of all smoking, as it consumes oxygen and fouls the air. He has stated that he may be able to get oxygen from compounds in the rocks, though the process will be difficult.

  As quartermaster I had to state that the rations would have to be greatly cut down.

  Air is evidently the primary problem, as it is impossible to greatly reduce our allowance of oxygen. We will at least have warmth. Water we have for two months, but Moore promised relief on that score.

  Rice reports, however, that the batteries which have served us two years under the most extreme conditions, are in danger of breaking down. Originally built for lightness, they may fail, since they have been run continually on what amounts to an overload.

  The trac-truck has a fuel supply for but sixty hours operation; and in hauling the minerals for extraction of oxygen would be exceedingly valuable. Bender objected to its use, saying it required too much oxygen; actually it uses less than men accomplishing the same work.

  King and Reed reported the brightest spot in the meeting. There is a large gypsum field nearby, where water can easily be obtained by roasting the rock. Moore had hoped to find something of the sort. Electrolysis will furnish the needed oxygen. Demand on the batteries will be serious.

  We have spent the day bringing supplies of the gypsum to the camp, while Rice, Whisler and Bender constructed a wheeled trailer. King and Reed, after showing us the location, started work on the electric roasting furnace we will need. Obtaining the gypsum is very trying work, as explosives are useless on this airless world, unless very heavily tamped. We find we have very small supplies of explosives.

  It will be difficult to live off so barren a country. One must work even for the air one breathes.

  May 20.

  Temperature: 169 in rocks.

  Afternoon is coming in the lunar day, and Rice warns us we will not be able to use the batteries to produce water during the night, and advises against diverting the power of our photo-cells. The batteries are not fully charged after last night’s (lunar-night’s) use. I am inclined to agree with him, though Bender does not believe it, and has convinced the others it will be safe, even necessary.

  I have made a trip today to Reed’s silver deposit. I think it will be useful.

  Nearly ten tons of gypsum hauled today. King advised construction of roadway, but Tolman, in charge of works, felt it best to get all the gypsum possibly in before night.

  It will be difficult to work then; it will be too dark to handle explosives.

  We are all tired tonight, and feeling the pinch of reduced rations. Whisler has been ordered to cut down the amounts slowly.

  May 21.

  At my suggestion, Garner ordered a roadway constructed to the gypsum mine. I feel it wise, as the trac-truck will not always be available.

  I have been accused of favoring certain members of the party in the matter of rations. They have been very short and are due to become shorter, and the men’s tempers with them. We are working harder than ever before, and with less food.

  The sun is approaching the horizon now, and Reed tried out his still today. The photo-cells would not carry the load, and the batteries had to be drawn on, against Rice’s protests.

  The mechanism is not satisfactory, for though the water comes off readily, it will not condense, surrounded as it is by a world all of which is above the boiling point of water, even under atmospheric pressure.

  May 22.

  The road has been finished, and late today the trac-truck broke down. There is so little fuel left it was decided not to repair it. Another cart was built, and the men are hauling the material. It is fortunate lunar gravity is so weak.

  Reed has, improved his still, and it works. He was forced to build a shelter which cut off the sun’s rays. He says it would be impossible to work at night anyway, to which Rice privately gave a sigh. He seems to love that battery set.

  I paid another visit to Reed’s silver deposit today, and returned with some samples on a small sledge. I will try to make some photo-cells[1] with Moore’s aid.

  Food has become a popular subject of conversation. Though they realize the necessity for drastic rationing, and take it in good spirit, all the men are hungry. The tobacco smokers are particularly unhappy. I have taken to chewing a crumb of tobacco occasionally, and find it far from satisfying.

  When the call for meals is broadcast we all come promptly. Whisler is being unmercifully kidded, and tonight a mock trial was held in which he was accused of wasteful use of water. The soup tonight was rather thin.

  May 23.

  It is nearing sunset now, and during the sleep-period tonight the sun will probably set.

  A considerable pile of gypsum has been hauled from the mine, and Reed has made a larger oven for use when the sun appears again. He found some large blocks of pumice rock, and has set these up as insulators for his furnace.

  Moore and I have started work on the photo-cells. The silver was refined electrolytically, after we reduced it to a soluble compound. We made a crude, small cell, and were delighted—and, I admit, somewhat surprised—to find it worked. Kendall and Rice have .agreed to help us.

  Pancakes for breakfast, washed down with coffee, at 7:15, and some twelve hours later dinner of vegetable steak and a watery soup. You feel satisfied for the next half hour, till the water is absorbed. There is some complaining from our stomachs, but there is surprisingly little grumbling, though the men are working hard all day, under difficult conditions. Luckily the mine is now under a ledge of rock that shades it, and makes the work endurable. It seems curious to dig ones air from the rocks.

  May 24.

  Dr. Garner has detailed Moore, Kendall and Rice to assist me in making the photo-cells. Rice however, spends half his time with his beloved batteries. I can understand his worries, after seeing the cells. They were made, I fear, for light weight, rather than long service. The material has been falling from the plates badly. Rice experimented today with the possibility of rebuilding the plates, and had to give it up.

  We are not equipped to resist cold. We have only the thinnest of blankets, for it was not expected that it would ever be cold within the dome.

  My stomach is constantly afflicted with an unpleasant burning feeling, and of course the others feel it too.

  Temperature outside:—143.

  May 25.

  Ten large photo-cells completed, and the gypsum pile increased. At my strong recommendation the still will not be used until day. We hope to have a considerable battery of cells by then. Even Rice agrees that the current we are drawing for making the cells is drawn in a good cause.

  Very difficult to work glass for cells without gas flame, but the oxygen cannot be spared.

  Reed, King and Tolman are working on an electrolysis apparatus for use with the still. Some question as to disposition of hydrogen released. We have all too many empty tanks, and I suggested storing it for possible usefulness. Certainly as well as to release it.

  Temperature:—147.

  May 26.

  About two o’clock this afternoon Melville was brought in in a horrible condition. There was an accident at the mine today, a rock slide, and Melville was buried. Instinctively his arms protected the faceplate, and it was not broken, but a great rent appeared in the leg of his suit, and the air began to rush out. The others uncovered him in a very short time, and found him clutching his leg tightly to prevent the escape of the remaining air. A rope was tied about the thigh, to cut off the leak, and he was hurried back. He said nothing on the trip, and was unconscious when they arrived. They set him down in the airlock as gently as possible, but when they picked him up to carry him in they discovered his leg, the right leg, had been broken off three inches above the knee. The heater wires had been cut when the suit was torn, and without heat from the battery, and the circulation cut off by the air-stop, his leg had frozen on the way back. It was evidently brittle as glass in the cold of the lunar night. Dr. Hughey tied the veins and arteries, dressed the wound, and hopes for the best. No one has had any experience with such wounds. The stump of the leg was soaked in cold water, which had to be constantly renewed at first, as it froze against the flesh. Aside from the small capillaries, burst in the vacuum of space before freezing, the flesh appears normal.

  Work was stopped at the mine, and tonight Dr. Garner spoke to us briefly on the dangers, but the absolute necessity of mining. We can only continue the work. The men are greatly depressed.

  We have fifteen photocells finished.

  May 27. r />
  Melville is conscious this evening, for the first time since the accident. Dr. Hughey has kept him under soporofin, but his stump is thoroughly thawed, and he was allowed to regain consciousness. For some time as he came to consciousness he complained that his foot itched, and tried to scratch it. When he was fully conscious he quickly understood that it was missing, and heard the whole story. He has been very calm, merely saying that as he is an astro-physicist he will not greatly miss it. He wants to help us with the photo-cells, as he says that is the only work he can do now.

  He suffers no pain, apparently, and Dr. Hughey says the freezing was so rapid that the tissue of the stump is unharmed. If only he had not been laid down there in the air-lock. But then, no one ever had experience with space-freezing before.

  Twenty-five completed photo-cells, now. The work at the mine was resumed today, while Dr. Hughey replaced Rice here on the photo-cell work.

  The rations have been reduced to one and one-half pounds per day per man, which will mean about five months supplies for us, in-so-far as food goes. However, we will certainly not die of starvation. Before that occurs we will be too weak to work the gypsum mine.

  May 28.

  Since the sun has long been below the horizon, work at the mine has become hard, for it is cold and dark. The trac-truck batteries and lights were dismounted, and set up beside the mine for illumination. There is scarcely a score of steel picks left, and Garner is worried about the situation. The steel picks are invaluable to us; and in the terrible cold of the shadowed space, they are, as I have said, very brittle. Kendall broke one today, as he is inexperienced in their use under these conditions. At my suggestion Reed tried something with” the cinnabar we found two miles south-west of Fort Washington. It was difficult work at night, in the cold outside, but we could not refine it inside due to the poisonous fumes. Rice, as usual, complained bitterly at the drain on his batteries, and some of the men complained even more strongly at the use of oxygen, but fortunately the work was successful, and two new picks of solid mercury were made. In this extreme cold they are hard as steel, and no more brittle. Further, should they break, the pieces need only be picked up, and brought back here. They fuse together, and can be returned to service in half an hour. They are much heavier, and are very popular for that reason.

  Melville is improving rapidly, much more rapidly than we had dared hope, and has been helping greatly on the photocells. He is a skilled manipulator.

  In speaking to Dr. Hughey about the chance of stretching our food supplies, he gave as his opinion that it would be impossible to reduce the rations beyond one pound per man per day if mine work were to be maintained, and doubted that they could be done. Privately I agree with the latter reservation. I have been mining the silver only intermittently, but I can readily appreciate the feelings of the miners.

  May 29.

  Dr. Garner is on the sick list at present, and the men are trying to make his stay there, he claims. Our leader has certainly been leading the men in work, and it has told on him more heavily than we knew. Dr. Hughey has ordered him to rest. Dr. Garner is the oldest of us, and probably would not have been chosen had he not organized the expedition himself.

  Forty photocells completed. Fifteen today, thanks to Melville’s aid, and the experience we have gained. Dr. Hughey says it is much better for Melville to do what he is able to, as it improves his mental condition.

  May 30.

  Reed is 28 today. I issued a quart of the Scotch whiskey for him, and some of the men froze it into a cake, with “iceing” of pale ginger ale. Reed insisted that it be cut with a knife of mercury to be in keeping. Needless to say, the “cake” was not eaten, though Reed got a few cold-burns from handling his knife and the “cake.”

  Work continued as before, however. Another still is being built now, with provisions for continuous process operation. Pumice-like stone cars will be dragged through the kiln, saving the heating and cooling of the furnace between charges. Experiments have to be made, and one mistake almost ma4e was in putting the planned outlet to the condenser at the top. It is hard to remember that such a thing as hot gases rising is unheard of here. ALL gases sink—when they occur. It makes things easier, however. The vapor need only be collected in a funnel-like tray at the bottom.

  May 31.

  Long has made a proposal. He offers to go to the edge of the portion visible from Earth, set up a heliograph, and signal Mt. Wilson. He feels certain even a small mirror would be visible. He plans to carry a flask of mercury, and freeze his mirror on the spot. Food he says can be carried in the form of canned milk in a rubber bottle, and drunk through a tube. We have all, but Melville and one other, offered to accompany him. Garner has refused his offer, and ours. As the leader he feels responsible, and says the expedition is impossible. He points out the danger of starving and thirsting if the tube is dropped from the mouth while asleep or by accident/ since it would be impossible to restore it.

  But it might well save a month or more of time.

  June 1.

  The men are tired nights, and sleep is heavier. In the evenings, however, various amusements are tried. There has been considerable amusement derived from a planetary round-robin story. Melville left the hero stranded on Jupiter, where the gravity was too great for his ship. Long comes next. He will carry on tomorrow night.

  There seems to be a tendency, during the course of the story, for the characters to partake of some very tempting meals. All the frozen fresh meat is gone, and the meat-flour, though nourishing, is not tempting.

  More photocells today. We have now a total of eighty-five cells, or one full bank. We will set them up tomorrow.

  June 2.

  Long disappeared during the night. We all volunteered to go after him, but Garner ordered us to stay. It would be impossible to find a man on this dark lunar surface. The entire country is indescribably rough. Every ancient moonquake rift is as sharp as the day it was made. We are all hoping for Long, but as Rice said, “It ain’t a Long hope and it’s a hell of a Long chance.” The great circle distance is 1100 miles, probably 1500 across country. It is not difficult to make 300 miles a day here, and under forced marches he will probably make 500 the first day. He took oxygen for seven days.

  I wish I could foresee my entry for June 9.

  Four new Mercury picks made. They work excellently, but blunt rapidly and have to be re-cast every day.

  June 3.

  Long evidently took six days’ rations of powdered milk chocolate and water, as I miss them from my store. Curiously I thought they were there yesterday, and thought he had merely eaten a heavy meal. We do not begrudge him those supplies.

  The men are greatly excited about Long, and have been trying continuously to reach him by radio, but he is already beyond range. A month’s difference in the arrival of the rescue ship may well mean life to us.

  June 4.

  It is shortly after midnight, and Rice has reported to me privately that the batteries are failing badly. He says that if they are to last till sunrise, we must lower the temperature of the Dome. They are evidently going to pieces even more rapidly than he feared. Ironical, the beauty of our calculations in making the equipment. This was to have been our last Lunar night, and the failure of the batteries would have been a minor nuisance. As they certainly won’t last another night, it’s hard to know what it does mean now. As I have said, we brought no heavy clothing, the suits being sufficient in empty space. I have stopped working on the photo-cells, as the others are advancing nicely, and have started on a burner.

  The men were told this evening of the probable failure of the batteries. Like good sports they agreed to the change. The Dome will be cold while the men are out working, kept just above the freezing point (we cannot let it fall lower) will be warmed at supper time, cold all night, and wanned in the morning. The saving will really be considerable.