First Man, Page 2

less thanI did when I went there."

  He looked at his watch. "I'm going to have a snack and then I'll getsome sleep. That's one good thing about having you along. Now I cansleep and not have to worry."

  As Harold sawed at the top of a can of beans with the can-opener.Orville closed his eyes. Instantly, he saw the ship, heading for theMoon, and then there was a blinding flash. He opened his eyes. Haroldwas digging into the can with a spoon, munching away.

  "Just brought one." Harold waved the spoon. "But I'm not poison. Betterhave some of these beans. They'll stick to your ribs."

  Orville crawled to the door leading to the other compartment, flung itopen and leaned there a while. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Harold waswiping the spoon on a piece of brown paper.

  "Last call!" Harold giggled and pushed the can to Orville. Orvillepushed it away and closed his eyes and sat, holding his middle. When heopened them, Harold was sleeping.

  Orville crawled over and shook him. "How soon do you want me to wake youup?"

  Harold sat up. "Oh, my gosh! I forgot! Why, don't let me sleep more thanfour hours."

  * * * * *

  He went to sleep again. Orville sat back. He could see it. Harold,watching the Moon grow bigger and bigger on that scope, until they wereright on it, then turning with a surprised look: Oh, my gosh! I forgotsomething! Then he'd give that giggle and there'd be that crash....

  Orville's watch said two hours, but he wasn't sure. Maybe he'd slept andthe hand had gone clear around. He kept seeing that flash. Some amateurastronomer, looking at the Moon right then, might see it. He'd be abungler, like Harold, and it wouldn't be much of a telescope. He wasalways seeing flashes in the thing, from cars or lightning bugs or fromthe kitchen door, because his wife was there yelling at him, just likeRosie yelling at Harold. For they always married women like Rosie, orthey made women turn that way. Polly, now, she nagged all the time, butthat was different!

  Orville drank some water and ate some bread, and when he swallowed, hefelt that circular bump-bump grab the bread and chop away at it, justlike Polly feeding stale bread into the meat chopper to make stuffing.

  I have no business being out here, he moaned.

  Here he was riding to the Moon with a tinkering idiot who couldn't fix akitchen faucet or locate a blown fuse in the basement. Streams ofmoisture were trickling down the wall. The metal felt cold, like thewindow of the car on a day when you needed the heater and defroster. Wassomething going wrong?

  Maybe they were out of oxygen. He listened to Harold snoring. OnceHarold took a quick breath, and strangled, and turned his headrestlessly. His glasses were slipping off.

  Orville looked at his watch. He couldn't believe that just five minuteshad gone by since he'd looked at it last. He could hear Harold'stwo-dollar watch ticking away, almost as loud as his own. His wasgaining on Harold's and then they were ticking together so that thecombined pounding sent echoes through the ship. He tried to crawl.

  He couldn't move.

  "Harold!" The ticking of the watches drowned out his voice. "We're introuble! We're out of oxygen! Help!"

  It was like a bad dream. Then something woke him: Harold, stumblingacross his legs, turning on the scope and waiting, breathing hard, forit to come to life.

  Harold saw that he was awake. "You went to sleep! You shoulda woke me.It's been six hours!"

  Orville said nothing.

  "We may be clear past the Moon by now," Harold grumbled.

  * * * * *

  Orville turned his face to the wall. He heard the hiss as Harold ran infresh oxygen. "Shoot! Better go down and hook up a new tank." Haroldclanked around in the other end of the ship and came back.

  "How far out are we?" asked Orville.

  "Not far. I'm cutting down the speed some."

  "Uh ... how do you plan to take her down?"

  "That's an interesting point, now. Let's see...."

  "Wouldn't it be better if we just flew up close, not too close, and thenheaded for home? Of course, there's that problem back there, too."

  "Don't you want the beans? I'll eat 'em then."

  "But I'd feel better crashing on the Earth, somehow, than on the Moon--"

  "Who says we're going to crash? There are several ways to set her down.Head first, tail first, but I guess I'll lay her in sideways. It'll beeasier to crawl outside."

  "What?"

  "Sure." Harold was munching beans. Then he rummaged in the supplies andbrought out a jar of peaches. He drank off some of the juice. "Rosienever gets enough sugar in these to suit me." The peaches slid off thespoon. He dug in with his fingers and brought out a slice. "Point of thewhole thing. Explore. Look around." He tilted the jar to his mouth andlet slices fall into his mouth. "Pick up some samples of rocks andthings."

  "You can get rocks right around home."

  "But these are different. These weigh only a quarter as much as therocks on Earth. Or is it a sixth?"

  "In that case--" Orville started gathering up empty bags and cans andputting them into a soup carton.

  "What're you doing?"

  "Cleaning the place up a little. We can get rid of some of this trash."

  "Don't throw those out! I paid a deposit on them." Harold pulled out theempty milk bottles and put them back in the case.

  III

  Harold had said the landing would be as gentle as laying a baby in itscradle. It wasn't exactly.

  He said: "There!"

  "Are we down?"

  Harold nodded. Orville let go of the railing he'd been hanging onto.Harold unplugged something.

  The ship went dark and started rolling. It was a slow, drunken roll andas noisy as an oil drum going down the court house steps. There was afinal hard blow; then the ship rocked and lay still.

  Orville sat up. He could hear Harold scrambling about, and then aflashlight came on.

  "What happened?"

  "Must have landed on the side of a mountain. Rolled down when I turnedoff our counter-grav. Shoot!" Harold held up something. "Broke a lens inmy glasses. There's another trip to the eye-doctor's."

  Orville rescued a couple of bottles that were spilling water. Everythingelse seemed to be all right. The ship lay on its side now and Harold wascrawling through the hole leading to the other compartment. When Orvillegot through, Harold was hauling something from the other end of theship.

  "What we waiting for?" Orville put his hand on the handle of the outerdoor. "Last one out is a--"

  "Wait a minute! You gotta wear this thing." Harold was laying out aspacesuit. He explained how it worked. He didn't object a great dealwhen Orville volunteered to go out first.

  "We can take turns." Harold helped Orville slide his feet into the thingand pull it on. It fitted Orville rather tightly in places, but itseemed to be all right.

  "Be careful now." Harold squinted at him through the one lens of hisglasses. "Don't tear her on a rock or anything. You'd pop like a kid'sballoon."

  "Wait a minute!"

  Harold paused, holding the helmet.

  "I can't go through with it," Orville said. "I was planning a mean trickon you. I was going to be the first man."

  "What difference does that make? We're both in on it together." Haroldclapped the helmet down on Orville's shoulders. He tightened some clampsand leaned close and said something which Orville could not hear. ThenOrville saw that he wanted to shake hands, so Orville shook his hand.

  Harold squirmed back through the hole into the nose, waved and shut thedoor.

  * * * * *

  Orville aimed the flashlight at the outer door. He turned the valvebeside the door, feeling the suit puff out around him, and when thepressure in the compartment was gone, he reached toward the handle. Hiseyes were watering. He had to use all of his strength to move thehandle; then the door popped open, swinging out and down, and he waslooking out at the Moon.

  There was glaring light and a kind of fog. He laid down the flashlightand, gro
ping, found the soup carton in which he'd put the refuseaccumulated during the trip, and flung the box into the fog.

  He looked out again. There was nothing but the glaring white void."Well, that settles that!" There was no use getting out. On the otherhand, how about a souvenir?

  He stuck a leg out through the opening, which was now about two feethigh and four feet wide. By wriggling, he got the other leg out, but hecouldn't touch the ground. He reached his left foot a little farther andtouched something that rolled slightly, then was solid. That's farenough, he thought; to hell with the souvenir!

  But the