wn.

They raced along the crevice until they reached the mountain chain.
Here, Ferrati abruptly raised the nose of the plane and they shot
upward, popping out of the shadow into the sunlight.

Before them loomed the hard unbroken walls of the Sun-tap station. The
rocket plane came to a stop a hundred feet away.

As soon as it had halted, Burl and Ferrati leaped out, with white sheets
thrown over their suits to afford some extra protection from the Sun's
rays. Between them they carried a long, awkward affair of poles and
plastic.

Burl's feet touched the ground; through the cushioned leather of his
thick boots he felt the heat just as if he had stepped on a hot stove.
He moved quickly, and as they had rehearsed, he and the explorer slapped
the rig together and set up a gleaming plastic skin sunbreak to shield
the rocket plane. The plastic sheets reflected the Sun's heat and cut
off a fair portion of the direct radiation which would otherwise have
rendered the rocket plane inoperable and uninhabitable in short order.

While they were assembling the sunbreak, Haines and Boulton unloaded a
portable antitank rocket launcher. With no wasted motion, Boulton aimed
the launcher at the wall, and Haines thrust a long, wicked-looking
rocket projectile into the tube. There was a flash of soundless fire and
a line of dissipating white smoke. Nothing could be heard in the
airlessness.

Burl felt the shock through the ground as the shell hit. A chunk of the
wall ripped apart and collapsed.

As quickly as he saw it, Burl acted. Haines's voice rang in his ear, but
already Burl was in action. Back into the rocket plane, out again
with--an umbrella!

He made a flying leap toward the Sun-tap station. He felt terrifically
strong in the slight gravity, and the leap carried him thirty feet
forward. As he slid through the space above the surface, he opened the
umbrella. Its outer side had been painted white, and partly shielded him
from the direct heat. He made the station in five leaps and climbed
through the broken wall. Boulton followed him with another umbrella and
a pack under his arm.

Inside the station it was cool--the walls had been high enough to create
shade within. It was like the station in the Andes, but bigger, much
bigger.

Boulton joined him, folded his umbrella calmly, and yanked an
air-compression pistol from his belt. "See anyone?" he asked.

"No."

Burl remembered then that there could possibly be a living g