the belt. Still not speaking, he glided
to the rear port-lock, Leithgow and Friday running alongside and
attempting to dissuade him from the dangerous pursuit. Their words
were wasted. Carse gave them only a faint smile and a few directions.

"Keep the ship as close as you can without danger. No, Eclipse; I'm
going by myself; there's no need to risk two. If I don't come out,
you've everything needed to prove your case. Eliot--the re-embodied
brains, Ku Sui's four white assistants--"

"I tell you you're going to your death! You'll be caught inside!
Earth's attracting the asteroid now, and in a few minutes it will be
plunging through the atmosphere with terrific speed! The friction will
make it a meteor, and you'll burn. Carse! You'll die in flames! You
haven't but a few minutes to do the whole thing!"

"Have to risk that, Eliot." He swung open the inner door of the lock
and stepped into the chamber. "Remember, keep as close to the asteroid
as possible, and a steady watch for Ku Sui and me." He looked levelly
at them, white man and black, for a moment, then turned his face away.
"That's all. Good-by," he said.

The door swung shut in their faces with a hiss of compressed air.

The Hawk closed the face-plate of his helmet and rapidly spun over the
controls. Another hiss, and the outer door moved wide. He stepped with
force into space.

* * * * *

The panorama below him was breath-taking: Earth seemed almost to hit
him in the face. He had not realized it was so close. The sheer,
mighty stretch of the globe filled his eyes, and for seconds he could
not focus on anything else, so overwhelming to his vision was the
colossal map. It reached away to left and right, before and behind,
and he was so near that it seemed almost flat, a sun-gleaming plain on
which stood out in sharp outline the continent of Europe, the Atlantic
Ocean and, bordering it, the edge of North America.

To his left was the flaming orb of the sun; and directly underfoot,
rotating against the vast background of the North Atlantic, he now saw
the asteroid, glinting metallically along its craggy length as it
swung over. Carse centered every bit of power he had on it, and at
maximum acceleration began to overhaul his objective.

The asteroid was plunging free to Earth, and the rate of its
uncontrolled plunge was second by second mounting tremendously; but
Carse's power-fall quickly enabled him to overtake it. As the dome