s one had a tank and coils of tubing in the center of a
curved reflector that was positioned to radiate the heat of the steam
into the cold darkness of space. When the meteor pierced the turbine,
the water in the condenser began to boil. This boiling lowered the
temperature, and the condenser demonstrated its efficiency by quickly
freezing the water in the tank.

Evans sealed the turbine from the rest of the steam system by closing
the shut-off valves. If there was any water in the boiler, it would
operate the engine that drove the generator. The water would condense in
the condenser, and with a little luck, melt the ice in there. Then, if
the pump wasn't blocked by ice, it would return the water to the boiler.

But there was no water in the boiler. Carefully he poured a cup of his
drinking water into a pipe that led to the boiler, and resealed the
pipe. He pulled on a knob marked "Nuclear Start/Safety Bypass." The
water that he had poured into the boiler quickly turned into steam, and
the steam turned the generator briefly.

Evans watched the lights flicker and go out, and he guessed what the
trouble was.

"The water, man," he said, "there is not enough to melt the ice in the
condenser."

He opened the pipe again and poured nearly a half-gallon of water into
the boiler. It was three days' supply of water, if it had been carefully
used. It was one day's supply if used wastefully. It was ostentatious
luxury for a man with a month's supply of water and twenty-one days to
live.

The generator started again, and the lights came on. They flickered as
the boiler pressure began to fail, but the steam had melted some of the
ice in the condenser, and the water pump began to function.

"Well, man," he breathed, "there's a light to die by."

* * * * *

The sun rose on Williamson Town at about the same time it rose on Evans.
It was an incredibly brilliant disk in a black sky. The stars next to
the sun shone as brightly as though there were no sun. They might have
appeared to waver slightly, if they were behind outflung corona flares.
If they did, no one noticed. No one looked toward the sun without dark
filters.

When Director McIlroy came into his office, he found it lighted by the
rising sun. The light was a hot, brilliant white that seemed to pierce
the darkest shadows of the room. He moved to the round window, screening
his eyes from the light, and adjusted the polaroid shade to maximu