Carl Selwyn

“ Ricker felt a sinking sensation as the plane slowed its descent. Looking out the port, he saw the surface of Neptune gradually flatten into an endless table of sleek gleaming ice, ghostly blue in the pale light, like a frozen lake in moonlight. They sank closer and the bare expanse swelled to a dim monotonous plain of mirrored shadows. Far out, above the razor-smooth horizon, a dull red ball cast its feeble light across the lonely scene. Ricker felt a twinge of helplessness, home-sickness. That weak orange light was the sun....
Gurren fought the controls. ”

“ Sade held his smile as steady as his gun. "I'm not leaving you and look for a mirror," he said. "No tricks will save you this time. Those shots are good for 24 hours."
"Not with all this raw stuff in the air," Norman laughed. "Look how your hands have withered."
"What matter," Sade said, "my Fountain of Youth can restore me again." But his smile loosened, and quick as light his glance dropped to his hands. Norman's knees straightened like steel springs. The length of flame seared his hip as he sprang. Then his fist piled into Sade's heavy jaw. ”

“ Subsisting chiefly upon the rabbit-like veedles, they would also eat a man.
Rusty stared at the ghostly scene, suddenly remembering the words of Lothar, the Vulcanian. Preferring the Bugs to curious eyes, it was here that the drift-tubes had been stored, the escape ship built. Escape! Why hadn't he thought of it before? As criminal as they now, he must take a criminal's chance—the odds were all against their survival—a swift death in the suffocating void of space, the sudden burn of a patrol's flame-gun. But each was a feeble fear. Death here was slow, gnawing for years at a weakening brain. ”

“ Ricker felt the pistol withdrawn from his side, glanced back at the Martian. The man's beady eyes fixed on him like a snake's.
As Ricker stared back, almost absently, Vanger's left fist whipped up, banged into his chin, knocked him backward upon the hard ground.
Stunned by the unexpected blow, Ricker got to his hands and knees shakily. He rubbed his numb jaw, gazed at the Martian through a quick red film of rage.
Vanger took careful aim at him. "Die, Earthman," he said softly. "Die with a blackened face, as all your brothers will." ”

“ Dorothy and Keren came to the window. As they watched, the grass beside the hull rose two inches.
"It's horrible," Dorothy whispered. Then, "Look!" she shrilled, pointing.
Norman shook his head as if recovering from a blow, the words of the Mercurian Ambassador ringing in his ears: "Vulcan is a planet without a human footprint...." All science knew of this supposedly untrod planet was suddenly a lie. There, beside the ship, was the unmistakable imprint of a human foot.
As Norman looked up he saw a man step out of the jungle and walk toward them across the grass. ”

“ Whispering a prayer to whatever god still lingered in this unsanctioned age, he felt for the neck cable, would have made burnt offerings when he found the dead eye unbroken. He detached it and, removing his own, set it there—could see again.
He glanced to the power plant. It was now a mass of twisted, steaming metal. The whole building had melted silently to the ground and in the rising waves of heat, he could see the glowing shells of cremated Capeks, those that had captured him. Looking to his own cylinder, Rod saw it was blistered with heat, one arm was badly bent. ”

“ His wife was sole heir to the Tele-news plant.
Rusty sank down to a rock.
A sense of wild terror gripped him as he realized he was trapped here, for the rest of his life—he had been legally convicted of robbery, murder. Skipper was the only person who could save him. But Skipper was dead!
Men howled, laughed as they passed him. And Rusty Carter knew he was now one of them. No more was there the glow of a secret thought, that soon he could leave—he was to stay until he died just as these others died, screaming or with a voiceless stare in the cold glare of Pluto. ”

“ Glancing down, Ricker saw the ships closing beneath him like a flock of starved condors. In a moment they'd be in gun range.
"Gotta keep moving," he told the radio. "They're coming fast. Stand by and I'll try to think of something."
He streaked up to the roof of the icy chamber, sailed fast toward the far end.
And suddenly he did think of something—something so simple it seemed foolish.
"Listen!" he yelled to the radio. "Turn your ships around. Sit down on the ice! Give your rockets half throttle and let gravity pull you down as the ice melts under you. ”

“ Spike sprang back as the monstrosity reached out a hairy tendril. Rusty stood hypnotized by the pale hideousness of the creature.
With a quick movement it swung toward them.
Rusty broke his trance. He leaped aside. A tentacle slapped across his face as he sprawled into the mire.
He started up, saw the insect crouched upon the writhing form of a Martian. Shrill, animal screams cut the air as the red man struggled frantically to escape the tightening white claws. The gaping man drew close.
"Get him, Lothar!" shouted Spike from the edge of the jungle. ”

“ Rod yelled to his human allies and sped up the street, not knowing where.
But the surprise of the Capeks was brief. As the swarm poured from the building, all in the streets joined them in mad pursuit.
Rod turned down a deserted side street, then up another. For the time being, they were lost from view.
Finally, seeing the humans wearily fall behind, he halted.
"How do we leave the city?" he asked.
"We cannnot leave Detroy. We would surely die outside," panted Ralph. "The Capeks destroyed all life and vegetation when they conquered our ancestors; it is a blistering desert everywhere." ”