Samuel J. Sackett

“ To retain the balance of Uranian chemistry, Evolution had provided a brittle, yellow, rootless plant-life that inhaled hydrogen sulfide and exhaled hydrogen. To the inhabitant of a planet where most of the atmosphere was in a liquid state, Evolution had seen to it that the air lion was perfectly capable of living entirely in a liquid environment: a thick skin and heavy bone structure enabled the air lion to withstand the heavy pressures of the Uranian depths, gills made it possible for him to breathe liquids, and his powerful flippers made him the strongest swimmer in the solar system. ”

“ They knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about Earth people. And they didn't want to try to kill the inhabitants and take over the planet without knowing more about them.
He looked closely at the title page of Atomic Science Stories. He recalled that Impossible Science Fiction, which he had, of course, read every word of, carried an announcement that all the stories were fiction. He did not see any such announcement on the title page of Atomic. Doubt was wavering into certainty in his mind.
He telephoned the offices of the Young Publishing Co., which published the magazine. ”

“ Well, he told himself, if Earth had space travel and was keeping it a secret, and if a magazine violated its security precautions and published a story about it, of course they'd discharge the editor. If it was a fiction magazine, that would be different. But a magazine that printed stories—some of them true, like the one about the capture of M-22....
He called headquarters again, on his magneto-oscillophone. "Earth has space travel!" ”

“ Up on the raft, where they heard the message, the drum went round and paid out another twenty feet of the cable by which Nils Borgmann was suspended in the Uranian atmosphere. Borgmann took aim and fired.
The shape kept moving. An air lion's hide is so tough that you have to hit it right under the ribs or through the eye in order to kill it, and Nils could not see that one clearly enough, despite the headlamp on his helmet. ”

“ Realizing that he must have looked puzzled, he laughed. "It slipped my mind completely," he explained. "When you're on another planet, Earth dates get all mixed up."
Kerr said, "The captain's ordered you aloft for a physical check-up. It came over the radio while you were down."
Nils Borgmann stopped laughing. That could mean he'd never get a chance to make another plunge, never have another crack at an air lion, never collect that seventh bonus. They'd rotate him, put him on the mother ship and fill in on the raft with a substitute. ”

“ One would say that a bountiful Providence had been good to the air lion. Granted the inconveniences of its environment, certainly the air lion was efficiently equipped by Nature to live on its home planet. But Providence also provided the air lion with a natural enemy which bade fair to exterminate the species. ”

“ Fribble said, "our magazine can't use you either. We can't have an editor who's careless enough to leave off the standard disclaimer. Why, there's no end of trouble we'd get into without that little announcement." ”

“ The "northern" hemisphere, then, is that side of the planet which is always turned toward the sun—for which the sun is the pole star. This restriction on the area in which air lions may thrive imposed a natural limitation on the number of animals which there were in the first place. The demand for air lion pelts—despite the fact that the beasts were so large that an entire coat might be made from one of them—caused a dangerous depletion.
Nils's helmet broke atmosphere, and then hands were grappling him, helping him up the ladder, and pulling him aboard the "raft." ”

“ K-17 mused.
"Good Vog! Do you really think so?"
"It's the only explanation."
"Good work, K-17. We'll be on our guard."
K-17 hung up and sat down again to read further. The next story dealt with an Earth landing on Mars. ”

“ Nils, you've been on Uranus about six Earth months, now. The doctor says you shouldn't take even one more plunge. It's hard work, and it's a strain, and you're wearing out. You're wearing out gradually—but still faster, much faster, than a man would on Earth, no matter what he did. But this isn't something that just happened yesterday, Nils ”

“ For six of them you man the pumps or the radio equipment or the cable drum while the other men plunge, and you make your plunges in the other two.
When Nils went on duty that day, he was on the radio, and Kerr was down below. The optimism he had felt after his talk with the captain was dissipated. He realized that, after all, the air lions were a disappearing species. He had been here hunting them for six months and had bagged only six. One a month—yet that was the best record of any of the men. ”

“ Nils said, grinning. That was another bonus, and each time Nils got a bonus, one of his kids had enough money to get through college. He threw the harpoon and snagged the beast just behind it's right foreflipper. Pulling in the harpoon cable, he made certain that the weapon was firmly embedded in the lion's flesh.
"Pull away," he said.
"We think you'd better come up, too," they said on the raft.
"Okay," Nils said. There was only one more child to earn an education for, and then he was going to quit. ”

“ Nils sat on the ready bench and let the other crewmen adjust the equipment he needed. The rope hooked into the back of his suit; the air hose was connected to the suit oxygenerator, which was strong enough to support a man in airlessness but could not stand the pressure of the Uranian atmosphere and thus needed assistance from the powerful pump on the raft; and the radio wire attached to his light helmet rig. ”

“ You were lucky we let you sign on, close as you were to the age limit. Who can say when you finally crossed the danger line? Maybe a month, maybe two months ago. You've been on borrowed time since then, whenever it was. ”