Edmond Hamilton

“ When they find we've lost nine valuable Proxies out there on Mercury without getting any uranium at all yet, we'll be thrown out."
"Blast Hurriman!" Doug Norris raged. "The Proxy Project has been your work from the start! You sweated to develop the things. Now because there's a hitch, a bunch of bumbling politicians take it over!"
"It's all in a lifetime," Kincaid shrugged. "Winters, you tell the boys. Have them pull their Proxies back to Base, and go home." ”

“ Petersen was still producing that noise, indeed. He had become louder and more frantic as he saw them shifting out the uranium lattices and replacing them clumsily with empty lattice-frames.
"Ten thousand scientists have been working ever since Nineteen-forty-five to find a way to use common elements instead of uranium in a pile!" he choked. "They can't do it. But two drunken Proxy men are going to try it!"
Norris hardly heard that stream of agonized accusation and entreaty, as he helped Kincaid shift in the empty lattices. He was mildly sorry that Petersen felt so disturbed. ”

“ Mercury had much of the precious metal in its cavernous interior. But no man, no matter how ingenious his protection, could live long enough on the terrible, semi-molten Hot Side of Mercury to conduct mining operations.
That was why Kincaid had invented the Proxies. They were machines that could mine uranium where men couldn't go. Crewless ships guided by radar took the Proxies to the Base on Mercury's sunward side. From Base, each Proxy was guided by an Earth operator down into the hot fissures to find and mine the vital radioactive element. ”

“ It took that long for the television beam from the Proxy to shuttle from Mercury to this control-station outside New York. And it took as long again for the Proxy control-beam to get back to it on Mercury.
Sometimes, a time-lag that long could get a Proxy into trouble before its operator on Earth was aware of it. But usually that was not a big factor of danger on a lifeless world like Mercury. The Proxies, built of the toughest refractory metals, could stand nearly anything but an earthquake, and keep on functioning. ”

“ They finally reached the spot deep down in the fissure where his disabled former Proxy still stood. Doug Norris reached his jointed arms and quickly unclamped the shield of its control-box.
"Look there, Mart! The whole control's shot! They do it by overloading the tubes with their own Beta emanations, all right."
Kincaid's Proxy had elbowed close, its big iconoscope eyes peering closely. Here in the office, Kincaid uttered a grunt.
"That still doesn't prove the gas that did it was living. Instead of your hypothetical Raddies, it could be—"
"Look there!" yelled Doug Norris suddenly. ”

“ Theoretically, creatures of radioactive matter could exist, drawing their energies not from chemical metabolism as we do, but from the continuous process of radioactive disintegration."
"Theoretically, the sky is a big roof with holes in it that are stars," growled Kincaid. "It depends on whose theory you believe."
"Every time a Proxy has blacked out down there, there's been little clouds of heavy radioactive gas near," argued Doug Norris. "Each seems to have a denser core. ”

“ Doug Norris interrupted with a denial. "Not that. Hurriman and his fellow politicians merely want to get their hands on the Proxy Project, not to destroy it."
"Then who did wreck our Proxies?" Kincaid demanded.
Norris answered excitedly. "I believe we've run into living creatures in those depths, and they're attacking us."
Kincaid grunted. "The temperature in those fissures is about four hundred degrees Centigrade, the same as Mercury's sunward side. Life can't exist in heat like that. I suggest you take a rest." ”

“ Those Raddies are living things, that instinctively attack our Proxies!"
Kincaid frowned. "It looks like it. But no gas hose or any other weapon will work against the brutes. The time-lag makes it impossible to use weapons. Our only chance is to seal and ray-proof the Proxies' control-boxes against them. That'll take time. But it's our only chance to get uranium out of there, and it's got to be done before Hurriman's clique gets the Council on our tail. I'll have the boys bring the Proxies all back to Base at once." ”

“ Given Mercury's conditions, it's no more impossible than a jellyfish or a man here on Earth!"
Kincaid looked skeptical.
"And you think these hypothetical living Raddies of yours are attacking our Proxies? Why would they?"
"If they have cognition and correlation faculties they might be irritated by the tube emanations from the control-boxes of our Proxies," Norris suggested. "They get into those control-boxes and wreck the tube circuits by overloading the electron flow with their own Beta radiation!" ”

“ Norris assured him. "We'll shift empty lattices back in, and then load the bismuth into them."
Petersen uttered a howl of agony. "You maniacs will wreck the whole pile if you try a stunt like that! For heaven's sake, sober up and think what you're doing!"
"We're tryin' to think," Kincaid said sternly. "But how can we co'centrate, with you yelling at us?"
Petersen went from raging orders to agonized pleadings to tearful entreaty. The two ignored him completely.
"Le's see, now," Kincaid said, blinking. "We'll leave in the Number One uranium lattice after all. ”

“ He paused, then added gloomily, "But I can just see myself telling a World Council committee that your hypothetical living Raddies are what keep us from delivering uranium! Hurriman would like that. It would convince the Council that I'm as incompetent as he claims."
"He'll convince the Council of that anyway unless we deliver uranium from Mercury quickly," retorted Norris. "And we'll never do it till we get these Raddies licked. They're basically just complex clouds of radioactive gas. A Proxy armed with a high-pressure gas hose should be able to blow them to rags. ”

“ He looked at the sick face of the younger man, then opened a desk drawer and took out a bottle of Scotch and glasses.
"Here, have a drink," he ordered. "You're a little young yet, and you take these things too seriously." ”