He slammed his hand against the helmet and the voices ceased.

"Think," he said again.

What he actually meant was "act." He had to do something. The first thing, of course, was to get out of the ship. He could not go down into the radiation-infested hull from the inside. Repairs on the ship's structure, if needed, had to be done from the outside; he had the tools....

Jessup examined the darkened port-hole again, peering at the dust. Most of the particles were too fine to be seen separately. The residue of uncounted billions of shattered meteorites, fine as face-powder. The stuff could be a foot thick above him, or ten! The fact that it was so fine meant that this was the lighter portion, the skim. The heavier particles must have settled lower in the sifting process of a million windless eons. Heaven knew how deep it was below him!

In panic at the smothering darkness he threw a switch, flooding the cabin with light.

He felt a fierce desire to feel the moon dust in his hands, to grasp at any hope it might offer. There was a safe way. The tiny sample-corer had been meant for the moon's rocks and minerals, but it whirred eagerly in his hands as he pushed it into the duralumin wall. The rush of air into the hole made a wet, sucking sound. Slamming a seal-pad into place, he examined the tool in his hand.

The end of the core-drill was filled with dust. Carefully he shook the particles into his hand. He stared at them a long time, foolishly. They weren't much to see: a few blackish, slippery-feeling grains like pulverized coal.

Was this what he had come for? In the tense haste of landing, he'd barely seen the sunlit mountains, the panorama of glare and shadow above. Was this little handful of dust to be what he had lived—and most probably given—his life for?

He flung it violently against the wall. The motion sent scathing pain into his bruised side.

"Cut out the self-pity!" he yelled aloud.

Suppressing an impulse to cry out, he banged his helmet again and made the clear, welcome voice from New Mexico come floating back.

"... What happened, Jessup? What's wrong? We don't hear you! Answer.... Answer...."

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