Campbell, John W Jr - The Moon is Hell

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John W. Campbell is the author of the following Ace books.-

THE BLACK STAR PASSES THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE

THE MOON IS HELL

by John W. Campbell

ace books

A Division of Charter Communications Inc.

1120 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10036

John W. Campbell is the author of the following Ace books.-

THE BLACK STAR PASSES THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE

THE MOON IS HELL

by John W. Campbell

ace books

A Division of Charter Communications Inc.

1120 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10036

First Ace printing: January, 1973

Printed in U.S.A.

CONTENTS

THE MOON Is HELL!

Prologue

The Fight For Air

The Fight For Food

Epilogue THE ELDER GODS

PROLOGUE

FIFTEEN MEN in shining, bulky air-tight suits stood beside the great hull that

had brought them across a quarter of a million miles of space, and landed them

at last on this airless satellite world. Warm golden light still shone from

the windows of the giant machine, the greatest rocket ship Earth had ever

produced. Harsh, electric-blue sunlight glinted on the jet-shadowed spires of

the crater wall beyond. In the near foreground was the cracked, pitted surface

of a crater-bottom, scarred and broken by ages-old moon-quakes, fading into a

horizon strangely near, made jagged by incredibly rugged crater walls. And

above, in a star studded sky hung a blue-white ball of fire, the unshielded

sun. There was no air here; warmth was only where the sun was. Night was

everywhere, hidden from the blue light of the sun in every shadow.

The fifteen men were grouped about a metal structure they were rapidly raising

from a barren, level mass of rock. When it was completed, a bedraggled

American flag hung limp in the airless space. In forty-eight hours it would be

a piece of white bunting, bleached colorless by the violent light of this

place. Later they were to replace the limp-hanging cloth with a sheet of

painted metal.

But now they had other work. Dr. James Harwood Garner was the leader of this

party of carefully chosen men, and in the name of the United States of

America, he claimed the so-called dark half of the moon. Half a world!

Millions, tens of millions of square miles of utterly barren surface, surface

never seen by Terrestrian eyes, save

when, five years before, Capt. Roger Wilson had circumnavigated the moon

twice, landing for two brief days on the Earthward side, and had claimed that.

But unlike the earlier party, these men were here for continuous exploration,

and not for two days, but for two full yearsl Their orders read: "On June 10,

the ship will leave from Inyokern, California, Earth, arriving at Lima June

15. One circuit of the satellite will be made, and a landing made as near the

center of the "dark side" as possible. Explorations will be conducted and data

collected for one year and eleven months. On May 10,1981, a relief ship will

take off from Mojave, California, Earth, proceeding directly to the camp on

Luna, landing as near to the dome as practicable. For one month both parties

will remain on the satellite, then the return shall be made, starting June 15,

and arriving at Lake Michigan, Earth, on June 20."

This first ship came out, loaded with the tons of supplies and instruments

that must last the men two full years. So great was the load of oxygen and

food, that no fuel for the return could be carried. Hence the need for the

relief ship, carrying oxygen and food for but fifteen days for the total crew

of both ships, seventeen men in all. The men were to weigh "an average of

153.5 pounds. Two thousand pounds of instruments, samples, photographs, and

materials may be returned. Under any circumstances the comparative-reading

instruments (instruments whose value was lost if experiments conducted with

them on Luna were not repeated with the same instruments on Earth) shall be

brought back."

From the squat, pointed cylinder, heavy leads were run, while other men set up

powerful electric winches. Electric wrenches and tools were brought out.

Inside the ship motors were pumping the atmosphere back into the tanks from

which it came. Presently the trained crew fell

to work, and rapidly the entire machine was unbolted, the gaskets between the

plates laid to one side, and the numbered pieces piled in order. Only the low,

round battery-house remained untouched; this was the base of the original

ship, housing the batteries that would supply heat and h'ght during the two-

week long lunar nights. Now the winches began work again, and rapidly the

pieces from the hull were transformed into a new "shape, assembled till they

made a huge, polished dome, with five small windows set in it. Within it were

the bunks, stove, supplies, tanks of oxygen and water, air purifiers-all the

equipment and supplies of the original ship, converted into this more spacious

dome.

Beyond the battery house and the Dome, a series of racks were set up, and on

them huge photo-cells that soon began pouring energy from the sun, converted

into electricity, into the batteries. Camp was made. Ten hours had elapsed,

and now the men retired to the dome, and turned the air from the tanks into

it. In another hour the pressure and heat within were normal, and a meal was

under way, their first on the Moon.

Sleep now-then the two years' work was begun. It was during the lunar night

that most of the exploration was done. "During the days," wrote Dr. Thomas

Ridgely Dun-can, "we are constantly oppressed by the monotony. It is a time of

rest, and repairing things that need no repairing. The heat from the sun is

absolutely unbearable, the rocks are hot enough to melt tin, even lead. The

entire world is bathed in burning heat. The suits cannot radiate enough to

cool, and perspiration does no good. We'are continually subject to sunstroke,

and have to remain in the dome.

"At night the work begins. The sun sinks, and the great barren surface cools.

Starlight, far brighter than starlight of earth, gives a slight general

illumination while our suit

lamps supply more. But little battery heat is needed, and wide exploration is

possible. The greatest handicap is the necessity for eating. One cannot eat in

a space suit, and one cannot take it off. Oxygen supplies for several days

could be carried, but food and particularly water, is the problem."

But explorations were carried on. During the day the two mineralogists, the

two chemists and the photographer were busy. The little astro-physicist,

Melville, was busy day and night. The magnification possible on the airless

moon threw him into a terrible despondency, because he had only two three inch

telescopes, the greatest weight he had been allowed, and their light gathering

power did not permit him the magnification he wanted. So Duncan and Bender and

Whisler working together, made a twenty-inch reflector of fused quartz, and

with this Melville succeeded in getting photographic maps of the famous "ca-

nali" of Mars for the first time, maps that proved them not canals, but tidal

swamps, caused by the cross drag and pull of the two satellites of the planet

and the Sun.

The others had little to do during the day. Birthdays were celebrated; and the

Fourth of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years Day, all were feast days.

Two light tractor-treaded trucks were included in the equipment. The chassis

and treads of the trucks had originally been landing gear for the great

rocket, 'and their engines had served as air pumps and fuel pumps. Every piece

of equipment had served dually on the rocket. Assembled on Luna, they carried

the men further afield, and did heavy work.

But "There is little to do. We know all the motion pictures now, every move of

every film. Only our own new films are of interest. TJiere is no radio here,

since the airless moon has no Heaviside layer to bring the waves

about the curve that hides Earth from us. We can neither send nor receive from

Earth. It is nearly 1500 miles to the nearest point where earth is visible,

and therefore reachable. We are thrown back half a century in time to the

period when explorers were cut off from other men.

"Our little helmet radios work fairly well up to a distance of about five

miles, further if we are atop a ridge. The powerful tractruck sets can reach

some twenty miles broadcast from a ridge top. But the curve of the Moons

surface makes real ranges impossible-it brings the messages too far

underground."

Cut off from humanity by distance and solid rock as they were, it is no wonder

they welcomed the night's work. Most of the exploration was done by foot,

rather than tractruck, since men afoot could "make better time over the

incredibly jagged rock, and the frequent chasms. We can leap fifty to seventy-

five feet easily, and the trac-trucks can't. Future expeditions should develop

a mechanical grasshopper, perhaps on the order of an inverted catapult with

powerful steel springs, cocked and released by an engine. Nothing else can

move far here. Airplanes cannot be used, of course, where there is no air.

Small rocket ships can't be supplied with fuel."

Still the tractrucks could carry the men further, as the hard working

explorers needed greater oxygen supplies.

There is little of interest that has not been made public already. Perhaps a

few of Duncan's weather reports are most interesting, best give a picture of

that cruel, dead world. "The mercury thermometer was left outside

accidentally, and has been broken. We were alarmed at breakfast by an

inexplicable boom from the Dome walls. We rushed out to see what had caused

it, and found that the rising sun Iwd struck the mercury bulb, blackened to

point. The explosion had caused the sound."

Again he reports of a lunar pre-dawn. "Winter here now. We hadn't believed it

would make any difference, but apparently it does. We cannot notice it; it is

always cold or hot. Nothing is moderate. The chasms are terrifically deep, and

terrifically abrupt. The craters are gigantic, and their walls miles in

height. It is either utterly cold or utterly hot."

The sensation of constant fall, which Duncan mentions at first, left them as

they became accustomed to the lesser gravity. Their muscles did not weaken as

had been feared. Instead they grew stronger from the heavy work. Yet the

weight charts that Dr. Hughey, the expedition's surgeon, prepared read like

kindergarten records. Duncan, in prime condition the beginning of the second

year, was recorded as weighing 31 pounds! Dr. Hughey reports he was weighed on

a spring balance hooked through his belt, and supported at arms length by one

of the men. Yet that means a normal Earth-weight of very nearly 186 pounds.

Then late in the second year came the first fatality. Duncan writes, "Today we

had our first tragedy. In but two months we will be leaving; and Morrison and

Wilcott would have gone with us. They were exploring near North Chasm in

tractruck No. 2, and the edge broke away under the weight of the machine. The

chasm is over half a mile deep, and they were precipitated to the floor below.

"The slow fall under lunar gravity was a mockery. Wilcott called the Dome, and

told them they were falling! They sent us word where they were, called good-

bye- and there was a crash.

"Efforts to recover the bodies were in vain, though Rice, with tJie aid of the

other tractruck and a long cable, succeeded in reaching, and recovering the

machine. He says he will be able to repair it. The two men were hurled free,

apparently, and buried under a mass of rubble.

"North Chasm has been renamed Morcott Chasm."

As the months passed, the time for their release from voluntary exile came

nearer and nearer. As each lunar night passed they watched more anxiously the

dark heavens for a moving dot of light. Tremendous work had been done; and now

they wanted only to return to the Earth with it's soft, natural air, winds and

rains. But their release was not to be so soon. Nor for some of them,,was it

ever to be.

The remainder of this account is from Dr. Duncan's diary, kept faithfully

throughout the two years, and later through the terrible period of waiting for

a second relief ship. It was, like all their records and accounts, written in

chemical pencil, since ink was either frozen or boiling much of the time.

During all the months the expedition spent on the alternately frozen and baked

moon, Duncan missed but one entry, the last, when his hands could no longer

hold the pencil.

Throughout the diary he mentions the men by their last names. A list of the

men living at the end of the second year is given here.

PERSONNEL OF THE GARNER LUNAR EXPEDITION

Dr. James Harwood Garner, leader, rocket-ship engineer, astro-physicist,

chemical engineer.

Dr. Thomas Ridgely Duncan, physicist, second in command.

Dr. Eustace M. Hughey, surgeon of expedition.

Dr. Robert Kenneth Moore, chemist.

Dr. Warren P. Tolman, chemist

Mr. Arthur W. Kendall, photographer.

Mr. David H. King, mineralogist.

Mr. Hampden S. Reed, mineralogist.

Mr. Anthony T. Melville, astro-physicist.

Mr. Carl Jewell Long, astronomer, navigator. (Who did much of the work in

determining latitude and longitude on the moon, and in navigating the ship,

across space. Fort Washington was taken as the zero meridian.)

Mr. George W. Rice, expert electrician and mechanic. Mr. Joseph T. Whisler,

cook, mechanic, lens-grinder.

Mr. Frederick L. Bender, mountain-climber, adventurer, mechanic, amateur

astronomer.

THE FIGHT FOR AIR

The Diary of Thomas R. Duncan, Ph.D.

May 16.

King and Reed returned from a last expedition to the south-west. They report a

remarkable find, a bed of silver selenide so enormously rich that they declare

it could be profitably worked and the silver carried back to Earth. It is an

enormous bed of "jewelry ore."

The morning is half over now, and tomorrow the relief ship is due. We are

awaiting this release with the most intense eagerness. The moon, for all its

terrible harshness and cold and heat has become beautiful to us-a frozen hell,

but awesome and magnificent for all that. Most of the men spent the day

looking for the relief, and little work was done. We know that it is due

tomorrow, and a day more or less means that some accident has happened.

Whisler promises a feast tomorrow. We are all eager for news from home. As we

have not even seen Earth in two years, it may have been wiped out for all we

know. An all-out atomic war might be in progress, and we would not know.

May 17.

The relief has not arrived this evening. It was to be here not later than the

seventeenth. We have air supplies for two months, food for three, and we are

worried. Interplanetary schedules are exact, of necessity. The ship should

have started at syzygy.

May 18.

Outside, the relief ship lies, a crushed, red-hot mass of broken, glowing

metal. It arrived this afternoon, twenty-one hours late.

The meaning of this to us, is terrible. It will be at least one full month

before Earth even knows that the relief expedition has failed. It will take at

least another for action to be started. And not less than five months will be

necessary to build a new relief ship. This means that not less than seven

months must pass before we can hope for relief-and we have oxygen for two

months morel Food we can cut down on, but oxygen we cannot reduce.

This morning Rice caught a glimpse of it as it came above the horizon,

sweeping rapidly up till it was 'new' and dark, a tiny satellite of a

satellite. We all saw it disappear below the horizon. We were watching for it

when it appeared over the horizon again, rising. It was much nearer and

larger, and our spirits rose. It was less than 1000 miles away, and the

rockets opened just after it crossed the horizon, with the result that it

began to fall rapidly toward the surface. A cheer broke out from the men, and

Rice, as radio operator, attempted to establish communication. At 10:55 he

received a reply; the ship was less than 300 miles away, settling on

intermittent rockets, and coming fast.

We welcomed them, and watched them settle less than a mile from the Dome. They

landed with a slight jar at 11:12. Almost immediately the stern rockets broke

out, and hurled the ship fully fifty miles straight up, with terrific

acceleration. The men were very quiet as we watched. It was easy to understand

that the main rockets had in some way been accidentally opened, and could not

be shut off.

The ship was finally driven to a height of half a mile by some of the most

skillful management of rockets I can

conceive. The servo controls failed suddenly, and under the full drive of the

main rockets, and lunar gravity, the ship crashed to the plain, now less than

a quarter of a mile from the Dome. It exploded instantly. In fifteen seconds

it was a white hot mass in which we know the pilots have lost their lives. We

could not investigate today, as the wreck was too hot to approach.

Dr. Garner called a meeting of the men shortly after that, and briefly pointed

out that it would be over a month before Earth would realize the relief ship

had crashed, and at least eight months before a second ship could be built. He

asked that suggestions be given in the morning.

May 19.

Temperature: 163 C in rocks.

The meeting was called this morning after breakfast. Moore, in charge of pure

atmosphere, advised permanent discontinuation of all smoking, as it consumes

oxygen and fouls the air. He has stated that he may be able to get oxygen from

compounds in the rocks, though the process will be difficult.

As quartermaster I had to state that the rations would have to be greatly cut

down.

Air is evidently the primary problem, as it is impossible to greatly reduce

our allowance of oxygen. We will at least have warmth. Water we have for two

months, but Moore promised relief on that score.

Rice reports, however, that the batteries which have served us two years under

the most extreme conditions, are in danger of breaking down. Originally built

for lightness, they may fail, since they have been run continually on what

amounts to an overload.

The tractruck has a fuel supply for but sixty hours operation; and in hauling

the minerals for extraction of oxy-

gen would be exceedingly valuable. Bender objected to its use, saying it

required too much oxygen; actually it uses less than men accomplishing the

same work.

King and Reed reported the brightest spot in the meeting. There is a large

gypsum field nearby, where water can easily be obtained by roasting the rock.

Moore had hoped to find something of the sort. Electrolysis will furnish the

needed oxygen. Demand on the batteries will be serious.

We have spent the day bringing supplies of the gypsum to the camp, while Rice,

Whisler and Bender constructed a wheeled trailer. King and Reed, after showing

us the location, started work on the electric roasting furnace we will need.

Obtaining the gypsum is very trying work, as explosives are useless on this

airless world, unless very heavily tamped. We find we have very small supplies

of explosives.

It will be difficult to live off so barren a country. One must work even for

the air one breathes.

May 20.

Temperature: 169 in rocks.

Afternoon is coming in the lunar day, and Rice warns us we will not be able to

use the batteries to produce water during the night, and advises against

diverting the power of our photo-cells. The batteries are not fully charged

after last night's (lunar-night's) use. I am inclined to agree with him,

though Bender does not believe it, and has convinced the others it will be

safe, even necessary.

I have made a trip today to Reed's silver deposit. I think it will be useful.

Nearly ten tons of gypsum hauled today. King advised construction of roadway,

but Tolman, in charge of works, felt it best to get all the gypsum possibly in

before night.

It will be difficult to work then; it will be too dark to handle explosives.

We are all tired tonight, and feeling the pinch of reduced rations. Whisler

has been ordered to cut down the amounts slowly.

May 21.

At my suggestion, Garner ordered a roadway constructed to the gypsum mine. I

feel it wise, as the trac-truck will not always be available.

I have been accused of favoring certain members of the party in the matter of

rations. They have been very short and are due to become shorter, and the

men's tempers with them. We are working harder than ever before, and with less

food.

The sun is approaching the horizon now, and Reed tried out his still today.

The photo-cells would not carry the load, a*id the batteries had to be drawn

on, against Rice's protests.

The mechanism is not satisfactory, for though the water comes off readily, it

will not condense, surrounded as it is by a world all of which is above the

boiling point of water, even under atmospheric pressure.

May 22.

The road has been finished, and late today the trac-truck broke down. There is

so little fuel left it was decided not to repair it. Another cart was built,

and the men are hauling the material. It is fortunate lunar gravity is so

weak.

Reed has, improved his still, and it works. He was forced to build a shelter

which cut off the sun's rays. He says it would be impossible to work at night

anyway, to which Rice privately gave a sigh. He seems to love that battery

set.

I paid another visit to Reed's silver deposit today, and

returned with some samples on a small sledge. I will try to make some photo-

cells * with Moore's aid.

Food has become a popular subject of conversation. Though they realize the

necessity for drastic rationing, and take it in good spirit, all the men are

hungry. The tobacco smokers are particularly unhappy. I have taken to chewing

a crumb of tobacco occasionally, and find it far from satisfying.

When the call for meals is broadcast we all come promptly. Whisler is being

unmercifully kidded, and tonight a mock trial was held in which he was accused

of wasteful use of water. The soup tonight was rather thin.

May 23.

It is nearing sunset now, and during the sleep-period tonight the sun will

probably set.

A considerable pile of gypsum has been hauled from the mine, and Reed has made

a larger oven for use when the sun appears again. He found some large blocks

of pumice rock, and has set these up as insulators for his furnace.

Moore and I have started work on the photo-cells. The silver was refined

electrolytically, after we reduced it to a soluble compound. We made a crude,

small cell, and were delighted-and, I admit, somewhat surprised-to find it

worked. Kendall and Rice have .agreed to help us.

Pancakes for breakfast, washed down with coffee, at 7:15, and some twelve

hours later dinner of vegetable steak and a watery soup. You feel satisfied

for the next half hour, till the water is absorbed. There is some complaining

from our stomachs, but there is surprisingly little grumbling, though the men

are working hard all

* The photo-cells were made of silver plates, a layer of silver selenide, and

a transparent layer of a second metal. Sunlight falling on these generated a

quite powerful current. These had been their source of power during all the

past two years.

day, under difficult conditions. Luckily the mine is now under a ledge of rock

that shades it, and makes the work endurable. It seems curious to dig ones air

from the rocks.

May 24.

Dr. Garner has detailed Moore, Kendall and Rice to assist me in making the

photo-cells. Rice however, spends half his time with his beloved batteries. I

can understand his worries, after seeing the cells. They were made, I fear,

for light weight, rather than long service. The material has been falling from

the plates badly. Rice experimented today with the possibility of rebuilding

the plates, and had to give it up.

We are not equipped to resist cold. We have only the thinnest of blankets, for

it was not expected that it would ever be cold within the dome.

My stomach is constantly afflicted with an unpleasant burning feeling, and of

course the others feel it too.

Temperature outside: -143.

May 25.

Ten large photo-cells completed, and the gypsum pile increased. At my strong

recommendation the still will not be used until day. We hope to have a

considerable battery of cells by then. Even Rice agrees that the current we

are drawing for making the cells is drawn in a good cause.

Very difficult to work glass for cells without gas flame, but the oxygen

cannot be spared.

Reed, King and Tolman are working on an electrolysis apparatus for use with

the still. Some question as to disposition of hydrogen released. We have all

too many empty tanks, and I suggested storing it for possible usefulness.

Certainly as well as to release it.

Temperature: -147.

May 26.

About two o'clock this afternoon Melville was brought in in a horrible

condition. There was an accident at the mine today, a rock slide, and Melville

was buried. Instinctively his arms protected the faceplate, and it was not

broken, but a great rent appeared in the leg of his suit, and the air began to

rush out. The others uncovered him in a very short time, and found him

clutching his leg tightly to prevent the escape of the remaining air. A rope

was tied about the thigh, to cut off the leak, and he was hurried back. He

said nothing on the trip, and was unconscious when they arrived. They set him

down in the airlock as gently as possible, but when they picked him up to

carry him in they discovered his leg, the right leg, had been broken off three

inches above the knee. The heater wires had been cut when the suit was torn,

and without heat from the battery, and the circulation cut off by the air-

stop, his leg had frozen on the way back. It was evidently brittle as glass in

the cold of the lunar night. Dr. Hughey tied the veins and arteries, dressed

the wound, and hopes for the best. No one has had any experience with such

wounds. The stump of the leg was soaked in cold water, which had to be

constantly renewed at first, as it froze against the flesh. Aside from the

small capillaries, burst in the vacuum of space before freezing, the flesh

appears normal.

Work was stopped at the mine, and tonight Dr. Garner spoke to us briefly on

the dangers, but the absolute necessity of mining. We can only continue the

work. The men are greatly depressed.

We have fifteen photocells finished.

May 27.

Melville is conscious this evening, for the first time since the accident. Dr.

Hughey has kept him under sopo-

rofin, but his stump is thoroughly thawed, and he was allowed to regain

consciousness. For some time as he came to consciousness he complained that

his foot itched, and tried to scratch it. When he was fully conscious he

quickly understood that it was missing, and heard the whole story. He has been

very calm, merely saying that as he is an astro-physicist he will not greatly

miss it. He wants to help us with the photo-cells, as he says that is the only

work he can do now.

He suffers no pain, apparently, and Dr. Hughey says the freezing was so rapid

that the tissue of the stump is unharmed. If only he had not been laid down

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Campbell, John W Jr - The Moon is Hell

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