Starquake.pdf

were mixed to produce an ultra-hot flame. The torch was on automatic and it immediately formed a long
flame that flickered toward Heavy-Egg's hide. He screamed in insane panic as he felt intense heat once
again. His pouches vomited bags of distilled pulp, and he dropped the torch which licked at a bag that
burst into a bright violet-white ball of flame.
"I can see!!" Heavy-Egg said as the singed end of one of his eye-stumps gave a weak response to the
intense flood of light. Entranced by the light, he madly added bag after bag of pulp to the growing blaze.
The equipment in the shop caught on fire and drove him out into the street. Then the tanks of welding
liquid blew up in a tremendous explosion.
The next time Qui-Qui checked in on the communicator, there was some good news.
"Staring-Sensor at the East Pole Space Station has detected a large fire and explosion in Swift's Climb
at the base of the
East Pole mountains," said Lieutenant Shannon-Capacity. "It could be a signal or it could be a delayed
reaction to the starquake. So far, it is the only sign of life on Egg."
"Then it is our only hope," said Qui-Qui. "I'm heading for Swift's Camp. I'll take the flyer, but I'm not
going to fly, it wastes too much power. I'm going to travel close to the surface where the gravity repulsors
have plenty of mass to push against. In that mode I could travel around Egg a couple of times without
emptying the accumulators." She paused, "Sure seems like a terrible waste though. Here I have this
terrific toy that can fly about in the sky and I have to use it as a dull crust-glider."
Leaving the robot tending its rejuvenation machine, Qui-Qui lifted the flyer on a low altitude, minimum
energy flight profile, and headed for the East Pole. Meter after barren meter passed under the flyer as she
traversed the glowing yellow-white crust.
Avoiding the wreckage of the Jump Loop spread over the crust, she brought the flyer down in a flat
space in the outskirts of Swift's Climb. Finding nothing to tie it down to, she made sure that the machine
was left far from anything solid in case there was another crustquake. Before leaving the flyer she made a
call to the East Pole Space Station floating overhead and waited for the reply.
"The blaze occurred in the eastern section," said Staring-Sensor. "It's the old section of town right at the
bottom of the superconducting chute that was used by the Web-Con workers on the Space Foundation
project. Just find an east-west road and head for the mountains."
Just then another voice entered the communication link. It was Hohmann-Transfer.
"At all costs youmust protect our flyer," the admiral warned. "The fire may have been caused by looters.
You are to take weapons with you and report in every dothtum."
"I have no weapons, and it will take me two dothturns just to get to the east side from here," said
Qui-Qui. "Besides, one fire does not a band of looters make. I will report in when I get back."
Qui-Qui did begin to feel a little uneasy as she made her way through the deserted town. She moved
quietly and stopped often to listen. Finally she heard a voice. It had the high tenor pitch of a male tread.
The voice sounded drunk and off-key. As she moved along the streets, tracking down the
voice, she recognized the tune. It washer song, 'Twine Thine Eyen About Mine."