Prologue + 

On SatanтАЩs Footstool + 

The big armor-tender vibrated, gently and not unpleasantly, as the contragravity field alternated on and off, occasionally varying its normal rate of five hundred to the second when some thermal updraft lifted the vehicle and the automatic radar-altimeter control acted to alter the frequency and lower it again. Sometimes it rocked slightly, like a boat on the water, and, in the big screen which served in lieu of a window at the front of the control cabin, the dingy-yellow landscape would seem to tilt a little. If unshielded human eyes could have endured the rays of Nu Puppis, NiflheimтАЩs primary, the whole scene would have appeared a vivid Saint PatrickтАЩs Day green, the effect of the blue-predominant light on the yellow atmosphere. The outside тАЩvisor-pickup, however, was fitted with filters which blocked out the gamma-rays and X-rays and most of the ultraviolet-rays, and added the longer light-waves of red and orange which were absent, so that things looked much as they would have under the light of a G0-type star like Sol. The air was faintly yellow, the sky was yellow with a greenish cast, and the clouds were green-gray. + 

A thousand feet below, the local equivalent of a forest grew, the trees, topped with huge ragged leaves, looking like hundred-foot stalks of celery. There would be animal life down there, tooтБатАФlittle round things, four inches across, like eight-legged crabs, gnawing at the vegetation, and bigger things, two feet long, with articulated shell-armor and sixteen legs, which fed on the smaller herbivores. Beyond, in the middleground, was open grassland, if one could so call a mat of wormlike colorless or pastel-tinted sprouts, and a river meandered through it. On the skyline, fifty miles away, was a range of low dunes and hills, none more than a thousand feet high. + 

No human had ever set foot on the surface, or breathed the air, of Niflheim. To have done so would have been instant death; the air was a mixture of free fluorine and fluoride gasses, the soil was metallic fluorides, damp with acid rains, and the river was pure hydrofluoric acid. Even the ordinary spacesuit would have been no protection; the glass and rubber and plastic would have disintegrated in a matter of minutes. People came to Niflheim, and worked the mines and uranium refineries and chemical plants, but they did so inside power-driven and contragravity-lifted armor, and they lived on artificial satellites two thousand miles off-planet. This vehicle, for instance, was built and protected as no spaceship ever had to be, completely insulated and entered only through a triple airlockтБатАФan outer lock, which would be evacuated outward after it was closed, a middle lock kept evacuated at all times, and an inner lock, evacuated into the interior of the vehicle before the middle lock could be opened. Niflheim was worse than airless, much worse. + 

The chief engineer sat at his controls, making the minor lateral adjustments in the vehicleтАЩs position which were not possible to the automatic controls. One of the radiomen was receiving from the orbital base; the other was saying, over and over, in an exasperatedly patient voice: тАЬDr.┬аMurillo. Dr.┬аMurillo. Please come in, Dr.┬аMurillo.тАЭ At his own panel of instruments, a small man with grizzled black hair around a bald crown, and a grizzled beard, chewed nervously at the stump of a dead cigar and listened intently to what wasтБатАФor for what wasnтАЩtтБатАФcoming in to his headset receiver. A couple of assistants checked dials and refreshed their memories from notebooks and peered anxiously into the big screen. A large, plump-faced, young man in soiled khaki shirt and shorts, with extremely hairy legs, was doodling on his notepad and eating candy out of a bag. And a black-haired girl in a suit of coveralls three sizes too big for her, and, apparently, not much of anything else, lounged with one knee hooked over her chair-arm, staring into the screen at the distant horizon. + 

тАЬDr.┬аMurillo. Dr.┬аMurтБатАФтАЭ The radioman broke off in mid-syllable and listened for a moment. тАЬI hear you, doctor, go ahead.тАЭ Then, a moment later тАЬWhatтАЩs your position, now, doctor?тАЭ + 

тАЬI can see them,тАЭ the girl said, lifting a hand in front of her. тАЬAt two oтАЩclock, about one of my handтАЩs-breadths above the horizon.тАЭ + 

The man with the grizzled beard put his face into the fur around the eyepiece of the telescopic-тАЩvisor and twisted a dial. тАЬYou have good eyes, Miss Quinton,тАЭ he complimented. тАЬOnly four personal armors; Ahmed, ask him where the fifth is.тАЭ + 

тАЬWe only see four of your personal armors,тАЭ the radioman said. тАЬWhoтАЩs missing, and why?тАЭ He waited for a moment, then lowered the hand-phone and turned. тАЬThe fifth oneтАЩs inside the handling-machine. One of the Ullerans. Gorkrink.тАЭ + 

The larger of the specks that had appeared on the horizon resolved itself into a handling-machine, a thing like an oversized contragravity-tank, with a bulldozer-blade, a stubby derrick-boom instead of a gun, and jointed, claw-tipped arms to the sides. The smaller dots grew into personal armorтБатАФegg-shaped things that sprouted arms and grab-hooks and pushers in all directions. The man with the grizzled beard began talking rapidly into his hand-phone, then hung it up. There was a series of bumps, and the armor-tender, weightless on contragravity, shook as the handling-machine came aboard. + 

тАЬYou ever see any nuclear bombing, Miss Quinton?тАЭ the young man with the hairy legs asked, offering her his candy bag. + 

тАЬOnly by telecast, back Sol-side,тАЭ she replied, helping herself. тАЬTest-shots at the Federation Navy proving-ground on Mars. I never even heard of nuclear bombs being used for mining till I came here, though.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, if this turns out as well as the other job, three months ago, itтАЩll be something to see,тАЭ he promised. тАЬThese volcanoes have been dormant for, oh, maybe as long as a thousand years; there ought to be a pretty good head of gas down there. And the magmaтАЩll be thick, viscous stuff, like basalt on Terra. Of course, this wonтАЩt be anything like basalt in compositionтБатАФitтАЩll be intensely compressed metallic fluorides, with a very high metal-content. The volcanoes we shot three months ago yielded a fine flow of lava with all sorts of metalsтБатАФnickel, beryllium, vanadium, chromium, indium, as well as copper and iron.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat sort of gas were you speaking about?тАЭ she asked. + 

тАЬHydrogen. ThatтАЩs whatтАЩs going to make the fireworks; it combines explosively with fluorine. The hydrogen-fluorine combination is what passes for combustion here; the result is hydrofluoric acid, the local equivalent of water. See, the metallic core of this planet is covered, much less thickly than that of Terra, with fluoride rockтБатАФfluorspar, and that sort of thing. ThereтАЩs nothing like granite here, for instance. ThatтАЩs why those big dunes, out there, are the best Niflheim has in the way of mountains. The subsurface hydrogen is produced when the acid filters down through the rock, combines with pure metals underneath.тАЭ + 

тАЬDr.┬аMurilloтАЩs inside, now,тАЭ the radioman said. тАЬJust came out of the inner airlock. HeтАЩll be up as soon as he gets out of his pressure-suit.тАЭ + 

тАЬAs soon as he gets here, IтАЩll touch it off,тАЭ the bearded man said. тАЬEverything set, de Jong?тАЭ + 

тАЬEverything ready, Dr.┬аGomes,тАЭ one of his assistants assured him. + 

The door at the rear of the control-cabin opened, and Juan Murillo, the seismologist, entered, followed by an assistant. Murillo was a big man, copper-skinned, barrel-chested; he looked like a thirdтБатАФor fourthтБатАФgeneration Martian, of Andes Indian ancestry. He came forward and stood behind GomesтАЩ chair, looking down at the instruments. His assistant stopped at the door. This assistant was not human. He was a biped, vaguely humanoid, but he had four arms and a face like a lizardтАЩs, and, except for some equipment on a belt, he was entirely naked. + 

He spoke rapidly to Murillo, in a squeaking jabber. Murillo turned. + 

тАЬYes, if you wish, Gorkrink,тАЭ he said, in the English-Spanish-Afrikaans-Portuguese mixture that was Sixth Century, AE, Lingua Terra. Then he turned back to Gomes as the Ulleran sat down in a chair by the door. + 

тАЬWell, sheтАЩs all yours, Louren├зo, shoot the works.тАЭ + 

Gomes stabbed the radio-detonator button in front of him. A voice came out of the P.A.-speaker overhead: тАЬIn sixty seconds, the bombs will be detonatedтБатАКтБатАж thirty secondsтБатАКтБатАж fifteen secondsтБатАКтБатАж ten secondsтБатАКтБатАж five seconds, four seconds, three seconds, two seconds, one second.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

Out on the rolling skyline, fifty miles away, a lancelike ray of blue-white light shot up into the gathering duskтБатАФa clump of five rays, really, from five deep shafts in an irregular pentagon half a mile across, blended into one by the distance. An instant later, there was a blinding flash, like sheet-lightning, and a huge ball of varicolored fire belched upward, leaving a series of smoke-rings to float more slowly after it. That fireball flattened, then spread to form the mushroom-head of a column of incandescent gas that mounted to overtake it, engorging the smoke-rings as it rose, twisting, writhing, changing shape, turning to dark smoke in one moment and belching flame and crackling with lightning the next. The armor-tender began to pitch and roll; it was all the engineer and one of the assistants could do, together, to keep it level. + 

тАЬIn about half an hour,тАЭ the large young man told the girl, тАЬthe real fireworks should be starting. WhatтАЩs coming up now is just small debris from the nuclear blast. When the shockwaves get down far enough to crack things open, the gasтАЩll come up, and then steam and ash, and then the magma. This one ought to be twice as good as the one we shot three months ago; it ought to be every bit as good as Krakatoa, on Terra, in 59 Pre-Atomic.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, even this much was worth staying over for,тАЭ the girl said, watching the screen. + 

тАЬYou going on to Uller on the City of Canberra?тАЭ Louren├зo Gomes asked. тАЬI wish I were; I have to stay over and make another shot, in a month or so, and IтАЩve had about all of Niflheim I can take, now. The sooner I get onto a planet where they donтАЩt ration the air, the better IтАЩll like it.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, what do you know!тАЭ the large young man with the hairy legs mock-marveled. тАЬHe doesnтАЩt like our nice planet!тАЭ + 

тАЬNice planet!тАЭ Gomes muttered something. тАЬThey call Terra GodтАЩs Footstool; well, IтАЩll give you one guess who uses this thing to prop his cloven hoofs on.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhen are you going to Terra?тАЭ the girl asked him. + 

тАЬTerra? I donтАЩt know, a year, two years. But IтАЩm going to Uller on the next shipтБатАФthe City of PretoriaтБатАФif we get the next blast off in time. They want me to design some improvements on a couple of power-reactors, so IтАЩll probably see you when I get there.тАЭ + 

тАЬHere she comes!тАЭ the chief engineer called. тАЬWatch the base of the column!тАЭ + 

The pillar of fiery smoke and dust, still boiling up from where the bombs had gone off far underground, was being violently agitated at the bottom. A series of new flashes broke out, lifting and spreading the incandescent radioactive gasses, and then a great gush of flame rose. A column of pure hydrogen must have rushed up into the vacuum created by the explosion; the next blast of flame, in a lateral sheet, came at nearly ten thousand feet above the ground, and great rags of fire, changing from red to violet and back through the spectrum to red again, went soaring away to dissipate in the upper atmosphere. Then geysers of hot ash and molten rock spouted upward; some of the white-hot debris landed almost at the acid river, halfway to the armor-tender. + 

тАЬWeтАЩve started a first-class earthquake, too,тАЭ the Hispano-Indian Martian Murillo said, looking at the instruments. тАЬAbout six big cracks opening in the rock-structure. You know, when this quiets down and cools off, weтАЩll have more ore on the surface than we can handle in ten years, and more than we could have mined by ordinary means in fifty.тАЭ + 

About four miles from the original blast, another eruption began with a terrific gas-explosion. + 

тАЬWell, that finishes our work,тАЭ the large young man said, going to a kitbag in the corner of the cabin and getting out a bottle. тАЬGet some of those plastic cups, over there, somebody; this one calls for a drink.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs right,тАЭ Gomes said. тАЬYou do something once, it may be an accident; you repeat the performance, and itтАЩs a success.тАЭ He began pushing papers aside on his desk, and the girl in the too-ample coveralls brought drinking cups. + 

The Ulleran, in the background, rose quickly and squeaked apologetically. Murillo nodded. тАЬYes, of course, Gorkrink. No need for you to stay here.тАЭ The Ulleran went out, closing the door behind him. + 

тАЬThat taboo against Ullerans and Terrans watching each other eat and drink,тАЭ Murillo said. тАЬWhat is that, part of their religion?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo, itтАЩs their version of modesty,тАЭ the girl replied. тАЬLike some of our sex-inhibitions, which they canтАЩt even begin to understand.тБатАКтБатАж But you were speaking to him in Lingua Terra; I didnтАЩt know any of them understood it.тАЭ + 

тАЬGorkrink does,тАЭ Murillo said, uncorking the bottle and pouring into the plastic cups. тАЬNone of them can speak it, of course, because of the structure of their vocal organs, any more than we can speak their languages without artificial aids. But I can talk to him in Lingua Terra without having to put one of those damn gags in my mouth, and he can pass my instructions on to the others. HeтАЩs been a big help; IтАЩll be sorry to lose him.тАЭ + 

тАЬLose him?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, his yearтАЩs up; heтАЩs going back to Uller on the Canberra. You know, itтАЩs impossible to keep some trace of fluorine from the air in the handling-machines, or even out on the orbiters, and it plays the devil with their lungs. He wanted to stay on another three months, to help with the next shot, but the medics wouldnтАЩt hear of it.тБатАКтБатАж HeтАЩs from Keegark, wherever on Uller that is; claims to be a prince, or something. I know all the other geeks kowtow to him. But heтАЩs a damn good worker. Very smart; picks things up the first time you tell him. IтАЩll recommend him unqualifiedly for any kind of work with contragravity or mechanized equipment.тАЭ + 

They all had drinks, now, except the chief engineer, who wanted a rain-check on his. + 

тАЬWell, hereтАЩs to us,тАЭ Murillo said. тАЬThe first A-bomb miners in history.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 