Islands of Space

bleak, the low, rolling hills below were black, bare rock, coated in spots with a white sheen of what appeared to be snow, though each of t

racks of these crystal mountains lay silent, motionless seas of deep blue, unruffled by

eak rock disappeared behind them. This world was about ten thousand miles in

n altitude of less than a thousand feet, viewing th

again. They had crossed the frozen ocean and were co

ow, and here and there, through vall

of jutting vertical columns, covered with the white burden of snow. Arcot turned a powerful sea

ot turned the ship and he

phe that had brought a cold, bleak death to the pop

aters working. It will be colder here than in space. Out there, we were only cooled by radiation, but those streams are probably liquid nitrogen, oxygen, a

y ten feet of snow. He turned on the powerful searchlight, and swept it around the ship. Under the wa

ts. Arcot donned his, and adjusted his weight

eld of the frozen world. High above them glowed the dim, blue-white

to the tenuous air and headed toward the city, moving easil

he city, "is why this planet is here at all. The intense radiati

the city. "There's your answer. That antenna is similar to those we found on the planets

could keep out the terrific heat of a supernova, but couldn't keep in the heat of the plane

within, the bleak, empty rooms. They swept on through the frozen streets until they came to one huge building in the center. The doors of bronze had been closed, and throu

reak in?" a

ds we could take back to Earth and have deciphered. In a time like this, I imagin

a way through. It was slow work because they had to use the heat

second floor; the deep snow had buried the first. Before them stretc

d more heavily built than Earthmen, perhaps, but there was a grace to them that denied the greater gravity of their planet. The murals portrayed a

they saw hundreds of bodies; people wrapped in heavy cloth blank

nket of soft snow that evaporated and disappeared as the energy of the lights fell on it. There was one little group the men looked at before they left the room of death. There were three in it-a young

ying swiftly down the lon

nt for us," he sa

hers f

"It may be that they wanted us to know their tragic

ou notice those green crystals? A quick, painless poiso

here there was a single great court. There

id Morey. "No pillars under all

greater under this gra

st have been new when this world froze, for there was no sign of corrosion or oxidation. The men

d," said Fuller, looki

ooks of it. Let's take a look at it." He flew up to the top of it and viewed it from above.

Morey was looking at the globe. On the edge of one of the continents w

ry spot. Now look over here." He pointed to a spot which, according to the scale of the globe, was abo

; they must have put relics there that they want us to get. They must have guessed that eventually

our duty to vi

"The chance of other men visiting

this City of the

so lonely as when he is with the dead, and the men began to realize that the original Ancient Mariner had be

nts of this world's atmosphere, back through the chill of t

t a hot, blazing sun really is. Perhaps that was what made Fuller ask: "If

t happen here.' And besides-" He put a hand on the wall of the ship, "-we don't ever have to wo

lowing the route indicated on the great globe in the dead city. Mile after mi

swept the area, looking for the tower he knew should be here. At last, he made it out, a pyramid rather than a tower, and coated over with ice. They soon thawed o

l of iron or steel to protect it from corrosion. Certainly gold doesn't have enough

ked for some means of entrance. In several places, they noticed hieroglyphics carved in great, foot-high characters. They searched in vain for a door until they noticed that the

ening device. He found a bas-relief engraving of a hand pointing to a corner of t

! There was a heavy click, and th

"We can always break our

. The massive walls of the tower were nearly five

a silicon-iron alloy. Not as strong as

chamber that was obviously a museum of the lost race. All

at collection. "Look-there's an old winged airplane! And a steam engine-and that

e all that stuff,

to take all the books we can-making sure we get t

mark. The ones next to them have two vertical marks, and next ones t

loads of books, flying out through the top o

hat he was going to leave a note for anyone who might come here later. Whi

Morey as the three men returned to

tic which would resist any corrosion the co

had taken from universe to universe. The galaxy they were in was represented by a cloud of gas, its main iden

wo bars, and so on up to ten. Ten was represented by ten bars and, in addition, an S-shaped sign

reasoning creature that he had used a decima

hus, the finders could reason that they had come a distance of two hundred billion units, where a distance of three hundred million miles was taken a

t continued, "I am indicating that we came here approximately five hundred

cot closed the door, leaving the pyramid e

"how did you open and

was the lens of a photoelectric cell. My flashlight opened t

is so simple, any creature, intelligent or not,

? There are none on this planet, and anyone intelligent enough to b

looked a lit

hey began packing the precious books in specimen cases that

have been like Earth. It was dead now, and frozen forever. The low hills that stretched out beneath them were dimly lighted by the weak rays of a shrunken sun. Thr

out it plainly, and even the stars around it shone brilliantly. The men could see one constellation

see the dim frozen plains fall behind. It was as if a load of oppressing loneli