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289
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
151
Right
before
them,
so
close
that
they
all
but
rested
in
its
shadow,
was
one
of
those
monster
aircars,
its
tentacles
moving
to
and
fro
as
though
wafted
into
motion
by
some
vagrant
breeze.
But
since
neither
Sarka
nor
Jaska
could
feel
the
breeze,
Sarka
knew
that
it
was
life
which
caused
the
waving
motion
of
those
tentacles
of
terror.
"Note,"
he
said
to
Jaska,
"that
there
is
a
tiny
trap-door
in
the
bottom
of
the
aircar,
and
that
the
thing
rests
on
a
half-dozen
of
those
tentacles!"
"I
see,"
came
Jaska's
reply.
Jaska
went
on:
"Note
the
gleaming
thing
on
the
ground,
right
below
the
aircar?
I
wonder
what
it
is?"
They
studied
the
thing
there,
which
seemed
to
be
a
huge
jewel
of
some
sort
that
glittered
balefully
in
the
eery
light
of
the
Moon.
It
was,
perhaps,
twice
the
size
of
an
average
man's
torso,
and
was
almost
exactly
cubical
in
shape.
As
Sarka
studied
the
thing,
he
sensed
that
feeling
flowed
out
of
it--that
the
cube,
whatever
it
was,
was
alive!
He
tore
his
glance
away
from
it,
and
realized
that
he
accomplished
the
feat
with
a
distinct
effort
of
will--as
though
the
cube
had
willed
to
hold
his
gaze,
knew
he
was
there.
His
eyes,
peering
around
the
inner
slope
of
the
crater--which
dipped
over,
some
hundreds
of
feet
down,
and
plunged
downward
to
some
unknown
depth--noted
a
broad,
flat
stone,
off
to
his
right;
and
around
the
rim
of
the
crater
he
counted
a
full
hundred
of
the
aircars,
all
with
their
tentacles
waving
as
if
they
belonged
to
sentient
creatures.
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