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Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
158
Closer
now
appeared
the
bottom
of
the
crater,
whose
floor
seemed
to
be
covered
with
something
that
looked
like
blue
sand,
or
rock.
From
this
bluish
substance
the
glow
which
bathed
the
two
Earthlings
seemed
to
emanate.
The
funnel
of
the
crater
had
now
given
away
to
the
immensities
of
space,
in
all
directions,
and
the
cold
of
outside
was
being
replaced
by
a
warmth
which
promised
soon
to
be
even
uncomfortable.
Then,
without
a
jar,
the
two
landed
at
the
bottom
of
the
crater,
side
by
side,
close
enough
almost
to
that
great
cone
to
touch
it.
Out
of
the
cone
came
that
bluish
column,
to
shoot
up
through
the
funnel
down
which
the
two
had
lightly
dropped
...
and
the
motion
of
the--whatever
it
was--was
accompanied
by
a
muted
moaning
sound,
like
that
of
a
distant
waterfall.
They
paused
there,
in
amazement,
taking
stock
of
their
surroundings.
Huge
tunnels,
whose
roofs
were
lost
to
invisibility
in
the
bluish
haze,
whose
extremities
could
only
be
guessed
at,
reached
off
in
all
directions.
As
far
as
the
two
could
tell
they
were
the
only
living
souls
within
the
crater,
though
both
knew
better.
Sarka
had
the
feeling,
and
he
knew
Jaska
shared
it
with
him,
that
innumerable
eyes
were
studying
them,
innumerable
intellects
were
cataloguing
them.
And
somehow
he
sensed
the
presence,
somewhere
near,
of
the
traitor
Dalis!
Then
that
discordant
sound
again,
breaking
so
swiftly
that
it
fell
upon
the
eardrums
of
Sarka
and
Jaska
like
the
crack
of
doom.
Out
of
the
many
tunnels,
from
all
directions,
came
hordes
of
beings
which
would
have
made
the
nightmares
of
Paracelsus--first
of
the
scientists
of
Earth--pale
to
insignificance.
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