DIVINITY
BY WILLIAM MORRISON
ILLUSTRATED BY FREAS
Bradley seemed to haveescaped regeneration. Now hehad only death to worry about.
Ten minutes before, he hadbeen tumbling through the airhead over heels, helpless and despairing.And before that—
He remembered how his hearthad been in his mouth as he hadcrept down the corridor of thespeeding ship. He could hearMalevski's voice coming faintlythrough one of the walls, andhad been tempted to run back,fearful of being shot down onthe spot if he were caught. Hehad fought back the temptationand kept on. No one had seen himas he crept into the lifeboat.
"This is your one chance," hetold himself. "You have to takeit. If they get you back to port,you're finished."
Luck had been with him. Theywere broadcasting the results ofthe Mars-Earth matches at thetime, and most of the crew weregrouped around the visors. Hehad picked the moment whennews came of a sensational upset,and for a minute or twoafter the lifeboat blasted off, noone realized what had happened.When the truth did penetrate,they had a hard time swingingthe ship around, and by then thelifeboat was out of radar range.He was free.
He had exulted wildly for amoment, until it struck him thatfreedom in space might be adoubtful gift. He would have toget to some civilized port, convincethe port authorities thathe had been shipwrecked andsomehow separated from theother crew members, and thenlose himself quickly in the crowdof people that he hoped wouldfill the place. There would berisks, but he would take them. Itwould be better than runningout of air and food in space.
It had been the best possibleplan, and it had gone wrong, allwrong. He had been caught, beforehe knew it, in the gravity ofa planet he had overlooked. Thelifeboat had torn apart under thecombined stresses of its forwardmomentum and its siderockets blasting full force, andhe had been hurled free in hisspace suit, falling slowly at first,then faster, faster, faster—
The automatic parachuteshad suddenly sprung into operationwhen he reached a criticalspeed, and he had slowed downand stopped tumbling. He fellmore gently, feet first, and whenhe landed it was with a shockthat jarred but did no real damage.
Slowly he picked himself upand fumbled at the air valve.Something in the intake tubeshad jammed under the shock oflanding, and the air was nolonger circulating properly.Filled with the moisture of hisown breath, it felt hot and clammy,and clouded the viewplates.
If he had kept all his witsabout him he would have tried toremember, before he took achance, whether the planet hadan oxygen atmosphere, andwhether the oxygen was of sufficientconcentration to supporthuman life. Not that he had anyreal choice, but it would havebeen good to know. As it was, heturned the air valve automatically,and listened nervously asthe stale air hissed out and thefresh air hissed in.
He took a deep breath. It didn'tkill him. Instead, it sent hisblood racing around with newenergy. Slowly the moistureevaporated from his viewplates.Slowly he began to see.
He perceived that he was notalone. A group of people stoodin front of him, respectful, theirown eyes full of fear and wonder.Some one uttered a hoarsecry and pointed