"No. An illegal use of oxygen!"
Quickly Strong explained his discovery, concluding, "Come on. We're going back in there for a closer inspection!"
"But we can't, sir," said Morgan.
"Why not?"
"We only have enough oxygen left in our tanks to get us back to the cleared area."
"Blast it!" growled Strong. "Aren't there any masks aboard the ship?"
"No, sir," replied Morgan.
"Very well, then. The only thing we can do is go back and bring out a searching party in force." Strong turned and walked rapidly away. "Come on, Sergeant, I think we're on the way to answering a lot of questions about the failure of the screens."
Almost running, the two spacemen disappeared into the swirling mist of deadly gases.
No sooner were they out of sight than Tom Corbett and Astro, faces covered with oxygen masks, emerged from the warehouse and headed toward the ship, Miles and Brett close behind them with paralo-ray guns leveled at their backs.