Left to themselves, the trapped men renewed their struggles, but to no avail. Grant felt as though his feet and hands were caught between two boards, able to slide sideways but neither forward and backward, nor up and down. He glanced over his shoulder. The others were in ridiculous positions, like some bizarre Laocoon group. Some, like him, had leaped clear of the floor when caught. Others had one foot or one hand raised, were unable to lower them; some, with their guns half-drawn, could not continue to pull the weapons from their holsters or shove them back. Miller, hands and feet arrested in a flying tackle, groaned.
"This is worse than before," he muttered. "I could at least jump up and down the other way. Now, without being able to lift our feet, we're rooted to one spot. And my heating unit's two hours gone already."
Grant stared at the frantic man. Like some queer piece of action sculpture they seemed, arms and legs raised. And back aboard the Comet Joan and Harris would surely admit Allers. Once inside, he could cover them with his gun, replace the broken valve, and take off for Venus.
"We'll have to go at this logically," he said. "We just saw Allers walk past us without being affected. Anybody notice anything unusual about him?"
There was a moment's silence, then one of the space-hands spoke up.
"He didn't have on gravity shoes or radium-insulation gloves, if that means anything."
"They're both lead," Grant muttered. "And ... by all space! I think I've got it! Look! The temperature here is only a couple of degrees above absolute zero. And though the inside of our suits are warmed, insulated, the soles of our shoes, the outside of our thick lead gloves, must be near that temperature! Lead, at six above absolute zero, takes on super-conductivity. No resistance to electricity! Weak currents become immensely powerful!"
"Super-conductivity?" Miller repeated. "But what in hell's that got to do with our being caught here? We've got to get free, and damn soon, before our heating units give out!"
"Look," Grant snapped. "He's got magnets set in the walls of this gorge! And when the lead on our hands and feet, in a state of super-conductivity, cuts the fields of the magnets, a powerful current's set up in 'em! Set up in such a direction as to oppose the motion! Like the armature of a shorted dynamo! Get it? We can move only in the direction of the lines of force! Sideways! Just like the magnet that caught you, buried beneath your feet, kept you in the vertical plane! Super-conductivity, and magnets! That's what's got us!"
"Knowing what it is doesn't help," Miller grated. "We can't get our heat-guns free, and even if we could, we wouldn't dare turn them on our hands and feet! Looks like we're here to stay until our heating units wear down and we freeze! We're finished, Grant! Finished!"