Prokle lay there a moment in silence, blessing the protecting darkness which he had cursed only a moment before. Then, hardly moving, he chuckled grimly and clicked on his phone.
"Hype! For the love of—Hey, Hype, can you hear me?"
Garth's voice came faintly in reply.
Prokle continued: "Hype, listen. I hate to admit it, but I guess you were right. There's someone here all right, and I've got him spotted. I've got him spotted so damn good that I don't dare move! He's got a ray-pistol and he just took two pot shots at me."
Garth's voice came again, thinly: "If this is your idea of a joke, it's out of place and very unfunny."
"It's unfunny all right! You get over here damn quick! And Hype, be careful. I'll keep talking to guide you."
Ten minutes later Garth crept cautiously to his partner's side and whispered: "You're sure it wasn't a meteor you saw?"
"Do meteors singe your ears? It was a ray, I tell you! It came from down there."
Garth crept to the edge of the chasm and rolled a fragment of rock over the rim. It bounded steeply down in the dark, but they could hear no sound due to the helmets they wore. No answering ray flashed up. For a minute Garth lay there, peering down cautiously. Then he crept back.
"You're right," he told Prokle, "someone's down there."