He moved silently, edging around the Uvan, finally gaining entry into the shack. His eyes swept around swiftly, taking in the jumble of motionless, rusted machinery, the pumps and the well-collar.
"They drilled here for something, and pumped something out," he thought aloud. He crossed to the well-collar where his gaze dropped upon a hand shut-off valve. The valve had been sealed.
Bill's eyes widened as he noted the date stamped on the seal. It was dated 2201 A.D. That was the year the Planetoid had been taken under the protective wing of the Interworld Government.
Curious, Bill fumbled with the seal. Then he made up his mind. "I'm in trouble now. May as well go the whole hog." He jerked his arm, breaking the seal off. Then he twisted the valve, the rust flaking away as he forced it open.
Suddenly a gong thundered behind him. He pivoted in time to see the door guard bang an alarm gong with the butt of his radium-plate gun, then reverse the gun. Bill froze in his tracks, his hand tight upon the well valve, as he started into the muzzle of the leveled gun.
"Hey wait a second," he shouted at the guard.
The Uvan's head was ablaze with violently popping colored cell-lights. He banged the gong once more and then started to trigger his gun.
"Be reasonable!" Bill shouted. He lunged to one side, taking the shut-off valve handle with him. A liquid hissing burst in his ears. He glimpsed a stream of strong-smelling liquid shoot from the well valve, over his head, spearing the Uvan guard with a tremendous splash. Then he shook himself. He could hardly believe what his eyes saw. The Uvan simply melted under the liquid! In less than a minute there was nothing but a lump of resinous substance on the floor and a radium gun in the middle of it.
Bill shook his head as though he were suffering from a fantastic form of nightmare generally known as "space jitters." He jammed the shut-off valve back into place without actually accounting for his actions and stumbled out of the shack.
"Bill, where have you been?" It was Kitty.