Sam waited a long time. Then he asked, "What is it, Jim? What's the matter?"
Jim continued to stare at the panels of the console, then answered as if from some far nightmare distance. "Two chemicals, Sam," he said. "One of them a big molecule, something like hemoglobin. And neither of them could exist as fossils. Their structure would have broken down long ago. They could exist only in live tissue!"
He continued staring. Neither of them moved. Sam felt as if he had just heard something in a nightmare and had only to wait a minute until he woke up. Then it would be gone.
Jim turned his head at last and faced Sam. He gave a short, harsh bark of a laugh that sounded half-hysterical.
"We'd be off our rockers, wouldn't we Sam? Clear off our rockers to believe there could be something alive five hundred feet inside the moon!"
"Sure—and if it were alive, it wouldn't be sitting still while the laser beams drilled a hole into it. Besides, we just couldn't be lucky enough to lower the drill right smack into some cave where a moon bear was hibernating. All the circuits must have busted down at the same time. We'll fix it tomorrow. Let's get the girls and have a night on the town."
It was a very unsuccessful night on the town. Jim and Mary, and Sam and his wife went to a show and a nightclub.
"You're moving like a zombie. What's the matter?" said Mary as she and Jim danced together.
"Feel like a zombie. Why don't we give it up and go home? I want to get down to the lab by five in the morning."