Failles made an aimless gesture. "Get your men out of here," rasped Norman.
The huddle of dark figures broke and ran for the ladder. Air was blowing out of the hold in a shrill, whining scream. Norman was the last out. He slammed and clamped the door just as a rush of molten metal crashed against it.
"Keep fighting it," Norman ordered. "Compartment by compartment."
Walking was easier now that acceleration had begun to build into an approximation of normal gravity. Norman made his way back into the control room.
Crankily, the wreck of the Tellus swung through space. The forward drive jets were still functioning. Merrill shook his head as the framework and bulkheads creaked and groaned under the strain of acceleration.
"It'll be a miracle if she holds together an hour," he ground out.
"If it doesn't, we can stop worrying," Norman told him bluntly. "Have you an Interplanetary Astronaut for this sector?"
Merrill nodded toward the shelf where books were clamped.
Norman unsnapped Volume IV, and opened it to HIDALGO. Most of the information, especially astronomical data, he already knew; but a line at the bottom of the page caught his eye.
It is recommended that spaceships avoid this asteroid. Exploration has been impossible, for a number of reasons, and official charting expeditions have failed to return. No data available.