Suddenly, it gaped wide, and the grinding and rumbling was louder. It opened into a cavernous maw—right under the Havelock. For a moment the Havelock stood poised, as if on air—and then the battered; flattened ship disappeared within the hole, clattering against the walls as it fell.
The ground shuddered again, violently; the hole became a crack, closing in upon itself. It disappeared altogether, and only the rough terrain remained.
But the Havelock was gone.
Marcia stood up. "An earthquake?" She trembled.
"On a planetoid twenty miles in diameter? Don't be silly. You'd need an unstable interior for an earthquake—and this little globe cooled and stabilized long ago."
"Yes? Then why is it warm?"
She had him there, and Burt didn't know. Why was the asteroid warm? If he knew the answer to that, he might know the answer to a lot of things.
"This is stupid, Burt. Let's stop talking and find Johnny. He could be half way around the asteroid by now, or more."
Burt shook his head. "We can't all go and look. Joan would delay us. You stay here with her, Marcia—or, better still, get back to the ship with her and stay inside. I'll find Johnny and bring him back. Then we'll get the devil out of here."