Primal Spillane: Early Stories 1941-1942

The Man in the Moon

Bruce Henderson looked at the calendar on the wall and grinned slowly. The date was December 31, 1941... New Year’s Eve, but here in the wild jungles of Brazil one would never know it. Instead of snow, and the icy streets of New York, the moist wind rustled though green tree tops, and multicolored birds chirped madly. Sweat poured from his forehead as Bruce gathered up his rifle and boxes of ammunition and placed them on a small cart.

Minutes later he was trundling through the forest of ferns and shaggy trees with the load. He turned once, and looked at the house he had spent three years in, and then turned and went ahead. About fifty yards off was a clearing... one that represented tedious hours of back-breaking labor under a broiling sun. And there at one end was the greatest surprise of all... a rocket ship! Sleekly streamlined, it’s shiny exterior glistening in the morning light. It thrust its pointed nose toward the horizon like a trained greyhound.

Opening a small hatch in the side, Bruce stowed away the last of his cargo. His brain whirled with thoughts of the past... how the newspapers and men of science scoffed at his plans to reach the moon. Screamingly funny, they said... the ravings of a maniac... ought to be put in an asylum. Well, they were going to be fooled! The moon can be reached, and will be! By this time next week, if his calculations proved correct, the 238,800 miles between Earth and Moon will have been spanned!

Adventure! Space opened to man, to cultivate and develop! This was living. People could have their stuffy little offices, they could work in smelly research labs, but he, Bruce, would battle the dangers of space! Just one last look around, and he hopped in and bolted the door behind him. Quickly, he took his place at the controls, consulted the instrument panel in front of him, then he reached out and pulled back slowly on a lever.

Immediately a deafening roar blasted from the rear rocket tubes. Tropical plants disintegrated under the terrific power of the charges. Smoke and flame spat into the jungle, while the ship shivered slightly, eager to be off. Then the lever came back another notch. The ship lurched, slid forward, and under full gun tore down the clearing! For one awful instant Bruce thought he wouldn’t clear the trees. He touched the controls slightly... and the space ship responded valiantly. It shot skywards, and a moment later was lost to sight of the naked eye!

Days went by swiftly. Whenever Bruce felt the urge to sleep, he set the robot controls and closed his eyes. Steadily, the moon grew larger, while behind him Earth diminished to a small round sphere, with the continents clearly outlined. Outside, the sky was dotted with the brilliant globes of stars, and occasionally small pieces of space dirt rasped against the hull. Fortunately, the construction of the ship was strong enough to withstand the barrage, otherwise it would have been shredded into fragments!

Once a comet flashed across the ship’s path, its long trail glowing brightly, and in an instant it was gone. Things never before seen by man were his to gaze upon in wonder. Asteroids... huge chunks of metal... whirled by, their craggy outlines passing across the horizon of stars. Several times Bruce had to veer out of their way, or smash against their unresisting sides! Some were perfectly smooth, like gigantic marbles, while others looked like pieces of iron ripped bodily from the earth. And all were without light and sound... reflecting only that which emanated from the sun.

The fifth day Bruce awoke from a sound sleep. He peered out... then made a wild clutch at the controls. The Moon was upon him! Desperately, he shut off the rear tubes and threw on the forward ones, braking the ship to a stop. Short miles ahead the white surface loomed, like something long dead. Before he had time to think, the space ship came in for a landing. It hit, bounced, then settled neatly on the crust, sliding along for miles before coming to a stop!

Thrilled so that he could hardly move, Bruce donned a helmet, stepped into an air chamber, then jumped down to the ground. He made it! The first man to reach the Moon! He stepped forward, and then... rose above the surface for ten feet! Gravity... it was less than that on Earth... he must remember that! Air hissed into his helmet. He dared not remove it, for there was none on Moon. Gravity was so light that it could not keep the air from drifting off into space!

Bruce had on his heavy space clothes, designed to keep him from freezing to death in the sub-arctic temperatures between Earth and Moon, but now it was uncomfortably hot. He struggled out of it and got a pair of tropical shorts from the ship. That was much better. Then, for the first time he took careful note of his surroundings. Gigantic pits were like ugly sores all over. Huge cracks yawned like the mouths of monsters. Meteors caused the pits... there was no air to burn them out before hitting, and the unbearable heat had opened up the cracks!

The whole place was a scene of desolate waste. The ground was a mass of white powder, and not a single speck of vegetation was visible. No life crawled about as it did on Earth, nor had any life existed here for thousands of years. The small planet seemed to be an outcast from the Solar System, a true desert of death! Telescopes had often revealed this to the astronomers, but when seen so closely it was even more appalling.

Bruce had prepared for a long stay, but he wasted none of his time. First he got out a shovel, then began digging a ditch. Weeks later he was still at it. Finally the day came when his work there was done. Wait until that was seen from Earth! But the biggest task of all was still ahead... a visit to the dark side... that which was never seen from Earth! Always, only one side pointed toward the mother sphere, now he would see what was on the other side!

A bicycle was dragged out of the ship and he was off! Fortunately, he was near the shadow line, and two days later he crossed into the dark country. Then... an amazing change came over the place... the cold was unbearable... and only a few yards separated it from the hot side! Bruce donned his space suit, which he had taken with him, and went in! Here there was no light, only inky darkness... and the cold. Not a sound broke the stillness except for a space humming. Further and further he went into the interior.

He tripped over jutting pieces of rock and fell, but there was no shock. When he went down the lessened gravity let him “float” down. It was a queer sensation, utterly different from anything he had ever experienced on Earth!

Suddenly... a shriek split the quiet. It grew louder, vibrating the ground! Just in time, Bruce looked up. A giant form was hurtling out of space toward Moon! It hit with a thunderous crash, knocking him off his feet. Bruce was showered with particles. The stuff rained down... if it should penetrate his helmet, he was lost! But nothing happened. He had escaped unscathed! He flashed on his light, and in its rays saw a meteor... split wide open... and out of it came another space traveler!

And what an apparition it was! A horrible, eight-armed creature it was. Huge, devilish eyes gleamed dully as it crawled out of the wreckage of the ship. Then it saw him! The thing squirmed forward, its arms reaching out for him! Fully ten feet high! Bruce was petrified, he could not move. He tried desperately to bring up the rifle, but the thing’s eyes held him motionless. And just as it was about to grab him it happened... The thing collapsed!

Perhaps the shock of the crash did it, or maybe the intense cold, but if flopped to the ground like a sack of jelly... and started to shrink! A matter of minutes and it was a spot on the darkness of the crust. Quickly Bruce turned on his light and caught the thing in the beam. Smaller and smaller it got... and then it disappeared completely! What manner of creature was this that traveled through space... and shrunk into nothingness when it died? This was too much!

Bruce turned and ran for the shadow line. He went in long bounding leaps, jumping crags and obstacles in a weird bouncing motion. He hit the line, stripped off his space suit, stuffed it in the container on the bicycle, and made for the ship. Time went slowly, so anxious was he to reach the security of the metal hull. But at last he made it. At once he took off his helmet, stowed his gear into the compartments, and leaped to the controls.

On went the motors! The ship sped along and lifted into the blue sky. The nose made a wide arc and he was homeward bound! Earth looked wonderful, even after so brief a leave. Days later North America spun into view, and grew steadily bigger. Bruce picked out a spot on the sandy desert of Arizona where he could do no damage in landing. The rockets in the nose blasted and the ship slowed. He leveled off and slid in beautifully. He was back!

Little clouds of dust on the horizon came closer. He had been seen... and the curious were on their way. They showed up, all right... armed to the teeth! They probably thought he was a visitor from another planet and were taking no chances! But when they saw that it was a man, questions poured out... Bruce had to laugh them off. They wouldn’t believe him anyway.

However, word reached the papers and he told them the whole story. The nation rocked with laughter. Prominent scientists said it was impossible... he was crazy... Bruce said nothing. Along about this time, the new telescope was erected in California, one that would bring the Moon to within twenty-five miles of Earth. Eager eyes peered into the huge barrel, gazing at the Moon... and there, just as Bruce Henderson said it would be... were the initials U. S. A., carved into the surface in letters each a mile long! It was the ditch he dug, deep enough to be seen from Earth — claiming the moon for the United States!