d with
suckers like the tentacles of an octopus. And heads--Asher gagged and
vomited!

Not heads. Just masses of the black body substance as large as the two
fists of a man. In each head was a crooked black gash for a mouth.
There were no eyes that Asher could see. Yet, these Things seemed to
see one another, and emitted strange, chill, squeaking sounds!

As Asher watched, the Things sensed his presence. A half hundred of
them rose and started toward him. They did not walk, nor did they
crawl. Undulating, contorting strangely, they came on with incredible
speed, long tentacles waving before them; slithering on the rocky
floor of the cavern; making those odd squeaking noises.

As they neared him, Asher sprang to his feet, backing up against the
pile of cavings beside the Miner. A long tentacle whipped out and
wrapped around his leg. A short, snout-tentacle quivered toward his
face. There was strength beyond imagining in the grip on him.

* * * * *

With an almost animal snarl the man from the earth's surface moved to
protect himself from these creatures, surely of the lowest living
order. He grabbed into the pocket of his loose asbestos composition
suit, and his fingers closed comfortingly around the static gun.

He aimed it, and the Thing gripping him was hurled back upon the
others. Crackling, snapping viciously, the charges of electricity that
were drawn from the very earth increased in the gun and spumed out
like lightning bolts. The Things squeaked excitedly and surged
forward. Asher's finger pulled the ratchet trigger full force, and
like dew before a strong shaft of sunlight, the gruesome Things were
knocked away.

Hating the sight, Asher changed the charge of his gun, cutting the
size of the path the volts covered, thereby increasing the potency of
the discharge. The piled bodies sizzled, and to Asher's nose came a
sulphurous smell. Then, there was nothing at all....

Sick, he put the gun back into the deep pocket and leaned on the wall.
He turned around again to the pile of cavings that barred his way from
the surface, and dug like a madman with his bare hands. The Miner was
weighed down, and he could not use it anyhow. The blasting tubes were
on the bottom, and could not be shifted to the top.

Suddenly he stopped his crazed work, raised his head and listened. "My
God!" he gasped hoarsely, "am I stark mad?" He thought he must be, for
the voice of a human being came to h