work was almost over. Keith Wells told himself that he, like
Bowman, would be glad to set foot on land again. This surveying was
important, of course, but too dry for him--no action. He smiled at the
lines of boredom on Hemmy's brow as the younger man stared gloomily
into the teleview screen.

And then the smile left his lips. The radio operator, in a cubby
adjoining the control room, had spoken into the communication tube:

"Urgent call for you, sir! From Captain Knapp!"

* * * * *

Wells reached out and clipped a pair of extension phones over his
ears. The deep voice of Robert Knapp, captain of the mother-ship
_Falcon_, came ringing in. It was strained with an excitement unusual
to him.

"Wells? Knapp speaking. Something damned funny's just happened near
here. You know the fishing fleet that was near us yesterday morning?"

"Yes?"

"Well, the whole thing's gone down! Destroyed, absolutely! The sea's
been like glass, the weather perfect--yet from the wreckage, what
there is of it, you'd think a typhoon had struck! I can't begin to
explain it. No survivors, either, so far, though we're hunting for
them."

"You say the boats are completely destroyed?"

"Smashed like driftwood. I tell you it's preposterous--and yet it's
the fact. I think you'd better return at once, old man; you're only
half an hour off. And come on the surface; it's getting light now, and
you might pick up something. God knows what this means, Keith, but
it's up to us to find out. It's--it's got me...."

His tones were oddly disturbed--almost scared--and this from a man who
didn't know what fear was.

"But Bob," Keith asked, "how did you--"

"Stand by a minute! The lookout reports survivors!"

* * * * *

Wells turned to meet Bowman's inquisitive face. He quickly repeated
the gist of Knapp's weird story. "We saw them at dusk, last
evening--remember? And now they're gone, destroyed. What can have done
it?"

For some minutes the two surprised men speculated on the strange
occurrence. Then Knapp's voice again rang in the headphones.

"Wells? My God, man, this is getting downright fantastic! We've just
taken two survivors on board; one's barely alive and the other crazy.
I can't get an intelligible thing from him; he keeps shrieking about
writhing arms and awful eyes--and monsters he calls 'machine-fish'!"

"You're sure he's insane?"

Robert Knapp's voice hesitated queerly.