and fighting that gusher of escaping air. But this was no time to worry about past mistakes; all that mattered now was that he was alive - and with any luck would stay so.
He picked up the still-unconscious McKenzie as though he were a limp doll, and laid him beneath the oxygen blast. Its force was much weaker now, as the pressure inside the cruiser rose back to normal; in a few more minutes it would be only a gentle zephyr.
The scientist revived almost at once, and looked vaguely round him.
"Where am I?" he said, not very originally. "Oh - they got through to us. Thank God I can breathe again. What's happened to the lights?"
"Don't worry about that - I'll soon fix them. We must get everyone under this jet as quickly as we can, and flush some oxygen into their lungs. Can you give artificial respiration?"
"I've never tried."
"It's very simple. Wait until I find the medicine chest."
When Pat had collected the resuscitator, he demonstrated on the nearest subject, who happened to be Irving Schuster.
"Push the tongue out of the way and slip the tube down the throat. Now squeeze this bulb - slowly. Keep up a natural breathing rhythm. Got the idea?"
"Yes, but how long shall I do it?"
"Five or six deep breaths should be enough, I'd guess. We're not trying to revive them, after all - we just want to get the stale air out of their lungs. You take the front half of the cabin; I'll do the rear."
"But there's only one resuscitator."
Pat grinned, without much humor.
"It's not necessary," he answered, bending over his next patient.
"Oh," said McKenzie. "I'd forgotten that."
It was hardly chance that Pat had headed straight to Sue, and was now blowing into her lips in the ancient - and highly effective - mouth-to-mouth method. But to do him justice, he wasted no time on her when he found that she was breathing normally.
He was just starting on his third subject when the radio gave another despairing call.
"Hello, Selene, is there anyone there?"
Pat took a few seconds off to grab the mike.
"Harris calling. We're O. K. We're applying artificial respiration to the passengers. No time to say more - we'll call you later. I'll remain on receive. Tell us what's happening."
"Thank God you're O. K. - we'd given you up. You gave us a hell of a fright when you unscrewed that drill."
Listening to the Chief Engineer's voice while he blew into the peacefully sleeping Mr. Radley, Pat had no wish to be reminded of that incident. He knew that, whatever happened, he would never live it down. Yet it had probably been for the best; most of the bad air had been siphoned out of Selene in that hectic minute or so of decompression. It might even have lasted longer than that, for it would have taken two or three minutes for a cabin of this size to lose much of its air, through a tube only four centimeters in diameter.
"Now listen," continued Lawrence, "because you've been overheating badly, we're letting you have your oxygen just as cold as we think it's safe. Call us back if it gets too chilly, or too dry. In five or ten minutes we'll be sinking the second pipe to you, so that we'll have a complete circuit and can take over your entire air-conditioning load. We'll aim this pipe for the rear of the cabin, just as soon as we've towed the raft a few meters. We're moving now. Call you back in a minute."
Pat and the Doctor did not relax until they had pumped the foul air from the lungs of all their unconscious companions. Then, very tired, yet feeling the calm joy of men who see some great ordeal approach its triumphant end, they slumped to the floor and waited for the second drill to come through the roof.
Ten minutes later, they heard it bang against the outer hull, just forward of the air lock. When Lawrence called to check its position, Pat confirmed that this time it was clear of obstructions. "And don't worry," he added. "I won't touch that drill until you tell me."
It was now so cold that he and McKenzie had put on their outer clothing once more, and had draped blankets over the sleeping passengers. But Pat did not call a halt; as long as they were not in actual distress, the colder the better. They were driving back the deadly heat that had almost cooked them