“Rival, hell. She’s got Don,” the blonde girl said flatly. “She’s even got Miaow here hypnotized.” She was holding in her arms a tranquil gray cat, in whose green eyes the moon was two smudged pearls.

Paul too turned his gaze on the moon, or rather toward a point near its top, above the Mare Imbrium shadow. He couldn’t distinguish the crater Plato holding Moonbase U.S., but he knew it was in view.

Margo said bitterly: “It’s bad enough to have to look up at that graveyard monstrosity, knowing Don’s there, exposed to all the dangers of a graveyard planet But now that we have to think about this other thing that’s shown up in the astronomical photographs—”

“Margo!” Paul said sharply, automatically flashing a look around. “That’s still classified information. We shouldn’t be talking about it — not here.”

“The Project’s turning you into an old auntie! Besides, you’ve given me no more than a hint—”

“I shouldn’t have given you even that.”

“Well, what are we going to talk about, then?”

Paul let off a sigh. “Look,” he said, “I thought we came outside to watch the eclipse, maybe take a drive, too—”

“Oh, I forgot the eclipse! The moon’s turned a little smoky, don’t you think? Has it started?”

“Looks like it,” Paul said. “It’s time for first contact”

“What’ll the eclipse do to Don?”

“Nothing much. It’ll get dark up there for a while. That’s all. Oh yes, and the temperature outside Moonbase will drop 250 degrees or so.”

“A blast from the seventh circle of Hell and he says, ‘That’s all’!”

“Not as bad as it sounds. You see, the temperature will be about 150 degrees above zero to start with,” Paul explained.

“A Siberian cold wave cubed on top of scalding heat and he says, ‘That’s ducky’! And when I think of this other, unknown horror creeping toward the moon from outer space—”