The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1976

for the coupling of the box to the Moonbase computer.    And then it had happened. Before Kano could even start! From the other half of the globe, foam had begun to gush. Foam that seemed to come from nowhere. Foam that poured out with such violence and velocity that, within seconds, the whole floor of Main Mission was covered with it! Under their feet, it had made them slip and slither. Made them fall over. Risen to swamp them and blind them, choke them and smother them . . . and Koenig had only just time to make the desperate comlock call to the security staff. . . Now the doors were closed. Foam that had spread out from Main Mission into the corridor beyond had withered and dried, to disappear completely. But the wall- mounted video screens told Koenig that inside his control area, it was foam, foam, foam--from floor to ceiling.    "We know by now that there are more forms of life in this universe than we could ever have guessed at, on Earth." Koenig turned to face the others sprawled around the corridor near him. "It may be that this foam is possessed of some intelligence. There may be a planet where it lives. We have to attempt to communicate with it."	"Let Kano have a look at it. Kano--you underwent mind- coupled treatment on Earth, didn't you?" The Commander started grimly at the Jamaican. "You have something of that computer within your own mind, right?" Slowly, Kano nodded. "Would you be willing to be coupled up to Victor's unit here--absorb the transmission of the black box into your own brain?"    Kano bit his lip. Sat down beside Bergman. "I'll do it, Commander."    "You realixe what might happen? Any coupling of computer systems with the human brain can result in permanent and irreversible damage. . ." Koenig didn't meet Kano's eyes. "I'll take the chance, Commander," he said.    Electrodes were placed on Kano's skull. Sensor needles were implanted just beneath the surface of his skin. His eyes were tight shut as Bergman gently shifted the controls of his computer. Then Kano's body went rigid! His body arched, and a cry broke his lips! "N-n-arrrgh!" "Stop it, John!" Stop it !" Helena Russell darted forward, but brought up with a gasp as Koenig's arm lashed out to seize her waist! "Wait, Helena!"    Kano subsided, sweat breaking out on his temples. Sweat
From the shattered filter corridor of Moonbase, a blasting eruption of matter as Carter's laser struck home!
"John, you're distraught!" Bergman shook hes head at his friend. "Foam can't make machinery like the black box! Foam might have some kind of intelligence, but it hasn't got hands! And hands made that thing!"    "All right, Victor, all right!" Koenig was snarling. "Logic first. WIthout Main Mission, we're blind. Alan . . ." he turned to chief pilot Alan Carter. "Alan--get your Eagle airborne at once, and take up guidance station ahead of us on Moon's trajectory. You're going to be our eyes."    "Right on, Commander!" Carter ducked into the nearest entry-point of the travel tube system, and within minutes he was reporting back via comlock. "Way ahead absolutely clear, sir. Nothing even on deep range scanner."    Koenig followed Victor Bergman to the main laboratory. Watched as the Professor began to examine the black box. "I'm afraid the foam has short-circuited all connection with the central computer, John," said Bergman. "But my own standby unit seems to be doing a fair job. There's a print-out. Some kind of language, but it doesn't make any sense to me. . ."	flecked with the crackle of minute discharges of electricity. His lips moved, soundlessly at first--but then. . .    "Warning . . . it's a warning! Don't--don't touch--don't reveal the other side! Close the capsule--immediately!"    Kano went limp, and Bergman jerked the terminals from his head. There was no sound but the slapping of his face as he was brought back to full consciousness, mercifully normal.    "Never mind the message, Kano--what impressions did your mind receive? We know we shouldn't have let that foam out--the black box must have been telling us all the time, only our human telepathy levels couldn't hear it!"    The Jamaican sheddered. "I saw a planet, Commander. A planet where beings like you and me were living. In a city much like a city on Earth. But--but there was this thing. . . this horrifying thing that menaced them, and they were fighting it!"    "Go on--go on!"    "I can't describe it. It was horrible ! But they--they beat it They subdued it. Reduced it to a kind of contained entity,

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