The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1976

who've been right-handed will be left-handed, and vice versa. We'll all speak and communicate backwards--but we'll understand. I grant you that. But we'll be back in this universe. As anti-matter. Don't you see? If we draw near to any other body in space--another planet--an alien ship-- we'll either automatically destroy it or be destroyed! We will positively and totally be unable to survive!" "But we can't avoid it, Victor! We're rushing headlong towards this black hole . . . and nothing can stop us passing through it! Inevitably--we're doomed!" Paul Morrow knew that time was running out! He and his colleagues on Alpha were rushing headlong to destruction! In his laboratory, Bergman worked feverishly. The physical production of anti-matter was a scientific possibility, but so far, it had only been tried on a minute scale. The threat of the destructive forces released by its manufacture had always been considered too great. Yet now he risked his own life by trying to create, in controlled conditions, a machine that could be launched into space, to begin its own carefully programmed conversion of material. "How's it going, Victor?" Koenig's voice came over the comlock at Bergman's side. The whole area had been cleared. "I think--I think I can do it, John. Of course, whether the scheme will work is another matter." "It's got to work, Victor! So we lose another Eagle. But if, by the time that Eagle reaches the black hole, it has already become anti-matter, then there'll be such a conflict of forces that the hole itself can be sealed!" "Theories, theories," muttered Bergman to himself. "But they're all we have!" At last, all was ready. The complex mechanism, sealed within a huge casket, was loaded into the waist-pod of an Eagle. Computer-timed-switch-ins had been installed so that the production of anti-matter would not begin before the craft was well clear of Moonbase. But all the time, precious moments were running out. Inexorably, the Moon itself was being drawn towards that terrifying gateway of hyper space! Already, the velocity of the Moon was building--and powerful stresses were affecting every person on Alpha! "Prepare to launch Eagle!" Koenig spoke thickly, his head buzzing. "Launch!"

Its whole fabric shuddering, its engines unused to the effort involved, the Eagle began to haul away. The battle with the unknown was on! Grimly, the occupants of Main Mission hung on and watched the screen as the craft began to outpace them. . . "All systems are overloading, Commander!" She's going to break up !" Paul Morrow's voice rose to a scream! In that instant, the body of the Eagle split asunder! There was just time to see the central pod go hurtling off on some trajectory of its own before the main body crashed down on the Moon's surface to blast itself to pieces! The attempt had failed! Paralysed with horror, Koenig, Bergman, Morrow, Kano and the others stared at the screen. the dazzling flash of the explosion had blinded them for a moment but now, once more, they were staring into the blackness of the awful void ahead! Then, all at once, they were aware that there was silence from the receiver monitors! "The--the radio source! It's stopped!" Sandra Benes turned her white face to the others! "There's nothing!" Scarcely had they accepted the fact before the screen went totally white. John Koenig just had time to hear someone-- he never knew who it was--say that Victor Bergman's anti- matter container had whirled into the black hole when the whole of the Moon shook to an impact of unprecedented violence. Mass unconsciousness came swiftly . . . absolutely. A watcher on another planet might have seen the whole rugged globe of the Moon caught in some kind of invisible The shattering explosion of the crashing craft struck Bergman dumb! Had his bid to save Moonbase failed. . ? turbulence that swung it clean off its course through the infinite. . . That watcher, too, had he been possessed of superior intelligence, would have known that somewhere, an incredible conflict of matter had caused that turbulence. That cosmic upset that had, in effect, saved the Moon from ultimate disaster. He would have known that, when the wild gyrations of Alpha had subsided, and its occupants had recovered their senses and their composure, they would have looked fearfully at each other for long moments . . . only to heave the sighs of relief of people who realised that their right hands were still their right hands. That they had escaped, by a miracle, the dreadful consequences of a journey through the black hole. . .

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