_There is a warm feeling about welcoming back into the pages of a science fiction magazine the work of a writer who is a legend in the genre. So, here's Binder and a neatly wrapped-up package of a folktale of the future. _

 shipwreck in the sky

 _by . .. Eando Binder_

 The flight into space that made Pilot-Capt. Dan Barstow famous. 

The flight was listed at GHQ as _Project Songbird_. It was sponsored bythe Space Medicine Labs of the U. S. Air Force. And its pilot was CaptainDan Barstow. 

A hand-picked man, Dan Barstow, chosen for the AF's most importantproject of the year because he and his VX-3 had already broken allprevious records set by hordes of V-2s, Navy Aerobees and anything elsethat flew the skyways. 

Dan Barstow, first man to cross the sea of air and sight open, unlimitedspace. Pioneer flight to infinity. He grinned and hummed to himself ashe settled down for the long jaunt. Too busy to be either thrilled orscared he considered the thirty-seven instruments he'd have to read, thetwice that many records to keep, and the miles of camera film to run. Hehad been hand-picked and thoroughly conditioned to take it all withoutmore than a ten percent increase in his pulse rate. So he worked asmatter-of-factly as if he were down in the Gs Centrifuge of the SpaceMedicine Labs where he had been schooled for this trip for months. 

He kept up a running fire of oral reports through his helmet radio, downto Rough Rock and his CO. "All Roger, sir . .. Temperature falling fastbut this rubberoid space suit keeps me cozy, no chills . .. Doc Blainewill be happy to hear that! Weightless sensations pretty queer and Ifeel upside-down as much as rightside-up, but no bad effects. .. . Takingshots of the sun's corona now with color film . .. Huh? Oh, yes, sir, it's beautiful all right, now that you mention it. But, hell, sir, who'sgot the time for aesthetics now?. .. Oops, _that_ was a close one! Tenthmeteor whizzing past. Makes me think of flak back on those Berlinbombing runs. "

Dan couldn't help wincing when the meteors peppered down past. The"flak" of space. Below he could see the meteors flare up brightly asthey hit the atmosphere. Most of those near his position were small, none bigger than a baseball, and Dan took comfort in the fact that hisrocket was small too, in the immensity around him. A direct hit would besheer bad luck, but the good old law of averages was on his side. 

"Yes, Colonel, this tin can I'm riding is holding together okay, " Dancontinued to Rough Rock. If he paused even a second in his reports atop-sergeant's yell from the Colonel's throat came back for him to keeptalking. Every bit of information he could transmit to them was a vitalrevelation in this USAF-Alpha exploration of open space beyond Earth'sair cushion, with ceiling unlimited to infinity. 

"Cosmic rays, sir? Sure, the reading shot up double on the Geiger . .. Huh? Naw, I don't feel a thing . .. Like Doc Baird suspected, we inventeda lot of Old Wives' Tales in _advance_, before going into space. I feelfine, so you can put down cosmic ray intensity as a Boogey Man. .. . What's that? Yeah, yeah, sir, the stars shine without winking up here. What else?. .. Space is inky black--no deep purples or queermore-than-blacks like some jetted-up writers dreamed up--just plain oldordinary dead black. Earth, sir?. .. Well, it does look dish-shaped fromup here, concave. .. . Sure, I can see all the way to Europe and--say!Here's something unexpected. I can see that hurricane off the coast ofFlorida. .. . You said it, sir! Once we install permanent space stationsup here it will be easy to spot typhoons, volcano eruptions, tidalwaves, earthquakes, what have you, the moment they start. If you ask me, with a good telescope you could even spot forest fires the minute theybroke out, not to mention a sneak bombing on a target city--uh, sorry, sir, I forgot. "

Dan broke off and almost retched as his stomach turned a flip-flop toend all flip-flops. The VX-3 had reached the peak of its trajectory atover 1000 miles altitude and now turned down, lazily at first. He gulpedoxygen from the emergency tube at his lips and felt better. 

"Turning back on schedule, Rough Rock. Peak altitude 1037 miles. Everything fine, no danger. This was all a cinch. .. . HEY! Wait. .. . Something not in the books has popped up . .. Stand by!"

Dan had felt the rocket swing a bit, strangely, as if gripped by astrong force. Instead of falling directly down toward Earth with aslight pitch, it slanted sideways and spun on its long axis. And thenDan saw what it was. .. . 

Beneath, intercepting his trajectory, coming around fast over thecurvature of Earth, was a tiny black worldlet, 998 miles above Earth. Itmight be an enormous meteor, but Dan felt he was right the first time. For it wasn't falling like a meteor but swinging parallel to Earth'ssurface on even keel. 

He stared at the unexpected discovery, as amazed as if it were afire-breathing dragon out of legend. For it was, actually, he realizedin swift, stunned comprehension, more amazing than any legend. 

Dan kept his voice calm. "Hello, Rough Rock. .. . Listen . .. Nobodyexpected _this_ . .. Hold your hat, sir, and sit down. I've discovered a_second moon_ of Earth!. .. Uhhuh, you heard me right! a second moon! Tiethat, will you?. .. Sure, it's tiny, less than a mile in diameter I'dsay. Dead black in color. Guess that's why telescopes never spotted it. Tiny and black, blends into the black backdrop of space. It has terrificspeed. And that little maverick's gravitational field caught myrocket. .. . Of course it can't yank me away from Earth gravity, but thetrouble is--yipe! my rocket and that moonlet may be in for a mutual_collision_ course. .. . "

Dan's trained eye suddenly saw that grim possibility. Barreling aroundEarth in a narrow orbit with a speed of something near or over 12, 000miles an hour the tiny new moon had, since his ascent, charged directlyinto his downward free fall. It was a chance in a thousand for a directhit, except for one added factor--the moonlet exerted enough gravitypull out of its many-million ton bulk to warp the rocket into its path. And the thousand-to-one odds were thus wiped out, becoming even money. 

"Nip and tuck, " reported Dan, answering the excited pleadings andquestions from Rough Rock. "It won't be a head-on crash. I may even missentirely. .. . Oh, Lord! Not with that spire of rock sticking up fromit. .. . I'm going to hit that . .. "

Dan had heard an atomic bomb blast once and it sounded like a string ofthem set off at once as the rocket smashed into the rocky prominence. The rock splintered. The rocket splintered. But Dan was not there to besplintered likewise. He had jammed down a button, at the criticalmoment, and the rocket's emergency escape-hatch had ejected him asplit-second before the violent impact. 

But Dan blacked out, receiving some of the concussion of the explodingrocket. When his eyes snapped open he was floating like a feather inopen, airless space. His rubberoid space suit, living up to its rigidtests, had inflated to its elastic limit. But it held and within itsautomatic units began feeding him oxygen, heat and radio-power. He had achance, now, because he had been ejected cleanly from the rocket, without damage to the protective suit. 

The stars wheeled dizzily around him. Dan finally saw the reason why. Hewas not just floating as a free agent in space. He was circling theblack moonlet, at perhaps a thousand yards from its pitted surface. 

"Hello, Rough Rock, " he called. "Still alive and kicking, sir. Only now, of all crazy-mad things, _I'm_ a moon of _this_ moon! The collision musthave knocked me clear out of my down-to-Earth orbit. .. . I must have beenejected in the same direction as the moonlet's course, in its gravityfield. .. . I don't know. Let an electronic brain figure it out sometime. .. . Anyway, now I'm being dragged along in the orbit of themoonlet--how about _that_? Yes, sir, I'm circling down closer and closerto the moonlet. .. . No, don't worry, sir. It was a weak gravity pull, only a fraction of an Earth-g. So I'm drifting down gently as acloud. .. . Stand by for my landing on Earth's second moon!"

The bloated figure in the bulging space suit circled the black stonysurface several more times, in a narrowing spiral, and finally landedwith a soft skidding bump that didn't even jar Dan's teeth. He bouncedseveral times from a diminishing height of fifty-odd feet in grotesqueslow-motion before he finally came to a stop. 

He sat still for a moment, adjusting to the fantastic fact of beingshipwrecked on an unchartered moonlet, crowding down his pulse ratewhich might be over ten percent normal now. 

"Okay, Rough Rock, I hear you. .. . You're telling me, sir?. .. Obviously, I'm _marooned_ here. No rocket to leave with. No way to get back toterra firma . .. What? If you'll pardon my saying so, sir, that's a sillyquestion. .. . Of course I'm scared! Scared green. Sorry about the rocket, sir, losing it for you. .. . Me, sir? Thank you, sir. But stopapologizing, will you? I know you haven't got any duplicates of the VX-3ready, no rescue rocket. .. . "

Dan listened a moment longer then broke in roughly. "Oh, for Pete'ssake, will you stop crying over me, sir? So I get mine here. I mighthave gotten it over Berlin, too. Forget it--sir. "

Dan grinned suddenly. "Look, what have I got to kick about? I'll go outin a flash of glory--at least one headline will put it that way--andI'll get credit in the history books as the man who discovered thatEarth has _two_ moons! What more could I ask, really?"

Dan blushed at the reply from Rough Rock. "Will you lay off please, Colonel? How else should a man take it? I'm still scared silly inside. But, look, I've really got something to report now. This little runtmoon makes tracks around Earth in probably two hours minus. If Iremember my Spacenautics right I'm already looking down over the GrandCanyon, heading west. I'm going to get a pretty terrific bird's-eye viewof the whole world in two more hours, which is just about how muchoxygen I've got left. .. . Lucky, eh?"

Dan looked down, watching in fascination the majestic wheeling of theEarth below him. His little moonlet did not rotate, or rather it rotatedonce for each revolution around Earth, as the Moon did, keeping one faceearthward, giving him an uninterrupted view. The Sierras on Earth hoveinto clear view and the broad Pacific. There would follow Hawaii, thenJapan, Asia, Europe. .. . No, he saw he was slanting southwest. It wouldbe across the equator, past Australia, perhaps near the South Pole, thenup around over the top of the world past Greenland, following that greatcircle around the globe. In any case, his was the speediest trip aroundthe world ever made by man!

"Before we're out of mutual range, Rough Rock, I'm going to explore thisnew moon. Me and Columbus! Stand by for reports. "

Dan did his walking in huge leaps that propelled him fifty feet at astep with slight effort, due to the extremely feeble gravity of the tinybody. What did he weigh here? Probably no more than an ounce or two. 

"Nothing much to report, Colonel. It's a dead, airless pip-squeakplanetoid, just a big mile-thick rock, probably. No life, no vegetation, no people, no nothing. Guess you might call me the Man in the SecondMoon--and the joke's on me! Well, one and three-quarter hours of oxygenleft, by the gauge, or 105 minutes--sounds like more that way. .. . What'sthat, sir? Your voice is getting faint. Any last requests from me? Well, one favor maybe. Pick up my body some day with another rocket. .. . Yeah, it'll stay preserved up here in this deep-freeze of space. .. . Thanks, sir. .. . Can't hear you much now. Going out of range. Give Betty myfondest. You know, the blonde. .. . Well, sir--goodbye now. "

Dan was glad that Rough Rock's radio voice faded to a whisperynothingness. It wasn't easy to stay casual now. There was nothing moreto say, really, and he didn't want to hear any more crying from the CO. The Old Man had sounded almost hysterical. He wanted just to be alonewith his thoughts now, making his final peace with the universe. .. . 

He checked the gauge with his watch--ninety minutes of oxygen to zero. Or, he thought with a grin, eternity minus ninety minutes. 

He was beginning to have trouble breathing. But it was awesomely grand, watching the sweep of Earth beneath him, the procession of dots thatwere islands strung across the Pacific South Seas like a necklace ofgreen beads. He was still within radio range of ships below at sea. Yethe didn't contact them. He had nothing to say, like a ghost in the sky. 

Idly, he kept pitching loose stones, watching their rifle-like speedaway from him. Again a phenomenon of the weak gravity of the moonlet. Actually, he was able to pick up a boulder ten feet across and heave itaway with ease. _We who are about to die amuse ourselves_, he thought. Then, because a thread of stubborn hope still clung in a corner of hismind, he got an idea. It had lurked just beyond his mental grasp forsome time now. Something significant. .. . 

Abruptly, face alight, Dan switched on his radio and contacted a shipbelow, asking them to relay him to Rough Rock with their more powerfultransmitter. 

"Ahoy, Rough Rock! Stop adding up my insurance, Colonel! I'm comingback. .. . No, sir, I haven't gone out of my head, sir. It's so simpleit's a laugh, sir. .. . See you in a few hours, sir!"

And he did. 

Dan grinned when they hauled his dripping form from the sea. Aboard thesearch plane they cut him out of the space suit to which was stillattached his emergency twin parachute. But his helmet was gone, rippedloose, for Dan had been breathing fresh Earth air during the longparachute descent. 

They stared at him as at a dead man come alive. 

"Impossible to escape?" He chuckled, repeating their babble. "That'swhat _I_ thought too, until I remembered those data tables on gravityand Escape Velocity and such--how, on the Moon, the Escape Velocity ismuch less than on Earth. And on that tiny second moon--well, my clue waswhen I threw a stone into the air _and it never came back_. "

Dan gulped hot coffee. 

"I got off the moonlet myself then, got up to more than a mile above itwhere I was free of its feeble gravity. But I was still in the sameorbit circling Earth. I'd have continued revolving as a human satelliteforever, of course, but for this emergency gadget hooked to my belt. "

Dan held up the metal gun with its empty tank and needle-nose halfburned away. 

"Reaction pistol. Fires hydrazine and oxidizer, ordinary jet-rocketprinciple. Aiming it toward the stars, opposite earth, its reactiveblasts shoved me Earthward, thanks to Newton. I needed a speed of aboutone-half mile a second. The powerful little jet gun had only my smallmass to shove in free space, without gravity or friction. That broke mefrom free-fall _around_ Earth to gravity-fall _toward_ Earth. 

"Then I spiraled down under gravity pull. I reached lung-filling airdensity just in time, before my oxygen gave out. One more danger wasthat I began heating up like a meteor due to air friction. I flung out aprayer first, followed by my twin parachutes, designed for extremeinitial shock. They held. Slowed me to a paratrooper's drift the rest ofthe way down. "

"Wait, " a puzzled pilot objected. "Your story doesn't hang together. _How_ did you get off that moonlet? How did you get up there, a mileabove it, away from its gravity? There was nobody to throw _you_, like astone. "

"I threw myself, " said Dan. "First I ran as fast as I could, maybehalfway around that moonlet, to get a good running start. And then--"

Dan Barstow's grin then was undoubtedly the biggest grin in history. .. . 

"Well, then, since the feeble gravity couldn't pull me back again, whatI really did was to _jump clear off that moon_. "

Transcriber's Note:

 This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.