The Unending Night

A RACE WITH DEATH Lee Rilke reached the wall of the boron reservoir. It had taken two minutes to cross the reactor chamber from the airlock--and he'd have less than that to get back after he set the fuse of the dynamite. Could he make it under two minutes? He didn't know. All he knew was that the reservoir had to be blown up so that its contents could flood the reactor, absorb the neutrons, and break the runaway chain reaction. He placed the dynamite and lit the fuse; then he was running as fast as his anti-radiation armor would allow... He was halfway--and more than three minutes were gone! Four minutes! He stumbled and sprawled onto the concrete. He got to his feet and ran again. Just as he was in sight of the airlock door, the blast came, and then a wall of onrushing water hit him in the back...