More coughing from Gordette. He must be almost out of air, Doug realized. Got to get to him quickly.

The smooth rock floor ended abruptly, like a shattered pane of glass. Black nothingness yawned in front of Doug.

And clinging to the edge of the break like a ship-wrecked sailor desperately clutching a piece of flotsam, was the space-suited figure of Leroy Gordette.

He had one forearm hooked on the crumbling edge of the precipice, and the gloved fingers of his other hand. Doug could see the top of his helmet.

"Hold on," he said, and immediately felt foolish. What else was Bam trying to do?

"Don't!" the black man warned. "Fuckin' rock breaks. It's as thin as tissue paper. Brittle, too."

Doug lowered himself to his knees, then got down on his belly and wormed his way toward Gordette.

"Got no purchase for my feet," Bam said, panting. "Every time… I try to haul my ass up… fuckin' rock crumbles more."

"How deep is the hole?" Doug asked. "Can you see the bottom?"

Gordette coughed. "Must go… all the way down… to Chicago. No bottom…"

Inching closer to the man, Doug felt the brittle rock beneath him crack, like thin ice.

He stretched out his arm as far as he could. "Can you grab my hand?"

"I'm runnin' out of air," Gordette said, gasping. "Forget it. Get outta here."

"Grab my hand!" Doug insisted.

"Can't."

Doug pushed himself a few centimeters closer. A chunk of the rock floor just in front of his helmet gave way and plummeted down into silent darkness.

"Grab it!"

"Leave me alone…"

With gritted teeth Doug slid closer and wrapped his fingers around Gordette's wrist just as the edge collapsed into shards and fell away.

Through his suit Doug could feel the vibrations of the servo motors in his glove as they tightened on Gordette's wrist. The man's whole weight dangled from Doug's hand. It felt as if his arm were being wrenched out of its shoulder socket.

"That's… a helluva grip… you got," Gordette grunted.

Doug could feel Gordette's body swaying as it hung in the deep black emptiness. Pain burned through his arm and shoulder. The exoskeleton would keep his fingers clamped on Gordette's wrist, he knew. Good thing we're on the Moon, Doug thought. With his spacesuit and all he'd yank my arm right out of my shoulder on Earth.

For moments that stretched like years Doug lay there, flat on his belly, with Gordette hanging in his hand.

"Lemme go…' Gordette panted. "Lemme die…"

"If you go," Doug said grimly, fiercely, "I go with you. We're in this together, Bam."

"You… crazy…"

Doug tried to worm his way back, away from the brittle, crumbling edge of the abyss. Gordette could do nothing to help, even if he wanted to.

Got to haul him out of there, Doug told himself. Got to get him on solid ground before he runs out of air.